Ianus Quirinus, Sacellum

The shrine of Ianus Quirinus (RG 13: Ianum Quirinum; Hor., Carm. 4.15.9; Suet., Aug. 22), also called Ianus Geminus (Pliny, NH 34.33), was one of the oldest monuments in the *Forum (cf. Tortorici; sacellum: Ov., Fast. 1.275; sacrarium: Servius, ad Aen. 7.607); perhaps it served originally as a bridge (ianus) carrying the *Sacra Via over the *Cloaca Maxima (Holland). Its precise location in the Forum in the Augustan period is unclear. Ancient sources locate the Ianus sanctuary ‘at/near the bottom of the *Argiletum’ (ad infimum Argiletum: Livy 1.19.2; circa imum Argiletum: Servius, ad Aen. 7.607) and ‘in front of the doors’ of the *Curia Iulia (πρὸ τῶν θυρῶν: Dio Cass. 73.13.3; cf. Procop., Goth. 1.25.18-23). It is probably to be identified with the small structure in brick and travertine still visible at the corner of the *Basilica Paulli facing the Curia (Coarelli), an identification reinforced by Cozza’s location of fragment 212c of the Severan Marble Plan. Although this suggestion implies that the location of the Ianus Quirinus remained unchanged from the archaic period through the 4th c. A.D. (cf. Richardson for the suggestion that Domitian moved it to the Forum Transitorium), it is at least consistent with all the literary references (contra, Staccioli). According to tradition, the doors of the Ianus Quirinus shrine were closed when Rome was at peace. Augustus boasts in his Res Gestae (13) that these doors had been closed only twice before his time, but three times while he was princeps (cf. Livy 1.19.2-3; Suet., Aug. 22). The shrine is depicted on coins of Nero as a small rectangular building in ashlar masonry with double doors and no visible roof (RIC I2 pl. 20, nn. 270, 283, 291, 307, 323).