Quirinus

In Roman mythology and religion, Quirinus ( , ) is an early god of the Roman state. 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 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, Quirinus was portrayed as a bearded man with religious and military clothing. However, he was almost never depicted in later Roman art. His main festival was the Quirinalia, held on February 17.

The priest of Quirinus, the ''Flamen Quirinalis'', was one of the three patrician ''flamines maiores'' ("major flamens") who had precedence over the Pontifex Maximus.

History

Quirinus most likely was originally a Sabine war god. The Sabines had a settlement near the eventual site of Rome, and erected an altar to Quirinus on the ''Collis Quirinalis'' Quirinal Hill, one of the Seven hills of Rome. 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'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 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. 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'' 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).

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. Vofionos would be the equivalent of Liber or Teutates, in Latium and among the Celts respectively.

The Capitoline Triad

His early importance led to Quirinus' inclusion in the Archaic Triad (the first Capitoline Triad), along with Mars (then an agriculture god) and Jupiter.

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 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, Cybele, and Isis, 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

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