Special
Archives January 2004
First
Month
January is named in honor of the Roman god, Janus. He was first the
god of doorways, public gates, and private doors. (Why doors needed
a god of their own remains a bit of a mystery.). His most famous sanctuary
was a portal on the Forum Romanum through which the Roman legionaries
went to war. He was accepted as the god of beginnings, including
harvest time, planting, marriage birth and other beginnings, especially
the beginnings of important events in a person’s life. He represents
the transition between primitive life and civilization, peace and war
and young people growing up. (Even then, parents were looking
for divine intervention during the teen years.) As a solar god, he presided
over daybreak.
He was soon considered the promoter of all initiative and, in a general
way, he was placed at the head of all human enterprises. The Romans
ascribed the creation of the world to him. Unlike other characters that
appear in both Greek and Roman myths, Janus was strictly a Roman god.
As the Roman god of beginnings and endings, he was represented with
a double-faced head, each looking in opposite directions. He was also
the god of departure, return and all means of communication. (This was
a much easier job before airports and cell phones.)
Janus appeared at the head of religious ceremonies and, in his quality
of father of the gods, was the first on the Roman's list, coming even
before Jupiter. He was honored on the first day of every month
and the first month of the year.
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