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DIANA

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Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 165 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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DIANA , in See also:

Roman See also:mythology, an old See also:Italian goddess, in later times identified with the See also:Greek See also:Artemis (q.v.). That she was originally an See also:independent Italian deity is shown by her name, which is the feminine See also:form of See also:Janus (= Dianus). She is essentially the goddess of the See also:moon and See also:light generally, and presides over See also:wood, See also:plain and See also:water, the See also:chase and See also:war. As the goddess of childbirth, she was known, like See also:Juno, by the name of See also:Lucina, the " bringer to light." As the moon-goddess she was also identified with See also:Hecate, and invoked as " three-formed " in reference to the phases of the moon. Her most celebrated See also:shrine was in a See also:grove at See also:Aricia (whence her See also:title of Nemorensis) near the See also:modern See also:lake of Nemi. Here she was worshipped See also:side by side with a male deity See also:Virbius, a See also:god of the See also:forest and the chase. This Virbius was subsequently identified with See also:Hippolytus, the favourite of Artemis, who was said to have been brought to See also:life by See also:Aesculapius and conducted by Diana to Aricia (See also:Ovid, See also:Fasti, iii. 263, vi. 731, Metam. xv. 497; See also:Virgil, Aeneid, vii. 761). A barbarous See also:custom, perhaps reminiscent of human See also:sacrifice once offered to her, prevailed in connexion with her See also:ritual here ; her See also:priest, called Rex Nemorensis, who was a runaway slave, was obliged to qualify for See also:office by slaying his predecessor in single combat (See also:Strabo v. p.

239 ; Suetonius, Caligula, 35). This led to the See also:

identification of Diana with the Tauric Artemis, whose See also:image was said to have been removed by See also:Orestes to the grove of Aricia (see See also:ARIcINI). After the destruction of See also:Alba Longa this grove was for a See also:long See also:time the See also:united See also:sanctuary of the neighbouringLatin andRutuliancities, until a.t last it was extinguished beneath the supremacy of See also:Rome. The festival of the goddess was on the ides (13th) of See also:August, the full moon of the hot See also:season. She was worshipped with torches, her aid was sought by See also:women seeking a happy deliverance in childbirth, and many votive offerings have been found on the site. The See also:worship of Diana was brought to Rome by Latin plebeians, and hence she was regarded as the protectress of the See also:lower classes, and especially of slaves. In accordance with this, her most important See also:temple was that on the Aventine, the See also:chief seat of the plebeians, founded by Servius Tullius, originally as a sanctuary of the Latin See also:league (See also:Dion. Halic. iv. 26). No See also:man was allowed to enter the temple, and on the See also:day of its See also:dedication (August 13) the slaves kept See also:holiday (See also:Plutarch, Quaest. Rom. See also:loo). This Diana was identified with the See also:sister of See also:Apollo, and at the See also:secular See also:games she was worshipped simply as Artemis.

Another celebrated sanctuary of Diana was that on the slopes of See also:

Mount Tifata near See also:Capua (where she was worshipped under the name of Tifatina), a sanctuary specially favoured by See also:Sulla and See also:Vespasian. As Noctiluca (" giving light by See also:night ") she had a sanctuary on the See also:Palatine which was kept illuminated throughout the night (See also:Varro, L.L. v. 68). On the Nemi priesthood see J. ,G. Frazer, See also:Golden Bough.

End of Article: DIANA

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