Editing Janus (section)

=== Tigillum Sororium ===
{{Main|Tigillum Sororium}}
This rite was supposed to commemorate the expiation of the murder of his own sister by Marcus Horatius.<ref>Livy I 26. Dionysius of Halicarnassus III 22.</ref> The young hero with his head veiled had to pass under a beam spanning an alley. The rite was repeated every year on 1 October.<ref>CIL I 2nd p. 214: "Fasti Aru. ad Kal. Oct. : Tigillo Soror(io) ad compitum Acili"</ref> The ''tigillum'' consisted of a beam on two posts.<ref>Festus s. v. Sororium tigillum p. 380 L.: "Horatius duo tigilla tertio superiecto ... subit".</ref> It was kept in good condition at public expenses to the time of Livy. Behind the ''tigillum'', on opposite sides of the alley, stood the two altars of Janus Curiatius and Juno Sororia. Its location was on the vicus leading to the [[Carinae]], perhaps at the point of the crossing of the [[pomerium]].<ref>Livy I 26, 6 and 11 repeats twice the formula ''{{lang|la|vel intra pomerium vel extra pomerium}}''.</ref> The rite and myth have been interpreted by Dumezil as a purification and desacralization of the soldiers from the religious pollution contracted in war, and a freeing of the warrior from ''furor'', wrath, as dangerous in the city as it is necessary on campaign.<ref>G. Dumezil, ''Myths romains I. Les Horaces et les Curiaces'' (Paris, 1942), p. 112.</ref>

The rite took place on the kalends of October, the month marking the end of the yearly military activity in ancient Rome. Scholars have offered different interpretations of the meaning of Janus Curiatius and Juno Sororia. The association of the two gods with this rite is not immediately clear. It is however apparent that they exchanged their epithets, as Curiatius is connected to (Juno) Curitis and Sororia to (Janus) Geminus.<ref>M. Renard "Aspects anciens de Janus et de Junon" above p. 9 and ff. citing E. L. Shields, ''Juno'' (Northampton, Mass., 1926), p. 53.</ref> Renard thinks that while Janus is the god of motion and transitions he is not concerned directly with purification, while the arch is more associated with Juno. This fact would be testified by the epithet Sororium, shared by the ''tigillum'' and the goddess. Juno Curitis is also the protectress of the ''iuvenes'', the young soldiers.<ref>Martianus Capella ''De Nuptiis'' II 149.</ref> Paul the Deacon states that the ''sororium tigillum'' was a ''sacer'' (sacred) place in honour of Juno.<ref>Paulus s.v. Sororium tigillum p. 399 L.</ref> Another element linking Juno with Janus is her identification with Carna, suggested by the festival of this deity on the kalends (day of Juno) of June, the month of Juno.

Carna was a nymph of the sacred ''lucus'' of Helernus, made goddess of hinges by Janus with the name of [[Cardea]], and had the power of protecting and purifying thresholds and the doorposts.<ref>A. Grenier, ''Les religions étrusque et romaine'' (Paris, 1948), pp. 115 and 131</ref><ref>R. Pettazzoni, "Carna", ''Studi Etruschi'' 14 (1940), p. 163ff.</ref><ref>Ovid ''Fasti'' VI 155</ref> This would be a further element in explaining the role of Juno in the ''Tigillum''. It was also customary for new brides to oil the posts of the door of their new homes with wolf fat. In the myth of Janus and Carna (see section below) Carna had the habit when pursued by a young man of asking him out of shyness for a hidden recess and thereupon fleeing: but two headed Janus saw her hiding in a crag under some rocks. Thence the analogy with the rite of the Tigillum Sororium would be apparent: both in the myth and in the rite Janus, the god of motion, goes through a low passage to attain Carna as Horatius passes under the ''tigillum'' to obtain his purification and the restitution to the condition of citizen eligible for civil activities, including family life. The purification is then the prerequisite for fertility. The custom of attaining lustration and fertility by passing under a gap in rocks, a hole in the soil or a hollow in a tree is widespread.<ref>Roscher, ''Lexicon'', s.v. Ianus col. 21–22.</ref>

The veiled head of Horatius could also be explained as an apotropaic device if one considers the ''{{lang|la|tigillum}}'' the ''{{lang|la|iugum}}'' of Juno, the feminine principle of fecundity. Renard concludes that the rite is under the tutelage of both Janus and Juno, being a rite of transition under the patronage of Janus and of desacralisation and fertility under that of Juno: through it the ''{{lang|la|iuvenes}}'' coming back from campaign were restituted to their fertile condition of husbands and peasants. Janus is often associated with fecundity in myths, representing the masculine principle of motion, while Juno represents the complementary feminine principle of fertility: the action of the first would allow the manifestation of the other.<ref>Cf. Augustin ''De Civitate Dei'' VII 2 and 3.</ref>