Janus is the Roman god of the passage (Latin ianua ), including doorways, archways, and bridges, as well as metaphorical transitions. His name is given to January, which became the gateway into the New Year (Ov. Fast . 1), the Janiculum hill, ianuli (a type of verse), and ianual (a sacrificial cake). In Indo‐European terms Janus seems to be “a personification of transitional spaces through which one must walk in order to begin an under‐taking” (Taylor 2000: 2).

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Carmentis (Carmenta at Livy 1.7.8) is an early Roman goddess, or perhaps one of a divine group, the Carmentes. Her name probably derives from Latin carmen (a special utterance, such as a spell, song, or poem), which suggests her original nature as the abstraction of the prophetic voice. Indigitamenta such as Postvorta (“Turned Backwards”) and Porrima (“Facing Forward”) help her to see into the past and future; but she is also designated a birth goddess, with her helpers’ names referring to the position of infants at birth.

Faunus and Fauna (plural Fauni) are Latin prophetic deities. Their voices typically issued from groves; most Roman gods, including those of the state, in contrast, communicated with humans not by speaking, but via signs from the natural world.

In Rome and Latium, the Liberalia festival on March 17 was probably a coming‐of‐age celebration appropriate for “free children” ( l̄ıberi l̄ıberi ).