- See also: Temple of Janus (Forum Holitorium)
The main Temple of Janus stood in the Roman Forum. The temple had doors on both ends, and inside the temple was a statue of Janus, the two-faced god of boundaries. The temple doors were closed in times of peace and opened in times of war. Plutarch, in Life of King Numa, wrote:
- [Janus] also has a temple at Rome with double doors, which they call the gates of war; for the temple always stands open in time of war, but is closed when peace has come. The latter was a difficult matter, and it rarely happened, since the realm was always engaged in some war, as its increasing size brought it into collision with the barbarous nations which encompassed it round about. But in the time of Augustus it was closed, after he had overthrown Mark Antony; and before that, when Marcus Atilius and Titus Manlius were consuls, it was closed a short time; then war broke out again at once, and it was opened.
The closing of the temple was a very rare event. It is said to have happened for the first time under Numa Pompilius, for the second time under Titus Manlius in 235 BC, a third time by Augustus in 29 BC, and only a fourth time under Vespasian in AD 70.
