Cook, Arthur B.: Zeus: a study in ancient religion (Band 2,1): Zeus god of the dark sky (thunder and lightning): Text and notes (Cambridge, 1925)

Ianus represented as Vault or Archway 355

famous gateway at the north-western end of the Forum Romanum
was 'a symbolic entrance to the heart of the city1.' But the early
Roman cared little for symbols. What he wanted was to have
the god he worshipped present in his midst. So, if the god he
worshipped was the shining vault of heaven, he must needs have
a glittering simulacrum of it continually before him. W. Deecke in
1876 had already got a glimpse of the truth, when lie urged that
Ianus denoted the sky as an arch or vault2; L. Preller and H. Jordan
in 1881 admitted that the simple arch stood for the heavenly
vault3; and S. Linde in 1891, while improving on his predecessors'
etymology, still upheld their opinion that the vaulted archway of
Ianus was but an image of the sky4. I agree with this view, which
seems to me strongly supported by the fact that the Romans used
the self-same word on the one hand of the god (Ianus), on the other
of his arch [ianus).

The archway of Ianus in all probability forms part of the back-
ground carved on one of the well-known balustrades in the Forum
(fig. 242)3. The emperor (Trajan ?) is here seen standing with his
suite on the rostra in front of the old curia ; and the adjoining
gateway, a simple round-headed arch between two Corinthian
columns supporting a horizontal entablature, was identified by

1 W. Warde Fowler The Religions Experience of the Roman People London 1911
p. 126. Cp. B. R. Burchett Jantis in Roman Life and Cult Menasha, Wisconsin 191N
p. 37 f. ('the symbolical entrance-way,' 'the symbolical entrance," 'the one symbolical
gate').

2 W. Deecke Elruskische Forschungen Stuttgart 1876 ii. 125: 'Ianus bqcicfynctc alfo
ten .§tmmet als „ 33ogen, ©eiooloe" unt nmrte fo 9tame tes •§immeU>=, nid;t beS Sonnengotrcs
So fniivft fid; and; tic (Stnfutyrung femes Dtenftes in Stem an ten ©au res Ianus geminus auf
tern Jorum' etc.

3 Preller—Jordan Rom. Myth? i. 168 : ' daher der einfache Bogen, ianus, eigentlich
ein offener Durchgang (transitio pervia, Cic. X. D. 11, 27) das Symbol des himmlischen
Gewblbes und seines Pfbrtners Janus, des himmlischen Lichtgottes wurde.'

4 S. Linde De Iano summo Romanornm deo Lundae 1891 p. 18: 'Ianum caelum
repraesentasse forma quoque templi eius indicat, quod arcus vel fornix erat—quae fornix
imago caeli mihi videtur fuisse, ut pro caelo et germanice Him?nelsgewdlbe et suethiee
him lahvalf dicitur. Recte igitur, opinor, Deecke (Etr. Forsch. 11 p. 125 sq.) Ianum esse
denm caeli statuit. Falso tamen putat Ianum idem atque transitum esse et etiam per se
a principio fornicem vel arcum significasse, nam fornix vel arcus est imago sola caeli*
[*Cfr Preller, Rom. Myth.3 1. p. 168], non ipsa interpretatio nominis Iani.'

5 E. Brizio in the Ann. d. Inst. 1872 xliv. 314!., Mon. d. Inst, ix pi. 47 (a photograph,
from which my illustration is drawn), H. Jordan Topographie der Stadt Rom im Alter-
thum Berlin 1885 i. 2. 219 ff. pi. 4 (p. 224 ' einen nicht sicher bestimmbaren Bogen'),
C. Huelsen The Roman Forum trans. J. B. Carter Rome 1906 p. 97 ff. fig. 44 (cp. p. 102
' an arch which has not been identified, and which was probably destroyed in the altera-
tions by Severus'), Mrs A. Strong Roman Sculpture from Augustus to Constantine
London 1907 p. 151ff.pl. 45 (p.155 ' an arch which archaeologists have not yet named'),
Reinach Rep. Reliefs i. 278 f.

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