Janus ruled as king of Latium in the golden age and took Camese as his wife, and from their union was born Tiberinus, whose drowning in the river Albula gave the Tiber its name.
Janus fathered Fontus, god of springs and wells, upon the water nymph Juturna, uniting the god of beginnings with the goddess of flowing water to produce the deity of their source.
Janus caught the nymph Cardea with his backward-facing gaze when she tried to flee into a dark cave as she did with all her suitors. After lying with her, he gave her power over door hinges and the hawthorn branch to ward evil spirits from cradles.
Janus welcomed Saturn to Latium after Jupiter expelled him from heaven, sharing his throne with the exiled god. Together they presided over Italy's Golden Age of peace and agricultural abundance.
Numa Pompilius traditionally established the rituals of Janus worship and restructured the Roman calendar, making January the gateway month under Janus's divine patronage.
The doors of Janus's temple on the Forum stood open during wartime and were closed only when Pax reigned over the entire Roman world. Augustus famously closed them three times, linking Janus's ritual directly to the establishment of the Pax Romana.
When Titus Tatius and the Sabines stormed Rome through the gate Tarpeia had opened, Janus unleashed a torrent of boiling water from his threshold, driving the invaders back and sealing the passage with volcanic heat.
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