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Numa Pompilius, a MythSource painting
Roman

Numa Pompilius

The Pious King · The Roman Lawgiver · Founder of Roman Religion

01Identity

Numa Pompilius in Roman tradition

Numa Pompilius succeeded Romulus as Rome’s second king and established the ritual of Janus’s gates. He redirected Rome’s restless martial energy towards religious observance, introducing rites that marked the city’s passage from war to peace. During his reign, no enemy threatened Rome, so he ordered the gates shut.

Top questions

The quick answers

  • Who is Numa Pompilius?

    Numa Pompilius is a Roman hero associated with Roman religion and sacred rites; lawgiving and civic order; the Roman calendar; peaceful kingship; and priesthoods and religious offices.
    Source

    Source

    • Tales About the Mythology of Greece and Rome
    • Classical Mythology a to Z
    • Roman Mythology

  • What is Numa Pompilius associated with?

    Numa Pompilius is associated with Roman religion and sacred rites; lawgiving and civic order; the Roman calendar; peaceful kingship; and priesthoods and religious offices.
    Source

    Source

    • Tales About the Mythology of Greece and Rome
    • Classical Mythology a to Z
    • Roman Mythology

  • What family links are recorded for Numa Pompilius?

    Father: Pompo, Mother: http://www.wikidata.org/.well-known/genid/65266f0e9a4b601ab476653bc597a73f, Spouse: Egeria, 5 children.
02Family

Numa Pompilius’s family, at a glance

Pompohttp://www.wikidata.org/.well-known/genid/65266f0e9a4b601ab476653bc597a73f
Numa Pompilius

with Egeria, Lucretia, Tatia

CalpusMamercusPinusPompiliaPomponius
03The names

The names Numa Pompilius answers to

Numa

The shortened form of his name

SourceRoman Mythology

Numa the Pious

A king famed for religious devotion and peaceful rule

SourceClassical Mythology a to Z

The Sabine King

The Sabine-born second king of Rome

SourceClassical Mythology a to Z

The Roman Lawgiver

The traditional founder of many Roman laws and religious institutions

SourceClassical Mythology a to Z

04The myths

The myths of Numa Pompilius

2 myths, with sources recorded for each.

Numa Closes the Gates of Janus

The senators put Numa Pompilius forward after Romulus died. Nobody offered a rival name. The commons welcomed the choice and passed a resolution that the Senate should decide the election. The senators then offered Numa the crown, and the Senate confirmed him as Rome’s second king. Numa introduced many religious practices, including the custom of opening and closing the gates of Janus. The Romans called the temple Janus Geminus, meaning Twin, and Janus Quirinus, meaning of the Roman people. It stood near the Roman Forum, close to the centre of Rome’s political life. Janus had two heads, so he faced both sides of the road and watched the passage between peace and war. When the Roman state declared war, the Romans opened the temple doors. When peace had been secured, they closed them again. During Numa’s reign, no enemy forced Rome to fight, and no Roman army marched out to war. Numa therefore ordered the gates closed. Janus hid inside the temple while the doors remained shut, and peace stayed within it so that it could not escape. The closure marked the end of warfare throughout Numa’s reign. Later Romans kept the same custom. They opened the doors when Rome went to war and closed them after victory on land and sea had ended all conflict. The temple’s doors remained a sign of Rome’s state of war or peace, and its position near the Forum kept that sign before the city’s political life.

Numa Closes the Gates of Janus, a MythSource painting of the scene

2 sources· checked 2026-08-19

  1. 1Religion & Classical Warfare: The Roman EmpireT1
  2. 2the ancient sourcesT1

    Quote

    “The ancient sources say that Numa instituted the opening and closing of Janus’s temple, with its doors shut when Rome was at peace and open during war.”

    the ancient sources

Numa Turns Rome from War to Peace

The senators agreed that Numa Pompilius should succeed Romulus, and the commons accepted their decision. Nobody offered a rival candidate, so the Romans chose Numa unanimously. He then turned Rome away from the martial order associated with Romulus. He directed the people’s ambition towards religious observance and made the city a disciplined sacred community. He pacified the warlike Romans by giving their energies a religious purpose. At his inauguration, an augur led Numa to the citadel. Numa sat on a stone that faced south. The augur sat to his left with his head veiled. He held a curved staff called a lituus in his right hand. From the citadel, the augur looked over the city and the countryside while the ceremony proceeded. Numa also instituted the practice of opening and closing the doors of the temple of Janus. Rome opened the doors when the state declared war. It closed them when peace had been secured. The temple stood near the Forum, close to the centre of the city’s political life. Under Numa, the ritual gave Rome a visible sign of its movement from war to peace. The city’s religious order replaced the restless warlike purpose that had shaped Romulus’s rule.

Numa Turns Rome from War to Peace, a MythSource painting of the scene

3 sources· checked 2026-08-19

  1. 1Religion & Classical Warfare: The Roman EmpireT1
  2. 2Roman MythologyT1
  3. 3the ancient sourcesT1

    Quote

    “The ancient sources present Numa as the king who disciplined Rome through religious institutions and established Janus’s doors as open in war and closed in peace.”

    the ancient sources

Also mentioned in

Stories elsewhere on MythSource that mention Numa Pompilius, each on that figure’s page.