There's a pair of eyes in back of his head
Jan. 3rd, 2009 09:41 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vovatSince it's January, we might as well take a look at the namesake for this month, the two-faced Janus.
This double-faced deity, famous for his frequent appearances on ancient coins, was the god of portals, and of beginnings and endings. While a lot of the Roman gods had obvious counterparts in Greek mythology, this guy didn't. He was distinctly Italian, and is one of the oldest known gods to be worshipped in the area. Like Saturn, he ruled Italy during the Golden Age, and is said to have sheltered Saturn from the wrath of his son Jupiter. As a reward, he was given the ability to see into the past and the future. Probably the most famous myth involving Janus is that he killed off Sabine invaders with the use of a hot spring. Because of this, the doors to his ancient temple in Rome were always left open in time of war. (Well, actually, I don't think anyone knows how the tradition of the Gates of War started, but that was the mythological explanation for it.) While the statue in the temple shows beards on both of Janus' faces, there are apparently some portrayals where only one of his faces is bearded. (Well, there's a website that says this, anyway. I couldn't actually find pictures of a one-bearded Janus online, except for some that were obviously more recent than the Roman era. Well, except maybe this, but I can't quite tell.) There are also some FOUR-faced representations of the god, since apparently two just weren't enough for some sculptors.
The month of January might have been named for Janus because he represents transition, but the name appears to date back to the time when January was the eleventh month, rather than the first. It was, however, the month when the Roman consuls assumed power starting in 153 BC, and it was the first month of the Julian calendar. Julius Caesar didn't bother to change the names of the later months, though, so their names are now all totally inaccurate. The January New Year wasn't widely accepted by the Christian world for some centuries after that, though. Since New Year's Day was also the Feast of the Circumcision (when Jesus would have been circumcised had he actually been born on Christmas Day), the method of dating that accepted this date was known as Circumcision Style.
Oh, and Janus is also the original name of Magus in Chrono Trigger, although he has only one face.
This double-faced deity, famous for his frequent appearances on ancient coins, was the god of portals, and of beginnings and endings. While a lot of the Roman gods had obvious counterparts in Greek mythology, this guy didn't. He was distinctly Italian, and is one of the oldest known gods to be worshipped in the area. Like Saturn, he ruled Italy during the Golden Age, and is said to have sheltered Saturn from the wrath of his son Jupiter. As a reward, he was given the ability to see into the past and the future. Probably the most famous myth involving Janus is that he killed off Sabine invaders with the use of a hot spring. Because of this, the doors to his ancient temple in Rome were always left open in time of war. (Well, actually, I don't think anyone knows how the tradition of the Gates of War started, but that was the mythological explanation for it.) While the statue in the temple shows beards on both of Janus' faces, there are apparently some portrayals where only one of his faces is bearded. (Well, there's a website that says this, anyway. I couldn't actually find pictures of a one-bearded Janus online, except for some that were obviously more recent than the Roman era. Well, except maybe this, but I can't quite tell.) There are also some FOUR-faced representations of the god, since apparently two just weren't enough for some sculptors.
The month of January might have been named for Janus because he represents transition, but the name appears to date back to the time when January was the eleventh month, rather than the first. It was, however, the month when the Roman consuls assumed power starting in 153 BC, and it was the first month of the Julian calendar. Julius Caesar didn't bother to change the names of the later months, though, so their names are now all totally inaccurate. The January New Year wasn't widely accepted by the Christian world for some centuries after that, though. Since New Year's Day was also the Feast of the Circumcision (when Jesus would have been circumcised had he actually been born on Christmas Day), the method of dating that accepted this date was known as Circumcision Style.
Oh, and Janus is also the original name of Magus in Chrono Trigger, although he has only one face.
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Date: 2009-01-03 02:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-04 04:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-03 09:18 pm (UTC)Also, you know I always have to inject some Al Stewartness if possible. There used to be a record label in the 70's called Janus. Al's American-released albums were on this label, including The Year of the Cat. Alas, the label sort of was two-faced because they ended up litigating against Al for switching record labels to Arista. For a while, his material was not available because it was held up in litigation.
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Date: 2009-01-04 04:43 pm (UTC)I'm not sure. Most of the material I found on the Internet suggests that he was generally seen as beneficial, but you don't need to look any farther than my entry last week about Saturn to know how people could have very different opinions on the same gods. I'm inclined to think "Janus-faced" is a more modern creation, derived from "two-faced," but that's really just a guess.