a poetical term, signifying the shades or souls of the deceased. The heathens used a variety of ceremonies and sacrifices to appease the manes of those who were deprived of burial. See LEMURES and LEMURIA.

Dii MANES, were the same with inferi, or the infernal gods, who tormented men; and to these the heathens offered sacrifices to alleviate their indignation.

The heathen theology is a little obscure with regard to these gods manes. Some hold, that they were the souls of the dead; others, that they were the genii of men; which last opinion suits best with the etymology of the word.

The heathens, it is pretty evident, used the word manes in several senses; so that it sometimes signified the ghosts of the departed, and sometimes the infernal or subterranean deities, and in general all divinities that presided over tombs.

The invocation of the manes of the dead seems to have been very frequent among the Thebians; but it was expressly prohibited by the Romans. See LARES.

the founder of the Manichean system. See MANICHEES.