Online Encyclopedia

QUIRINUS

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V22, Page 763 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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QUIRINUS  , the

Sabine name of the
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god Mars, probably an adjective meaning " wielder of the spear " (Quiris, cf .
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Janus Quirinus) . Other suggested etymologies are: (1) from the Sabine
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town
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Cures; (2) from
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curia, i.e. he was the god of the
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Roman state as represented by the
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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
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body of Sabines Under Titus Tatius had migrated from Cures and taken up their abode . In the religious
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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
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protector of fields and flocks . Subsequently, at the end of the republic, Quirinus became identified with the deified
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Romulus, son of Mars . One of the greater flamens was attached to the service of Quirinus, a second college of
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Salii founded in his honour, and a festival " Quirinalia " celebrated on the 17th of
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February, the day of the sup-posed
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translation of Romulus to heaven .

Old Roman formulae of

prayer mention a Hora Quirini, his
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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
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Pannonia; (3) the
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patron of the
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Tegernsee in Bavaria, beheaded in Rome in 269 and invoked by those suffering from
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gout . The petroleum (Quirinus-oil) found in the neighbourhood of the lake takes its name from him .

End of Article: QUIRINUS
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QUIRE (in earlier forms quaer, quaer and quere, fro...
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QUIRITES (literally " spearmen "; see QuIRINus)

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