Background

Huntress. Maiden. Deity. All applicable to Diana, Goddess of the Hunt, and twin-sister of Apollo. Diana is worshiped as the protector of women, overseer of childbirth, and goddess of the woodlands. She has a long history of cultic worship predating the import of Hellenistic rites, and her worship saw prominence until the final days of pagandom within the Roman Empire.

Origins

Diana's name is linked to the Latin word 'dius', meaning 'divine', making her etymologically related to Jupiter, whose name derives from the same Proto-Indo-European root. Her earliest known worship is found at the grove of Lake Nemi, revered as Diana Nemorensis.

Diana was identified with the Greek Artemis, and as such came to be recognized as the sister of Apollo, but even before Greek syncretization she possessed a variety of cultic and ritual epithets of seemingly unrelated aspects. She is revered as a virgin yet is also a goddess of childbirth. She was identified as a distinct goddess, while simultaneously being linked with Hecate and Luna-Selene. Numerous obscure cults of equally obscure origin were linked to her throughout Italy, further complicated by her syncretization with Artemis. The sheer variance and quantity of worship makes deciphering her history a challenge for scholars.

Mythology and Legends

Diana had a complicated relationship with the deities Hecate, Goddess of Witchcraft, and Luna, Goddess of the Moon. Greek and Romans authors sometimes treat them as different forms of the same deity. Some mythographers insisted Diana was Hecate in the underworld, Diana on Earth, and Luna in Heaven, creating what amounts to the prototype of the Triple Goddess idea.

Diana is reported to have had the warrioress Camilla dedicated to her service by her father, King Metabus of the Volsci, when she was an infant. Her prowess in battle was legendary, and her speed so great that she could run atop water without getting wet. She would later fight alongside King Turnus in his war against the Trojans as they attempted to settle in Italy.

In Ancient Rome

The aforementioned cult to Diana was established near the Italian lake of Nemi. The cult's origins were attributed to Hippolytus, the son of Theseus, who, after being resurrected by the medicinal god Aesculapius at the behest of Diana, fled to Italy. There, Hippolytus became known under the name Virbius and act as a priest of the goddess, himself in time coming to be worshiped as a god. This priesthood, known as the Rex Nemorensis, would be reserved for runaway slaves who acquired the position by killing the current occupant, eventually themselves replaced in the same gruesome manner.