DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14696#0445
378 The significance of Ianus' double face
bear dedicatory inscriptions in the Etruscan language. But, whereas
one has a Janiform head, the other is coifed in a lion's scalp (?).
It may be conjectured that they are Etruscan players1 taking the
parts of Ianus (Culsansf and Hercules in some forgotten drama.
(p) The significance of Ianus' double face.
We have yet to tackle the problem, difficult indeed, but not—
I think—insoluble : What was the ultimate significance of Ianus'
double face ? Ancient and modern explanations being admittedly
unsatisfactory, we must perforce look further afield and take into
account certain facts noted by students of comparative anthropology.
And here I shall avail myself at once of an obiter dictum in Sir
James Frazer's discussion of African beliefs about twins :
' On the Slave Coast when a woman has brought forth stillborn twins, she
has a statue made with two faces and sets it up in a corner of her house....This
suggests that elsewhere two-faced images, like those of Janus, may have been
intended to represent twins3.'
Let us fit the new key into our rusty lock and see if the door will
open. Ianus, we have said, was originally the divine Sky. The
divine Sky is bright by day and dark by night. Being, therefore, of
a twofold or twin character, Ianus was naturally represented as
a double-faced god.
1 Cp. a bronze from Cortona, now at Leyden (G. Micali Monumenti per servire alia
storia degli antic hi popoli ita/iajii2 Firenze 1833 pi. 119, 2, Reinach Rep. Stat. ii. 558
no. 2).
- G. Herbig in J. Hastings Encyclopcedia of Religion and Ethics Edinburgh 1912
v. 534 f., id. in Glotta 1913 iv. 173 n. 4.
Frazer Golden Bough3: The Magic Art i. 269 n. i, citing the Missions Caiholiques
1875 vii. 592.
bear dedicatory inscriptions in the Etruscan language. But, whereas
one has a Janiform head, the other is coifed in a lion's scalp (?).
It may be conjectured that they are Etruscan players1 taking the
parts of Ianus (Culsansf and Hercules in some forgotten drama.
(p) The significance of Ianus' double face.
We have yet to tackle the problem, difficult indeed, but not—
I think—insoluble : What was the ultimate significance of Ianus'
double face ? Ancient and modern explanations being admittedly
unsatisfactory, we must perforce look further afield and take into
account certain facts noted by students of comparative anthropology.
And here I shall avail myself at once of an obiter dictum in Sir
James Frazer's discussion of African beliefs about twins :
' On the Slave Coast when a woman has brought forth stillborn twins, she
has a statue made with two faces and sets it up in a corner of her house....This
suggests that elsewhere two-faced images, like those of Janus, may have been
intended to represent twins3.'
Let us fit the new key into our rusty lock and see if the door will
open. Ianus, we have said, was originally the divine Sky. The
divine Sky is bright by day and dark by night. Being, therefore, of
a twofold or twin character, Ianus was naturally represented as
a double-faced god.
1 Cp. a bronze from Cortona, now at Leyden (G. Micali Monumenti per servire alia
storia degli antic hi popoli ita/iajii2 Firenze 1833 pi. 119, 2, Reinach Rep. Stat. ii. 558
no. 2).
- G. Herbig in J. Hastings Encyclopcedia of Religion and Ethics Edinburgh 1912
v. 534 f., id. in Glotta 1913 iv. 173 n. 4.
Frazer Golden Bough3: The Magic Art i. 269 n. i, citing the Missions Caiholiques
1875 vii. 592.