QUIRINUS  , the

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

Old Roman formulae of

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