Genius Augusti

When Genius Augusti was in the Roman Empire of Genius (personal guardian spirit of a man and an expression of his personality) of a reigning emperor called.

Since at the time of the Romans the slaves and other domestic servants worshiped the genius of the pater familias and swore by him, this custom was now carried over to the genius of the emperor. The oath on the emperor was therefore not taken on his person, but on the genius Augusti, making perjury a religious crime .

Web links

• Zsuzsanna Várhelyi: The development of the worship of the genius Augusti in Italy in the early Roman Empire