Now, calling someone two-faced in today's culture is definitely an insult. It implies that they're liars. It might bring to mind Harvey Dent, or perhaps Voldemort and Quirrell. Because of this, one might assume that a god with two faces is a deity of liars, or at least a somewhat duplicitous god.
That is not the case with Janus.
In fact, Janus is one of the good gods. He's also one of the most powerful within the Roman pantheon. Because his two faces look in opposite directions, Janus is believed to be able to see both the beginning and the end of all things.
And I do mean all things. As such, the name of Janus was traditionally invoked during all religious ceremonies, regardless of what was being prayed for or which other gods were receiving sacrifices. You could go to the temple and pray for Juno's blessing on your family, but Janus would receive an offering at the beginning of the ceremony. Want victory in war? You'd go and pray to Mars, but in the process would also offer something to Janus.
Besides being a part of all of the religious rituals, Janus also had a few things associated with him specifically. Doors and doorways were especially tied to the god, for it was believed that one of his heads saw through the front of the door and one through the back. As such, he could see what lay ahead and what lay behind. This applied to every doorway, ranging from the entrance/exit of your home to the main gate of Rome.
Other things associated with Janus included the beginning and end of a day, the transitions between peace and war, and life and death. All of these things had one thing in common: change.
Perhaps most interesting (at least to me) was Janus' association with time. His heads were said to allow him to see both the past and the future. He had witnessed the beginning of all things, and could see ahead to the end.
I'll end with this: Though the term two-faced has nowadays come to be very negative, remnants of Janus can still be found. There's a type of birth disorder called diprosopus, in which a creature is born with two faces. When this occurs in a cat, the cat is termed a 'Janus cat'.
I hope you guys enjoyed the post! I'll see you next week when we wrap up this series on Rome with a story about Lucretia.
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