JULY 2021 Blues Vol 37 No. 7

Janus of Rome In the

Janus of Rome In the pantheon of Roman mythology there is a god that is not borrowed from the Greeks. The Romans were brilliant people who did not like reinventing the wheel. Therefore, they shamelessly took the inventions and discoveries of others and made them their own. Many times, they improved on the original models and our world is still receiving the benefits. Today, we can still see their aqueducts, roads, concrete, and even bound books. In their religious mythology most all their gods are Greek gods who have been renamed. For example, Zeus is the chief god in Greek myths, but in the Latin myths his name is Jupiter. Same god, different name. Janus, however, is pure Roman. Janus is a god with two faces. He has eyes in the back of his head as well as the front. Romans had a concept that beginnings and endings were important components of the same event. Janus was the god that started war and ended peace. Janus also started peace and ended war. Apollo governed the war itself, but Janus started and ended it. Janus is also concerned with journeys as they begin and end. When one journey is ended, another starts. Therefore, Janus guards the doorways and passageways of a building as these are important starting and ending points of a journey. We get our word “janitor” from this function of Janus’ mission. The most important of all the duties of Janus was guarding the gateways of the city of Rome. The very security of the Roman people was in the hands of Janus as he was the gatekeeper of the city. With his unique ability to see from multiple points of view, he could maintain the gates and protect the people. On September 4, 476 AD, Janus no longer kept the gates. The Romans squandered their birthrights with riotous overspending and political corruption. They could no longer manage their far-flung affairs in an efficient manner, so mismanagement became the norm. They no longer superintended their borders, and they allowed their enemies to come in and serve in their once mighty legions. They quite literally trained foreigners in their military tactics and technology. They did this because the average Roman no longer had the intrinsic loyalty and patriotism to perform their civic responsibilities in an organized society. The new segment of their society called Christians was extremely disgusted by the collective sexual depravity that injured children and vulnerable women. They also saw the reliance on slave labor to be peculiarly depraved. Despite Rome’s glorious history with her stupendous accomplishments, the society could not stand. In a geographical area that went from the Atlantic Ocean to the Euphrates River, the once mighty empire crumbled. Edward Gibbon’s book concerning the rise and decline of Rome indicated that the most surprising characteristic of the fall was that the Romans did not know it was in decline! On September 4, 476 AD, Janus failed to protect the Roman people and their once dominant gates. “Barbarians” entered the phenomenal city. They marveled at the architecture and engineering involved in creating this dazzling metropolis. The “Barbarians” could neither read nor write, but they could fight as their one-time masters trained them. Upon further reflection, I wonder if Janus did do his duty. Perhaps he wasn’t the negligent deity the now conquered Romans thought he was. Conceivably, he may have executed his obligations perfectly. Janus, with his powers of multiple viewpoints, apparently believed that the citizens of Rome were no longer worthy of the sacrifices that the centurion gatekeepers were asked to make on their behalf. The centurions enforced the greatest written law code ever produced up until that time - the “Corpus Juris Civilis.” The once illustrious force that patrolled the roads of the empire and the gates of Rome herself now protected an ungrateful and dishonorable population. The Romans exhausted the honor, loyalty, and Congratulations to Alan Helfman on your Lifetime Achievement Award PROUD SUPPORTER OF THE BLUES FOR OVER 36 YEARS courage of the centurions who had sworn an oath to protect them. Janus didn’t need four eyes to see this detestable behavior. On September 4, 476 AD, Rome fell. The journey was over. The ungrateful and despicable Romans had new masters as any conquered people does. On September 4, 476 AD, Janus started a new journey on history’s timeline. It was one in which the new masters were illiterate barbarians with tribal names like Goths, Vandals, Celts, Angles, Saxons, Franks, and Visigoths. The new journey had a name: The Dark Ages. HELFMAN’S RIVER OAKS CHRYSLER JEEP • DODGE • RAM • CHRYSLER • FORD FIAT • ALFA ROMEO • MASERATI 82 The BLUES POLICE MAGAZINE The BLUES POLICE MAGAZINE 83