In
Roman mythology
Roman mythology is the body of myths of ancient Rome as represented in the literature and visual arts of the Romans. One of a wide variety of genres of Roman folklore, ''Roman mythology'' may also refer to the modern study of these representa ...
and
religion
Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...
, Quirinus ( , ) is an early god of the
Roman state
In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–50 ...
. In
Augustan Rome, ''Quirinus'' was also an
epithet of
Janus, as ''Janus Quirinus''.
Name
Attestations
The name of god Quirinus is recorded across Roman sources as ''Curinus'', ''Corinus'', ''Querinus'', ''Queirinus'' and ''QVIRINO'', also as fragmented ''IOVI. CYRIN
'. The name is also attested as a surname to
Hercules as ''Hercules Quirinus''.
Etymology
The name ''Quirīnus'' probably stems from Latin ''
quirīs'', the name of Roman citizens in their peacetime function. Since both ''quirīs'' and ''Quirīnus'' are connected with Sabellic immigrants into Rome in ancient legends, it may be a loanword. The meaning "wielder of the spear" (Sabine ''quiris'', 'spear', cf. ''Janus Quirinus''), or a derivation from the Sabine town of
Cures, have been proposed by
Ovid
Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...
in his ''
''Fasti'''' 2.477-480.
Some scholars have interpreted the name as a contraction of ''*Co-Virīnus'' (originally the protector of the community, cf.
''cūria'' < ''*co-viria''), descending from an earlier *''Co-Wironos'', itself from the
Proto-Indo-European noun ' ("man"). Linguist
Michiel de Vaan argues that this etymology "is not credible phonetically and not very compelling semantically."
Depiction and worship
In earlier Roman
art
Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas.
There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...
, Quirinus was portrayed as a bearded man with religious and military clothing. However, he was almost never depicted in later
Roman art
The art of Ancient Rome, and the territories of its Republic and later Empire, includes architecture, painting, sculpture and mosaic work. Luxury objects in metal-work, gem engraving, ivory carvings, and glass are sometimes considered to be min ...
. His main
festival
A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival ...
was the Quirinalia, held on February 17.
The priest of Quirinus, the ''
Flamen Quirinalis
In ancient Roman religion, the Flamen Quirinalis was the flamen or high priest of the god Quirinus. He was one of the three ''flamines maiores'', third in order of importance after the Flamen Dialis and the Flamen Martialis. Like the other two hi ...
'', was one of the three patrician ''flamines maiores'' ("major
flamen
A (plural ''flamens'' or ''flamines'') was a priest of the ancient Roman religion who was assigned to one of eighteen deities with official cults during the Roman Republic. The most important of these were the three (or "major priests"), who ser ...
s") who had precedence over the
Pontifex Maximus.
History
Quirinus most likely was originally a
Sabine
The Sabines (; lat, Sabini; it, Sabini, all exonyms) were an Italic people who lived in the central Apennine Mountains of the ancient Italian Peninsula, also inhabiting Latium north of the Anio before the founding of Rome.
The Sabines di ...
war god. The Sabines had a settlement near the eventual site of
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
, and erected an altar to Quirinus on the ''Collis Quirinalis''
Quirinal Hill
The Quirinal Hill (; la, Collis Quirinalis; it, Quirinale ) is one of the Seven Hills of Rome, at the north-east of the city center. It is the location of the official residence of the Italian head of state, who resides in the Quirinal Pala ...
, one of the
Seven hills of Rome
The seven hills of Rome ( la, Septem colles/montes Romae, it, Sette colli di Roma ) east of the river Tiber form the geographical heart of Rome, within the walls of the city.
Hills
The seven hills are:
* Aventine Hill (Latin: ''Collis Aventi ...
. When the Romans settled in the area, the cult of Quirinus became part of their early belief system. This occurred before the later influences from classical Greek culture.
Deified Romulus
In
Plutarch
Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for hi ...
's
''Life of Romulus'', he writes that shortly after Rome's founder had disappeared under what some considered suspicious circumstances, a Roman noble named
Proculus Julius reported that
Romulus had come to him while he was travelling. He claimed that the king had instructed him to tell his countrymen that he, Romulus was Quirinus.
By the end of the 1st century BCE, Quirinus would be considered to be the
deified
Apotheosis (, ), also called divinization or deification (), is the glorification of a subject to divine levels and, commonly, the treatment of a human being, any other living thing, or an abstract idea in the likeness of a deity. The term has ...
legendary king.
Brelich's argument for split deification
Historian Angelo Brelich argued that Quirinus and
Romulus were originally the same divine entity which was split into a founder hero and a god when Roman religion became demythicised. To support this, he points to the association of both Romulus and Quirinus with the grain
spelt, through the ''
Fornacalia'' or ''Stultorum Feriae'', according to Ovid's ''Fasti''.
The last day of the festival is called the ''
Quirinalia'' and corresponds with the traditional day of Romulus' death. On that day, the Romans would toast spelt as an offering to the goddess
Fornax
Fornax () is a constellation in the southern celestial hemisphere, partly ringed by the celestial river Eridanus. Its name is Latin for furnace. It was named by French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille in 1756. Fornax is one of the 88 modern ...
. In one version of the legend of Romulus' death cited by Plutarch, he was killed and cut into pieces by the
nobles and each of them took a part of his body home and buried it on their land.
Brelich claimed this pattern – a festival involving a staple crop, a god, and a tale of a slain founding hero whose body parts are buried in the soil – is a recognized
mytheme that arises when such a split takes place in a culture's mythology (see ''
Dema deity'' archetype). The possible presence of the ''
Flamen Quirinalis
In ancient Roman religion, the Flamen Quirinalis was the flamen or high priest of the god Quirinus. He was one of the three ''flamines maiores'', third in order of importance after the Flamen Dialis and the Flamen Martialis. Like the other two hi ...
'' at the festival of
Acca Larentia would corroborate this thesis, given the fact that Romulus is a stepson of hers, and one of the original twelve arval brethren (
Fratres Arvales
In ancient Roman religion, the Arval Brethren ( la, Fratres Arvales, "Brothers of the Fields") or Arval Brothers were a body of priests who offered annual sacrifices to the Lares and gods to guarantee good harvests. Inscriptions provide eviden ...
).
The Grabovian pantheon
The association of Quirinus and Romulus is further supported by a connection with Vofionos, the third god in the triad of the Grabovian gods of
Iguvium
Gubbio () is an Italian town and ''comune'' in the far northeastern part of the Italian province of Perugia (Umbria). It is located on the lowest slope of Mt. Ingino, a small mountain of the Apennines.
History
The city's origins are very ancient. ...
. Vofionos would be the equivalent of
Liber or
Teutates
Toutatis or Teutates is a Celtic god who was worshipped primarily in ancient Gaul and Britain. His name means "god of the tribe", and he has been widely interpreted as a tribal protector.Paul-Marie Duval (1993). ''Les dieux de la Gaule.'' Éditio ...
, in
Latium
Latium ( , ; ) is the region of central western Italy in which the city of Rome was founded and grew to be the capital city of the Roman Empire.
Definition
Latium was originally a small triangle of fertile, volcanic soil ( Old Latium) on w ...
and among the
Celts
The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancien ...
respectively.
The Capitoline Triad
His early importance led to Quirinus' inclusion in the
Archaic Triad
The Archaic Triad is a hypothetical divine triad, consisting of the three allegedly original deities worshipped on the Capitoline Hill in Rome: Jupiter (mythology), Jupiter, Mars (mythology), Mars and Quirinus. This structure was no longer clearly ...
(the first
Capitoline Triad), along with
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin at ...
(then an agriculture god) and
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but slightly less than one-thousandth t ...
.
Over time, however, Quirinus became less significant, and he was absent from the later, more widely known triad (he and Mars had been replaced by
Juno and
Minerva).
Varro
Marcus Terentius Varro (; 116–27 BC) was a Roman polymath and a prolific author. He is regarded as ancient Rome's greatest scholar, and was described by Petrarch as "the third great light of Rome" (after Vergil and Cicero). He is sometimes calle ...
mentions the ''Capitolium Vetus'', an earlier cult site on the Quirinal, devoted to Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva, among whom
Martial makes a distinction between the "old Jupiter" and the "new".
Fade into obscurity
Eventually, Romans began to favor personal and mystical cults over the official state belief system. These included those of
Bacchus
In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, myth, Dionysus (; grc, wikt:Διόνυσος, Διόνυσος ) is the god of the grape-harvest, winemaking, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstas ...
,
Cybele
Cybele ( ; Phrygian language, Phrygian: ''Matar Kubileya/Kubeleya'' "Kubileya/Kubeleya Mother", perhaps "Mountain Mother"; Lydian language, Lydian ''Kuvava''; el, Κυβέλη ''Kybele'', ''Kybebe'', ''Kybelis'') is an Anatolian mother godde ...
, and
Isis
Isis (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kin ...
, leaving only Quirinus' flamen to worship him.
Legacy
Even centuries after the fall of the Roman Empire, the
Quirinal hill in Rome, originally named from the deified
Romulus, was still associated with power – 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.
See also
*
Adolf Ellegard Jensen
Adolf Ellegard Jensen (1 January 1899 – 20 May 1965) was one of the most important German ethnologists of the first half of the 20th century.
Jensen's main research interests were myth, ritual and cult. He furthered the theory of Cultural Morp ...
Footnotes
References
Bibliography
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Further reading
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{{Authority control
8th century BC in the Roman Kingdom
Roman gods
Romulus and Remus