Janus in the ancient sources

Ancient Sources / Figures / Janus

8 passages from 2 ancient authors that tell of Janus, in the original with English translation, author by author in the order the Greeks read them. Janus was the god of beginnings and transitions in Roman mythology, and presided over passages, doors, gates and endings, as well as in transitional p... For the story in one place, read our article on Janus.

Ovid (7)

Ovid, Fasti 1.63–170Fasti 1: Janus explains his two faces (1 January)On 1 January Ovid greets Janus, the two-headed god, and describes the festal day with new magistrates and sacrificial heifers. Janus appears and says he was once Chaos, keeps the gates of heaven, and sees East and West at once. He also says why the year starts in midwinter and why the first day is kept open for business.
Ovid, Fasti 1.171–288Fasti 1: Janus on New Year gifts, the old coins and his templeOvid asks Janus why he is honoured first and why New Year brings sweet gifts and coins. Janus answers with omens and complains of the love of money, then explains the ship and two-headed figure on old copper coins, tied to the arrival of Cronus (Saturn) in Latium. He tells how he drove back the Sabine Tatius with water, and why his gates stand open in war.
Ovid, Fasti 6.101–182Fasti 6: Carna, Janus and the screech-owls (1 June)On 1 June Ovid tells how the nymph Crane, a huntress who tricked her suitors, was caught by Janus and given power over hinges and a white-thorn charm. She then protects the infant Proca from screech-owls with arbutus leaves and a sacrificed sow's entrails. He explains the Calends meal of bacon and beans.
Ovid, Metamorphoses 14.320–439Picus and CanensCirce tells the story of Picus, once king of Latium, who loved horses and war and whom she fell in love with. Picus, who was faithful to his wife Canens, rejected her, and Circe turned him into a woodpecker, and his companions into wild beasts. Canens, after searching for him for six days, wasted away with grief, and became a voice in the air. Macareus ends by telling how Circe sent the Greeks on their way after a year.
Ovid, Metamorphoses 14.772–851Romulus and HersiliaAmulius seizes the kingdom, and Numitor wins it back with the help of his grandsons, and Rome's walls are begun. The Sabine king Tatius makes war, Tarpeia betrays the citadel, and a hot spring, raised by Juno, closes the gate against the Sabines. After a battle the Romans and Sabines make peace. Mars asks Zeus (Jupiter) to fulfil his promise of heaven to Romulus, and the king is taken up in the god's chariot, and Hera (Juno) sends Iris to his widow Hersilia, who is received among the gods as Hora, the consort of Quirinus.
Ovid, Fasti 2.1–54Fasti 2: February and the rites of purification (februa)Ovid opens Book 2, saying his elegiacs now take on sacred rites, and again addresses Caesar. He explains that februa meant instruments of purification such as wool, toasted spelt and salt, and the month takes its name from them. He adds Greek examples of cleansing murder and says February was once the last month of the old year.
Ovid, Fasti 3.809–884Fasti 3: The Quinquatrus of Athena (Minerva); Phrixus and HelleThe Quinquatrus honours Athena (Minerva) over five days, with her patronage of crafts and a note on her shrine as Minerva Capta. Ovid then gives the story of Phrixus and Helle: a stepmother's trick brings a false oracle, their mother snatches them away, and a golden ram carries them until Helle falls into the sea. He ends with equinox, Janus and Peace, and the Moon on 31 March.

Plutarch (1)

Plutarch, Life of Numa 18.1–19.6Numa's calendar and the origin of the Roman monthsNuma estimates the gap between the lunar and solar years at eleven days and inserts every other year, after February, an intercalary month of twenty-two days. He also changes the order of the months, making January the first, though many say that January and February were added by Numa to a year of ten months. Plutarch explains the names of the months from Ares (Mars), Aphrodite, Maia, Hera (Juno), Julius Caesar, Augustus, Janus and the purification of February.