Editing Manes (section)

==Etymology and inscriptions==
[[File:Stele Licinia Amias Terme 67646.jpg|thumb|left|The abbreviation ''D.M.'' at the top of this 3rd-century Christian tombstone stands for ''Dis Manibus'', "to the Spirits of the Dead"]]

Manes may be derived from "an archaic adjective manus—''good''—which was the opposite of immanis (monstrous)".<ref name="Larousse">{{Cite encyclopedia |editor-last=Guirand |editor-first=Felix |year=1968 |title=The Manes |encyclopedia=New Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology |translator-last1=Aldington |translator-first1=Richard |translator-link1=Richard Aldington |translator-last2=Ames |translator-first2=Delano |translator-link2=Delano Ames |location=Fetham, Middlesex, England |publisher=The Hamlyn Publishing Group |page=[https://archive.org/details/newlarousseencyc0000unse_p8o3/page/n239/mode/2up 213] }}</ref>

Roman tombstones often included the letters ''D.M.'', which stood for '''''Dis Manibus''''', literally "to the Manes",<ref>{{Cite book |last1=King |first1=Charles W. |date=2020 |title=The Ancient Roman Afterlife: Di Manes, Belief, and the Cult of the Dead |location=Austin, TX |publisher=University of Texas Press |doi=10.7560/320204 |isbn=978-1-4773-2020-4 |pages=2–3}}</ref> or figuratively, "to the spirits of the dead", an abbreviation that continued to appear even in Christian inscriptions.

The Manes were offered blood sacrifices. The [[gladiator|gladiatorial games]], originally held at funerals, may have been instituted in the honor of the Manes. According to [[Cicero]], the ''Manes'' could be called forth from the caves near [[Lake Avernus]].<ref name="Larousse" />