J. S. Speÿer above esp. [233] While Janus has the first place Vesta has the last, both in theology and in ritual (Ianus primus, Vesta extrema). In general, Janus is at the origin of time as the guardian of the gates of Heaven: Jupiter himself can move forth and back because of Janus's working. Thence one may argue that the articulation Ianus-Ianitores could be interpreted as connected to the theologem of the Gates of Heaven (the Synplegades) which open on the Heaven on one side and on Earth or the Underworld on the other. Legends are like the shifting sands of a desert—forever changing, hard to grasp. Livy I 26, 13; Paulus ex Festus p.399, 2 L ; Pseudo Aurelius Victor, R. Schilling "Janus, dieu introducteur, dieu des passages" in, For a thorough listing of the hypotheses advanced cf. Plutarch[206] writes that according to some Janus was a Greek from Perrhebia. On plate XXI, c, Usmu is seen while introducing worshippers to a seated god. Premium Membership is now 50% off! According to the Leather Hall of Fame biography of Slater, she said of the Society of Janus, "There were three basic reasons why we chose Janus. Varro on the other hand had clear the relevance of the function of starting a new life by opening the way to the semen and therefore started his enumeration of the gods with Janus, following the pattern of the Carmen Saliare. [265] The organization focused on a policy of militant respectability, a strategy demanding respect by showing the public gay individuals conforming to hetero-normative standards of dress at protests.[264]. As the rites of the Salii mimic the passage from peace to war and back to peace by moving between the two poles of Mars and Quirinus in the monthly cycle of March, so they do in the ceremonies of October, the Equus October ("October Horse") taking place on the Campus Martius[173] the Armilustrium, purification of the arms, on the Aventine,[174] and the Tubilustrium on the 23rd. [152], Janus was also involved in spatial transitions, presiding over home doors, city gates and boundaries. Omissions? [257] They include the Indian goddess Aditi who is called two-faced as she is the one who starts and concludes ceremonies,[258] and Scandinavian god Heimdallr. Other correspondences may be found in the dates of the founding of the temples of Mars on 1 June and of that of Quirinus on 29 June, in the pre-Julian calendar the last day of the month, implying that the opening of the month belonged to Mars and the closing to Quirinus. Another instance of a four faced god is the Slavic god Svetovid. In Act I Scene 1 of Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice Salarino refers to the two headed Janus while failing to find the reason of Antonio's melancholy. Janus had no flamen or specialised priest (sacerdos) assigned to him, but the King of the Sacred Rites (rex sacrorum) himself carried out his ceremonies. [90] Servius interprets Patulcius in the same way. B. Hoffmann. [116] This cake was named ianual but the related epithet of Janus could not plausibly have been Ianualis: it has been suggested Libo[117] which remains purely hypothetical. Its name in English, like that of Earth, is of Germanic and Old English derivation. [242], From other archaeological documents though it has become clear that the Etruscans had another god iconographically corresponding to Janus: Culśanś, of which there is a bronze statuette from Cortona (now at Cortona Museum). [254], P. Grimal considers Janus a conflation of a Roman god of doorways and an ancient Syro-Hittite uranic cosmogonic god. Vesta is thence the goddess of the hearth of homes as well as of the city. [179] The tigillum consisted of a beam on two posts. Sumerian depictions of Isimud are often very similar to the typical portrayals of Janus in ancient Roman art. [235] Ani has thence been eliminated from Etruscan theology as this was his only attestation. Lydus understands Consivius as βουλαιον (consiliarius) owing to a conflation with Consus through Ops Consiva or Consivia. In Greece Crane, Cranea is an epithet of Athens, meaning the rocky city; the Cranai are nymphs of rocks, or Naiads of springs. The name of the god Iānus, meaning in Latin 'arched passage, doorway', stems from Proto-Italic *iānu ('door'), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ieh₂nu ('passage'). [244] According to Capdeville he may also be found on the outer rim of the Piacenza Liver on case 14 in the compound form CULALP, i.e., "of Culśanś and of Alpan(u)" on the authority of Pfiffig, but perhaps here it is the female goddess Culśu, the guardian of the door of the Underworld. In 2020, the character Deceit from the series Sanders Sides, created by Thomas Sanders, in the episode "Putting Others First", revealed his name to be Janus. Instead, he is the messenger of Enki, the ancient Sumerian god of water and civilization. In the 1995 spy film GoldenEye in the James Bond film series, main antagonist Alec Trevelyan calls himself code name "Janus" after he betrays Bond and subsequently M16 after learning he is a Lienz Cossack. The custom of attaining lustration and fertility by passing under a gap in rocks, a hole in the soil or a hollow in a tree is widespread. or else see in the god a sort of cosmological principle, interpreting him as a uranic deity. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. It contained a statue of the god with the right hand showing the number 300 and the left the number 65—i.e., the length in days of the solar year, and twelve altars, one for each month.[56]. It supports all the assimilations of Janus to the bright sky, the sun and the moon. He represented time, because he could see into the past with one face and into the future with the other. [59] In fact the building of the Forum Transitorium was completed and inaugurated by Nerva in AD 96. CIL I 2nd p. 214: "Fasti Aru. J Pokorny, A. Meillet DELL s.v. [45], As a consequence the position of the gods of beginning would not be the issue of a diachronic process of debasement undergone by a supreme uranic god, but rather a structural feature inherent to their theology. 5 It. [36] He presides over the concrete and abstract beginnings of the world,[37] such as religion and the gods themselves,[38] he too holds the access to Heaven and to other gods: this is the reason why men must invoke him first, regardless of the god they want to pray to or placate. Schilling's opinion is that it is related to curia,[133] as the Tigillum was located not far from the curiae veteres. Lydus gives an incorrect translation, "αντί του οδαιον" which however reflects one of the attributes of the god, that of being the protector of roads. [92] The antithetical quality of the two epithets is meant to refer to the alterning opposite conditions[93] and is commonly found in the indigitamenta: in relation to Janus, Macrobius cites instances of Antevorta and Postvorta,[94] the personifications of two indigitations of Carmentis. However no Latin source cites relationships of any kind between Consus and Janus Consivius. [198] M. Renard sees the association of Janus with Crane as reminiscent of widespread rites of lustration and fertility performed through ritual walking under low crags or holes in the soil or natural hollows in trees, which in turn are reflected in the lustrative rite of the Tigillum Sororium. Janus Quirinus was closely associated with the anniversaries of the dedications of the temples of Mars on 1 June (a date that corresponded with the festival of Carna, a deity associated with Janus: see below) and of that of Quirinus on 29 June (which was the last day of the month in the pre-Julian calendar). Among Anglophone scholars Frazer and Cook have suggested an interpretation of Janus as uranic supreme god. In ancient Roman religion and myth, Janus (/ˈdʒeɪnəs/ JAY-nəs; Latin: IANVS (Iānus), pronounced [ˈjaːnʊs]) is the god of beginnings, gates, transitions, time, duality, doorways,[1] passages, frames, and endings. The main sources of Janus's cult epithets are the fragments of the Carmen Saliare preserved by Varro in his work De Lingua Latina, a list preserved in a passage of Macrobius's Saturnalia (I 9, 15–16), another in a passage of Johannes Lydus's De Mensibus (IV 1), a list in Cedrenus's Historiarum Compendium (I p. 295 7 Bonn), partly dependent on Lydus's, and one in Servius Honoratus's commentary to the Aeneis (VII 610). In Macrobius Camese is a male: after Camese's death Janus reigned alone. [186][187][188] This would be a further element in explaining the role of Juno in the Tigillum. [citation needed]. [52] In wartime the gates of the Janus were opened, and in its interior sacrifices and vaticinia were held, to forecast the outcome of military deeds. [74] When invoked along with other gods, usually only he is called pater. [183] Renard thinks that while Janus is the god of motion and transitions he is not concerned directly with purification, while the arch is more associated with Juno. Mircea Eliade gave a positive evaluation of Dumezil's views and of the results in comparative research on Indoeuropean religions achieved in Tarpeia.