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Prayers to Janus

12 prayers

Janus was named first in any Roman prayer, whoever it was addressed to: the god of the opening got the opening. Most of what survives is therefore formulaic — the first words of a rite rather than a rite of its own. Ovid's Fasti I, where the god answers the poet's questions in person, is the exception that preserves the rest.

What is asked
Fontes · Sources
  • Ovid · Fasti3
  • Cato · De Agricultura2
  • Livy · Ab Urbe Condita2
  • Ausonius · Precationes1
  • Horace · Satires1
  • Martial · Epigrammata1
  • Varro · Lingua Latina / Carmen Salii1
  • Virgil · Aeneid1
In the sources
Ianus · Janus
The name as each source prints it.
Orationes · The texts
  1. 001

    The devotio of Decius Mus

    Livy · Ab Urbe Condita · 8.9.6-8

    Janus, Jupiter, Father Mars, Quirinus, Bellona, Lares, You divine Novensiles and You divine Indigetes, deities whose power extends over us and over our foes, and to You, too, Divine Manes, I pray, I do You reverence, I crave Your grace and favour will bless the Roman People, the Quirites, with power and victory, and will visit fear, dread and death on the enemies of the Roman People, the Quirites. In like manner as I have uttered this prayer so do I now on behalf of the commonwealth of the Quirites, on behalf of the army, the legions, the auxiliaries of the Roman People, the Quirites, devote the legions and auxiliaries of the enemy, together with myself to Tellus and the Divine Manes.

    RomanDedicationOath
  2. 002

    The oath of Aeneas and Latinus

    Virgil · Aeneid · 12.176-82; 197-211

    May the Sun now bear witness, and so too the Earth, I pray, for whom I have been able to endure these many labors, and you, Almighty Father, and you his consort (Juno), daughter of Saturnus, at one time more beneficial, at another kinder, be so now as I pray to you, O Goddess, and to you, too, Father Mavors, who wields all warfare under your powers, and on all the springs and rivers of this land I invoke as witnesses, and all the powers of the high heavens and those of the deep blue seas on whom it is proper to call. By these same deities I, Aeneas, swear, by the Earth and the Sea, by the stars and Latona's twin children, and dual-faced Janus, and the powers of the gods below, and the harsh shrines of Father Dis. May the Great Father hear my vow, he that sanctions alliances with his thunderbolt. I touch the altars, and by the fires and by the divine powers who I have called to witness, I so swear, that never shall I breach this alliance or the peace of Italy, no matter what or how things happen, nothing shall divert my will, not even if waves would cover the earth, plunging all into deluge, and the Heavens fell into deepest Tartarus.

    RomanOathInvocation
  3. 003

    Prayer to Janus

    Cato · De Agricultura · 134

    Father Janus, to You I pray with good prayers, offering You this pile of cakes, so that You might willingly be favorable to me and my children, to my home and household. Father Janus, for the same reasons given in the good prayers I prayed while offering You piled cakes, may You accept and be honored by this portion of wine I pour.

    RomanPetitionDedication
  4. 004

    The fetial declaration of war

    Livy · Ab Urbe Condita · 1.32.10

    Hear, o Jupiter, and You Janus Quirinus, and all You heavenly Gods, and You gods of earth and of the lower world, hear me! I call You to witness that this people is unjust and does not fulfill its sacred obligations.

    RomanOathPetition
  5. 005

    Prayer to Janus

    Ovid · Fasti · 1.65-70

    Biformed Janus, source of years gliding by in silence, who alone among the immortal celestials sees his own back, come, attend our nobles as Your guests, those whose labors secure delightful pastimes for the earth, and peace on earth, peace on the seas. Attend and bless Your Senators and those of the people of Rome, the Quirites, and with a nod open Your gleaming gates onto peaceful precincts.

    RomanInvocationPetition
  6. 006

    The Salian Hymn

    Varro · Lingua Latina / Carmen Salii · 7.26

    Arise, O Consus, arise. All things, truly, I entrust to Patulcium the Opener. Now You are Janus the Gatekeeper, now Cerus the Good Creator, now Janus the God of Good Beginnings. Come, now most especially, You who are the better of these kings.

    RomanInvocation
  7. 007

    Prayer to Ceres

    Cato · De Agricultura · 134

    Ceres Mater, to You I pray with good prayers, offering You this pile of cakes, so that You might willing be favorable to me and my children, to my home and household. Ceres Mater, for the same reasons given in the good prayers I prayed while offering You piled cakes, may You accept and be honored by this portion of wine I pour.

    RomanPetitionDedication
  8. 008

    Prayer to Janus

    Ausonius · Precationes · Precatio consulis designati, 1-2

    Janus, come! The New Year is here, come and renew the sun.

    RomanInvocation
  9. 009

    Prayer to Janus

    Horace · Satires · 2.6.20-21

    Father Matutinus, or else Janus, if You so prefer to hear, regarded by men as the beginning of works and life's labors, so does it please the Gods, may You begin my song.

    RomanInvocation
  10. 010

    Prayer to Janus

    Martial · Epigrammata · 8.2.8

    May You give, Father Janus, what we ask of You.

    RomanPetition
  11. 011

    Prayer to Janus

    Ovid · Fasti · 1.172

    Janus, though I propitiate other Gods, I do offer wine and cakes to You first, so that I may obtain access through You, Janus, to any of the other Gods I may call upon.

    RomanDedicationPetition
  12. 012

    Prayer to Janus

    Ovid · Fasti · 1.287

    Janus, make peace and the servants of peace eternal. Grant that the author of peace may not desert his work.

    RomanPetition
Invoked alongside
Jupiter4Earth2Juno2Mars2the Manes2Apollo1Bellona1Ceres1Consus1Diana1Dis Pater1Quirinus1Sol1the Di Indigetes1the Di Novensiles1the Lares1
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