Quirinus was an ancient roman deity whose origins are mysterious. Worshipped in conjunction with Jupiter and Mars from the earliest times, he is associated with the Quirinal Hill, the care of the Roman people and the founder of Rome himself.
Origins of Quirinus
Quirinus, as his name suggests, was linked with the Quirinal Hill. The hill was not originally a part of Rome, being absorbed into the city sometime after its foundation. Originally, the Quirinal was the site of a settlement of non-Roman people (possibly the Sabines, according to Ovid), of whom Quirinus was the local god. Quirinus was possibly the Sabine war god as his name derived from the Sabine term for a spear, “curis“. Quirinus may also have taken his name from the word couirium or “assembly of men”, relating to this community.
Quirinus and Romulus
According to Ovid, Quirinus was identified with Romulus. Jupiter deified the mythical founder of Rome, whose father was the god Mars after his death. When he appeared to the Roman people in his god-like form, he announced his new name as Quirinus and instructed the people to construct temples and worship him on the hill named after him.
Quirinus, Jupiter and Mars
Once the Quirinal Hill became part of the city of Rome, Quirinus became a Roman god and together with Jupiter and Mars, he formed part of the earliest triad of Roman deities.
Quirinus was the least of the three deities. His flamen, the Flamen Quirinalis, was the lowest ranking of the three Flamen Maiores. He was also the last of the triad to receive the spolia opima, or the spoils of war dedicated by a victorious general to the gods.
If Quirinus had begun as a war god of the Sabines, his warlike attributes had become muted by the time the Romans adopted him. Although he and the god Mars both had sacred arms, Quirinus’s were kept in his temple smeared in pitch; the traditional way of preserving weapons that were not in use. While Mars fulfilled the role of the war god, Quirinus became a more passive deity focused on protecting the Roman people rather than fighting for them.
Worship of Quirinus in Rome
While the exact role of Quirinus in Roman religion is uncertain and the purpose of his festival celebrated on 17 February is obscure, the god’s role in preserving the well-being of the Roman people can be seen at play in various festivals.
Quirinus’s priests helped out at the celebrations of the Consualia, Robigalia and Fornacalia — festivals centred on the growth and preservation of grain, making Quirinus a god vital to the productivity and prosperity of the Roman people.
Dumuzil believes that this role offers another explanation for Quirinus’s name. In his opinion, the god is named not because he represented the inhabitants of just one of Rome’s hills but because he represented the assembly of the whole Roman people.
Resources
Ovid (translated and edited by A J Boyle and R D Woodard) Fasti 2 475-510. Penguin Classics.
Price, Simon and Kearns, Emily (eds) (2003) The Oxford Dictionary of Classical Myth and Religion. Oxford University Press: Oxford
Dumezil, Georges (trans Philip Krapp) (1996) Archaic Roman Religion Vol I.The John Hopkins University Press. Baltimore and London.
