Another Meeting
Jupiter had called yet another meeting. Since the Greek Gods had been taken over by the Romans there had a lot of trouble, with moaning from the older Greek Gods, who were harking back to the ‘good ole days’ when Zeus was in charge. Many of their roles, and powers had been changed. There had even been changes of name. There was also confusion about Jupiter himself, whether he was new or Zeus had merely changed his name in order to keep the Romans in order. The Romans seemed to have taken over the whole earthly world.
Janus was not a god to say much, he was fairly new and had been allocated all manner of odd jobs which needed gods. The meeting began with a party, Bacchus of course provided all the refreshments and saw to the entertainment. Bacchus had changed his name to Dionysus. Janus tried to find a quiet corner where he would not be noticed and not given any more jobs to do.
Jupiter began the meeting with a particularly large thunderbolt. “I have it on good authority that there is one god who is trying to take over.” There were mutterings all-round the room. Despite their mythical powers all the gods had fears of being made redundant and worse – forgotten.
Janus who had found himself sitting behind a rather large barrel of wine began to moan quietly. “Wasn’t like that back in the Greek times – it was gods for this and gods for that”
“Oh shut up, what do you know about the past. I didn’t see you at Zeus’s table” Hercules said
“But it's not only the past that’s important” Janus replied looking at Hercules. He was unwilling to contradict Hercules outright because he had had a difficult start in life. “We must look to the future. I am at every ceremony in Rome. I may not have a priest of my own, but I see what goes on, and who people are worshipping. People are fickle, there will come a time when they will take no notice of us if we aren’t careful”
There was uproar and laughter none of the gods, even the most minor could contemplate the idea of time when people did not live in fear of them.
Juno, the Goddess of childbirth, was sometimes mistaken for Janus, and was also concerned that he seemed to be muscling in on her area of expertise. “Janus” she exclaimed exaggerating the ‘u’ in his name. “Are you trying to be the God of everything, I mean, you’ve got beginnings, gates, transitions even doorways and passages?”
Janus turned a little red “Actually I think my most important role is presiding over conflict and the beginning and end of war”
“Ooooh Get you!” said a small unidentified God who had been sitting on the other side of Bacchus.
There was another thunderbolt. “I’m going back to my place in the sky for a bit of peace and quiet, and you lot, you lot can get with the Godding round here. There is no one, no one who is going to take my place”
Jane
December 2022