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Ianuarius, Januarius ("January"), or in full mensis Ianuarius, abbreviated Ian., was the first month of the Roman calendar, from which the Julian calendar and Gregorian month of January derived. It was followed by Februarius ("February"). In the calendars of the Roman Republic, Ianuarius had 29 days. Two days were added when the Julian calendar under Julius Caesar in 45 BCE.
In the oldest Roman calendar, which the Romans believed to have been instituted by their legendary founder Romulus, the first month was Martius ("month of Mars", March), and the calendar year had only ten months. Ianuarius and Februarius were supposed to have been added by Numa Pompilius, the second king of Rome, originally at the end of the year. It is unclear when the Romans reset the course of the year so that January and February came first. Ianuarius is conventionally thought to have taken its name from Janus, the dual-faced god of beginnings, openings, passages, gates and doorways, but according to ancient Roman farmers' almanacs Juno was the tutelary deity of the month.
Varro, in his agricultural treatise, divides the agricultural year into eight phases. The phase from the winter solstice to February 7, when Favonius the west wind was thought to start blowing favorably, was not for hard work, but odd jobs and tidying.
The senior of the two consuls next convened the senate. Among other business, he announced the date of the Feriae Latinae ("Latini Festival"), a moveable feast to be held in April and one of the oldest festivals of the religious calendar. Within five days, in the presence of the at the Temple of Saturn, the consuls took an oath to obey the laws.
In the Roman Empire, vows for the wellbeing of the Roman emperor were made instead.
On the calendar of the Roman Republic and early Principate, each day was marked with a letter to denote its religiously lawful status. In January, these were:
January had two feriae conceptivae, moveable feasts that might occur on varying days to be announced by the Roman pontiffs. These were Compitalia ("Crossroads Festival") and Sementivae ("Festival of Sowing"), which the table below shows on the dates when they seem to have been observed most often.
A dies natalis was an anniversary such as a temple founding or rededication, sometimes thought of as the "birthday" of a deity. During the Roman Empire, some of the traditional festivals localized at Rome became less important, and the birthdays and anniversaries of the emperor and his family gained prominence as Roman holidays. On the calendar of military religious observances known as the Feriale Duranum, sacrifices pertaining to Imperial cult outnumber the older festivals. After the mid-1st century AD, a number of dates are added to calendars for ludi held in honor of various deities in the venue called a "circus". By the late 2nd century AD, extant calendars no longer show days marked with letters (F, N, C and so on) to show their religious status, probably in part as a result of calendar reforms undertaken by Marcus Aurelius. Festivals marked in large letters on extant fasti, represented by festival names in all capital letters on the table, are thought to have been the most ancient holidays, becoming part of the calendar before 509 BC.
Ianuarius was expanded from 29 to 31 days on the Julian calendar. On the table below, dates after the Ides are those of the Julian calendar, with the pre-Julian date for festivals noted parenthetically. Unless otherwise noted, the dating and observances are taken from H.H. Scullard, Festivals and ceremonies of the Roman Republic.
| • Consuls take office (from 153 BC) • sacrifices to Aesculapius and Vediovis at their Tiber Island sanctuaries |
| • day on which the three-day Compitalia most often began |
| • continuation of Compitalia on its most frequently observed date |
| • dies natalis of the shrine of Vica Pota on the Velian Hill • day on which Compitalia most often ended |
| • for Jupiter Sempiternus to commemorate the assumption of the fasces by Augustus (on the Feriale Cumanum, 4–14 AD) • Ludi circenses for Father Janus (after late-1st century AD) |
| • Agonalia for Janus at the Regia |
| • Carmentalia • dies natalis of the cult of Juturna in the Campus Martius |
| Ludi circenses for Jupiter Stator (after late-1st century AD) |
| • some fasti of the early Principate mark January 14 as a dies vitiosus, a religiously defective day, because it was the birthday of Mark Antony |
| • CARMENTALIA (XVI Kal. Feb. on the pre-Julian calendar) |
| • supplication for Augustus on the day he received the title Augustus (Feriale Cumanum) |
| • day on which the three-day Sementivae most often began • sacrifices for the dies natalis of the emperor Hadrian (reigned 117–138 AD) |
| • continuation of Sementivae on its most frequently observed date |
| • day on which Sementivae most often ended |
| • dies natalis of the Temple of Castor and Pollux (IV Kal. Feb. on the pre-Julian calendar) |
| (day added to the month on the Julian calendar) |
| (day added to the month on the Julian calendar) |
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