Editing Janus (section)

== Theology and functions ==
[[File:Montfaucon's Janus.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Different depictions of Janus from [[Bernard de Montfaucon]]'s ''L'antiquité expliquée et représentée en figures'']]

While the fundamental nature of Janus is debated, in most modern scholars' view the god's functions may be seen as being organised around a single principle: presiding over all beginnings and transitions, whether abstract or concrete, sacred or profane.<ref>Among these: C. Bailey; M. Renard; R. Schilling; G. Dumezil; G. Capdeville.</ref> Interpretations concerning the god's fundamental nature either limit it to this general function or emphasize a concrete or particular aspect of it (identifying him with light,<ref>L. Preller-H. Jordan, ''Römische Mythologie'', vol. I (Berlin, 1881), pp. 166–184.</ref> the sun,<ref>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. pp. 34 and 39; R. Pettazzoni, "Per l'iconografia di Giano", ''Studi Etruschi'' 24 (1955–56), pp. 79–90 esp. p. 89.</ref> the moon,<ref>L. A. MacKay, "Janus", ''University of California Publications in Classical Philology'' 15/4 (1956), pp. 157–182.</ref> time,<ref>J. S. Speÿer, "Le dieu romain Janus", ''Revue de l'histoire des religions'' 26 (1892), pp. 1–47 esp. p. 43.</ref> movement,<ref>M. Renard, "Aspects anciens de Janus et de Junon", ''[[Revue belge de philologie et d'histoire]]'' 31/1 (1953), pp. 5–21 esp. p.6.</ref> the year,<ref>O. Huth, ''Janus. Ein Beitrag zur altrömischen Religionsgeschichte'' (Bonn, 1932).</ref> doorways,<ref>W. H. Roscher, ''Ausfürliches Lexicon der griechischen und römischen Mythologie'', vol. II (1890–1894) col. 15–55 s. v. Ianus; P. Grimal, "Le dieu Janus et les origines de Rome", ''Lettres d'humanité'' 4 (1945) pp. 15–121: Janus would be a conflation of the Latin ''numen'' of the mystic Gate of Rome with a Syrian-Hittite sky god brought to Italy by the Etruscans; C. Bailey, ''Phases in the Religion of Ancient Rome'' (Berkeley, 1932), pp. 46–47: Janus would have developed from the animistic spirit of the door, ''ianua''.</ref> bridges,<ref>L. A. Holland, "Janus and the Bridge", ''Papers and Monographs of the American Academy in Rome'' 21 (1961), pp. 231–3.</ref> etc.) or else see in the god a sort of cosmological principle, interpreting him as a uranic deity.<ref>J. S. Speÿer above esp. p. 44; A. B. Cook, ''Zeus: A study in ancient religion'', vol. II (Cambridge, 1925), pp. 328–392; P. Grimal, "Le dieu Janus et les origines de Rome", ''Lettres d'humanité'' 4 (1945), pp. 15–121 esp. p. 118.</ref>

Almost all of these modern explanations were originally formulated by the ancients.<ref>R. Schilling above p. 102 cites Lydus ''De Mensibus'' IV 2 who states that according to Varro the Etruscans called him Heaven; Augustine ''De Civitate Dei'' VII 7 identifies him with the world; Longinus and Messala, cited by Lydus above IV 1, with time; Gavius Bassus with air and Hera (apud Lydus above IV 2).</ref>

===God of beginnings and passages===
His function as god of beginnings has been clearly expressed in numerous ancient sources, among them most notably Cicero, Ovid, and Varro.<ref>Varro apud 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".</ref> As a god of motion, Janus looks after passages, causes actions to start and presides over all beginnings. Since movement and change are interconnected, he has a double nature, symbolised in his two-headed image.<ref>M. Renard, "Aspects anciens de Janus et de Junon", ''Revue belge de philologie et d'histoire'' 31/1 (1953), p. 6.</ref> He has under his tutelage the stepping in and out of the door of homes,<ref>C. Bailey above p. 47.</ref> the ''ianua'', which took its name from him,<ref>F. Altheim ''History of Roman Religion'' London 1938 p. 194; V. Basanoff, ''Les dieux des Romains'' (Paris, 1942), p. 18.</ref> and not vice versa.<ref>M. Renard above p. 6 against C. Bailey above p. 47.</ref> Similarly, his tutelage extends to the covered passages named ''iani'' and foremost to the gates of the city, including the cultic gate of the ''{{lang|la|Argiletum}}'', named ''{{lang|la|Ianus Geminus}}'' or ''{{lang|la|Porta Ianualis}}'' from which he protects Rome against the Sabines.<ref>Ovid ''Fasti'' I 257 ff.; on the location of the ''Porta Ianualis'' cf. P. Grimal, "{{lang|fr|Le dieu Janus et les origines de Rome}}", ''Lettres d' humanité''  4 (1945), p. 41; "Le ''Janus'' de l'Argilete", ''Mélanges d'archaeologie et d'histoire'' 64 (1952), pp. 39–58; G. Lugli ''Roma antica. Il centro monumentale'' (Rome, 1946), p. 82ff.; A. Boethius, "Il tempio di Giano in imo Argileto" in ''Symbolae Philologicae Gotoburgenses'' (Gotheborg, 1950) p.23ff.</ref> He is also present at the [[Sororium Tigillum]], where he guards the terminus of the ways into Rome from Latium.<ref>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 the Horatius (I 26, 6 and 11): R. Schilling, "Janus. Le dieu introducteur. Le dieu des passages",  ''Mélanges d'archéologie et d'histoire'' 72 (1960), p. 110, citing A. Piganiol in ''MEFR'' (1908), pp. 233–82.</ref> He has an altar, later a temple near the ''[[Porta Carmentalis]]'', where the road leading to [[Veii]] ended, as well as being present on the [[Janiculum]], a gateway from Rome out to Etruria.<ref>Paulus s.v. Ianiculum; L. Audin "Janus, le génie de l'Argilète", ''Lettres d' Humanité'' 10 (1951), pp. 54–5, 59, 71, 73.</ref>

The connection of the notions of beginning (''principium''), movement, transition (''eundo''), and thence time was clearly expressed by Cicero.<ref>C. Bailey, ''Phases in the Religion of Ancient Rome'' (Berkeley, 1932), p. 46; Cicero ''De Natura Deorum'' II 67.</ref> In general, Janus is at the origin of time as the guardian of the gates of Heaven: Jupiter himself can move forth and back because of Janus's working.<ref>Ovid ''Fasti'' I 125–126: "I preside over the gates of Heaven together with the mild Hours: Jupiter himself goes and comes back by my working".</ref> In one of his temples, probably that of [[Forum Holitorium]], the hands of his statue were positioned to signify the number 355 (the number of days in a lunar year), later 365, symbolically expressing his mastership over time.<ref>Pliny ''Naturalis Historia'' XXXIV 7; Macrobius ''Saturnalia'' I 9 10; Lydus ''De Mensibus'' I 4.</ref> He presides over the concrete and abstract beginnings of the world,<ref>According to [[Marcus Terentius Varro|Varro]], in the ''Carmen Saliare'' 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.</ref> such as religion and the gods themselves,<ref>Macrobius ''Saturnalia'' I 9, 2.</ref> he too holds the access to Heaven and to other gods: this is the reason why men must invoke him first, regardless of the god they want to pray to or placate.<ref>Ovid ''Fasti'' I 173-4.</ref> He is the initiator of human life,<ref>Macrobius defines him ''Consivium'', i.e. propagator of the mankind. ''Saturnalia'', I, 9, 16.</ref> of new historical ages, and financial enterprises: according to myth he was the first to mint coins and the [[As (coin)|as]], first coin of the liberal series, bears his effigy on one face.<ref>Macrobius ''Sat. '' I 7, 22: the ship on the other face remembers the arrival of Saturn; cf. Ovid ''Fasti'' I 230-40.</ref>

===God of change===
Janus frequently symbolized change and transitions such as the progress of past to future, from one condition to another, from one vision to another, and young people's growth to adulthood. He represented time because he could see into the past with one face and into the future with the other.<ref>Macrobius ''Saturnalia'' I 7, 20 and I 9, 4: [[Antevorta]] and [[Postvorta]] or Porrima are his associates deities in this function.  Ovid ''Fasti'' I 133-40 states his double head means he as ''caelestis ianitor aulae'', gatekeeper of the heavenly mansion, can watch both the eastern and western gate of heaven.</ref> Hence, Janus was worshipped at the beginnings of the harvest and planting times, as well as at marriages, deaths and other beginnings. He represented the middle ground between barbarism and civilization, rural and urban space, youth and adulthood. Having jurisdiction over beginnings Janus had an intrinsic association with omens and auspices.<ref>Ovid ''Fasti'' I 178-82:"Omens are in the beginnings, You turn your fearful ears to the first sound and the augur decides on the grounds of the first bird he has seen. The doors of the temples are open as well as the ears of the gods...and the words have weight".</ref>

=== Demi-god or a king reformator ===
[[Plutarch]] in his [[Parallel Lives]] mention that [[Numa Pompilius]] made [[January]] the first month in the calendar instead of [[March]] by the next reason: "he wished in every case that martial influences should yield precedence to civil and political.  For this Janus, in remote antiquity, whether he was a demi-god or a king, was a patron of civil and social order, and is said to have lifted human life out of its bestial and savage state. For this reason he is represented with two faces, implying that he brought men's lives out of one sort and condition into another."<ref>{{cite book |title=Plutarch, The Parallel Lives The Life of Numa |page=373 |edition=Loeb Classical Library 1914 |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Numa*.html |access-date=20 May 2024}}</ref>

===Position in the pantheon===
[[Leonhard Schmitz]] suggests that he was likely the most important god in the Roman archaic ''pantheon''. He was often invoked together with ''Iuppiter'' (Jupiter).<ref>L. Schmitz s.v. Janus in W. Smith above p. 550-551.</ref>

====Structural peculiarity theory====
{{main|Trifunctional hypothesis}}
In several of his works, [[G. Dumézil]] proposed the existence of a structural difference in level between the [[Proto-Indo-European gods]] of beginning and ending, and the other gods whom Dumézil postulated fall into [[Trifunctional hypothesis|a tripartite structure]], reflecting the most ancient organization of society. So in [[Proto-Indo-European religion|IE religions]] there is an introducer god (such as [[Vedic]] [[Vâyu]] and Roman Janus) and a god of ending, and a nurturer goddess who is often also a fire spirit (such as Roman [[Vesta (mythology)|Vesta]], Vedic [[Saraswati]] and [[Agni]], [[Avestic]] [[Armaiti]] and [[Anahita|Anâitâ]]) who show a sort of mutual solidarity.

The concept of 'god of ending' is defined in connection to the human point of reference, i.e. the current situation of man in the universe, and not to endings as transitions into new circumstances, which are under the jurisdiction of the gods of beginning, owing to the ambivalent nature of the concept. Thus the god of beginning is not structurally reducible to a sovereign god, nor the goddess of ending to any of the three categories on to which Dumézil distributed goddesses. There is though a greater degree of fuzziness concerning the function and role of goddesses, which may have formed a preexisting structure allowing the absorption of the local Mediterranean mother goddesses, nurturers, and protectresses .<ref name=Dumézil-1946>{{cite book |author=Dumézil, G. |author-link=Georges Dumézil |year=1946 |section=De Janus à Vesta |title=Tarpeia |place=Paris, FR |pages=33–113}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Marconi, M. |title=Riflessi mediterranei nella piú antica religione laziale |place=Milan, IT |year=1940}}</ref>

As a consequence, the position of the gods of beginning would not be the issue of a diachronic process of debasement undergone by a supreme sky god, but rather a structural feature inherent to the culture's theology. The descent of primordial sky gods into the condition of ''[[deus otiosus]]'' is a well-known phenomenon in many religions.
Dumézil himself observed and discussed in many of his works the phenomenon of the fall of archaic celestial deities in numerous societies of ethnologic interest.<ref>{{cite book |author=Eliade, M. |author-link=Mircea Eliade |year=1949 |title=Traité d' histoire des religions |place=Paris, FR |page=53}}<br/> {{cite book |author=Eliade, M. |author-link=Mircea Eliade |year=1950 |title=Le chamanisme et les techniques archaiques de l'ecstase |place=Paris, FR |at=ch.&nbsp;VI 1}}</ref>

[[Mircea Eliade]] evaluated Dumezil's views (1946)<ref name=Dumézil-1946/> positively, and recommended their use in comparative research on Indo-European religions.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Eliade, M. |author-link=Mircea Eliade |year=1949 |title=Pour une histoire generale des religions Indo-europeennes |journal=Annales: Économies, Sociétés, Civilisations |volume=4 |issue=2 |pages=183–191, esp. pp. 189–190|doi=10.3406/ahess.1949.1718 |s2cid=161243722 }}</ref>

====Solar god theories====
According to [[Macrobius]] who cites [[Nigidius Figulus]] and [[Cicero]], ''Janus'' and ''Jana'' ([[Diana (mythology)|Diana]]) are a pair of divinities, worshipped as [[Apollo]] or the [[Sol (Roman mythology)|sun]] and [[Luna (mythology)|moon]], whence Janus received sacrifices before all the others, because through him is apparent the way of access to the desired deity.<ref>[[Macrobius]] ''Saturnalia'' I 9, 8–9</ref><ref>[[Cicero]] ''[[De Natura Deorum]]'' ii. 67.</ref>

A similar solar interpretation has been offered by A. Audin who interprets the god as the issue of a long process of development, starting with the [[Sumeric]] cultures, from the two solar pillars located on the eastern side of temples, each of them marking the direction of the rising sun at the dates of the two [[solstices]]: the southeastern corresponding to the Winter and the northeastern to the Summer solstice. These two pillars would be at the origin of the theology of the [[divine twins]], one of whom is mortal (related to the NE pillar, nearest the Northern region where the sun does not shine) and the other is immortal (related to the SE pillar and the Southern region where the sun always shines). Later these iconographic models evolved in the Middle East and Egypt into a single column representing two torsos and finally a single body with two heads looking at opposite directions.<ref>{{cite journal |first=A. |last=Audin |year=1956 |title=Dianus bifrons ou les deux stations solaires, piliers jumeaux et portiques solsticiaux |journal=Revue de géographie de Lyon |volume=31 |issue=3 |pages=191–198|doi=10.3406/geoca.1956.2090 }}</ref>

[[Numa Pompilius|Numa]], in his regulation of the [[Roman calendar]], called the first month ''[[Ianuarius|Januarius]]'' after Janus, according to tradition considered the highest divinity at the time.