ΘThe Classical PantheonGreek & Roman divinities

The divine archive · LI

Quirinus/ No direct Greek equivalent

Archaic god of the Roman citizen body, the civic assembly and the state in peacetime.

Greek name

(no Greek equivalent; the deified Romulus)

Roman name

Quirinus

Explore the deity
Temporary classical sculpture image for Quirinus
Temporary archive image · Individual sculpture portrait forthcoming

Domains & patronage

The Roman citizens (the Quirites) gathered in peace, as opposed to the army in the field (Mars); the civic assembly; military readiness during peace; agriculture; the soul of the state.

Sacred symbols & animals

Romulus, reviewing his troops in the Campus Martius, was suddenly wrapped in a storm-cloud and carried up to heaven; he then appeared to the senator Proculus Julius, announced that he was now the god Quirinus, and declared that Rome was destined to rule the world.

01 · The stories

Myths & defining acts

Quirinus was a puzzle even to the Romans: one of their three most ancient state gods, ranked beside Jupiter and Mars with his own high priest, yet with his original character faded - probably a Sabine war-god of the Quirinal community absorbed as Rome merged with its neighbours. The Romans reinterpreted him as the peacetime counterpart to Mars: Mars presided over citizens under arms, Quirinus over the same men as a settled civic body. Fusing this with the ascension of Romulus made Quirinus both an abstraction of the Roman people and their founder-ancestor.

02 · Sacred lineage

Family & relations

In his mortal identity as Romulus: son of Mars and the Vestal Rhea Silvia, twin of Remus, first king of Rome. Consort: Hora (the deified Hersilia).

03 · Places of devotion

Abode & sacred sites

No Greek counterpart; Greek writers on Rome simply explained him as the divine form of Romulus.

04 · Two traditions

Greek & Roman perspectives

The Greek perspective

Quirinus

One of the three gods of the oldest Roman state cult - the Archaic Triad of Jupiter, Mars and Quirinus - each served by a senior priest (the flamen Quirinalis). His festival the Quirinalia fell on 17 February; from the early Republic his cult was fused with the belief that the vanished Romulus had become this god.

The Roman perspective

No direct Greek equivalent

A myrtle wreath, a spear (as an old war-god), the toga of the peaceful citizen, oak leaves.

05 · Extensive analysis

A closer reading

06 · Sources

From the archive

Text from Gods · greek_roman_gods, row 52. Imported 10 September 2026.