In Roman mythology, Quirinus was an early god of the Roman state. In Augustan
Rome, Quirinus was also an epithet of Janus, as
Janus Quirinus.[1]
History
Quirinus was originally most likely a Sabine god. The Sabines had a settlement near the
eventual site of Rome, and erected an altar to Quirinus on the Collis Quirinalis, the
Quirinal Hill, one of the Seven Hills of
Rome. When the Romans settled there, they absorbed the cult of Quirinus into their early belief system — previous to
direct Greek influence — and he was said to be the deified Romulus. He soon became an
important god of the Roman state, being included in the earliest precursor of the Capitoline
Triad, along with Mars (then an agriculture god) and Jupiter.[2] Varro notes the Capitolium Vetus an earlier cult sited on the Quirinal, devoted to
Jupiter, Juno and Minerva,[3] among whom Martial makes a distinction between the "old Jupiter" and the "new".[4]
In later times, however, Quirinus became far less important, losing his place to the later, more widely known Capitoline Triad
(Juno and Minerva took his and Mars' place). Later
still, Romans began to drift away from the state belief system in favor of more personal and mystical cults (such as those of
Bacchus, Cybele, and Isis). In
the end, he was worshiped almost exclusively by his flamen, the Flamen Quirinalis, who remained,
however, one of the patrician flamines maiores, the "greater flamens" who preceded the Pontifex Maximus in precedence.[5]
Depiction
In earlier Roman art, he was portrayed as a bearded man with religious and military clothing.
However, he was almost never depicted in later Roman belief systems. He was also often associated with the myrtle.
Festivals
His festival was the Quirinalia, held on February 17.
Trivia
Even centuries after the fall of the Roman Empire the Quirinale hill in Rome,
originally named from the deified Romulus was still associated with power, hence it
was chosen as the seat of the royal house after the taking of Rome by the Savoia and
later it became the residence of the Presidents of the Italian Republic.
Also, Quirinus, related to Remus (a name for a character in the 'Harry Potter' series of childrens novels), is a name for
another character of the same series.
Notes
- ^ In the prayer of the fetiales quoted by
Livy (I.32.10); Macrobius (Sat.
I.9.15);
- ^ Inez Scott Ryberg, "Was the Capitoline Triad Etruscan or Italic?" The
American Journal of Philology 52.2 (1931), pp. 145-156.
- ^ Varro, De lingua latina V.158.
- ^ Martial, (V, 22.4) remarks on a position on the Esquiline from which one might see hinc novum Iovem, inde veterem, "here the new Jupiter, there
the old."
- ^ Festus, 198, L: "Quirinalis,
socio imperii Romani Curibus ascito Quirino".
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