Janus- Roman GodDeity"God of Beginnings"

Janus and Saturn

In the opening of the Fasti, Ovid lets Janus speak for himself. The god describes how he welcomed Saturn to Italy after Jupiter drove him from heaven. They ruled together during the Golden Age. In gratitude, Saturn gave Janus the ability to see in both directions at once, past and future, which is why he has two faces.

Before Saturn came, Janus said, the land was called Latium because Saturn hid (latuit) there. The two gods shared power peacefully. Hills in Rome still carried their names: the Janiculum for Janus, the Saturnian hill (later the Capitoline) for Saturn.

The Gates of War

Numa Pompilius, Rome's second king, built the Temple of Janus Geminus in the Forum. It was not a temple in the usual sense but a bronze-doored archway. When the doors stood open, Rome was at war. When they were shut, Rome was at peace.

Livy records that between Numa and Augustus, the doors were shut only once: briefly after the First Punic War. Augustus closed them three times and made each closure a public declaration that the world was at peace under his rule.

First in Every Prayer

No sacrifice could be offered to any god until Janus received the first portion. No prayer could begin without his name. Even Jupiter came second. Cato the Elder's agricultural manual preserves the formula: Janus is addressed before the offering of wine and grain at field sacrifices. The Salii, Mars's dancing priests, opened their hymn with his name.

On the Kalends of January, Romans marked the new year with gifts of honey and coins, spoke only auspicious words, and climbed to the Capitoline in white garments. Ovid describes magistrates processing in fresh togas of office. Everything done on Janus's day was an omen for the year ahead.

On the Coins

Janus's double face appeared on the earliest Roman bronze coinage, the aes grave. One face bearded, one sometimes youthful. Romans called the two sides of a coin "heads and ships" (capita et navia), Janus on one side and a ship's prow on the other. The ship may recall Saturn's arrival by sea.