Temple of Janus (Roman Forum) Temple of Janus (Roman Forum) In ancient Rome, the main Temple of Janus as it is often called, although it was not a normal temple, stood in the Roman Forum near the Argiletum. It had doors on both ends, and inside was a statue of Janus, the two-faced god of boundaries. The doors (the "Gates of Janus") were closed in times of peace and opened in times of war. According to Livy 1.19 the second king of Rome, Numa Pompilius, decided to distract the early, warlike Romans from their violent ways by instilling in them awe and reverence. His projects
Wolves in folklore, religion and mythology Common Slavic "vuko-dlak" "wolf-furr". The wolf as a mythological creature is greatly linked to Balkan and Serbian mythology and cults. It has an important part in Serbian mythology. In the Slavic, old Serbian religion and mythology, the wolf was used as a totem. In the Serbian epic poetry, the wolf is a symbol of fearlessness. Vuk Karadžić, 19th-century Serbian philologist and ethnographer, explained the traditional, apotropaic use of the name Vuk ("wolf"): a woman who had lost several babies in succession, would name her newborn son Vuk, because it was believed that the witches, who "ate" the babies, were afraid