Janus

Some thoughts on Roman gods:

I always thought it peculiar that the Romans had a god of doorways, since that seemed a rather minor job for a deity, and would subject the fellow to ribbing at the God Conventions.

“What do you handle?”

“Oh, war, pestilence, violent expansionism. And you?”

“Doors.”

“Doors!” Coughs, looks into his drink. “Really.”

“Well it’s more than that, of course. There’s portals of any sort. Hinges and knobs as well. Knockers in all shapes and sizes. You’d be surprised how much is involved.”

“Yes. Quite. Well, nice talking with you . . .”

“Janus.”

“Right. Well, nice to meet you.”

Only Lileks.

8 thoughts on “Janus”

  1. Well Janus was also the “two faced” god…..

    Janus figured heavily in one of my fave James P. Hogan Sci-ci novels: The Two Faces Of Tomorrow

    1. Well Janus was also the “two faced” god…..

      That’s why he’s the patron god of politicians everywhere.

  2. As I recall, Janus was also the god of progress and transitions. He’d have a bit more respect these days.

  3. In Bed Edlund’s “The Tick,” there was a very minor superhero called the Doorman. He guarded the entrance to the superhero club and had the power to open doors.

  4. A few weeks before my dad passed away I contacted him to see if he’d do a caricature of me as, wait for it, The Schlepper. It’s seems that on a recent show off the granddaughter tour my burden was to be the beast of burden in logistical support of this effort. I schlepped it here, I schlepped it there, I schlepped it every#$@%^ing where. The Schlepper is a third tier superhero which means no cape. But you do get tights I’m told. Unfortunately it wasn’t to be.

  5. “The Schlepper” sounds a lot like “Nodwick”. If you’re unfamiliar with that name, you should Google it. Nodwick’s a henchman in a fantasy webcomic. His job is to schlep the adventurer’s loot, and to get killed a lot:-)

  6. The Temple of Janus had its doors open when Rome was at peace, closed when at war (or the other way around, I don’t recall). So maybe you could say that Janus had, at least in the early days of Rome, something to do with determining the safety of the country. Just a guess.

    Of course, given the Romans’ propensity for war, the doors were rarely set whichever way indicated peace. But they did live in a tough neighborhood from the start until they beat all their nearby rivals and decided that “nearby” was further and further away…

  7. A two-faced god? In charge of knockers? I can think of a few people who might be interested in the position.

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