Editing Janus (section)

== Myths ==
In discussing myths about Janus, one should be careful in distinguishing those which are ancient and originally Latin and those others which were later attributed to him by Greek mythographers.<ref>R. Schilling above p. 97.</ref> In the ''Fasti'' Ovid relates only the myths that associate Janus with [[Saturn (mythology)|Saturn]], whom he welcomed as a guest and with whom he eventually shared his kingdom in reward for teaching the art of agriculture, and to the nymph Crane, Grane, or Carna, whom Janus raped and made the goddess of hinges as [[Cardea]],<ref name="Ovid Fasti VI 101-130">Ovid ''Fasti'' VI 101–130.</ref> while in the ''Metamorphoses'' he records his fathering with [[Venilia]] the nymph [[Canens (mythology)|Canens]], loved by [[Picus]], first legendary king of the [[Aborigines (mythology)|Aborigines]].<ref>Ovid XIV 333 ff.</ref>

The myth of Crane has been studied by M. Renard<ref>M. Renard "Aspect anciens de Janus et de Junon" above pp. 13–14.</ref> and G. Dumezil.<ref>G. Dumézil ''Fêtes romaines d'été et d'automn. Suivi par dix questions romaines'' "Question X. Theologica minora" Paris 1975 p. 223ff.</ref> The first scholar sees in it a sort of parallel with the theology underlying the rite of the Tigillum Sororium. Crane is a nymph of the sacred wood of [[Helernus]], located at the issue of the Tiber, whose festival of 1 February corresponded with that of Juno Sospita:<ref>Ovid ''Fasti'' II 67–68.</ref> Crane might be seen as a minor ''imago'' of the goddess. Her habit of deceiving her male pursuers by hiding in crags in the soil reveals her association not only with vegetation but also with rocks, caverns, and underpassages.<ref>In Greece Crane, Cranea is an epithet of Athens, meaning the rocky city; the Cranai are nymphs of rocks, or Naiads of springs. L. Rocci ''Dizionario Greco -Italiano'' Roma 1972 s. v.</ref> Her nature looks to be also associated with vegetation and nurture: G. Dumezil has proved that Helernus was a god of vegetation, vegetative lushness and orchards, particularly associated with vetch. As Ovid writes in his ''Fasti'',<ref name="Ovid Fasti VI 101-130"/> 1 June was the festival day of Carna, besides being the calendary festival of the month of Juno and the festival of Juno Moneta. Ovid seems to purposefully conflate and identify Carna with Cardea in the aetiologic myth related above. Consequently, the association of both Janus and the god Helernus with Carna-Crane is highlighted in this myth: it was customary on that day to eat ivetch (mashed beans) and lard, which were supposed to strengthen the body. Cardea had also magic powers for protecting doorways (by touching thresholds and posts with wet hawthorn twigs) and newborn children by the aggression of the [[striges]] (in the myth the young Proca).<ref>Ovid ''Fasti'' VI 131–183.</ref> M. Renard sees the association of Janus with Crane as reminiscent of widespread rites of [[lustration]] and fertility performed through ritual walking under low crags or holes in the soil or natural hollows in trees, which in turn are reflected in the lustrative rite of the Tigillum Sororium.

Macrobius<ref>''Saturnalia'' I 7, 19ff.</ref> relates that Janus was supposed to have shared a kingdom with [[Camese]] in [[Latium]], in a place then named Camesene. He states that [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]] recorded the tale on the authority of a Protarchus of [[Tralles]]. In Macrobius Camese is a male: after Camese's death Janus reigned alone. However Greek authors make of Camese Janus's sister and spouse: [[Atheneus]]<ref>Atheneus ''Deipnosophistes'' XV 46=692.</ref> citing a certain Drakon of [[Corcyra]] writes that Janus fathered with his sister Camese a son named Aithex and a daughter named Olistene.<ref>Wellman in R.E. Pauly-Wissowa V column 1663 no. 16 writes Drakon might have lived at the time of Augustus, R. Schilling thinks he lived only after Pliny the Elder. Cf. Plutarch ''Quaestiones Romanae'' 22 on Camise.</ref> Servius Danielis<ref>''Aen''. VIII 330.</ref> states [[Tiber]] (i.e., [[Tiberinus (god)|Tiberinus]]) was their son.

[[Arnobius]] writes that [[Fontus]] was the son of Janus and [[Juturna]].<ref>''Adversus Nationes'' III 29.</ref> The name itself proves that this is a secondary form of Fons modelled on Janus,<ref>Walde-Hoffmann LEW s. v. Fons.</ref> denouncing the late character of this myth: it was probably conceived because of the proximity of the festivals of Juturna (11 January) and the Agonium of Janus (9 January) as well as for the presence of an altar of Fons near the Janiculum<ref>G. Wissowa ''Religion und Kultus der Römer'' Munich 1912 p. 221. Cf. Cicero ''De Legibus'' II 56.</ref> and the closeness of the notions of spring and of beginning.

Plutarch<ref>''Quaestiones Romanae'' 22.</ref> writes that according to some Janus was a Greek from [[Perrhebia]].<ref>Comparing this tradition with [[Strabon]]'s passage in ''Geographia'' X 2, 12 (who cites [[Odyssea]] X 190–192) on the Ionians, French scholar J. Gagé has seen a Hyperborean origin of Janus, derived from the Protohellenes of Thessaly and the Pelasgians. Cf. J. Gagé, "Sur les origines du culte de Janus", ''Revue de l' histoire des religions'' 195/1 (1979), pp. 31–32.</ref>

After [[Romulus]] and his men [[The Rape of the Sabine Women|kidnapped the Sabine women]], and Rome was attacked by the Sabines under king [[Titus Tatius|Tatius]], Janus caused a volcanic hot spring to erupt, resulting in the would-be attackers being buried alive in the deathly hot, brutal water and ash mixture of the rushing hot volcanic springs that killed, burned, or disfigured many of Tatius's men. This spring is called Lautolae by Varro.<ref>Varro ''Lingua Latina'' V 156; Paulus ex Festus p. 105, 11 L.</ref> Later on, however, the Sabines and Romans agreed on creating a new community together. In honor of this, the doors of a walled roofless structure called 'The Janus' were kept open during war after a symbolic contingent of soldiers had marched through it. The doors were closed in ceremony when peace was concluded.<ref>Macrobius ''Saturnalia'' I 9, 17–18; Ovid ''Metamorphoses'' XIV 781–799; ''Fasti'' I 259–276; Servius ''Ad Aen.'' I 291; VIII 361; Mythographus Vaticanus III 4, 9.</ref>