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NEMORENSIS LACUS (mod. Nerni)

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Originally appearing in Volume V19, Page 369 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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NEMORENSIS LACUS (mod. Nerni) , a See also:

lake in the See also:Alban Hills, in an See also:extinct subsidiary See also:crater in the See also:outer See also:ring of the See also:ancient Alban crater, E. of the Lake of Albano. It is about AM. m. in See also:diameter and some s so ft. deep; the precipitous slopes of its See also:basin are over 300 ft. high, and on the See also:side towards the See also:modern See also:village a See also:good See also:deal more, and are mainly cultivated. It is now remarkable for its picturesque beauty. In ancient times it was included in the territory of Aricia_ and See also:bore the name " See also:Mirror of See also:Diana." The See also:worship of Diana here was a very ancient one, and, as among the Scythians, was originally, so it was said, celebrated with human sacrifices; even in imperial times the See also:priest of Diana was a See also:man of See also:low See also:condition, a gladiator or a fugitive slave, who won his position by slaying his predecessor in fight, having first plucked a mistletoe bough from the sacred See also:grove, and who, notwithstanding, bore the See also:title of rex (See also:king). It is curious that in none of the See also:inscriptions that have been found is the priest of Diana mentioned; and it has indeed been believed by Morpurgo and Frazer that the rex was not the priest of Diana at all, but, according to the former, the priest of See also:Virbius, or, according to the latter, the incarnation of the spirit of the See also:forest. The See also:temple itself was one of the most splendid in See also:Latium; Octavian borrowed See also:money from it in 31 B.C., and it is frequently mentioned by ancient writers. Its remains are situated a little above the level of the lake, and to the N.E. of it. They consist of a large See also:platform, the back of which is formed by a See also:wall of See also:concrete faced with See also:opus reticulatum, with niches, resting against the cliffs which See also:form the sides of the crater. Excavations in the 17th and the last See also:quarter of the 19th centuries (now covered in again), and also in 1905, led to the See also:discovery of the temple itself, a rectangular edifice, 98 by 52 ft., and of various inscriptions, a See also:rich See also:frieze in gilt See also:bronze, many statuettes (ex-votos) from the favissae of the temple in terra-See also:cotta and bronze, a large number of coins, &c. None of the See also:objects seem to go back beyond the 4th See also:century B.C. A road descended to it from the Via See also:Appia from the S.W., passing through the modern village of Genzano.

The lake is drained by a See also:

tunnel of about 2 M. See also:long of See also:Roman date. On the W. side of the lake remains of two See also:ships (really floating palaces moored to the See also:shore) have been found, one belonging to the See also:time of Caligula (as is indicated by an inscription on a See also:lead See also:pipe), and measuring 210 ft. long by 66 wide, the other even larger, 233 by 8o ft. The first was decorated with See also:marbles and mosaics, and with some very See also:fine bronze beamheads, with heads of wolves and lions having rings for hawsers in their mouths (and one of a See also:Medusa), now in the Museo delle Terme at See also:Rome, with remains of the woodwork, &c., &c. Various attempts have been made to raise the first See also:ship, from the See also:middle of the 15th century onwards, by which much harm has been done. The neighbourhood of the lake was naturally in favour with the See also:Romans as a See also:residence. See also:Caesar had a See also:villa constructed there, but destroyed again almost at once, because it did not satisfy him. See F. Barnabei, Notizie degli scavi (1895), 361, 46r; (1896), 188 ; V. Malfatti, Notizie degli scavi (1895), 471; (1896), 393; Rivista marittima (1896), 379; (1897), 293; J. G. Frazer, The Golaen Bough (See also:London, 1900) ; L. Morpurgo in Monumenti dei Lincei, xiii.

(1903), 297 sqq. (T.

End of Article: NEMORENSIS LACUS (mod. Nerni)

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