The Temple of Janus
Nero’s Short Lived Closing of the Doors
Nero. AD 54-68. Æ Sestertius (35mm, 28.45 g, 6h). Lugdunum (Lyon) mint. Struck circa AD 65. NERO CLAVD CAESAR AVG GER P M TR P IMP P P, laureate head right, globe at point of neck / PΛCE P R TERRΛ MΛRIQ PΛRTΛ IΛNVM CLVSIT, S C across field, Temple of Janus with latticed windows to left and garland hung across closed double doors to the right. RIC I 438; WCN 419; Lyon 109; BMCRE 319; BN 73. Dark green patina, light earthen deposits. EF. Wonderful portrait.
The Temple of Janus was one of Rome’s most ancient centers of worship. It was said that Romulus had built it after he made peace with the Sabines, and that it was king Numa who decreed that its doors should be opened during times of war and shut during times of peace. In all of Roman history until the reign of Nero, the temple doors had been shut perhaps five or six times – once under king Numa (who originated the tradition), once at the end of the Second Punic War, three times under Augustus, and, according to Ovid, once under Tiberius.
In AD 65, when peace had been generally established in the Empire, Nero understandably requested the closing of the temple’s doors. He marked the event with great celebrations and trumpeted his policy of peace by issuing a large and impressive series of coins. The inscription on this issue announces “the doors of Janus have been closed after peace has been procured for the Roman People on the land and on the sea." The doors of the temple probably remained closed for less than a year, being opened again with the onset of strife in Judaea in 66.
