Gates of Janus, The : An Analysis of Serial Murder by England's Most Hated Criminal

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The legends of Janus have been used for many purposes throughout history. 16th century Roman priests used them to justify the seat of Christianity being moved from Rome to Jerusalem and described the Vatican as the "Throne of Janus". This was done to gain traction in Italy through the perceived support of the "god of beginnings". [18] Geminus is the first epithet in Macrobius's list. Although the etymology of the word is unclear, [82] it is certainly related to his most typical character, that of having two faces or heads. The proof are the numerous equivalent expressions. [83] The origin of this epithet might be either concrete, referring directly to the image of the god reproduced on coins [84] and supposed to have been introduced by king Numa in the sanctuary at the lowest point of the Argiletum, [85] or to a feature of the Ianus of the Porta Belli, the double gate ritually opened at the beginning of wars, [86] or abstract, deriving metaphorically from the liminal, intermediary functions of the god themselves: both in time and space passages connected two different spheres, realms or worlds. [87] The Janus quadrifrons or quadriformis, brought according to tradition from Falerii in 241 BC [88] and installed by Domitian in the Forum Transitorium, [89] although having a different meaning, seems to be connected to the same theological complex, as its image purports an ability to rule over every direction, element and time of the year. It did not give rise to a new epithet though. [90] [91] Patulcius and Clusivius the 1st [ edit ]

The rite of the bride's oiling the posts of the door of her new home with wolf fat at her arrival, though not mentioning Janus explicitly, is a rite of passage related to the ianua.However Janus was the protector of doors, gates and roadways in general, as is shown by his two symbols, the key and the staff. [161] The key too was a sign that the traveller had come to a harbour or ford in peace to exchange his goods. [162] Janus] also has a temple at Rome with double doors, which they call the gates of war; for it always stands open in time of war, but is closed when peace has come. The latter was a difficult matter, and it rarely happened, since the realm was always engaged in some war, as its increasing size brought it into collision with the barbarous nations which encompassed it round about. But in the time of Augustus it was closed, after he had overthrown Mark Antony; and before that, when Marcus Atilius and Titus Manlius were consuls, it was closed for a short time; then war broke out again at once, and it was opened. [3] Appearance and construction [ edit ]

Killers are made, not born, says Ian Brady in this reissue of his extremely unsettling yet philosophical analysis of culture and politics. The four-sided structure known as the Arch of Janus in the Forum Transitorium dates from the 1st century of the Christian era: according to common opinion it was built by the Emperor Domitian. However American scholars L. Ross Taylor and L. Adams Holland on the grounds of a passage of Statius [59] maintain that it was an earlier structure (tradition has it the Ianus Quadrifrons was brought to Rome from Falerii [60]) and that Domitian only surrounded it with his new forum. [61] In fact the building of the Forum Transitorium was completed and inaugurated by Nerva in AD 96. This dialectic was reflected materially by the location of the temple of Mars outside the pomerium and of the temple of Quirinus inside it. [168] The annual dialectic rhythm of the rites of the Salii of March and October was also further reflected within the rites of each month and spatially by their repeated crossing of the pomerial line. The rites of March started on the first with the ceremony of the ancilia movere, developed through the month on the 14th with Equirria in the Campus Martius (and the rite of Mamurius Veturius marking the expulsion of the old year), the 17th with the Agonium Martiale, the 19th with the Quinquatrus in the Comitium (which correspond symmetrically with the Armilustrium of 19 October), on the 23rd with the Tubilustrium and they terminated at the end of the month with the rite of the ancilia condere. Only after this month-long set of rites was accomplished was it fas to undertake military campaigns. [169] Roman and Greek authors maintained Janus was an exclusively Roman god. [250] This claim is excessive according to R. Schilling, [251] at least as far as iconography is concerned. A god with two faces appears repeatedly in Sumerian and Babylonian art. [252] A cylinder seal depicting the gods Ishtar, Shamash, Enki, and Isimud, who is shown with two faces (circa 2300 BC)Dumézil himself observed and discussed in many of his works the phenomenon of the fall of archaic celestial deities in numerous societies of ethnologic interest. [48] Novelist and true-crime writer Colin Wilson, author of the famous and influential book The Outsider, remarks in his introduction to Brady’s book that one must first explore the depraved reaches of human consciousness to truly understand human character. His function as god of beginnings has been clearly expressed in numerous ancient sources, among them most notably Cicero, Ovid, and Varro. [27] As a god of motion, Janus looks after passages, causes actions to start and presides over all beginnings. Since movement and change are interconnected, he has a double nature, symbolised in his two-headed image. [28] He has under his tutelage the stepping in and out of the door of homes, [29] the ianua, which took its name from him, [30] and not vice versa. [31] Similarly, his tutelage extends to the covered passages named iani and foremost to the gates of the city, including the cultic gate of the Argiletum, named Ianus Geminus or Porta Ianualis from which he protects Rome against the Sabines. [32] He is also present at the Sororium Tigillum, where he guards the terminus of the ways into Rome from Latium. [33] He has an altar, later a temple near the Porta Carmentalis, where the road leading to Veii ended, as well as being present on the Janiculum, a gateway from Rome out to Etruria. [34] A. Audin connects the figure of Janus to Culśanś and Turms (Etruscan rendering of Hermes, the Greek god mediator between the different worlds, brought by the Etruscan from the Aegean Sea), considering these last two Etruscan deities as the same. [248] This interpretation would then identify Janus with Greek god Hermes. Etruscan medals from Volterra too show the double-headed god and the Janus Quadrifrons from Falerii may have an Etruscan origin. [249] Association with non-Roman gods [ edit ] The traditional ascription of the "Temple of Janus" at Autun, Burgundy, is disputed. The epithet Curiatius is found in association with Iuno Sororia as designating the deity to which one of the two altars behind the Tigillum Sororium was dedicated. Festus and other ancient authors [131] explain Curiatius by the aetiological legend of the Tigillum: the expiation undergone by P. Horatius after his victory over the Alban Curiatii for the murder of his own sister, by walking under a beam with his head veiled. [132]