Page "Janus" Paragraph 97

c ) Janus's cultic alliances and relations in Latium show a Prelatin character.

Janus has no association in cult ( calendar or prayer formulae ) with any other entity.

Even though he has the epithet of Pater he is no head of a divine family ; however some testimonies lend him a companion, sometimes female and a son and / or a daughter.

They belong to the family of the nymphs or genies of springs.

Janus intervenes in the miracle of the hot spring during the battle between Romulus and Tatius: Juturna and the nymphs of the springs are clearly related to Janus as well as Venus, that in the Ovid's Metamorphoses cooperates in the miracle and that may have been confused with Venilia, or perhaps the two were originally one.

Janus has a direct link only to Venilia with whom he fathered Canens.

The magic role of the wild olive tree ( oleaster ) is prominent in the description of the duel between Aeneas and Turnus reflecting its religious significance and powers: it was sacred to sailors, also to those who had shipwrecked as a protecting guide to the shore.

It was probably venerated by a Prelatin culture in association with Faunus.

In the story of Venulus coming back from Apulia too we see the religious connotation of the wild olive: the king discovers one into which a local shepherd had been had been turned for failing to respect some nymphs he had come across in a nearby cavern, apparently Venilia, as she was the deity associated with the magic virtues of such tree.

Gagé finds it remarkable that the characters related to Janus are in the Aeneis on the side of the Rutuli.

In the Aeneis Janus would be represented by Tiberinus.

Olistene, the daughter of Janus with Camese, may reflect in her name that of the olive or oleaster, or of Oreithyia.

Camese may be reflected in Carmenta: Evander's mother is from Arcadia, comes to Latium as an exile migrant and has her two festivals in January: Camese's name does not look Latin.