Knock, knock!

It is fitting that the first (albeit belated) post of the New Year should be about doors.

The Latin word for door, ianua, gives us our word "janitor", traditionally the door-keeper. So the Roman god Janus (deriving his name from ianua) was the patron, not only of doors and gateways, but of new beginnings. Literally two-faced, he looked back into the old year and forwards into the new.

The accompanying image is the wonderfully complete example of a Roman door excavated in London at the Drapers Gardens site by PCA.