Editing Janus (section)

== Association with non-Roman gods ==
[[File:Autun Janus Temple.jpg|thumb|right|The traditional ascription of the "Temple of Janus" at [[Autun]], Burgundy, is disputed.]]

Roman and Greek authors maintained Janus was an exclusively Roman god.<ref>Ovid ''Fasti''I 90; Dionysius Halicarnasseus.</ref> This claim is excessive according to R. Schilling,<ref>R. Schilling above p. 115.</ref> at least as far as iconography is concerned. A god with two faces appears repeatedly in Sumerian and Babylonian art.<ref>A. Ungnad "Der babylonische Janus" in ''Archiv für Orientforschung'' '''5''' 1929 p. 185.</ref>

[[File:Ea (Babilonian) - EnKi (Sumerian).jpg|thumb|left|A [[cylinder seal]] depicting the gods [[Ishtar]], [[Shamash]], [[Enki]], and [[Isimud]], who is shown with two faces (circa 2300 BC)]]
The ancient [[Sumer]]ian deity [[Isimud]] was commonly portrayed with two faces facing in opposite directions. Sumerian depictions of Isimud are often very similar to the typical portrayals of Janus in ancient [[Roman art]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Ariel Golan|date=2003|title=Prehistoric Religion: Mythology, Symbolism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vfgoAAAAYAAJ|page=333|publisher=A. Golan |isbn=9789659055500}}</ref> Unlike Janus, however, Isimud is not a god of doorways. Instead, he is the messenger of [[Enki]], the ancient Sumerian god of water and civilization.<ref>{{cite book|author=Rafique Ali Jairazbhoy|date=1965|title=Oriental influences in Western art|publisher=Asia Pub. House|url=https://archive.org/details/orientalinfluenc0000jair|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/orientalinfluenc0000jair/page/227 227]}}</ref> Reproductions of the image of Isimud, whose Babylonian name was Usimu, on cylinders in Sumero-Accadic art can to be found in H. Frankfort's work ''Cylinder seals'' (London 1939) especially in plates at p.&nbsp;106, 123, 132, 133, 137, 165, 245, 247, 254. On plate XXI, c, Usimu is seen while introducing worshippers to a seated god.

Janus-like heads of gods related to [[Hermes]] have been found in Greece, perhaps suggesting a compound god.<ref>J. Marcadé, "Hermès double", ''Bulletin de Correspondence Hellénique'' 76 (1952), pp. 596–624.</ref>

[[William Betham]] argued that the cult arrived from the Middle East and that Janus corresponds to the ''Baal-ianus'' or Belinus of the Chaldeans, sharing a common origin with the [[Oannes (mythology)|Oannes]] of [[Berossus|Berosus]].<ref name="royal">Royal Numismatic Society, ''Proceedings of the Numismatic Society'', James Fraser, 1837</ref>

P. Grimal considers Janus a conflation of a Roman god of doorways and an ancient Syro-Hittite uranic cosmogonic god.<ref>P. Grimal above pp. 15–121.</ref>

The Roman statue of the Janus of the Argiletum, traditionally ascribed to Numa, was possibly very ancient, perhaps a sort of [[xoanon]], like the Greek ones of the 8th century BC.<ref>P. J. Riis, ''An introduction to Etruscan art'' (Copenhagen, 1953), p. 121.</ref>

In [[Hinduism]], the image of double- or four-faced gods is quite common, as it is a symbolic depiction of the divine power of seeing through space and time. The supreme god [[Brahma]] is represented with four faces. Another instance of a four-faced god is the Slavic god [[Svetovid]].

Other analogous or comparable deities of the ''prima'' in [[Proto-Indo-European religion|Indo-European religions]] have been analysed by G. Dumézil.<ref>G. Dumezil, "Remarques comparatives sur le dieu scandinave Heimdallr", ''Études Celtiques'' (1959), pp. 263–283; "De Janus à Vesta" in ''Tarpeia'' (Paris, 1947), pp. 31–113 esp. pp. 86–88.</ref> They include the Indian goddess [[Aditi]] who is called ''two-faced'' as she is the one who starts and concludes ceremonies,<ref>Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa ([[Shatapathabrahmana]]) III 2, 4, 16 ''ubhayaḥtaśīrṣṇi'' and Eggeling's note.</ref> and Scandinavian god [[Heimdallr]]. The theological features of Heimdallr look similar to Janus's: both in space and time he stands at the limits. His abode is at the limits of Earth, at the extremity of Heaven; he is the protector of the gods; his birth is at the beginning of time; he is the forefather of mankind, the generator of classes and the founder of the social order. Nonetheless he is inferior to the sovereign god [[Oðinn]]: the ''Minor Völuspá'' defines his relationship to Oðinn almost with the same terms as those in which Varro defines that of Janus, god of the ''prima'' to Jupiter, god of the ''summa'': Heimdallr is born as the ''firstborn ''(''primigenius'', ''var einn borinn í árdaga''), Oðinn is born as the ''greatest'' (''maximus'', ''var einn borinn öllum meiri'').<ref>''Hyndluljóð'' strophe 37 and 40.</ref> Analogous Iranian ''formulae'' are to be found in an [[Avestic]] ''gāthā'' ([[Gathas]]).<ref>[[Yasna]] 45 first verses of strophes 2, 4 and 6.</ref> In other towns of ancient Latium the function of presiding over beginnings was probably performed by other deities of feminine sex, notably the ''[[Fortuna]] Primigenia'' of [[Praeneste]].