Editing Genius (mythology) (section)

==Specific genii==
[[File:Genio romano de Ponte Puñide (M.A.N. 1928-60-1) 01.jpg|thumb|upright|Bronze genius depicted as ''[[pater familias]]'' (1st century AD)]]
Although the term ''genius'' might apply to any divinity whatsoever, most of the higher-level and state ''genii'' had their own well-established names. ''Genius'' applied most often to individual places or people not generally known; that is, to the smallest units of society and settlements, families and their homes. Houses, doors, gates, streets, districts, tribes, each one had its own ''genius''.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Rome: Gods by Conquest|first=P.|last=Grimal|encyclopedia=Larousse World Mythology|year=1965|publisher=The Hamlyn Publishing Group Limited|page=181}}</ref> The supreme hierarchy of the Roman gods, like that of the Greeks, was modelled after a human family. It featured a father, [[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter]], who was also the supreme divine unity, and a mother, [[Juno (mythology)|Juno]], queen of the gods. These supreme unities were subdivided into ''genii'' for each individual family; hence, the ''genius'' of each female, representing the female reproductive power, was a ''Juno''. The male power was a ''Jupiter''.<ref>{{cite book|page=291|title=The Mythology of All Races|editor-first=Louis Herbert|editor-last=Gray|editor2-first=George Foot|editor2-last=Moore|volume=I Greek and Roman|first=William Sherwood|last=Fox|publisher=Marshall Jones Company|year=1916|location=Boston|isbn=0-8154-0073-X}}</ref>

The ''Juno'' was venerated under many titles:
*''Iugalis'', "of marriage"
*''Matronalis'', "of married women"
*''Pronuba'', "of brides"
*''Virginalis'', "of virginity"

''Genii'' were often viewed as protective spirits, as one would propitiate them for protection. For example, to protect infants one propitiated a number of [[List of Roman birth and childhood deities|deities concerned with birth and childrearing]]: ''Cuba'' ("lying down to sleep"), ''Cunina'' ("of the cradle") and ''Rumina'' ("of breast-feeding").<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Cuba |url=http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0909.html |first=Leonhard |last=Schmitz |encyclopedia=Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology |editor-first=William |editor-last=Smith |volume=1 |page=900 |date=2005|orig-year=1867 |publisher=Little, Brown & Company, The Ancient Library |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514090503/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0909.html |archive-date=14 May 2011}}</ref> Certainly, if those ''genii'' did not perform their proper function well, the infant would be in danger.

Hundreds of ''[[Lares#Lararia|lararia]]'', or family shrines, have been discovered at [[Pompeii]], typically off the [[Atrium (architecture)|atrium]], kitchen or garden, where the smoke of burnt offerings could vent through the opening in the roof. Each ''lararium'' features a panel fresco containing the same theme: two peripheral figures ([[Lares]]) attend on a central figure (family ''genius'') or two figures (''genius'' and ''juno'') who may or may not be at an altar. In the foreground is one or two serpents crawling toward the ''genius'' through a meadow motif. [[Campania]] and [[Calabria]] preserved an ancient practice of keeping a propitious house snake, here linked with the ''genius''.<ref>{{Cite book|first=David Gerald|last=Orr|title=Roman Domestic Religion: The Archaeology of Roman Popular Art|editor-first=Ray Broadus|editor-last=Browne|work=Rituals and Ceremonies in Popular Culture|location=Bowling Green, Ohio|publisher=Bowling Green University Popular Press|year=1980|pages=88–103}}</ref>