Diana Nemorensis
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Diana Nemorensis was a deity of classical antiquity, also known as “Diana of the Wood”. Her sanctuary was found on the northern shore of a lake beneath the cliffs of the modern city Nemi. This lake is also referred to as “Diana's Mirror” but known more widely as the lake of Ariccia. But the town of Ariccia was situated about three miles off, at the foot of the Alban Mount, and separated by a steep descent from the lake, which lies in a small crater-like hollow on the mountain side.
[edit] Origin of the legend
According to one story the worship of Diana at Nemi was instituted by Orestes, who, after killing Thoas, King of the Tauric Chersonese (the Crimea), fled with his sister to Italy, bringing with him the image of the Tauric Diana hidden in a faggot of sticks. After his death his bones were transported from Aricia to Rome and buried in front of the temple of Saturn, on the Capitoline slope, beside the temple of Concord. The bloody ritual which legend ascribed to the Tauric Diana is familiar to classical readers; it is said that every stranger who landed on the shore was sacrificed on her altar. But transported to Italy, the rite assumed a milder form.
[edit] Qualities
The votive offerings found in the grove of Ariccia portray she was conceived of as a huntress, and further as blessing men and women with offspring, and granting expectant mothers an easy delivery.
[edit] Lake and Grove of Ariccia
Sir James George Frazer writes of this sacred grove in his book The Golden Bough. Legend tells of a tree that stands in the center of the grove and is guarded heavily. No one was to break off its limbs, with the exception of a runaway slave, who was allowed, if he could, to break off one of the boughs. Upon breaking off a limb, the slave was then in turn granted the privilege to engage the Rex Nemorensis, the current king and priest of Diana in the region, in one on one mortal combat. If the slave prevailed, he became the next king for as long as he could defeat challengers.
