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QUIRINUS

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Originally appearing in Volume V22, Page 763 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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QUIRINUS , the See also:

Sabine name of the See also:god See also:Mars, probably an See also:adjective meaning " wielder of the See also:spear " (Quiris, cf. See also:Janus Quirinus). Other suggested etymologies are: (1) from the Sabine See also:town See also:Cures; (2) from See also:curia, i.e. he was the god of the See also:Roman See also:state as represented by the See also:thirty curies. A. B. See also:Cook (Class. Rev. xviii., p. 368) explains Quirinus as the See also:oak-god (quercus), and See also:Quirites as the men of the oaken spear. From See also:early times he was worshipped at See also:Rome on the Quirinal See also:hill, whither, according to tradition, a See also:body of Sabines Under See also:Titus Tatius had migrated from Cures and taken up their See also:abode. In the religious See also:system of Numa, Quirinus and Mars were both recognized as divine beings, distinct but of similar attributes and functions; thus, like Mars, Quirinus was at once a god of See also:war and a nature god, the See also:protector of See also:fields and flocks. Subsequently, at the end of the See also:republic, Quirinus became identified with the deified See also:Romulus, son of Mars. One of the greater flamens was attached to the service of Quirinus, a second See also:college of See also:Salii founded in his See also:honour, and a festival " Quirinalia " celebrated on the 17th of See also:February, the See also:day of the sup-posed See also:translation of Romulus to See also:heaven.

Old Roman formulae of See also:

prayer mention a Hora Quirini, his See also:female cult See also:associate, afterwards identified with Hersilia, the wife of Romulus. The name was also See also:borne by the following See also:saints: (r) a Roman See also:tribune who suffered martyrdom under See also:Hadrian; (2) a See also:bishop of Siscia in See also:Pannonia; (3) the See also:patron of the See also:Tegernsee in See also:Bavaria, beheaded in Rome in 269 and invoked by those suffering from See also:gout. The See also:petroleum (Quirinus-oil) found in the neighbourhood of the See also:lake takes its name from him.

End of Article: QUIRINUS

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QUIRITES (literally " spearmen "; see QuIRINus)

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