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Mythographia

    Source Verification: Janus

    Every claim below is either what a named ancient source attests, in its own line or section, or a point where the sources themselves disagree.

    What the Sources Attest

    Was Janus a Roman god?

    Yes. Janus was a native Roman god, and Roman writers knew he had no Greek model. Ovid asks what god to call him, since Greece has no deity to match him (Fasti 1.89-90). Cicero says the Romans made Janus first in every sacrifice, because beginnings matter most (De Natura Deorum 2.67). In the Fasti, Janus explains that worshippers offer him incense first so that they can reach any other god through him (Fasti 1.171-174). Some ancient writers still treated him as an early king of Italy who was later honoured as a god. Plutarch calls him a demigod or a king of remote antiquity (Life of Numa 19.6).

    Source: Ovid, Fasti 1.89-90

    Why does Janus have two faces?

    Ancient writers gave several reasons. In Ovid's Fasti, Janus offers two himself. His faces are a trace of the time he was Chaos, when his front and back looked the same (Fasti 1.111-114). They also suit his office, since every door has two fronts. Like a doorkeeper, he watches east and west without turning his neck (Fasti 1.135-144). Macrobius adds other views. One says a wise king knew the past and foresaw the future (Saturnalia 1.7.20). Another makes Janus the sun, opening the day at dawn and closing it at dusk (Saturnalia 1.9.9). Plutarch says the faces show that Janus moved human life from one condition into another (Life of Numa 19.6).

    Source: Ovid, Fasti 1.133-144

    Was there a Greek version of Janus?

    Not directly. Ovid states that Greece has no deity equal to Janus (Fasti 1.89-90). Janus himself compares his two faces with the three faces of Hecate, who watches the crossroads (Fasti 1.141-144). Macrobius reports that the scholar Nigidius identified Janus with Apollo. The Greeks worshipped an Apollo of the doorway, with altars set before their doors, while Diana held power over roads (Saturnalia 1.9.5-8). The Greek version of Augustus's own record renders Janus Quirinus as the Gate of Enyalios, a name for a war god (Res Gestae 13). These are comparisons, not a Greek twin.

    Source: Ovid, Fasti 1.89-90

    Who is Janus' wife?

    The ancient sources rarely give Janus a wife. The Christian writer Arnobius lists what pagans told of him. Janus was a son of Caelus and Hecate, the first king in Italy and founder of the town Janiculum. He was also father of Fontus, son-in-law of Volturnus and husband of Juturna (Against the Pagans 3.29). Ovid names a different partner. In the Metamorphoses, the nymph Venilia is said to have borne Janus a daughter on the Palatine hill (Metamorphoses 14.333-334). That daughter was Canens, famous for her singing, who married Picus of Laurentum (Metamorphoses 14.336-338). Ovid's Fasti tells of Janus seizing the nymph Crane, but she is never called his wife (Fasti 6.119-128).

    Source: Ovid, Metamorphoses 14.333-334

    What were the Gates of Janus?

    They were the doors of Janus's shrine in Rome, left open in war and shut in peace. Livy says King Numa built it at the foot of the Argiletum for exactly that purpose (Ab Urbe Condita 1.19.2). Virgil calls them the twin Gates of War, held by a hundred bronze bars, which the consul opens when the senate votes for war (Aeneid 7.607-614). Ovid's Janus gives a reason. The doors stand open so that the army has a way home, and shut in peace so that peace cannot leave (Fasti 1.277-282). Closing them was rare. Livy counts two closings after Numa (Ab Urbe Condita 1.19.3), and Augustus claims three more in his own time (Res Gestae 13).

    Source: Virgil, Aeneid 7.607-622

    Is January named after Janus?

    Ancient writers say so. Plutarch states that the first month, January, is named from Janus (Life of Numa 19.5). Ovid says King Numa did not pass over Janus when he placed two new months before the old ones (Fasti 1.43-44). Macrobius says Numa named the first of these Januarius and made it the first month of the year. It belonged to the two-headed god who looks both ways (Saturnalia 1.13.3). Ovid also asked why the year starts in cold winter rather than spring. Janus answered that midwinter is the first day of the new sun and the last of the old (Fasti 1.149-164).

    Source: Ovid, Fasti 1.43-44

    Where Accounts Differ

    • Janus as Chaos, the sun, the sky or an early king
    • why Janus has two faces
    • who raised the hot springs against the Sabines
    • how often the Gates of Janus were closed
    • who opens the Gates of War and where the shrine stood
    • Juturna or Venilia as Janus's partner
    • where the name Janus comes from
    • Ancient writers disagree on what Janus is. In Ovid's Fasti he says he was once Chaos, the undivided mass of the elements (Fasti 1.103-114). Macrobius reports that some identified him with the sun (Saturnalia 1.9.9), others with the world, meaning the sky (Saturnalia 1.9.11), and the scholar Nigidius with Apollo and Diana (Saturnalia 1.9.5-8). Arnobius records the views that he was the world, the year or the sun (Against the Pagans 3.29). A separate tradition makes him a human king. Macrobius, following Hyginus and Protarchus of Tralles, says Janus ruled Italy, first with Camese and then alone (Saturnalia 1.7.19-20). Plutarch leaves it open whether he was a demigod or a king (Life of Numa 19.6).
    • The two faces have rival explanations. Ovid's Janus gives two: a trace of his shapeless origin (Fasti 1.111-114), and his office as doorkeeper who sees both ways (Fasti 1.135-144). Macrobius adds a king who knew past and future (Saturnalia 1.7.20; 1.9.4), the sun opening and closing the day (Saturnalia 1.9.9), and, citing Gavius Bassus, a doorkeeper of the upper and lower worlds (Saturnalia 1.9.13). He also mentions a four-faced statue brought from Falerii (Saturnalia 1.9.13). Plutarch reads the faces as a passage from a savage life to a civil one (Life of Numa 19.6).
    • The hot springs that stopped the Sabines have different makers. In the Fasti, Janus opens the springs himself and heats them with sulphur, after Juno has removed the gate's bolts (Fasti 1.265-272). In the Metamorphoses, Juno opens the gate, Venus notices, and the nymphs of a spring beside Janus's shrine heat their waters with sulphur and pitch at her request (Metamorphoses 14.781-797). Macrobius places the event at a gate below the Viminal hill, later called the Janualis. The gate would not stay shut, and a torrent burst from the temple of Janus and scalded the Sabines (Saturnalia 1.9.17-18).
    • The sources count the closings of the Gates of Janus differently. Livy says Numa built the shrine and that it was shut twice after him: under the consul Titus Manlius after the First Punic War, and under Augustus after Actium (Ab Urbe Condita 1.19.2-3). Plutarch says it stayed shut for all forty-three years of Numa's reign. After him it closed briefly under the consuls Marcus Atilius and Titus Manlius, and again under Augustus after he defeated Antony (Life of Numa 20.1-2). Augustus says it had been shut twice before his birth, and three times by senate order under him (Res Gestae 13).
    • Who opens the gates also varies. In Virgil the consul unbars them once the senate votes for war (Aeneid 7.611-614). King Latinus refuses the task, and Juno breaks them open herself (Aeneid 7.616-622). The shrine's location differs too. Livy's Latin places it at the foot of the Argiletum (Ab Urbe Condita 1.19.2); the English translation on Perseus renders this as 'the foot of the Aventine', which the Latin does not say. Ovid's Janus says his temple stands joined to two forums (Fasti 1.257-258).
    • Janus's family is thinly attested. Arnobius calls him son of Caelus and Hecate, father of Fontus, son-in-law of Volturnus and husband of Juturna (Against the Pagans 3.29). Ovid instead has the nymph Venilia bear him a daughter, Canens (Metamorphoses 14.333-338). Neither Ovid nor Virgil calls anyone Janus's wife.
    • Ancient writers explain the name Janus in different ways. Cicero derives it from going (ab eundo) and links it to iani, passages, and ianuae, doors (De Natura Deorum 2.67). Macrobius cites Cornificius for the claim that Cicero called him Eanus, and Nigidius for a female counterpart Jana, identified with Diana (Saturnalia 1.9.8, 1.9.11). In the Fasti, Janus ties his name to his office of guarding doors (Fasti 1.125-127).

    Sources

    Primary sources
    • Ovid, Fasti 1.43-44
    • Ovid, Fasti 1.63-66
    • Ovid, Fasti 1.89-144
    • Ovid, Fasti 1.149-174
    • Ovid, Fasti 1.235-282
    • Ovid, Fasti 6.101-130
    • Ovid, Metamorphoses 14.333-338
    • Ovid, Metamorphoses 14.778-804
    • Virgil, Aeneid 7.177-181
    • Virgil, Aeneid 7.607-622
    • Virgil, Aeneid 8.355-358
    • Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 1.19.2-3
    • Cicero, De Natura Deorum 2.67