In Roman antiquity, the spirits of the dead considered as tutelary divinities of their families; the deified shades of the dead, according to the belief that the soul continued to exist and to have relations with earth after the body had perished.Hence—2. The spirit of a deceased person, or the shades of the dead, whether considered as the object of a cult or not.By metonymy— The lower world or infernal regions, as the abode of the manes.The punishments imposed in the lower world.