Editing Janus (section)

== Temples ==
[[File:Sesterce temple janus.JPG|thumb|The temple of Janus with closed doors, on a ''sestertius'' issued under [[Nero]] in 66 AD from the mint at [[Lugdunum]]]]
Numa built the ''[[Temple of Janus (Roman Forum)|Ianus geminus]]'' (also ''Janus Bifrons'', ''Janus Quirinus'' or ''Portae Belli''), a passage ritually opened at times of war, and shut again when Roman arms rested.<ref>Horat. Carm. iv. 15. 8; . Aen. vii. 607</ref> It formed a walled enclosure with gates at each end, situated between the old [[Roman Forum]] and that of Julius Caesar, which had been consecrated by [[Numa Pompilius]] himself. About the exact location and aspect of the temple there has been much debate among scholars.<ref>Cf. V. Müller, "The Shrine of Janus Geminus in Rome", ''American Journal of Archaeology'' 47 (1943), pp. 437–440; P. Grimal, "Le Janus de l' Argilète", ''Mélanges d'archéologie et d'histoire'' 64 (1952), pp. 39–58.</ref> In wartime the gates of the Janus were opened, and in its interior sacrifices and ''vaticinia'' were held, to forecast the outcome of military deeds.<ref>[[Livy]], ''History of Rome'', I, 19, 2;</ref> The doors were closed only during peacetime, an extremely rare event.<ref>[[Livy]] wrote in his ''[[Ab urbe condita]]'' that the doors of the temple had only been closed twice since the reign of Numa: firstly in 235 BC after the [[first Punic war]] and secondly in after the [[battle of Actium]] in 31 BC. Cf. Ovid ''Fasti'' I 121–4; 277–83.</ref> The function of the Ianus Geminus was supposed to be a sort of good omen: in time of peace it was said to close the wars within or to keep peace inside;{{Which|date=March 2012}} in times of war it was said to be open to allow the return of the people on duty.<ref>Ovid above I 279–280; Virgil above.</ref>

A temple of Janus is said to have been consecrated by the consul [[Gaius Duilius]] in 260 BC after the [[battle of Milazzo (260 BC)|Battle of Mylae]] in the [[Forum Holitorium]]. It contained a statue of the god with the right hand showing the number 300 and the left the number 65—i.e., the length in days of the solar year—and twelve altars, one for each month.<ref>Pliny ''Naturalis Historia'' XXXIV 33; Macrobius ''Saturnalia'' I 9 10; Varro apud Macrobius above I 9 16. R. Schilling above p. 115 remarks such a feature could have been added only after the Julian reform of the calendar.</ref>

The four-sided structure known as the [[Arch of Janus]] in the [[Forum of Nerva|Forum Transitorium]] dates from the 1st century of the Christian era: according to common opinion it was built by the Emperor [[Domitian]]. However American scholars L. Ross Taylor and L. Adams Holland on the grounds of a passage of [[Statius]]<ref>''Silvae'' IV 3, 9–10: "... qui limina bellicosa Iani/ iustis legibus et foro coronat", "... who crowns the warlike boundaries of Janus with just laws and the Forum".</ref> maintain that it was an earlier structure (tradition has it the ''Ianus Quadrifrons'' was brought to Rome from [[Falerii]]<ref>Macrobius I 9, 13; Servius ''Aen.'' VI 607; Lydus ''De Menisibus'' IV 1.</ref>) and that Domitian only surrounded it with his new forum.<ref>L. Adams Holland, "Janus and the Fasti", ''Classical Philology'' (1952), p. 139.</ref> In fact the building of the Forum Transitorium was completed and inaugurated by [[Nerva]] in AD 96.