Editing Manes (section)

{{Short description|Roman deities believed to be the souls of the dead}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Ancient Roman religion}}

In [[Religion in ancient Rome|ancient Roman religion]], the '''''Manes''''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|eɪ|n|iː|z}}, {{Langx|la|mānēs}}, {{IPA|la-x-classic|ˈmaː.neːs̠|lang|link=yes}}) or '''''Di Manes''''' are [[chthonic]] deities sometimes thought to represent souls of deceased loved ones. They were associated with the ''[[Lares]]'', ''[[Lemures]]'', ''[[Genius (mythology)|Genii]]'', and ''[[Di Penates]]'' as deities (''[[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#deus, dea, di, dii|di]]'') that pertained to domestic, local, and personal cult. They belonged broadly to the category of ''[[di inferi]]'', "those who dwell below",<ref>{{Cite book |author=Varro |author-link=Marcus Terentius Varro |date=1938 |title=De Lingua Latina |url=https://archive.org/details/onlatinlanguage01varruoft |translator-last=Kent |translator-first=Roland G. |location=London |publisher=W. Heinemann |chapter=6.13 |pages=185–7 }}</ref> the undifferentiated collective of divine dead.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |editor-last=Gagarin |editor-first=Michael |title=Death |date=2010 |encyclopedia=The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome |volume=2 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780195170726 |page=366 }}</ref> The Manes were honored during the [[Parentalia]] and [[Feralia]] in February.

The theologian [[Augustine of Hippo|St. Augustine]], writing about the subject a few centuries after most of the Latin pagan references to such spirits, differentiated Manes from other types of Roman spirits:

{{Blockquote| [[Apuleius]] "says, indeed, that the souls of men are demons, and that men become ''[[Lares]]'' if they are good, ''[[Lemures]]'' or ''[[Larvae (Roman religion)|Larvae]]'' if they are bad, and ''Manes'' if it is uncertain whether they deserve well or ill... He also states that the blessed are called in Greek εὐδαίμονες [''eudaimones''], because they are good souls, that is to say, good demons, confirming his opinion that the souls of men are demons." |City of God, Book IX, Chapter 11<ref name="Augustine">{{Cite book |author=St. Augustine of Hippo |author-link=Augustine of Hippo |year=1871 |title=City of God |url=http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/45304 |translator=Rev. Marcus Dods, M.A. |location=Edinburgh |publisher=T. & T. Clark |volume=1 |page=365 |access-date=2016-09-15 }}</ref>}}

Latin spells of antiquity were often addressed to the Manes.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gager |first=John G. |date=1992 |title=Curse Tablets and Binding Spells from the Ancient World |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rmhw2eVJnS0C&pg=PA12 |publisher=Oxford University Press US |isbn=978-0-19-513482-7 |pages=12–13 |access-date=2010-08-22 }}</ref>