File:Geniuses depicted in Roman frescos of Pompeii and Herculaneum 1st century BCE - 1st century CE.jpg

English: Geniuses depicted in Roman frescos in Herculaneum's House of the Stags (Deer) 1st century BCE - 1st century CE.

Translated full plate text: "Of the two Geniuses depicted in the first part of this plate, one arranges a crown of myrtle on his head, while the other, crowned with the same foliage, dances holding in his hand a split reed stem, which had much the same effect as castanets or Harlequin's bat. This is one of the percussion instruments generically known as crotales (1): it was used to beat time to a highly indecent dance (2), as are some of the steps still accompanied by castanets.

In the second frame, one of the children is also holding a split reed; the other is carrying a long spear on his left shoulder, to the tip of which is attached a fruit or ball: perhaps this is a rope dancer's pendulum. On the left hand, this same Genie carries a ring with bells suspended by a cord, or one of those disks with handles that were called dumbbells, and that were held in the hand while performing the exercise of jumping (1).

All these Genii preside over the arts whose attributes they bear. We have grouped the personifications of the various trades into a single series here: the ancients liked to represent them, particularly in places intended for the exercise of the professions of which these Genii were, so to speak, the patrons." - Louis Barré