Roman Household Spirits

To the ancient Romans, everything was imbued with a divine spirit (numen, plural: numina) which gave it life. Even supposedly inanimate objects like rocks and trees possessed a numen, a belief which no doubt grew out of the early religious practice of animism. There were spirits of a place, of rivers and springs, hills and valleys, the home - and even aspects of the home – as well as those who guarded, or could threaten, the people who lived there.