In classical Roman religion, a ''genius loci'' (

plural The plural (sometimes abbreviated pl., pl, or ), in many languages, is one of the values of the grammatical category of number. The plural of a noun typically denotes a quantity greater than the default quantity represented by that noun. This de ...

''genii locorum'') was the protective spirit of a place. It was often depicted in religious iconography as a figure holding attributes such as a

cornucopia In classical antiquity, the cornucopia (), from Latin ''cornu'' (horn) and ''copia'' (abundance), also called the horn of plenty, was a symbol of abundance and nourishment, commonly a large horn-shaped container overflowing with produce, flowers ...

patera In the material culture of classical antiquity, a ''phiale'' ( ) or ''patera'' () is a shallow ceramic or metal libation bowl. It often has a bulbous indentation ('' omphalos'', "bellybutton") in the center underside to facilitate holding it, ...

(

libation A libation is a ritual pouring of a liquid, or grains such as rice, as an offering to a deity or spirit, or in memory of the dead. It was common in many religions of antiquity and continues to be offered in cultures today. Various substa ...

bowl) or

snake Snakes are elongated, Limbless vertebrate, limbless, carnivore, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other Squamata, squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping Scale (zoology), scales. Ma ...

. Many Roman altars found throughout the

Western Roman Empire The Western Roman Empire comprised the western provinces of the Roman Empire at any time during which they were administered by a separate independent Imperial court; in particular, this term is used in historiography to describe the period fr ...

were dedicated to a particular ''genius loci''. The Roman imperial cults of the Emperor and the imperial house developed in part in connections with the sacrifices made by neighborhood associations ''( vici)'' to the local ''genius''. These 265 local districts had their cult organised around the ''Lares Compitales'' (guardian spirits or ''

lares Lares ( , ; archaic , singular ''Lar'') were guardian deities in ancient Roman religion. Their origin is uncertain; they may have been hero-ancestors, guardians of the hearth, fields, boundaries, or fruitfulness, or an amalgam of these. Lares ...

'' of the crossroads), which the emperor

Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pri ...

transformed into ''Lares Augusti'' along with the ''Genius Augusti''. The emperor's ''

genius Genius is a characteristic of original and exceptional insight in the performance of some art or endeavor that surpasses expectations, sets new standards for future works, establishes better methods of operation, or remains outside the capabiliti ...

'' is then regarded as the ''genius loci'' of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterr ...

as a whole. Roman examples of these ''genii'' can be found, for example, at the

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...

of St. Giles,

Tockenham Tockenham is a village and civil parish in north Wiltshire, England. The village is about east of Lyneham and southwest of the town of Royal Wootton Bassett. The parish includes the hamlet of Tockenham Wick. Roman villa A Roman villa a short ...

, Wiltshire where the genius loci is depicted as a relief in the wall of a

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

church built of

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

material. This shows "a youthful and curly-haired Roman Genius worked in high relief, holding a cornucopia in his left hand and a ''patera'' in his right", which previously has been "erroneously identified as

Asclepius Asclepius (; grc-gre, Ἀσκληπιός ''Asklēpiós'' ; la, Aesculapius) is a hero and god of medicine in ancient Religion in ancient Greece, Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology. He is the son of Apollo and Coronis (lover of ...

Asian usage

The numinous spirits of places in Asia are still honored today in city pillar shrines, outdoor

spirit house A spirit house is a shrine to the protective spirit of a place that is found in the Southeast Asian countries of Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines. The spirit house is normally in the form of smal ...

s and indoor household and business shrines.

Western usage

In contemporary usage, ''genius loci'' usually refers to a location's distinctive atmosphere, or a "

spirit of the place Spirit of place (or soul) refers to the unique, distinctive and cherished aspects of a place; often those celebrated by artists and writers, but also those cherished in folk tales, festivals and celebrations. It is thus as much in the invisible w ...

", rather than necessarily a guardian spirit. An example of contemporary usage might be along the lines of "Light reveals the genius loci of a place."

Art and architecture

Alexander Pope Alexander Pope (21 May 1688 O.S. – 30 May 1744) was an English poet, translator, and satirist of the Enlightenment era who is considered one of the most prominent English poets of the early 18th century. An exponent of Augustan literature, ...

made the ''genius loci'' an important principle in

garden A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate both ...

and

landscape design Landscape design is an independent profession and a design and art tradition, practiced by landscape designers, combining nature and culture. In contemporary practice, landscape design bridges the space between landscape architecture and garde ...

with the following lines from ''Epistle IV, to Richard Boyle, Earl of Burlington'':

Consult the genius of the place in all; That tells the waters to rise, or fall; Or helps th' ambitious hill the heav'ns to scale, Or scoops in circling theatres the vale; Calls in the country, catches opening glades, Joins willing woods, and varies shades from shades, Now breaks, or now directs, th' intending lines; Paints as you plant, and, as you work, designs.

Pope's verse laid the foundation for one of the most widely agreed principles of

landscape architecture Landscape architecture is the design of outdoor areas, landmarks, and structures to achieve environmental, social-behavioural, or aesthetic outcomes. It involves the systematic design and general engineering of various structures for constructio ...

. This is the principle that landscape designs should ''always'' be adapted to the context in which they are located.

A priori ("from the earlier") and ("from the later") are Latin phrases used in philosophy to distinguish types of knowledge, justification, or argument by their reliance on empirical evidence or experience. knowledge is independent from current ex ...

archetype The concept of an archetype (; ) appears in areas relating to behavior, historical psychology, and literary analysis. An archetype can be any of the following: # a statement, pattern of behavior, prototype, "first" form, or a main model that ot ...

, and ''genius loci'' are the primary principals of Neo-Rationalism or New Rationalism. Pioneered by the Italian architect

Aldo Rossi Aldo Rossi (3 May 1931 – 4 September 1997) was an Italian architect and designer who achieved international recognition in four distinct areas: architectural theory, drawing and design and also product design. He was one of the leading exponen ...

, Neo-Rationalism developed in the light of a re-evaluation of the work of

Giuseppe Terragni Giuseppe Terragni (; 18 April 1904 – 19 July 1943) was an Italian architect who worked primarily under the fascist regime of Benito Mussolini and pioneered the Italian modern movement under the rubric of Rationalism. His most famous work is the C ...

, and gained momentum through the work of

Giorgio Grassi Giorgio Grassi (born 1935) is one of Italy's most important modern architects, and part of the so-called Italian rationalist school, also known as ''La Tendenza'', associated most famously with Carlo Aymonino and Aldo Rossi that emerged in Italy ...

. Characterized by elemental

vernacular A vernacular or vernacular language is in contrast with a "standard language". It refers to the language or dialect that is spoken by people that are inhabiting a particular country or region. The vernacular is typically the native language, n ...

forms and an adaptation to the existing environment, the Neo-Rationalist style has adherents beyond architecture in the greater world of art. In the context of modern architectural theory, ''genius loci'' has profound implications for place-making, falling within the philosophical branch of

phenomenology Phenomenology may refer to: Art * Phenomenology (architecture), based on the experience of building materials and their sensory properties Philosophy * Phenomenology (philosophy), a branch of philosophy which studies subjective experiences and a ...

. This field of architectural discourse is explored most notably by the theorist

Christian Norberg-Schulz Christian Norberg-Schulz (23 May 1926 – 28 March 2000) was a Norwegian architect, author, educator and architectural theorist. Norberg-Schulz was part of the Modernist Movement in architecture and associated with architectural phenomenology. ...

in his book, ''Genius Loci: Towards a Phenomenology of Architecture''.

Modern fantasy

Adaptations of the original concept of the ''genius loci'' appear in some works of modern

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...

Tom Bombadil Tom Bombadil is a character in J. R. R. Tolkien's Tolkien's legendarium, legendarium. He first appeared in print in a 1934 poem called "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil", which also included ''The Lord of the Rings'' characters Goldberry (Tom's wi ...

in ''

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's boo ...

'' has been described by Tolkien scholar

Tom Shippey Thomas Alan Shippey (born 9 September 1943) is a British medievalist, a retired scholar of Middle and Old English literature as well as of modern fantasy and science fiction. He is considered one of the world's leading academic experts on the ...

as the ''genius loci'' of the

Old Forest In J. R. R. Tolkien’s fictional universe of Middle-earth, the Old Forest was a daunting and ancient woodland just beyond the eastern borders of the Shire. Its first and main appearance in print was in ''The Fellowship of the Ring'', especia ...

, a wooded land bordering the

Shire Shire is a traditional term for an administrative division of land in Great Britain and some other English-speaking countries such as Australia and New Zealand. It is generally synonymous with county. It was first used in Wessex from the beginn ...

. In the ''Dungeons and Dragons'' 3.0 edition book the

Epic Level Handbook The ''Epic Level Handbook'' is a rule-book by Wizards of the Coast for the 3rd edition of ''Dungeons & Dragons''. The book was published in 2001, and contains optional game rules for playing characters who have reached a higher experience leve ...

, the genius loci is a malign, powerful ooze that mimics the landscape and has no intelligence of its own. It can magically enslave a visitor, whose mind affects the genius loci's behaviour. It is spontaneously generated when a place is undisturbed for a long time. In ''

The Dresden Files ''The Dresden Files'' is a series of contemporary fantasy/mystery novels written by American author Jim Butcher. The first novel, '' Storm Front''—which was also Butcher's writing debut—was published in 2000 by Roc Books. The books are wri ...

'', a genius loci is an elemental spirit of a place. The island of Demonreach has its own genius loci, also named Demonreach, which is omniscient with regards to its own island. Wizards can form a spiritual connection with a genius loci and the place it represents. The

Rivers of London Rivers of London may refer to * Blue Ribbon Network, a policy element of the London Plan relating to the navigable waterways of London * ''Rivers of London'' (novel), a 2011 urban fantasy novel by Ben Aaronovitch :* Peter Grant (book series) - t ...

series of novels by

Ben Aaronovitch Ben Dylan Aaronovitch (born 22 February 1964) is an English author and screenwriter. He is the author of the ''Peter Grant (book series), Rivers of London'' series of novels. He also wrote two ''Doctor Who'' serials in the late 1980s and spin-of ...

feature many beings described as ''genii locorum'', primarily those of the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...

and its

tributaries A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage b ...

References

External links

Essay on the Genius loci in landscape and garden design

{{Authority control Ancient Roman religion Geography terminology Landscape design history Psychogeography Roman deities Roman legendary creatures Tutelary deities