Plate XXXVIIIRoman NativeStatehood
Quirinus
The Deified State & the Roman People
No Greek Counterpart
Quirinus is indigenous to Rome. No earlier Greek figure stands behind the name — and that absence is the point.
Roma
Quirinus
Quirinus, the Spear-Bearing
Sacred Attributes
Spear, the Salian priests, the Quirinal Hill
Historical Origins
Likely the deified Romulus himself, worshipped as the patron of the assembled citizenry.
Personality & Character
Abstract and collective — he represents the Roman people rather than a personality.
Cult & Sacrifice
The Quirinalia and the rites of the Salii on the Quirinal Hill.
Cultural Ethos
The state as a god: the populus Romanus elevated to divinity.
Syncretism Analysis
Quirinus has no Greek equivalent because there was no Greek concept of a deified citizen-body. He is the clearest expression of Rome's deepest religious instinct — that the state itself could be sacred.
Modern Reception
Rome (HBO)TV Series