Quirinus

Quirinus is the great absence this batch repairs. He is the third god of the Archaic Triad — Jupiter, Mars, Quirinus — the oldest structure in Roman state religion, and he had one of only three major flamens, a priest so hedged about with taboo that he could not touch metal, ride a horse, or sleep outside the city. The Quirinalia on 17 February is among the oldest festivals in the calendar, and one of Rome's seven hills carries his name. He was probably a Sabine god to begin with, worshipped at an altar on the Quirinal before Rome grew around it; the Romans later identified him with Romulus, taken up to heaven after death. That identification is ancient and worth recording, but it is an identification made about the god rather than the origin of him, and the record keeps the two apart.

Domains

• sovereignty
• war

Epithets

• Pater

Relations

• counterpart of: Romulus

Sources

• Reference treatment of Quirinus, the Archaic Triad, the Sabine origin and the Quirinal altar.
• Reference treatment of the flamen Quirinalis as third of the flamines maiores and of his ritual taboos.
• Ovid, on the deification of Romulus as Quirinus.