Salve citizens of Waterloo, I Gaius Lucius Agrippa welcome you once again to the Forum Romanum in the magnificent city of Rome! Rejoice, fellow citizens, for today we mark the return of the Acta Diurna, and at that, a splendid way to begin the new term and year. For those who do not recall what the Acta Diurna is, allow me a moment to remind you. The Acta Diurna (roughly translating to Daily Acts in English) will covers a variety of topics and subjects involving the many of aspects of Roman life, culture, religion, and long history. I, Gaius Lucius Agrippa, will guide you through different practices and observances that occur in Rome and our provinces. Without any further delay, let me introduce you to today’s article, and once more on behalf of the People and the Senate of Rome, I bid you welcome!
In this New Year, new term, and month of Iaunuarius or January as you call it in English, it is fitting that we speak of Janus. In Roman custom and religion, Janus is the god of all things new, the god of beginnings and transitions. As many of us here today begin a new and look forward to the bounty of the New Year, it is appropriate that we speak of and honour Janus!
Janus presides over all beginnings and transitions in Roman life, regardless of nature. He is depicted as a two faced god, his faces looking in opposite directions symbolizing his gaze into the past and into the future. As the god of transitions, he overlooks the passage of people and time through the gates of life, both spiritual and physical. It is not uncommon for icons of the god Janus to be found among Rome’s archways, gates, bridges, and doorways. The god Janus keeps under his watchful eye the steps each Roman citizen takes when entering any house or temple. In fact, his reach goes as far as the Porta Ianualis—the city gates named after him—which is said to have protected Rome from the Sabines in the north east.
In Roman culture, before any ritual, practice, or religious offering Janus is invoked and praised foremost, prior to any other god, regardless of which deity is being honoured. This is because it is believed that Janus presides over all beginnings and transitions in the world, including that of the gods. We Romans know Janus to be at the origin of time and guardian of the passage to the gods, and it is only through Janus that all other gods can be reached. Aside from worship of the gods, Janus himself is also associated with his own unique rites and rituals. Janus is called upon and invoked in times of change and new endeavours. He is worshipped at birth as the initiator of life, and the beginning of each Roman citizen’s life, at marriages as Roman men and women transition into life together, and even at death, the beginning of one’s afterlife and transition from the mortal plane. It is also Janus who is called upon during beginnings of financial enterprises, such as the opening of a store, a service, or the minting of new coins. In virtually every part of Roman life as something ends another begins, and in it Janus’ presence.
In times of war, Janus’ is given further honour and beseeched in his temple, the Ianus Geminus. The temple itself resembles a passage, with double doors on each end, and the two-faced statue of Janus stands the centre, with each face looking towards the opposing set of doors. The doors themselves are called the Gates of Janus, also known as the Gates of War. During times of peace, the temple gates were sealed, and opened only during times of war. When Romans took up arms, the temple’s inner sanctum was host to countless sacrifices in hopes of predicting the outcome of the conflict.
Janus is ubiquitous in ancient Rome, the Sacred Rites associated to him being abundant and ever present. Although he had no formal flamen (priest of Rome assigned to one of the 15 official cultic deities of Rome), Janus was involved in almost every rite and aspect of Roman life, every beginning, and transitional period, be it in a citizen’s life or that of the whole Roman world.
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