ABSTRACT

In the history of Roman religion, the god Quirinus appears as the quintessential ‘civic’ and ‘political’ deity: the god of the civitas, the curiae, guardian of the city, and representative of the entirety of its citizens. Even etymologically, there is a clear connection between Quirinus and the Quirites, the first components of the civitas. However, the connection between the god and an ancient ius Quiritium, which, as the first archaic nucleus of civil law, does not seem to have really existed, is not well-founded. Nevertheless, the close association of the god with the curiae and the Quirites explains his lack of participation – along with Janus – in the Hellenization process, as the “city god” was to continue to appear as a deity exclusively Roman.