Heimdall vs Janus

Watchman of the gods who guards the rainbow bridge Bifrost connecting Asgard and Midgard. Possesses incredible hearing and eyesight, and will blow his horn Gjallarhorn to signal the onset of Ragnarok.

Heimdall's birth is one of the most mysterious in Norse mythology. According to the Eddas, he was born of nine mothers simultaneously - the nine daughters of the sea giant Aegir, who are the waves of the ocean. These nine giantesses nourished the infant god with the strength of the earth, the moisture of the sea, and the heat of the sun. This unique origin gave Heimdall his extraordinary senses and his connection to all the realms. He is sometimes called the White God due to his shining appearance. Under the name Rig, he is credited with creating the three classes of Norse society - thralls, karls, and jarls - during a journey through Midgard.

Heimdall is the ever-vigilant guardian of the **Bifrost**, the rainbow bridge. He requires less sleep than a bird and can hear the grass growing.

God of beginnings, gates, transitions, time, duality, doorways, passages, and endings. Uniquely Roman deity with no Greek equivalent. Depicted with two faces looking to past and future.

Janus is one of the oldest Roman gods, said to have no Greek counterpart. He presided over the beginning and end of conflicts, and hence war and peace. All ceremonies and rituals began with an invocation to Janus.

Janus has no Greek twin, and Romans knew it. He is the god of going in and going out: doors, gates, the first of the year, the first word of a prayer. He is shown with two faces, one toward what has happened and one toward what has not. January bears his name. The gates of his shrine in the Forum, the **Janus Geminus**, stood open in war and closed in peace, which happened rarely enough to be worth recording.