As the god of transitions and dualities, Janus is portrayed with two faces-one facing the past, and one facing the future. What is unusual about the god Janus is his iconic image.
As the Roman god of beginnings and transitions, Janus is the namesake of January, the first month of a new year. In fact, there is evidence that Janus was worshipped long before many of the other Roman gods, dating all the way back to the time of Romulus (the founder and first ruler of Rome).Īnd if you’ve ever wondered how the month of January got its name, you have Janus to thank. For this reason, Janus was often invoked first in ancient Roman religious ceremonies, and during public sacrifices, offerings were given to Janus before any other deity.
As the god of gates, Janus guarded the gates of heaven and held access to heaven and other gods. He oversaw seasonal events such as planting, harvests, seasonal changes, and the new year.Īccording to Roman mythology, Janus was present at the beginning of the world. Ancient Romans believed Janus ruled over life events such as weddings, births, and deaths. Janus was known as the initiator of human life, transformations between stages of life, and shifts from one historical era to another. Janus represented the middle ground between both concrete and abstract dualities such as life/death, beginning/end, youth/adulthood, rural/urban, war/peace, and barbarism/civilization. In Roman mythology, Janus was the god of doors, gates, and transitions. Other well-known Roman gods include Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury, Mars, Neptune, Orcus, Ceres, Juno, Luna Diana, and Vesta.) And then there’s Janus, a lesser-known god, but arguably one of the most important. It seems like the ancient Romans had a god or goddess for everything: Poseidon, god of the sea Venus, goddess of love and beauty and Apollo, god of the sun. In this post we’re unlocking the myths surrounding Janus, the Roman god of doors. See, the ancient Romans had a specific god who held the key, so to speak, to the metaphorical doors or gateways between what was and what is to come-the liminal space of transitioning out of one period of time and into something new.Īt Anderson Lock, we’re kind of obsessed with all things relating to doors and keys. In ancient Roman religion and mythology, Janus was the god of gates and doors.
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