ABSTRACT
Simple symbols seldom carry singular meanings. For example, in ancient Rome, “Ianua” meant a door, pure and simple. Yet the door to the Forum Romanum was a symbol: it was closed during times of peace and was left open while the Roman soldiers were at war. The door served as a concrete expression of the boundary between the safety of home and the turbulent world outside. From its position in the gatehouse of the Forum wall, the door was watched over by its divine guardian Janus. Placed thus, Janus’s two faces were able to gaze towards the east and the west; the beginning and the end of the unknown. The Romans named the first month after him, and he was worshipped the first day of every month as well as in the early morning. Just as birth was his department, so too were new inventions and acts, among them communication. Naturally, the god of beginnings had no parents, but he certainly had predecessors. Before Janus came Hermes.
