PAC648 A Magical Encounter

The Janus head is a depiction of the two-faced Roman god Janus, symbolizing beginnings, endings, transitions, and duality. He is portrayed with one face looking toward the past and the other toward the future, managing doorways, gates, and passages. The month of January is named in his honour.

The Janus figure in Celtic mythology, most famously represented by the Boa Island figure in County Fermanagh, is a pre-Christian stone idol with two faces carved back-to-back, likely symbolizing duality, such as life/death, male/female, or the spiritual/physical worlds. Though named after the Roman god of beginnings, it is believed to represent a Celtic deity or the war goddess Badb.