Diana
Roman · deity · pre urban · deity
Roman wild-hunt goddess; Italic Diana Nemorensis at Lake Nemi was the pre-urban Latin cult-center, with the Rex Nemorensis priesthood — a runaway slave who broke a branch from the sacred grove and killed the incumbent priest in single combat became the new priest, until in turn slain. The Aventine Temple founded by Servius Tullius was a federal Latin League sanctuary; Diana was patroness of slaves and the Aventine festival on August 13 was especially observed by the enslaved. Italic identity precedes the Greek Artemis equation. Per Frazer, The Golden Bough (1890); Beard/North/Price 1998; Green, Roman Religion and the Cult of Diana at Aricia (2007).
Domains
- wild hunt
- crossroads trivia
- latin league protection
Powers
- Hides and remakes slain Hippolytus as Virbius
- Hunts wild beasts with bow and arrows
- Presides over crossroads as three-formed Trivia
Epithets
- Nemorensis
- Trivia
- Lucina
- Aventina