Janus Biography

Janus (Janus) – one of the ancient Roman gods indigetov, who was, along with the goddess of hearth West, a prominent place in the Roman ritual. On the essence of religious representation, which was embodied in Janus, already in ancient times were different views. Thus, Cicero put the name of God in connection with the verb inire and saw god Janus entry and exit. Others thought that the Janus personifies the chaos (Janus = Hianus), or air, or firmament; Nigidy Figuli identifies with the sun god Janus. This latter view has found defenders in the recent literature, while others believe Janus symbol of the sky. All of the above explanations on the latest research on Roman religion and mythology have given way to a new and simple interpretation, in which the name of Noosa, is identified with the Latin word ianus (door, doorway) and is characterized by Janus as the god of doors, arch, arches, aisle. Later, probably under the influence of Greek religious art, two-faced Janus depictions (geminus) – image of naturally arising from the submission of the door, as bilateral subject. Thus, Janus was originally a divine gatekeeper, who called in the hymn Saliev named Clusius or Clusivius (Closing) and Patulcius (who opened), attributes it to serve a key and necessary weapons gatekeeper, drove uninvited guests – the stick. As opposed to the homes of private houses exist in the Roman Forum and hearth – Vesta populi Romani Quirinus, just like the Romans was a door leading into the atrium of the State – at the Roman Forum, the so-called Janus Quirinus. It was an ancient seat (perhaps the sanctuary) of Janus, in the northern part of the forum, made up of two sets, which were connected to the bulkhead, so that they formed dug passage. In the center of the arch rose image two-faced Janus. Arch two-faced Janus was built, according to tradition, Numoyu Pompilius and was supposed to serve, according to the will of the king, pokazatelnitsey war and peace (index pacis bellique): in peacetime arch locked in war time the doors were open it. It is doubtful that this was an ancient ritual, but in recent years of the republic, he observed, and Augustus boasted that under him the arch was closed three times (the first time since the Battle of Action, in 1930 BC Xr.; The second time – at the end of the war with Cantabria in 1925 BC Chr.; for the third time – at the end of the war with the Germans, in year 1 BC Chr.). Since the notion of space adjacent to the notion of time (see mitium – entry and start), the Janus, the god being input, however, was considered the protector of all the beginning, the first stage or moment in each act and the phenomenon (the words of Varro: in the hands of Janus – beginning, in the hands of Jupiter – all). He called at the beginning of whatever prayers, the first religious holiday of the Roman year was set in honor of Janus, in the period of the day was dedicated to Janus the morning hours (hence the epithet of the god – Matutinus), in a period of months – calends (first number) in the period 12-month year – the first month named for Janus January (Januarius). The close relation of God to the concepts vremyaschisleniya led to the conception of Janus as the god, the control traffic, and all the time, and some statues of him have expressed this idea in the distribution of hand fingers, with those fingers of his right hand depicting the number of CAS (ie, 300), and left hand fingers – the number of LHV (= 65), ie, the fingers of both hands, then their position, showing the number of 365 days a year. – However, Janus ohranyaet every person in the first moments of its uterine life, the act of conception (Janus Conservus), and stands at the head of the gods, under the auspices of which a man from the moment of conception until birth. Generally, as the god of all the beginning, he oldest and the first of the Roman gods, but the first not cosmogonic sense, but as a deity began in the abstract sense of the word. Special priest of Janus was Rex sacrorum, who was at the Hierarchy of the Roman priesthood, the first place. According to Varro, Janus was devoted to the twelve altars, the number of months of the year. In different parts of the city rose a few Janus (gate); they ended most of the streets, out onto the Roman Forum. In ancient times their own sanctuaries Janus was not, except for the arch two-faced Janus in the Roman Forum. The first temple of which there are data, was built to fulfill a vow, this Guy Duiliem at the Battle of mils (260 BC Hr.).Emperor Augustus made the restoration of the temple, where an ancient statue of God has been replaced from Egypt two-faced image of Hermes, the work Skopas. When Domitian was built sanctuary referred to. Chetyrehlitsevogo Janus, whose image was brought to Rome from Faleria still in 240, the capture of the city by the Romans. The earliest image of Janus was kept at Styria first Roman coinage: it is – two-faced, bearded head, a figure which has been created, according to Vissovy, especially for first copper coins representing besides, the unit value. Fantasy poets and scientists have created a lot of etiological legends associated with the name of Janus, formed, for example., Stories that Janus was a prehistoric king Latsiya and Janiculum. He, like Saturn, is attributed to various inventions (shipbuilding, minting of coins) and generally a good influence on the development of culture (eg, horticulture, agriculture). In close relation to the deity Janus stood Mater Matuta and Portunus, the first of which was the goddess of the morning light, and, like Juno Lucyna, urged women in childbirth, and the second was a double Janus, as is clear from comparison of names; portus in the original sense, means the same that the porta or janua (ianus). Over time, the word portus (gate) was used in the sense harbor (ie, gate river or sea), and become god Portun harbors. The name of Janus wore Janiculum hill. The existence of the cult of Janus outside Rome, there are no data. See Roscher, "AusfuhrIiches Lexixon der Griechischeu und Romischen Mythologie" (II, p. 15, and ate.); Speyer, "Le dieu romain Janus" (in "Revue de l'histoire de religion", XXVI, 1892, p. I – 47); Wissowa, "Religion und Kultus der Romer" (Munich, 1902 = Jw. Muller, "Handbuch der Klassischen Altertnmswissenschaft", v. V, Dep. IV); Anst, "Die Religion der Romer" (Munster in Westphalia, 1899); Steading, "Griechische nnd RSmische Mythologie" (Lpts., 1897).