Janus

Janus's History

Many fear change. Venturing into the unknown. Deviating from a path of safety and certainty into something unexpected. But life is change; a journey through doorways both physical and emotional, with every moment a passage to something new, and it is Janus, God of Portals and Transitions that governs this.

Bearing two faces, Janus is ever looking to the future and to the past, knowing both but controlling neither. He is only the in-between, found in the changing of seasons, at the birth of a child, at the entrances to the temple and the tavern. For this reason the Romans named the first month after him: January – a portal between the old year and the new.

Yet the Roman emperors also attribute a strange tradition to Janus. At each end of his temple stand massive doors. In times of peace, these doors are closed, but in times of war, flung open. As Rome rose to power, rarely were these doors shut, but almost four hundred years of peace have clothed Rome since then and the temple has grown dusty with absence. These days, however, the doors are open once more. It seems war has returned, and the greatest of changes are upon us.