Diana
Diana is Rome's virgin huntress goddess, identified with Artemis and worshipped at a state temple on the Aventine Hill built for both patricians and plebeians alike. Her older and stranger cult stood at Lake Nemi in the hills south of Rome, where her priest held office only as long as he could kill the man who came to replace him.
Diana, Roman goddess of the hunt
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Core Myth
Diana's identification with Artemis brought the Greek goddess's mythology into Rome largely intact - the virgin huntress, the bow, the stag, the punishment of those who trespass against her modesty. But Rome held two distinct cults of Diana side by side, and only one of them is a straightforward import. Her Aventine temple, traditionally founded under King Servius Tullius in the sixth century BCE, was deliberately built to belong to Rome's whole population, patrician and plebeian together, rather than to one class, and it functioned as a federal shrine for the Latin League - allied Latin cities sent representatives to worship there as a sign of common identity. The far stranger cult was at Nemi, a crater lake in the Alban Hills south of Rome, where Diana was worshipped as Diana Nemorensis in a sacred grove. Her priest there held a title, rex Nemorensis, "King of the Wood," and won it by a specific and brutal rule: a runaway slave who broke a branch from a certain tree in the grove earned the right to challenge the current priest to combat, and if he won, he became the new priest - until the next challenger came for him in turn. No source explains why this particular cult worked this way, and ancient authors themselves treated it as an old, half-understood survival rather than a rite anyone could account for.
Is Diana the same goddess as Artemis?
Romans identified Diana with Artemis and inherited most of her mythology - the virgin huntress, the bow, the punishment of trespassers - but Diana carried two distinctly Roman cults Artemis never had: a federal Aventine temple shared across the Latin League, and the strange priest-combat rite at Lake Nemi.
Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 1.45
Why was Diana's Aventine temple important to the Roman state?
It was built to belong to Rome's whole population rather than one class, and it also served as a shared shrine for the Latin League, the alliance of Latin cities around Rome - member cities sent representatives to worship there as a public sign of their common identity and standing with Rome.
Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 1.45
What was the Rex Nemorensis at Lake Nemi?
The Rex Nemorensis, "King of the Wood," was the title of Diana's priest at her sacred grove by Lake Nemi. A runaway slave who broke a branch from a specific tree in the grove earned the right to fight the current priest for the position, and if he won, he took over as priest until his own eventual challenger arrived - a violent, hereditary-free succession with no clear parallel elsewhere in Roman religion.
Ovid, Fasti 3.263-272
Why is the Nemi priesthood considered so unusual?
Almost every other Roman priesthood was inherited, elected, or appointed through ordinary political and religious channels. The Nemi rite instead let a runaway slave seize the office by killing the man who held it, a practice ancient authors themselves treated as an old survival they no longer fully understood rather than an institution they could explain.
Ovid, Fasti 3.263-272
Does Diana have a role in Roman childbirth customs?
Yes - alongside her hunting and lunar associations, Diana was invoked by Roman women in childbirth, a domain she shares with Artemis in the Greek tradition through their common association with Eileithyia-like protective functions over women's transitions, even though the specific Roman prayers and rites differ from Greek practice.
Virgil, Aeneid 11.532-538
Was Diana ever addressed by Juno's name?
Yes, in one specific cult role. Catullus's hymn to Diana calls her "Juno Lucina" among a string of titles invoked by women in labor, alongside "Trivia" and "Luna" - a case of two otherwise separate goddesses sharing one title for the same narrow function, protecting childbirth, rather than any wider merging of Diana and Juno.
Catullus, Carmina 34
Later Traditions
The Nemi cult drew scholarly fascination long after antiquity; the practice of the priesthood passing by combat became one of the most cited examples of an archaic rite that Roman religion itself no longer fully understood. Diana's Aventine role as a goddess shared across social classes influenced later Roman civic religion more broadly, where public cults were often deliberately built to include the plebeian population rather than exclude it. For the goddess's own birth alongside Apollo and her demand for eternal virginity, see the Artemis entry - that material is inherited Greek myth, not distinctly Roman content.
Lineage
See the full family tree1 recorded relation, each with the ancient line behind it.
Parents
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disputed
Cicero's own passage catalogues this as one of several rival 'Dianas' ancient writers named, not a single settled genealogy. Diana's distinct Roman identity - the Aventine and Nemi cults - predates and stands alongside this Jupiter-daughter tradition rather than depending on it.
Also Connected
1 recorded connection, each with the ancient line behind it.
Connected
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Catullus's hymn to Diana invokes her as "Juno Lucina" for women in childbirth, a shared cult title rather than a genealogical or narrative connection between the two goddesses.
Where Accounts Differ
- why the Nemi succession worked by combat
- Ancient sources themselves do not explain why the Rex Nemorensis succession worked by combat; it is recorded as an old practice rather than one with a stated rationale.
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Mythology
Equivalent Figures
Related Terms
Referenced By
Sources
- Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 1.45
- Ovid, Fasti 3.263-272
- Virgil, Aeneid 11.532-538
- Catullus, Carmina 34