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{{short description|Roman mythdeity}}

{{About|the Roman god}}

In [[Roman mythology]], '''Quirinus''' was a mysterious [[god]].

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{{Infobox deity

| type = Roman

| name = Quirinus

| deity_of =God of the Roman state

| member_of = the [[Archaic Triad]]

| image =Denarius C. Memmius C. F. Romulus.jpg

| alt = <!-- for alternate text of the title image per [[WP:ALT]] -->

| caption = [[Denarius]] picturing Quirinus on the [[obverse]], and [[Ceres (mythology)|Ceres]] enthroned on the reverse, a commemoration by a [[moneyer]] in 56&nbsp;BCE of a [[Cerealia]] presented by an earlier Gaius [[Memmia gens|Memmius]] as [[aedile]]<ref>{{cite book |first=Eric |last=Orlin |title=Foreign Cults in Rome: Creating a Roman Empire |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2010 |page=144}}</ref>

| other_names = Curinus, Corinus, Querinus, Queirinus

| cult_center = [[Quirinal Hill]]

|symbols=beard, religious and military clothing

|abode= Quirinal Hill

| consort = [[Hersilia|Hersilia-Hora]]

| parents =

| siblings =

| offspring =

| predecessor =

| successor =

| mount =

| gender = male

| Etruscan_equivalent =

| festivals = Quirinalia

}}

In [[Roman mythology]] and [[Roman religion|religion]], '''Quirinus''' ({{IPAc-en|k|w|ɪ|ˈ|r|aɪ|n|ə|s}} {{respell|kwi|RY|nəs}},<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/quirinus?showCookiePolicy=true |title=Quirinus |access-date=24 September 2014 |work=Collins Dictionary}}</ref> {{IPA|la|kᶣɪˈriːnʊs|lang}}) is an early god of the [[Ancient Rome|Roman state]]. In [[Augustus|Augustan]] Rome, ''Quirinus'' was also an [[epithet]] of [[Janus]], [[Mars (mythology)|Mars]], and [[Jupiter (god)|Jupiter]].<ref>''Janus Quirinius'' in the prayer of the [[fetiales]] quoted by [[Livy]] (I.32.10); [[Macrobius]] (''Sat.'' I.9.15); {{harvnb|Ogilvie|1970|p=84}}.</ref>

== Name ==

At first he probably was a [[Sabine]] god. Sabines had a settlement near the future site of [[Rome, Italy|Rome]], and they called one of their sites, in which they had erected an [[altar]], the ''Collis Quirinalis'' ("[[Quirinal Hill]]") after Quirinus; this area was later included among the [[Seven hills of Rome]], and Quirinus became one of the most important gods of the state as the deified form of [[Romulus and Remus|Romulus]], the founder and first king of Rome.

===Attestations===

His name derives from ''co-viri'' "men together"; as such, he embodied the military and economic strength of the Roman ''populus'' collectively. He also watched over the ''curia'' "senate house" and ''comitia curiata'' "tribal assembly", the names of which are cognate with his own.

The name of god Quirinus is recorded across Roman sources as ''Curinus'', ''Corinus'', ''Querinus'', ''Queirinus'' and ''QVIRINO'', also as fragmented ''IOVI. CYRIN[O]''.<ref>Dupraz, Emmanuel. ''Les Vestins à l'époque tardo-républicaine. Du nord-osque au latin''. France, Rouen: Publications des Universités de Rouen et du Havre. 2010. pp. 125-126.</ref> The name is also attested as a surname to [[Hercules]] as ''Hercules Quirinus''.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lajoye |first1=Patrice |title=Quirinus, un ancien dieu tonnant ? Nouvelles hypothèses sur son étymologie et sa nature primitive |journal=Revue de l'histoire des religions |date=1 June 2010 |volume=227 |issue=227 |pages=175–194 |doi=10.4000/rhr.7573 |jstor=23618183 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

===Etymology===

Quirinus' wife was [[Hora (goddess)|Hora]].

The name ''Quirīnus'' probably stems from Latin ''[[Quirites|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.{{Sfn|de Vaan|2008|p=|pp=509–510}} The meaning "wielder of the spear" (Sabine ''quiris'', 'spear', cf. ''Janus Quirinus''), or a derivation from the Sabine town of [[Cures, Sabinum|Cures]], have been proposed by [[Ovid]] in his ''[[Fasti (poem)|''Fasti'']]'' 2.477-480.<ref>{{EB1911|wstitle=Quirinus|volume=22}}</ref>{{Better source needed|date=April 2020}}

Some scholars have interpreted the name as a contraction of ''*co-viri-nus'' ("god of the assemblymen", cf. [[Curia|''cūria'']] < ''*co-viria''), descending from an earlier ''*co-wironos'', itself from the [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] noun {{lang|ine-x-proto|wihₓrós}} ("man").{{sfn|Ogilvie|1970|p=84, noting a Sabine origin}}<ref>{{Cite book|last=Puhvel|first=Jaan|url={{google books |id=zt4nAAAAYAAJ |plainurl=y}} |title=Comparative mythology|date=1987|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|isbn=978-0-8018-3413-4|page=289 |author-link=Jaan Puhvel}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Matasović|first=Ranko|author-link=Ranko Matasović|date=2010|title=A Reader in Comparative Mythology|url=http://mudrac.ffzg.unizg.hr/~rmatasov/PIE%20Religion.pdf|publisher=University of Zagreb}}</ref> Linguist [[Michiel de Vaan]] argues that this etymology "is not credible phonetically and not very compelling semantically".{{Sfn|de Vaan|2008|pp=509–510}}

In art, he was portrayed as a bearded man with religious and military clothing.

==Depiction and worship==

He was sometimes associated with the [[myrtle]] plant.

{{further|Ancient Roman religion|Flamen Quirinalis#Quirinalia}}

[[File:Numerius Fabius Pictor, denarius, 126 BC, RRC 268-1b.jpg|thumb|[[Denarius]] of 126 BCE; on the right is the ''flamen Quirinalis'' with ''QVIRIN'' on his shield.]]

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]] due to the process of [[hellenisation]]. His main [[festival]] was the '''Quirinalia''', held on February&nbsp;17.<ref name="StultorumFeriae" />

The priest of Quirinus, the ''[[Flamen Quirinalis]]'', was one of the three patrician ''flamines maiores'' ("major [[flamen]]s") who had precedence over the [[Pontifex Maximus]].<ref>{{cite book |author-link=Sextus Pompeius Festus |author=Festus |title=De Verborum Significatione |title-link=De Verborum Significatione |at=198, L |quote=''Quirinalis, socio imperii Romani Curibus ascito Quirino''}}</ref>

His [[festival]] was the '''Quirinalia''', on [[February 17]].

==History==

Cited in [[Virgil]]'s ''[[Aeneid]]'' I, 292

Quirinus most likely was originally a [[Sabines|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.{{Citation needed|date=April 2020}}

===Deified Romulus===

Roman citizens were sometimes called "[[Quirites]]" after Quirinus, and considered the title an honor ([[Livy]]).

By the time of the poet Ennius in the 2nd century,{{sfn|Ogilvie|1970|p=84, rejecting arguments that [[Julius Caesar]], as ''pontifex maximus'' from 63&nbsp;BCE, was involved in the creation of the legend}} Quirinus was considered the [[Apotheosis#Ancient Rome|deified]] legendary first king, [[Romulus]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Fishwich |first=Duncan |title=The Imperial Cult in the Latin West |publisher=Brill |edition=2nd |year=1993 |isbn=978-90-04-07179-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4II_mqxM8s0C&q=romulus+quirinus&pg=PA53 |via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Evans |first=Jane de&nbsp;Rose |title=The Art of Persuasion |publisher=University of Michigan Press |year=1992 |isbn=0-472-10282-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2AsRrF3ej38C&q=romulus+quirinus&pg=PA103 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

In his [[Parallel Lives|''Life of Romulus'']], [[Plutarch]] wrote 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 [[Romulus]] had instructed him to tell his countrymen that he, Romulus, was Quirinus.<ref>{{cite book |author-link=Plutarch |author=Plutarch |title=Lives |chapter=Romulus |at=ch.&nbsp;28 p.&nbsp;2 |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/e/roman/texts/plutarch/lives/romulus*.html}}</ref> This story also likely dates to before the 1st century&nbsp;BC.{{sfn|Ogilvie|1970|pp=84–85 (citing {{harvnb|Livy|loc=1.16}}), arguing that it is connected to the Julian clan's claims of Alban descent}}

[[Category:Roman gods]]

===Brelich's argument for split deification===

[[de:Quirinus (Mythologie)]]

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''.<ref name=StultorumFeriae>{{cite book |author-link=Ovid |author=Ovid |title=Fasti |at=II, 481&nbsp;ff}}</ref>

[[fr:Quirinus]]

[[nl:Quirinus]]

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 (mythology)|Fornax]]. In one version of the legend of Romulus' death cited by Plutarch, he was killed and cut into pieces by the [[Patrician (ancient Rome)|nobles]] and each of them took a part of his body home and buried it on their land.{{cn|date=August 2022}}

[[pl:Kwiryn_(bóg)]]

[[sv:Quirinus]]

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]]).<ref>{{cite book |author=Aulus Gellius |title=Noctes Atticae |at=7.7.7}}</ref>

===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.<ref>{{cite book |first=Angelo |last=Brelich |title=Quirinus: una divinita' romana alla luce della comparazione storica |series=Studi e Materiali di Storia delle religioni |year=1960}}</ref>

===The Capitoline Triad===

His early importance led to Quirinus' inclusion in the [[Archaic Triad]] (the first [[Capitoline Triad]]), along with [[Mars (mythology)|Mars]] (then an agriculture god) and [[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter]].<ref>{{cite journal |first=Inez Scott |last=Ryberg |title=Was the Capitoline Triad Etruscan or Italic? |journal=The American Journal of Philology |volume=52 |issue=2 |year=1931 |pages=145–156|doi=10.2307/290109 |jstor=290109 }}</ref>

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 (mythology)|Juno]] and [[Minerva]]). [[Marcus Terentius Varro|Varro]] mentions the ''Capitolium Vetus'', an earlier cult site on the Quirinal, devoted to Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva,<ref>{{cite book |author-link=Varro |author=Varro |title=De lingua latina |at=V.158}}</ref>{{efn|The Capitolium Vetus was demolished in 1625 by order of Pope Barberini.<ref>See Lanciani's work on the "Shrines of Pagan Rome".</ref>}} among whom [[Martial]] makes a distinction between the "old Jupiter" and the "new".<ref>{{cite book |author-link=Martial |author=Martial |title=Epigrams |volume=V |at=22.4 |quote=Martial remarks on a position on the [[Esquiline Hill]] from which one might see ''hinc novum Iovem, inde veterem'', "here the new Jupiter, there the old."}}</ref>

===Fade into obscurity===

Eventually, Romans began to favor personal and mystical cults over the official state belief system. These included those of [[Dionysus|Bacchus]], [[Cybele]], and [[Isis]], leaving only Quirinus' flamen to worship him.{{Citation needed|date=October 2020}}

===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. in 1583 [[Gregory XIII]] chose the site for his summer palace, this palace would come to be known as the [[Quirinal Palace]]. After the [[Capture of Rome]], it was chosen as the seat of the [[Kingdom of Italy|Kingdom]] by the [[House of Savoy]] and later after the [[1946 Italian institutional referendum|Abolition of the Monarchy]] it became the residence of the [[President of Italy|Presidents of the Italian Republic]].{{cn|date=August 2022}}

==See also==

* [[Adolf Ellegard Jensen]]

==Footnotes==

{{notelist}}

==References==

{{reflist}}

== Bibliography ==

=== Modern sources ===

*{{Cite journal|last=Briquel|first=Dominique|date=1996|title=Remarques sur le dieu Quirinus|url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/rbph_0035-0818_1996_num_74_1_4097|journal=Revue belge de Philologie et d'Histoire|volume=74|issue=1|pages=99–120|doi=10.3406/rbph.1996.4097|author-link=Dominique Briquel}}

* {{Cite book|last=de Vaan|first=Michiel|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ecZ1DwAAQBAJ|title=Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages|date=2008|publisher=Brill|isbn=9789004167971|language=en|author-link=Michiel de Vaan}}

* {{Cite book|last=Dumézil|first=Georges|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WngbAQAAMAAJ|title=Archaic Roman Religion: With an Appendix on the Religion of the Etruscans|date=1966|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|isbn=978-0-8018-5482-8|edition=1996|language=en|author-link=Georges Dumézil}}

* {{cite journal |last1=Lajoye |first1=Patrice |title=Quirinus, un ancien dieu tonnant ? Nouvelles hypothèses sur son étymologie et sa nature primitive |journal=Revue de l'histoire des religions |date=1 June 2010 |volume=227 |issue=227 |pages=175–194 |doi=10.4000/rhr.7573 |jstor=23618183 |doi-access=free }}

* {{cite book |last=Ogilvie |first=R M |title=Commentary on Livy: Books 1–5 |publisher=Clarendon Press |___location=Oxford |isbn=0-19-814432-6 |date=1970 |edition=Reprinted with addenda }}

=== Ancient sources ===

* {{Cite wikisource |author=Livy |author-link=Livy |title=Ab urbe condita |trans-title=From the founding of the city |translator-last=Roberts |translator-first=Canon |year=1905 |wslink=From the Founding of the City |orig-date=1st century AD |wslanguage=en |ref={{harvid|Livy}} }}

==Further reading==

* {{cite journal |last1=Basanoff |first1=V. |title=Note sur la triade " indo-européenne " à Rome |journal=Revue de l'histoire des religions |date=1946 |volume=132 |issue=1/3 |pages=110–114 |doi=10.3406/rhr.1946.5522 |jstor=23665537 }}

* {{cite journal |last1=Ben Abdallah |first1=Zeïneb |title=QVIRINVS, DEVS PATER. Une résurgence de la religion romaine archaïque en province proconsulaire d'Afrique sous l'Empereur Sévère Alexandre |journal=Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres |date=1999 |volume=143 |issue=2 |pages=457–468 |doi=10.3406/crai.1999.16004 }}

* {{cite journal |last1=Dumézil |first1=Georges |title=Les cultes de la regia, les trois fonctions ct la triade Jupiter Mars Quirinus |journal=Latomus |date=1954 |volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=129–139 |jstor=41517672 }}

* {{cite journal |last1=Koch |first1=Carl |title=Bemerkungen zum römischen Quirinuskult |journal=Zeitschrift für Religions- und Geistesgeschichte |date=1953 |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=1–25 |id={{ProQuest|1305391173}} |doi=10.1163/157007353X00090 |jstor=23894289 }}

* {{Cite journal|last=York|first=Michael|date=1988|title=Romulus and Remus, Mars and Quirinus|journal=Journal of Indo-European Studies|volume=16|issue=1–2|pages=153–172|issn=0092-2323}}

{{Roman religion}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:8th century BC in the Roman Kingdom]]

[[Category:Roman gods]]

[[Category:Romulus and Remus]]