A Roman key with two opposing humanoid faces topped with the head of a boar at the Cleveland Museum of Art in Cleveland, Ohio.

A Roman key with two opposing humanoid faces topped with the head of a boar at the Cleveland Museum of Art in Cleveland, Ohio.
Portunus was the ancient Roman god of keys, doors, livestock and ports. He may have originally protected the warehouses where grain was stored, but later became associated with ports, perhaps because of folk associations between porta "gate, door" and portus "harbor", the "gateway" to the sea. Portunus' festival, celebrated on August 17, the sixteenth day before the Kalends of September, was the Portunalia, a minor occasion in the Roman year. On this day, keys were thrown into a fire for good luck in a very solemn and lugubrious manner. A temple of Portunus still stands in the Forum Boarium in Rome. Portunus appears to be closely related to the god Janus, with whom he shares many characters, functions and the symbol of the key. He too was represented as a two headed being, with each head facing opposite directions, on coins and as figurehead of ships. The relationship between the two gods is underlined by the fact that the date chosen for the dedication of the rebuilt temple of Janus in the Forum Holitorium by emperor Tiberius was the day of the Portunalia, August 17. Portunus' flamen, the flamen Portunalis, was one of the flamines minores and performed the ritual of oiling the spear (hasta) on the statue of god Quirinus, with an ointment especially prepared for this purpose and stored in a small vase (persillum).




Images: A Roman key with two opposing humanoid faces topped with the head of a boar, bronze handle with iron tang, 1st century CE. One side appears to be the god Pan with the horns of a goat. Image courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art.

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