Janus
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
The two faced God who had a whole month named after him.
Not like Thor who only had a weekday named after him that some want to rename thing. The Romans regarded him as the god of doorways and arches. They also considered him the god of beginnings and
invoked him even before Jupitar. Later representations showed him two faced. One looking to the beginning, and the other to the ending.
Some say he even had a city named after him. A roman named Ovid in the first century BC claimed to have earlier writings from Janus.
A couple quotes I found
following the winter solstice would be the first month of the year.
In this day and age few remember who Janus was but the month of January is still his legacy. The beginning of the year named after a god of beginnings.
Not like Thor who only had a weekday named after him that some want to rename thing. The Romans regarded him as the god of doorways and arches. They also considered him the god of beginnings and
invoked him even before Jupitar. Later representations showed him two faced. One looking to the beginning, and the other to the ending.
Some say he even had a city named after him. A roman named Ovid in the first century BC claimed to have earlier writings from Janus.
A couple quotes I found
"The ancients called me chaos for of old am I"
"The winter solstice is the first new sun and the last. The sun and the year have the same beginning"Thus to Ovid it was natural that the month
following the winter solstice would be the first month of the year.
In this day and age few remember who Janus was but the month of January is still his legacy. The beginning of the year named after a god of beginnings.
