In
ancient Roman religion and mythology, Janus is the god of beginnings
and transitions, thence also of gates, doors, doorways, endings and
time. He is usually a two-faced god since he looks to the future and
the past. The Romans dedicated the month of January to Janus. His
most apparent remnant in modern culture is his namesake, the month of
January.
Though
he was usually depicted with two faces looking in opposite directions
(Janus Geminus (twin Janus) or Bifrons), in some places he was Janus
Quadrifrons (the four-faced). The Romans associated Janus with the
Etruscan deity Ani.
Janus
was frequently used to symbolize change and transitions such as the
progression of past to future, of one condition to another, of one
vision to another, and of one universe to another. Hence, Janus was
worshipped at the beginnings of the harvest and planting times, as
well as marriages, births and other beginnings. He was representative
of the middle ground between barbarity and civilization, rural
country and urban cities, and youth and adulthood.
Though
he was usually depicted with two faces looking in opposite directions
(Janus Geminus (twin Janus) or Bifrons), in some places he was Janus
Quadrifrons (the four-faced). The Romans associated Janus with the
Etruscan deity Ani.
Janus
was frequently used to symbolize change and transitions such as the
progression of past to future, of one condition to another, of one
vision to another, and of one universe to another. Hence, Janus was
worshipped at the beginnings of the harvest and planting times, as
well as marriages, births and other beginnings. He was representative
of the middle ground between barbarity and civilization, rural
country and urban cities, and youth and adulthood.
While the fundamental nature of Janus is debated, in most modern researchers view the set of the god's functions may be seen as being organized around a simple principle: that of presiding over all beginnings and transitions, whether abstract or concrete, sacred or profane. Interpretations concerning the god's fundamental nature either limit it to this general function or emphasize a concrete or particular aspect of it (identifying him with light the sun, the moon, time, movement, the year, doorways, bridges etc.) or see in the god a sort of cosmological principle, i. e. interpret him as a uranic deity.
Almost
all these modern interpretations were originally formulated by the
Romans themselves The function of 'god of beginnings' has been
clearly expressed in numerous ancient sources, among them most
notably perhaps Cicero, Ovid and Varro. As a god of motion he looks
after passages, causes actions to start and presides over all
beginnings, and since movement and change are bivalent, he has a
double nature, symbolized in his two headed image.
He
has under his concerns the stepping in and out of the door of
homes, the ianua, which took its name from him, and not vice versa.
Similarly his tutelage extends to the covered passages named iani and
foremost to the gates of the city, including the cultic gate called
the Argiletum, named Ianus Geminus or Porta Ianualis from which he
protects Rome against the Sabines. He is also present at the Sororium
Tigillum, where he guards the terminus of the ways into Rome from
Latium. He has an altar, later a temple near the Porta Carmentalis,
where the road leading to Veii ended, as well as being present on the
Janiculum, a gateway from Rome out to Etruria.
The
connecion of the notions of beginning (principium), movement,
transition (eundo), and thence time has been clearly expressed by
Cicero. In general, Janus is at the origin of time as the guardian of
the gates of Heaven: Jupiter himself moves forth and back because of
Janus's working.In one of his temples, probably that of Forum
Holitorium, the hands of his statue were positioned to signify the
number 355 (the number of days in a year), later 365, symbolically
expressing his mastership over time. He presides over the concrete
and abstract beginnings of the world, such as religion and the gods
themselves, he too holds the access to Heaven and other gods: this is
the reason why men must invoke him first, regardless of the god they
want to pray or placate. He is the initiator of human life, of new
historical ages, and financial enterprises: according to myth he was
the first to mint coins and the as, first coin of the libral series,
bears his effigy on one face.
Janus
frequently symbolized change and transitions such as the progress of
future to past, from one condition to another, from one vision to
another, and young people's growth to adulthood. He was represented
time, because he could see into the past with one face and into the
future with the other. Hence, Janus was worshipped at the beginnings
of the harvest and planting times, as well as at marriages, deaths
and other beginnings. He represented the middle ground between
barbarism and civilization, rural and urban, youth and adulthood.
Having jurisdiction over beginnings Janus had an intrinsic
association with omens and auspices.
Leonhard
Schmitz suggests that he was likely the most important god in the
Roman archaic pantheon. He was often invoked together with Iuppiter
(Jupiter).
According
to Macrobius citing Nigidius Figulus and Cicero, Janus and Jana
(Diana) are a pair of divinities, worshipped as Apollo or the sun and
moon, whence Janus received sacrifices before all the others, because
through him is apparent the way of access to the desired deity.
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