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Janus

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For other uses, see Janus (disambiguation).
"Bifrons" redirects here. For other uses, see Bifrons (disambiguation).

A statue representing Janus Bifrons in the Vatican Museums

In Roman religion and mythology, Janus is the god of beginnings and transitions,[1] thence also of gates, doors, doorways, endings and time. Most often he is depicted as having two heads, facing opposite directions: one head looks eastward and the other westward. Symbolically they look simultaneously into the future and the past, back at the last year and forward at the new,

Etymology

The etymologies proposed by the ancient and modern may be brought under three categories. Each of them bears implications for the nature of the god itself.[2]

The first one is grounded into a detail of the definition of Chaos given by Paul the Deacon: hiantem, hiare, be open, from which word Ianus would derive for the subtraction of the aspiration. This etymology is related to the notion of Chaos which would define the primordial nature of the god.[3] The idea of an association of the god to the Greek concept of Chaos looks contrived, as the initial function of Janus suffices in explaining his place at the origin of time.[4]

Another etymology proposed by Nigidius Figulus is related by Macrobius[5]: Ianus would be both Apollo and Diana Iana, by the additon of a D for the sake of euphony. This explanation has been accepted by A. B. Cook and J. G. Frazer. It supports all the assimilation of Janus to the bright sky, the sun and the moon. It supposes a former *Dianus, formed on *dia- < *dy-eð(2) from IE root *dey- shine represented in Latin by dies day, Diovis and Iuppiter.[6] However the form Dianus postulated by Nigidius is not attested.

The interpretation of Janus as the god of beginnings and transitions is grounded onto a third etymology indicated by Cicero, Ovid and Macrobius which explains the name as Latin deriving it from the verb ire ("to go").[7] It has been conjectured to be derived from the Indo-European root meaning transitional movement (cf. Sanskrit "yana-" or Avestan "yah-", likewise with Latin "i-" and Greek "ei-".).[8] Iānus would then be an action name expressing the idea of going, passing, formed on the root *yā- < *y-eð(2)- theme II of the root *ey- go from which eō, ειμι.[9]

Functions

While the fundamental nature of Janus is debated, the complex set of its functions may be seen as organised around a simple principle: in the view of most modern scholars that of the god's presiding over all beginnings and transitions, whether abstract or concrete, sacred or profane.[10] Interpretations concerning the fundamental nature of the god either limit it to this general function itself or emphasize a concrete or particular aspect of it (identitfying him with light[11] the sun,[12] the moon,[13] time,[14] movement,[15]the year, [16]doorways,[17] bridges[18] etc.) or see in the god a sort of cosmological principle, i. e. interpret him as an uranic deity.[19]

The function of god of beginnings has been clearly expressed by numerous ancient sources, among them most notably perhaps by Cicero, Ovid and Varro (preserved in Augustine).[20] As a god of movement he looks after passages, causes the startings in actions, presides on all beginnings and since movement and change are bivalent, he has a double nature, symbolised in his two headed image.[21]He has under his tutelage the stepping in and out of the door of homes,[22] the ianua, which took its name from him,[23] and not viceversa.[24] Similarly his tutelage extends to the covered passages named iani, and foremostly to the gates of the city: the cultual gate of the Argiletum, named Ianus Geminus or Porta Ianualis from which he protects Rome against the Sabins.[25] He is also present at the Sororium Tigillum, where he guards the terminus of the ways in from Latium.[26] He has an altar, later a temple near the Porta Carmentalis where was the end of the road leading to Veii, as well as being present on the Janiculum, a gateway from Rome out to Etruria. [27]

The connexion of the notions of beginning (principium) and movement and transition (eundo) has been clearly expressed by Cicero.[28] In general, Janus was the patron of concrete and abstract beginnings of the world,[29](such as the religion and the gods themselves),[30] he too holds the access to the heaven and other gods: this is the reason why men must invoke him first, regardless of the god they want to placate.[31] He is the initiator of the human life,[32] of new historical ages, and economical enterprises: in myth he first minted coins and money bears his effigy on one face.[33]

Because of his initial nature he 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, the growing up of young people, and of one universe to another. He was also known as the figure representing time because he could see into the past with one face and into the future with the other. This is also one of the xplanations of his image with the heads looking in opposite directions.[34] Hence, Janus was worshipped at the beginnings of the harvest and planting times, as well as marriages, deaths and other beginnings. He was representative of the middle ground between barbarity and civilization, rural country and urban cities, and youth and adulthood. Having jurisdiction on beginnings Janus had an intrinsic association with omens and auspices.[35]


According to a legend, he had received the gift to see both future and past from the god Saturn in reward for the hospitality received.[citation needed]

File:2002 Austria 100 Euro Sculpture back.jpg
The Sculpture Gold coin, depicting Janus

Several scholars[who?] suggest 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.[36]


Numa in his regulation of the Roman calendar called the first month Januarius after Janus, according to a tradition at the time considered the highest divinity. Numa also introduced the Ianus geminus (also Janus Bifrons, Janus Quirinus or Portae Belli) , a passage ritually opened at times of war, and shut again when Roman arms rested.[37] It formed a walled enclosure with gates at each end, situated between the old Roman Forum and that of Julius Caesar, which had been consecrated by Numa Pompilius. In the course of wars, the gates of the Janus were opened, and in its interior sacrifices and vaticinia were held to forecast the outcome of military deeds.[38] The doors were closed only during peacetime, an extremely rare event.[39] The function of the Ianus Geminus was supposed to be a sort of good omen: in time of peace it closed the wars within, in time of war or sometimes to keep peace inside; in times of war it was open to allow the return of the people on duty.[40] A temple of Janus is said to have been consecrated by the consul Gaius Duilius in 260 BCE after the Battle of Mylae in the Forum Holitorium. The four-side structure known as the Arch of Janus in the Forum Boarium dates to the 1th century CE: it was built by emperor Domitian.

Cultual epithets

A way to enquire into the complex nature of Janus is that of analysing systematically his cultual epithets. Religious documents may preserve a notion of the theology of a deity more accurately than other literary sources,

The main sources of Janus's cultual 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).[41] Literary works also preserve some of Janus's cultual epithets, such as Ovid's long passage of the Fasti devoted to Janus at the beginning of book I (89-293), Tertullian, Augustine and Arnobius.

Carmen Saliare

The opening verses of the carmen[42] were (as expectable) devoted to honouring Janus and were thence named versus ianuli.[43]Paulus-Festsus s.v. axamenta p.3 L mentions the versus ianuli, iovii, iunonii, minervii. Only part of the versus ianuli are preserved.

The manuscript has: (paragraph 26): "cozeulodorieso. cmia ũo adpatula coemisse./ ian cusianes duonus ceruses. dun; ianusue uet põmelios eum recum"; (paragraph 27): "diuum êpta cante diuum deo supplicante.""ianitos".

Many reconstructions have been proposed:[44] they vary widely on some points and are all tentative, however one can identify with certainty some epithets:

Cozeiuod[45] orieso.[46] Omnia vortitod Patulti; oenus es

iancus (or ianeus), Iane, es, duonus Cerus es, duonus Ianus.

Veniet potissimum melios eum recum.

Diuum eum patrem (or partem) cante, diuum deo supplicate.

ianitos.[47]

The epithets that can be identified are: Cozeuios, Conseuius the Sower, that opens the carmen and is attested as an old form of Consivius in Tertullian;[48] Patulcius: the Opener; Iancus or Ianeus: the Gatekeeper; Duonus Cerus: the Good Creator; rex (potissimum melios eum recum): the most powerful and best of them kings; diuum patrem (partem):[49] the father of them gods (or part of them gods); diuum deus: god of the gods; ianitos: the janitor, gatekeeper.

Other sources

The above mentioned sources give: Ianus Geminus, I. Pater, I. Iunonius, I. Consivius, I. Quirnus, I. Patulcius and Clusivius (Macrobius above I 9, 15): Ι. Κονσίβιον, Ι. Κήνουλον, Ι. Κιβουλλιον, Πατρίκιον, Κλουσίβιον, Ιουνώνιον, Κυρινον, Πατούλκιον, Κλούσιον, Κουριάτιον (Lydus above IV 1); Κιβούλλιον, Κυρινον, Κονσαιον, Πατρίκιον (Cedrenus Hist. Comp. I p.295 7 Bonn); Clusiuius, Patulcius, Iunonius, Quirinus (Servius Aen. VII 610).

Even though the lists overlap to a certain extent (five epithets are common to Macrobius's and Lydus's list), the explanations of the epithets differ to a remarkable extent too. Macrobius 's list and explanation are probably based directly on Cornelius Labeo's work as he cites him often in his Saturnalia as when he gives a list of cultual epithets of Maia[50] and mentions one of his works, Fasti.[51] In relating Ianus epithets Macrobius states: "We invoke in the sacred rites". Labeo himself, as it is stated in the passage on Maia, read them in the lists of indigitamenta of the libri pontificum. On the other hand Lydus's authority cannot have consulted these documents precisely because he offers different (and sometimes bizarre) explanations for the common epithets: it looks probable he just received a sheer list with no interpretations appended and he interpreted it according to his own views.[52]

Pater is perhaps the most frequent epithet of Janus, found also in the composition Ianuspater. Even though numerous gods share this cultual epithet it looks the Romans felt it was typically pertinent to Janus.[53] When he is invoked along other gods usually only he is called pater.[54] To Janus the title is not just a term of respect but primarily it marks his primordial role. He is the first of the gods and thence their father: the formula quasi deorum deum corresponds to diuum deus of the carmen Saliare.[55] To the same complex can be reconducted the expression duonus Cerus in which Cerus means creator and is considered a masculine form related to Ceres.[56] Lydus gives Πατρίκιος (Patricius) and explains it as autóchthon: since he does not give another epithet corresponding to Pater it is legitimate to infer that Lydus understands Patricius as a synonymous of Pater.[57] There is no evidence connecting Janus to gentilician cults or identifying him as a national god particularly venerated by the oldest patrician families.[58]

Geminus is the first epithet in Macrobius 's list. Even though the etymology of the word is unclear,[59] it is certainly related to his most typical character, that of having two faces or heads. The proof are the numerous equivalent expressions.[60] The origin of this epithet might be either concrete, referring directly to the image of the god reproduced on coins and supposed to have been introduced by king Numa in the sanctuary at the lowest of the Argiletum, or to a feature of the ianus of the Porta Belli that had a double gate ritually opened at the beginning of wars,[61] or abstract deriving metaphorically from the liminal, intermediary functions of the god themselves: both in time and space passages put into communication two different spheres, realms or worlds.[62] The Janus quadrifrons, brought according to tradition from Falerii in 241 BC [63]and installed by Domitian in the Forum Transitorium,[64] seems to be connected to the same theological complex, as its image purports an ability to rule over every direction, element and time of the year: it did not become a new epithet though.[65][66]

Patulcius and Clusivius or Clusius too are epithets related to an inherent quality and function of doors, that of standing open or shut. Janus as the Gatekeeper has jurisdiction on every kind of doors and passage and the power of opening or closing them.[67] Servius interprets (only Patulcius) in the same way. Lydus gives a wrog translation, "αντί του οδαιον": however this interpretation reflects one of the attributes of the god, i. e. that of being the protector of roads.[68]Elsewhere Lydus cites the epithet θυρέος to justify the key held by Janus.[69] The anthithetic quality of the two epithts is meant to refer to the alternance of opposite conditions[70] and is commonly found in the indigitamenta: Macrobius cites the instances of Antevorta and Postvorta in relation to Janus[71] who are the personification of two indigitations of Carmentis.[72] These epithets are associated with the ritual function of Janus in the opening of the of the Porta Ianualis or Porta Belli.[73]The rite might go back to times predating the founding of Rome.[74] Poets tried and explain this rite by imagining that the gate closed either war or peace inside the ianus, but in its religious significance it might have been meant to propitiate the return home of the victorious soldiers.[75]

Quirinus is a debated epithet. According to some scholars, mostly French, it looks to be strictly related to the same ideas of the passage from war back to peace, i. e. from the condition of soldier to that of quiris, citizen occupied in peaceful business as the rite of the Porta Belli. This is in fact the usual sense of the word quirites in Latin.[76] Other scholars, mainly German, think it is on the opposite related to the martial character of god Quirinus, interpretation which is supported by numerous ancient sources: Lydus,[77] Cedrenus,[78] Macrobius,[79] Ovid,[80] Plutarch[81] and Paul the Daecon[82][83] Capdeville counters that it is his function of presiding to the come back of peace that Janus got this epithet,as is confirmed by his association onn March 30 to Pax, Concordia and Salus,[84] even though it is true that Janus as god of all beginnings presides also to that of war and is thence often called belliger bringer of war[85] as well as pacificus. C. Koch on the other hand sees the epithet Janus Quirinus as a reflection of a patronage of the god on the two months beginning and ending the year, after their addition by king Numa in his reform of the calendar. This interpretation too would befit the liminal nature of Janus.[86] The compound term Ianus Quirinus was particularly in vogue at the time of Augustus as its peaceful interpretation fitted particularly well the augustan ideology of the pax romana.[87]

The compound Ianus Quirinus is to be found also in the rite of the spolia opima, a lex regia ascribed to Numa, which prescribed that the third rank spoils of a defeated king or chief of an enemy army, those conquered by a common soldier, be consacrated to Ianus Quirinus. R. Schilling on his part proposes to understand the reference of this rite to Ianus Quirinus in its original prophetic sense, which ascribes to him the last and conclusive spoils of the history of Rome.[88]

The epithet Ποπάνων (Popanōn) is attested only by Lydus,[89] who cites Varro as stating that on the day of the kalendae he was offered a cake which earned him this title. There is no surviving evidence of this name in Latin, although the rite is attested by Ovid for the kalendae of January[90] and by Paul[91] This cake was named ianual but the related epithet of Janus could not plausibly have been Ianualis: it has been suggested Libo[92] which remains sheerly hypothetic. The context could allow an Etruscan etymology.

Janus owes his epithet of Iunonius to his being the patron of all kalends which are associated to Juno, according to Macrobius explanation: "Iunonium, as if he holds not only the entry of January, but of all the months: indeed all the kalends are under the jurisdiction of Juno". At the time when the rising of the new moon was observed by the pontifex minor the rex sacrorum assisted by this pontiff offered a sacrifice to Janus in the Curia Calabra while the regina sacrorum sacrificed to Juno in the regia. [93] Some scholars have maintained that Juno was the primitive paredra of the god. This point bears on the nature of Janus and Juno and is at the core of an important dispute: i.e. whether Janus was an ancient debased uranic supreme god or Janus and Jupiter were coexistent and their distinction was structurally inherent in the original theology. Among Francophone scholars P. Grimal and M. Renard and in part V. Basanoff have supported the view of a debased uranic supreme god against G. Dumézil and R. Schilling. Among Anglophone scholars J. G. Frazer and A.B. Cook have suggested the interpretation of Janus as an uranic supreme god. Whatever the case it si certain that Janus and Juno show a peculiar reciprocal affinity: while Janus is Iunonius Juno is Ianualis as she favours delivery, women physiological cycle and opens doors.[94] Besides the kalends Janus and Juno are associated also in the rite of the Tigillum Sororium of October 1, in which they bear the epithet of Janus Curiatius and Juno Sororia.

Association with non Roman gods

Romans and Greek authors manitained Janus was an exclusively Roman god.[95] This Roman pretence looks to be haphardous and excessiv e according to R. Schilling,[96] at least iconographically. The god witht wo faces appeared repeatedly in the Babylonian art[97] Reproductions of the image of this god, named Usmu, on cylinders in Sumero-Accadic art is to be found in the work by H. Frankfort Cylinder seals London 1939 especially in plates at p. 106, 123, 132, 133, 137, 165, 245, 247, 254. On plate XXI, c, Usmu is seen while introducing worshippers to a seated god. Janus-like heads of gods related to Hermes have been found in Greece, perhaps suggesting a compound god.[98]

William Betham argued that the cult arrived from the Middle East and that Janus corresponds to the Baal-ianus or Belinus of the Chaldeans sharing a common origin with the Oannes of Berosus.[99]

The Roman statue of the ianus of the Argiletum, traditionally ascribed to Numa, was possibly very ancient, perhaps a sort of xoanon as the Greek ones of the VIII century.[100]

Legacy

In the Middle Ages, Janus was also taken as the symbol of Genoa, whose Latin name was Ianua, as well as of other European communes.[citation needed]

The traditional ascription of the "Temple of Janus" at Autun, Burgundy, is disputed.

Other myths

Janus was supposed to have shared a kingdom with Camese in Latium. They had many children, including Tiberinus.

When Romulus and his men kidnapped the Sabine women, Janus caused a volcanic hot spring to erupt, resulting in the would-be attackers being buried alive in the deathly hot, brutal water and ash mixture of the rushing hot volcanic springs that killed, burned, or disfigured many of Romulus's men. Romulus was in awe of the god's power. (Later on, however, the Sabines and Rome became allies.) In honor of this, the doors of a walled roofless structure called 'The Janus' (not a temple) were kept open during war after a symbolic contingent of soldiers had marched through it. The doors were closed in ceremony when peace was concluded. Augustus and Nero both advertised universal peace, which had led to 'the closing of the Janus', during their reigns.

See also

  • 39 Clues – a book that features "Janus" as a Cahill branch
  • Diprosopus – congenital disorder whereby part or all of the face is duplicated on the head; suggested as possible origin of Janus myth
  • Holism

References

  1. ^ Varro apud Augustine De Civitate Dei VII 9 and 3; Servius Aen. I 449; Paulus ex Festus s. v. Chaos p. 45 L
  2. ^ G. Capdeville "Les épithètes cultuelles de Janus" in MEFRA 85 2 1973 p . 399.
  3. ^ Paulus above : "Chaos appellabat Hesiodus confusam quondam ab initio unitatem, hiantem patentemque in profundum. Ex eo et χάσκειν Graeci, et nos hiare dicimus. Unde Ianus detracta aspiratione nominatur id, quod fuerit omnium primum; cui primo supplicabant velut parenti, et a quo rerum omnium factum putabant initium." Hesiod only reads (Theogonia 116): "Ή τοι μεν πρώτιστα Χάος γένετο..."; Ovid Fasti I 103ff.
  4. ^ G Capdeville "Les épithetes cultuels de Janus" in Mélanges de l'école française de Rome (Antiquité) 85 2 1973 p. 399-400; Capdeville mentions also Varro apud Augustine De Civitate Dei VII 8 who uses the word hiatus to explain the assimilation of Janus to to the world : "Duas eum facies ante et retro habere dicunt, quod hiatus noster, cum os aperimus, mundus similis videatur; unde et palatum Graeci ουρανόν appellant, et nonnulli, inquit, poetae Latini caelum vocaverunt palatum, a quo hiatu oris et fores esse aditum ad dentes versus introrsus ad fauces". A reminiscence of the same etymololgy may also be regarded Valerius Messala augur's definition in Macrobius's Saturnalia I 9, 14, i. e. somehow related to Paulus's: "He who makes and rules everything, keeping together with the force of the covering heaven the heavy nature of earth and water collapsing into the deep with the light nature of fire and wind escaping into the boundless high,"
  5. ^ Macrobius above I 9,8.
  6. ^ A. B. Cook Zeus. A Study in Ancient Religion Cambridge 1925 II p. 338-9 supposes two parallel series *Divianus, *Dianus, Ianus and Diviana (Varro Lingua Latina V 68), Diana, Iana (Varro De Re Rustica I 37, 3). This interpretation meets the difficulty of the long i in Dīāna. G. Radke Die Götter Altitaliens Münster 1965 p. 147.
  7. ^ Ovid Fasti I 126-7; Macrobius, Saturnalia, I, 9, 11: "Alii mundum, id est caelum, esse voluerunt: Ianumque ab eundo dictum, quod mundum semper eat, dum in orbem volvitur et ex se initium faciens in se refertur: unde et Cornificius Etymorum libro tertio: Cicero, inquit, non Ianum sed Eanum nominat, ab eundo." it should be remarked that Cornificius's quotation from Cicero contains a mistake, as Cicero did not name a Eanum; Cicero De Natura Deorum II 67: "Cumque in omnibus rebus vim habent maxumam prima et extrema, principem in sacrificando Ianum esse voluerunt, quod ab eundo nomen est ductum, ex quo transitiones perviae iani foresque in liminibus profanarum aedium ianuae nominantur"." "As in everything the first and the last things have the greatest force, they wanted that Janus be the first in sacrificial actions, because his name is derived from going, from which fact pervious passages are named iani and the hollows in the boundary of secular houses ianuae."
  8. ^ Taylor, Rabun, "Watching the Skies: Janus, Auspication, and the Shrine in the Roman Forum," Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome vol. 45 (2000): p, 1.
  9. ^ Objections moved by A. Meillet and A. Ernout to the possibility of this etymology have been rejected by most French scholars: E. Benveniste, R. Schilling, G. Dumezil, G. Capdeville. The enlargement of root *ey- into *ya- is well represented in Western IE, as e. g. in Irish āth ,*yā-tu-s ford: cf. J Pokorny Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch I Berne-Munich 1959 p. 296 s. v. i̯ā and Thesaurus linguae latinae s. v. ianus.
  10. ^ C. Bailey; M. Renard; R. Schilling; G. Dumezil; G. Capdeville.
  11. ^ L. Preller-H. Jordan Römische Mythologie I Berlin 1881 3rd p. 166-184.
  12. ^ A. Schwegler Römische Geschichte I Tübingen 1867 2nd p. 218-223; A. Brelich "Vesta:Janus und Vesta" in Albae Vigiliae Zurich 1949 p. 28 ff. esp. p. 34 and 39; R. Pettazzoni "Per l'iconografia di Giano" in Studi Etruschi 24 1955-56 p. 79-90 esp. p. 89.
  13. ^ L. A. MacKay "Janus" in University of California Publications in Classical Philology 15 4 1956 p. 157-182.
  14. ^ J. S. Speÿer "Le dieu romain Janus" in Revue de l'histoire des religions 26 1892 p. 1-47 esp. p. 43.
  15. ^ M. Renard "Aspects anciens de Janus et de Junon" in Revue belge de philologie et d'histoire 31 1 1953 p. 5-21 esp. p.6.
  16. ^ O. Huth Janus. Ein Beitrag zur altrömischen Religionsgeschichte Bonn 1932.
  17. ^ W. H. Roscher Ausfürliches Lexicon der griechischen und römischen Mythologie II 1890-1894 col. 15-55 s. v. Ianus; P. Grimal "Le dieu Janus et les origines de Rome" in Lettres d'humanité IV 1945 p. 15-121: Janus would a conflation of the numen of the mystic Gate of Rome with a Syrian sky god; C. Bailey Phases in the Religion of Ancient Rome Berkeley 1932 p. 46-47.
  18. ^ L. A. Holland "Janus and the bridge" in Papers and Monographs of the American Academy in Rome 21 1961 p. 231-3.
  19. ^ J. S. Speÿer above esp. p. 44; A. B. Cook Zeus astudy in ancient religion II Cambridge 1925 p. 328-392; P. Grimal Le dieu Janus et les origines de Rome, Lettres d'humanité IV 1945 p. 15-121 esp. p. 118.
  20. ^ Augustine De Civitate Dei VII 9: "Penes Ianum sunt prima, penes Iovem summa... Janus rules over the first things, Jupiter over the highest ones. It is thence right that Jupiter be considered the king of everything, because accomplishment has the first place in order of importance (dignitas) even though it has the second in order of time".
  21. ^ M. Renard "Aspects anciens de Janus et de Junon" in Revue belge de philologie et d'histoire 31 1 1953 p. 6.
  22. ^ C. Bailey above p. 47.
  23. ^ F. Altheim History of Roman Religion London 1938 p. 194; V. Basanoff Les dieux des Romains Paris 1942 p. 18.
  24. ^ M. Renard above p. 6 against C. Bailey above p. 47.
  25. ^ Ovid Fasti I 257ff.; on the location of the Porta Ianualis cf. P. Grimal "Le dieu Janus et les origines de Rome" in Lettres d'humanité IV 1945 p. 41; "Le Janus de l'Argilete" in Mélanges d'archaelogie et d'histoire 64 1952 p. 39-58; G. Lugli Roma antica. Il centro monumentale Roma 1946 p. 82ff.; A. Boethius "Il tempio di Giano in imo Argileto" in Symbolae Philologicae Gotoburgenses Gotheborg 1950 p.23ff.
  26. ^ It is possible that the Tigillum was on the boundary of the pomerium, perhaps the eastern gate at the end of the decumanus of Rome before the inclusion of the Septimontium: cf. the repetition of the formula vel intra pomerium vel extra pomerium in Livy's record concerning the expiation of Marcus Horatius (I 26, 6 and 11): R. Schilling "Janus. Le dieu introducteur. Le dieu des passages" in Mélanges d'archéologie et d'histoire 72 1960 p. 110 citing A. Piganiol in MEFR 1908 p. 233-82.
  27. ^ Paulus s.v. Ianiculum.
  28. ^ C. Bailey Phases in the Religion of Ancient Rome Berleley 1932 p.46; Cicero De Natura Deorum II 67.
  29. ^ According to Varro, in the carmen saliaris Janus is called "creator", as the initiator of the world itself. De lingua latina, VII, 26–27; Ovid Fasti I 117-20 states he is the ruler and mover of the universe.
  30. ^ Macrobius Saturnalia I 9, 2.
  31. ^ Ovid Fasti I 173-4.
  32. ^ Macrobius defines him Consivium, i.e. propagator of the human genre. Saturnalia, I, 9, 16.
  33. ^ Macrobius Sat. I 7, 22:for the ship on the other face remembers the arrival of Saturn; cf. Ovid Fasti I 230-40.
  34. ^ Macrobius Saturnalia I 7, 20: Antevorta and Postvorta are his associates deities in this function. Ovid Fasti I 133-40 states his double head means he caelestis ianitor aulae gatekeeper of the heavenly mansion, can watch both the eastern and western gate of heaven.
  35. ^ Ovid Fasti I 177-82:in beginnings are the omens and auguries, the doors of temples are open and the gods can hear priers.
  36. ^ Macrobius Saturnalia I 9, 8-9; Cicero De Natura Deorum ii. 67.
  37. ^ Horat. Carm. iv. 15. 8; Virg. Aen. vii. 607
  38. ^ Livy, History of Rome, I, 19, 2;
  39. ^ Livy wrote in his Ab urbe condita that the doors of the temple had only been closed twice since the reign of Numa: firstly in 235 BC after the first Punic war and secondly in after the battle of Actium in 31 BC. Cf. Ovid Fasti I 121-4; 277-83.
  40. ^ Ovid above; Virgil above.
  41. ^ G Capdeville above p. 404-7.
  42. ^ Varro Lingua LatinaVII 26 and 27.
  43. ^ This does not mean that there was any particular link between the Salii and Janus, contrary to what Lydus states in De MensibusIV 2, i. e. that the Salii were consacrated to the cult of Janus. R. G. Kent in the Loeb edition of Varro's De Lingua Latina 1938 p. 293 n. e states these verses were addressed to Mars.
  44. ^ References in A.B. Cook above II p. 329-331; a later attempt by J. F. K. Dirichs Die urlateischen Reklamestrophe auf dem sogenannten Dresselschen Drillingsgefäss des sabinischen Töpfers Dufnos Heidelberg 1934 p. 30.
  45. ^ Correcting i for l: this reading is accepted by both Havet anf Dirichs above.
  46. ^ The interpretation "Cozeiuod orieso"="Conseuiod orieso" is Dirich's. Havet reads: "Cozeui adoriose" ="Conseuius gloriose".
  47. ^ G Capdeville above p. 405-406, following in part L. Havet "De Saturnio Latinorum vers" BEPHE 43 Paris 1880 p. 243-251. "Let us begin with the sower. Patulcius you make everything turn, you are one./ Gatekeeper, Janus, are Thou, good creator are Thou, good Janus./ That He come the most powerful of them all kings./ Gatekeeper.
  48. ^ Velius Longus Orthographia 8 p. 50, 9 and 51, 5 ed. Keil on the use of letter z in the carmen Saliare.
  49. ^ Festus s. v. pa p. 222L: "pa pro parte, po pro potissimum in Saliari carmine positum est": the correction of parte into patre is allowed by Müller by not by Lindsay.
  50. ^ Macrobius above I 12, 21-22.
  51. ^ Macrobius above I 16, 29.
  52. ^ Capdeville above p. 409.
  53. ^ Atheneus Deipnosophistes 15, 692d: Masurius says: "The god Janus is considered among ourselves also as our father."
  54. ^ Virgil Aen. VIII 357: "Hanc Ianus Pater , hanc Saturnus condididt arcem"; Horace Epistulae I 16, 59: " "Iane pater" clare, clare cum dixit "Apollo" "; Seneca ApolocyntosisIX 2: "primus interrogatur sententiam Ianus pater"; Arnobius Ad Nationes III 29: "Incipiamus ...sollemniter ab Iano et nos patre".
  55. ^ Macrobius above I 9, 14.
  56. ^ Paulus p. 109L; Probus In Vergilii Gergicae I 7; Servius ibidem.
  57. ^ Cf. Lydus Mag. I 16 p. 20, 24 W on Romulus and the patres called patricii, considered equivalent to ευπατρίδας ; similar confusion in other Greek authors as Plutarch Romulus XIII 2 and 3; Zonaras Histor. VII 3.
  58. ^ This hypothesis is advanced by L. Preller- H. Jordan Römische Mythologie Berlin 1881 2nd p. 171.
  59. ^ A. Ernout- A. Meillet Dict. Etym. 4th ed. s.v. p. 268-9.
  60. ^ bifrons (Vergil Aeneis VII 180; XII 198; Servius Aen. VII 607; Ausonius Eclogae X 2; Dom. VI 5; Prudentius Sym. I 233; Macrobius Saturnalia I 9, 4 and 13; Augustine De Civ. Dei VII 7,8 Isidorus Origines V 33, 3); biceps (Ovid Fasti I 65; Pontica Iv 4, 23); anceps (Ovid Metamorphoses XIV 334; Fasti I 95); biformis (Ovid Fasti I 89; V 424).
  61. ^ Cf. Vergil Aen. VII 607 on the analogous monument in the town of Latinus.
  62. ^ Ovid Fasti I 73-4; Macrobius above I 9, 9; Servius Aen. VII 610; Lydus above IV 2 p. 65, 7 W.
  63. ^ Servius Aen. VII 607; Macrobius Sat. I 9, 13.
  64. ^ Lydus above Iv 1 p. 64, 4 W.
  65. ^ Macrobius above; Lydus above; Augustine above VII 8; VII 4.
  66. ^ R. Pettazzoni above p. 89: "A naïve iconographic expression of watching, into the two opposite directions and thence, ideally, into every direction".
  67. ^ Ovid above I 117-8: "Quidquid ubique vides, caelum, mare, nubila, terras,/ omnia sunt nostra clausa patentque manu".
  68. ^ Macrobius above I 9, 7 considers this to be an attribute of Janus as gatekeeper: "...cum clavi et virga figuratus , quasi omnium portarum custos et rector viarum".
  69. ^ Lydus above p. 64, 2 W.
  70. ^ Ovid above I 131-2: "...nomina diversas significare vices".
  71. ^ Macrobius above I 7, 21.
  72. ^ Varro apud Gellius Noctes Atticae XVI 16, 4 in the form Porrima; L. L. Tels De Jong Sur quelques divinités romaines de la naissance et de la prophétie Leyden Delft 1959 p. 41-60. Another instance of opposite epithets in the indigitamenta is that of Panda and Cela referred to Ceres. J. Bayet " "Feriae Sementiuae" et les Indigitations dans le culte de Ceres et de Tellus" in Revue de l'histoiire des religions 137 1950 p. 172-206 part. p.195-197.
  73. ^ Varro Lingua Latina V 165: Livy I 19, 2; Pliny Naturalis Historia XXXIV 33.
  74. ^ Cf. Vergil Aen. VII 601-615.
  75. ^ Ovid above I 279-80; Servius Aen. I 291; Lydus IV 2 p. 65,17 W.; G. Capdeville above p. 420
  76. ^ G . Dumézil La religion romaine archaïque Paris 1966 p. 246-271; R. Schilling "Janus. Le dieu introducteur. Le dieu des passages" in Melanges d'archeologie et d'histoire 72 1960 p.119-120 citing G. Wissowa Religion und Kultus der Römer Munich 1912 p. 109; Paulus p. 43 L: "Romani a Quirino Quirites dicuntur"; Festus p. 304L: "...Quirites dicti, post foedus a Romulo et Tatio percussum, communionem et societatem populi factam indicant".
  77. ^ Lydus above:"πρόμαχος".
  78. ^ Cedrenus above.
  79. ^ Macrobius above I 9, 16: "Quirinus quasi bellorum potentem, ab hasta quam Sabini curin vocant".
  80. ^ Ovid above II 475-478.
  81. ^ Plutarch Romulus XXIX 1; Quaestiones Romanae XXVII 285 cd.
  82. ^ Paulus 43, 1 L.
  83. ^ L. Deubner Mitteilungen des deutschen archaelogisches Institut Berlin 36-37 1921-1922 p. 14ff.; W. F. Otto Pauly Real Enzyklopaedie der Altertumswissenschaften Supplem. III col. 1182.
  84. ^ Ovid above III 881-882; J.- C. Richard "Pax, Concordia wt la religion officielle de Janus à la fin de la République romaine in MEFR 75 1963 p. 303-386.
  85. ^ Lucan Pharsalia I 61-2; Statius Silvvae II 3, 12.
  86. ^ C. Koch "Bemerkungenzum römischen Quirinuskult" in Zeitschrift für Religions and Geistesgeschichte 1953 p.1-25.
  87. ^ Res Gestae Divi Augusti XIII; Suetonius Aug. XXII 5; Horatius Odes IV 15, 4-9.
  88. ^ R. Schilling above p.128, citing Festus s. v. spolia opima p. 204 L.
  89. ^ Lydus above IV 2 p. 64, 18 W.
  90. ^ Ovid above I 128: "libum farraque mixta sale".
  91. ^ Paulus s.v. Ianual p. 93, 4 L.
  92. ^ J. Speÿer above p. 28.
  93. ^ Macrobius I 15, 9-10 and 19.
  94. ^ Servius Aen. VII 620-622; Ovid Fasti I ; Isidore Origines VIII 11, 69: "Iunonem dicunt quasi Ianonem, id est ianuam, propurgationibus feminarum, eo quod quasi portas matrum natis pandat, et nubentum maritis".
  95. ^ Ovid FastiI 90; Dion Hal..
  96. ^ R. Schilling above p. 115.
  97. ^ A. Ungnad "Der babylonische Janus" in Archiv für Orientforschung 5 1929 p. 185.
  98. ^ J. Marcadé "Hermès double" in B. C. H. 76 1952 p. 596-624.
  99. ^ Royal Numismatic Society, Proceedings of the Numismatic Society, James Fraser, 1837
  100. ^ P. J. Riis An introduction to Etruscan art Copenhagen 1953 p. 121.

Sources

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Janus (mythology).
  • Dumézil, Georges (2001). La religione romana arcaica. Milan: Rizzoli. p. 291. ISBN 8817866377.
  • Ferrari, Anna (2001). Dizionario di mitologia greca e latina. Milan: Rizzoli. ISBN 8817866377.
  • Livius.org: Janus
  • Translation of Ovid's Fasti, a section on January, and Janus
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