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{{Short description|Roman goddess of hunting and the wild}}
{{Citation style |reason=article uses full and short citations. Pick one style, and then use it consistently |date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox deity
| type = Roman
| name = Diana
| god_of = Goddess of the hunt, wild animals, fertility, and the Moon<ref>{{cite web|title=Diana – Roman Religion|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Diana-Roman-religion|website=Encyclopædia Britannica.com|access-date= 21 Nov 2018}}</ref>
| image = Cametti Diana.jpg
| caption = ''Diana as Huntress''. Marble by [[Bernardino Cametti]], 1720. Pedestal by Pascal Latour, 1754. [[Bode Museum]], [[Berlin]].
| member_of =the ''[[Dii Consentes]]''
| abode = 
| symbol = Bow and quiver, deer, hunting dogs, crescent moon
| parents = Jupiter and Latona
* Early Roman: N/A
* Hellenistic: [[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter]] and [[Latona]]
| siblings = * Early Roman: N/A
* Hellenistic: [[Apollo]]
| children = * Early Roman: N/A
* Hellenistic: N/A
| mount = 
| temples = [[Rex Nemorensis|Sanctuary at Lake Nemi]], [[Temple of Diana (Rome)]]
| festivals = [[Nemoralia]]
| Greek_equivalent = [[Artemis]], [[Hecate]]
}}
[[File:Statue of Artemis, fresco from Pompeii.jpg|thumb|Statue of Diana-Artemis, fresco from [[Pompeii]], 50–51 BCE]]
{{Ancient Roman religion}}

'''Diana'''{{efn|[[Latin]]: {{IPA|la|diˈaːna|}}; conservative pronunciation: {{IPA|la|diːˈaːna|}}. The name was also written as '''Deiana''' by the Romans.}} is a [[goddess]] in [[Religion in ancient Rome|Roman religion]], primarily considered a patroness of the countryside and nature, hunters, wildlife, childbirth, crossroads, the night, and the Moon. She is [[Syncretism|equated]] with the [[Greek mythology|Greek goddess]] [[Artemis]], and absorbed much of Artemis' mythology early in Roman history, including a birth on the island of [[Delos]] to parents [[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter]] and [[Latona]], and a twin brother, [[Apollo]],<ref name=Lar>''Larousse Desk Reference Encyclopedia'', [[The Book People]], Haydock, 1995, p. 215.</ref> though she had [[Diana Nemorensis|an independent origin in Italy]].

Diana is considered a virgin goddess and protector of childbirth. Historically, Diana made up a triad with two other Roman deities: [[Egeria (mythology)|Egeria]] the water nymph, her servant and assistant midwife; and [[Virbius]], the woodland god.<ref>''The Clay-footed Superheroes: Mythology Tales for the New Millennium'' {{ISBN|978-0-865-16719-3}} p. 56</ref>

Diana is revered in modern [[Modern paganism|neopagan religions]] including [[Reconstructionist Roman religion|Roman neopaganism]], [[Stregheria]], and [[Wicca]]. In the ancient, medieval, and modern periods, Diana has been considered a [[triple deity]], merged with a goddess of the moon ([[Luna (goddess)|Luna]]/[[Selene]]) and the underworld (usually [[Hecate]]).<ref name=servius/><ref name=diana_religion>Green, C. M. C. (2007). ''Roman Religion and the Cult of Diana at Aricia''. New York: Cambridge University Press.</ref>

==Etymology==
The name ''Dīāna'' probably derives from Latin {{Lang|la|dīus}} ('godly'), ultimately from [[Proto-Italic language|Proto-Italic]] ''*dīwī'', meaning 'divine, heavenly'.<ref>G.Dumézil ''La religion Romaine archaique'' Paris, 1974, part 3, chap. 1.</ref>{{Sfn|de Vaan|2008|p=168}} It stems from [[Proto-Indo-European]] ''*diwyós'' ('divine, heavenly'), formed with the stem {{Lang|el|*dyew-}} ('daylight sky') attached the thematic suffix -''yós''.{{sfn|Mallory|Adams|2006|page=408–409}}{{Sfn|Ringe|2006|p=76}} [[Cognate]]s appear in [[Mycenaean Greece|Myceanean Greek]] ''di-wi-ja'', in [[Ancient Greek]] ''{{Transliteration|grc|dîos}}'' ({{Lang|grc|δῖος}}; 'belonging to heaven, godlike'), and in [[Sanskrit]] {{Transliteration|sa|divyá}} ('heavenly' or 'celestial').{{Sfn|Beekes|2009|p=338}}

The ancient Latin writers [[Varro]] and [[Cicero]] considered the etymology of Dīāna as allied to that of ''dies'' and connected to the shine of the Moon, noting that one of her titles is Diana Lucifera ("light-bearer").

<blockquote>... people regard Diana and the moon as one and the same. ... the moon ''(luna)'' is so called from the verb to shine ''(lucere)''. Lucina is identified with it, which is why in our country they invoke Juno Lucina in childbirth, just as the Greeks call on Diana the Light-bearer. Diana also has the name ''Omnivaga'' ("wandering everywhere"), not because of her hunting but because she is numbered as one of the seven planets; her name Diana derives from the fact that she turns darkness into daylight ''(dies)''. She is invoked at childbirth because children are born occasionally after seven, or usually after nine, lunar revolutions ...
:--[[Quintus Lucilius Balbus]] as recorded by [[Marcus Tullius Cicero]] and translated by [[:de:Patrick G. Walsh|P.G. Walsh]]. ''[[De Natura Deorum | De Natura Deorum (On the Nature of the Gods)]]'', Book II, Part ii, Section c <ref>{{cite book|last1=Cicero|first1=Marcus Tullius|last2=Walsh|first2=P.G.|title=The Nature of the Gods|date=2008|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-954006-8|pages=70–72|edition=Reissue.}}</ref></blockquote>

==Description==
===As a goddess of the countryside===
The persona of Diana is complex, and contains a number of archaic features. Diana was originally considered to be a goddess of the wilderness and of the hunt, a central sport in both Roman and Greek culture.<ref name=Poulsen_sanctuaries/> Early Roman inscriptions to Diana celebrated her primarily as a huntress and patron of hunters. Later, in the [[Hellenistic period]], Diana came to be equally or more revered as a goddess not of the wild woodland but of the "tame" countryside, or ''[[villa rustica]]'', the idealization of which was common in Greek thought and poetry. This dual role as goddess of both civilization and the wild, and therefore the civilized countryside, first applied to the Greek goddess [[Artemis]] (for example, in the 3rd century BCE poetry of [[Anacreon]]).<ref name=roman_lyric/>

By the 3rd century CE, after Greek influence had a profound impact on Roman religion, Diana had been almost fully combined with Artemis and took on many of her attributes, both in her spiritual domains and in the description of her appearance. The Roman poet [[Nemesianus]] wrote a typical description of Diana: She carried a bow and a quiver full of golden arrows, wore a golden cloak, purple half-boots, and a belt with a jeweled buckle to hold her tunic together, and wore her hair gathered in a ribbon.<ref name=Poulsen_sanctuaries/> By the 5th century CE, almost a millennia after her cult's entry into Rome, the philosopher [[Proclus]] could still characterize Diana as "the inspective guardian of every thing rural, [who] represses every thing rustic and uncultivated."<ref name=proclus_7/>

===As a triple goddess===
Diana was often considered an aspect of a [[triple deity|triple goddess]], known as ''Diana triformis'': Diana, [[Luna (goddess)|Luna]], and [[Hecate]]. According to historian C.M. Green, "these were neither different goddesses nor an amalgamation of different goddesses. They were Diana...Diana as huntress, Diana as the moon, Diana of the underworld."<ref name=diana_religion/> At her [[sacred grove]] on the shores of Lake Nemi, Diana was venerated as a triple goddess beginning in the late 6th century BCE.
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[[Andreas Alföldi]] interpreted an image on a late Republican coin as the Latin Diana "conceived as a threefold unity of the divine huntress, the Moon goddess and the goddess of the nether world, [[Hekate]]".<ref>Alföldi, "Diana Nemorensis", ''American Journal of Archaeology'' (1960:137-44) p 141.</ref> This coin, minted by P. Accoleius Lariscolus in 43&nbsp;BCE, has been acknowledged as representing an archaic statue of Diana Nemorensis.<ref name=alfoldi>A. Alföldi"Diana Nemorensis" in ''American journal of Archaeology'' '''64''' 1960 p. 137-144.</ref> It represents Artemis with the bow at one extremity, Luna-Selene with flowers at the other and a central deity not immediately identifiable, all united by a horizontal bar. The iconographical analysis allows the dating of this image to the 6th century at which time there are Etruscan models. The coin shows that the triple goddess cult image still stood in the ''lucus'' of Nemi in 43&nbsp;BCE. Lake Nemi was called ''Triviae lacus'' by Virgil (''Aeneid'' 7.516), while [[Horace]] called Diana ''montium custos nemoremque virgo'' ("keeper of the mountains and virgin of Nemi") and ''diva triformis'' ("three-form goddess").<ref>Horace, ''Carmina'' 3.22.1.</ref>

Two heads found in the sanctuary<ref>Excavation of 1791 by cardinal Despuig not mentioned in the report: cf. P. Riis who cites E. Lucidi ''Memorie storiche dell'antichissimo municipio ora terra dell'Ariccia e delle sue colonie Genzano e Nemi'' Rome 1796 p. 97 ff. finds at ''Valle Giardino''.</ref> and the Roman theatre at Nemi, which have a hollow on their back, lend support to this interpretation of an archaic triple Diana.<ref>NSA 1931 p. 259-261 platesVI a-b.</ref>

===As goddess of crossroads and the underworld===
The earliest epithet of Diana was ''Trivia'', and she was addressed with that title by Virgil,<ref>''Aeneid'' 6.35, 10.537.</ref> Catullus,<ref>''Carmina'' 34.14 ''tu potens Trivia''...</ref> and many others. "Trivia" comes from the Latin ''trivium'', "triple way", and refers to Diana's guardianship over roadways, particularly Y-junctions or three-way crossroads. This role carried a somewhat dark and dangerous connotation, as it metaphorically pointed the way to the underworld.<ref name=diana_religion/> In the 1st-century CE play ''[[Medea (Seneca)|Medea]]'', [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca's]] titular sorceress calls on Trivia to cast a magic spell. She evokes the triple goddess of Diana, Selene, and Hecate, and specifies that she requires the powers of the latter.<ref name=diana_religion/> The 1st century poet [[Horace]] similarly wrote of a magic incantation invoking the power of both Diana and Proserpina.<ref name=epode17>Horace, [[Epodes (Horace)|Epode]] 17</ref> The symbol of the crossroads is relevant to several aspects of Diana's domain. It can symbolize the paths hunters may encounter in the forest, lit only by the full moon; this symbolizes making choices "in the dark" without the light of guidance.<ref name=diana_religion/>

Diana's role as a goddess of the underworld, or at least of ushering people between life and death, caused her early on to be conflated with [[Hecate]] (and occasionally also with [[Proserpina]]). However, her role as an underworld goddess appears to pre-date strong Greek influence (though the early Greek colony of [[Cumae]] had a cult of Hekate and certainly had contacts with the Latins<ref>Dionysius Hal. VII 6, 4: the people of Aricia help Aristdemos in bringing home the Etruscan booty.</ref>). A theater in her sanctuary at Lake Nemi included a pit and tunnel that would have allowed actors to easily descend on one side of the stage and ascend on the other, indicating a connection between the phases of the moon and a descent by the moon goddess into the underworld.<ref name=diana_religion/> It is likely that her underworld aspect in her original Latin worship did not have a distinct name, like Luna was for her moon aspect. This is due to a seeming reluctance or taboo by the early Latins to name underworld deities, and the fact that they believed the underworld to be silent, precluding naming. Hekate, a Greek goddess also associated with the boundary between the earth and the underworld, became attached to Diana as a name for her underworld aspect following Greek influence.<ref name=diana_religion/>

===As goddess of childbirth===
Diana was often considered to be a goddess associated with fertility and childbirth, and the protection of women during labor. This probably arose as an extension of her association with the moon, whose cycles were believed to parallel the menstrual cycle, and which was used to track the months during pregnancy.<ref name=diana_religion/> At her shrine in Aricia, worshipers left votive terracotta offerings for the goddess in the shapes of babies and wombs, and the temple there also offered care of pups and pregnant dogs. This care of infants also extended to the training of both young people and dogs, especially for hunting.<ref name=diana_religion/> In her role as a protector of childbirth, Diana was called ''Diana [[Lucina (mythology)|Lucina]]'', ''Diana Lucifera'' or even ''[[Juno Lucina]]'', because her domain overlapped with that of the goddess Juno. The title of Juno may also have had an independent origin as it applied to Diana, with the literal meaning of "helper" – Diana as ''Juno Lucina'' would be the "helper of childbirth".<ref name=diana_religion/>

===As a "frame god"===
[[File:Mengs, Diana als Personifikation der Nacht.jpg|thumb|left|''Diana as Personification of the Night''. [[Anton Raphael Mengs]], c. 1765.]]
According to a theory proposed by [[Georges Dumézil]], Diana falls into a particular subset of celestial gods, referred to in histories of religion as ''frame gods''. Such gods, while keeping the original features of celestial divinities (i.e. transcendent heavenly power and abstention from direct rule in worldly matters), did not share the fate of other celestial gods in Indoeuropean religions – that of becoming ''dei otiosi'', or gods without practical purpose,<ref>Mircea Eliade ''Tre' d'histoire des religionsait'' Paris, 1954.</ref> since they did retain a particular sort of influence over the world and mankind.<ref>G. Dumezil ''La religion Romaine archaique'' Paris 1974, part 3, chap.1.</ref> The celestial character of Diana is reflected in her connection with inaccessibility, virginity, light, and her preference for dwelling on high mountains and in sacred woods. Diana, therefore, reflects the heavenly world in its sovereignty, supremacy, impassibility, and indifference towards such secular matters as the fates of mortals and states. At the same time, however, she is seen as active in ensuring the succession of kings and in the preservation of humankind through the protection of childbirth.<ref name="Artemis">{{cite news|title=Artemis|url=http://www.greekmythology.com/Olympians/Artemis/artemis.html|access-date=2012-11-11}}</ref> These functions are apparent in the traditional institutions and cults related to the goddess:
# The legend of the [[rex Nemorensis]], Diana's ''sacerdos'' (priest) in the Arician wood, who held the position until someone else challenged and killed him in a duel, after breaking a branch from a certain tree of the wood. This ever open succession reveals the character and mission of the goddess as a guarantor of kingly status through successive generations.<ref name="OvidFasti">Ovid ''Fasti'' III, 262–271.</ref> Her function as bestower of authority to rule is also attested in the story related by Livy in which a Sabine man who sacrifices a [[:wikt:heifer|heifer]] to Diana wins for his country the seat of the Roman empire.<ref>[[Titus Livius]] ''[[Ab Urbe Condita Libri (Livy)|Ab Urbe Condita]]'' 1:31–1:60.</ref>
# Diana was also worshiped by women who wanted to be pregnant or who, once pregnant, prayed for an easy delivery. This form of worship is attested in archaeological finds of votive statuettes in her sanctuary in the [[nemus Aricinum]] as well as in ancient sources, e.g. Ovid.<ref name="OvidFasti" />

According to Dumezil, the forerunner of all ''frame gods'' is an Indian epic hero who was the image ([[avatar]]) of the Vedic god Dyaus. Having renounced the world, in his roles of father and king, he attained the status of an immortal being while retaining the duty of ensuring that his dynasty is preserved and that there is always a new king for each generation. The Scandinavian god [[Heimdallr]] performs an analogous function: he is born first and will die last. He too gives origin to kingship and the first king, bestowing on him regal prerogatives.
Diana, although a female deity, has exactly the same functions, preserving mankind through childbirth and royal succession.

F. H. Pairault, in her essay on Diana, qualified Dumézil's theory as "''impossible to verify''".

==Mythology==
[[File:Volubilis mosaic Diana and her nymph.jpg|thumb|right|280px|Mosaic depicting Diana and her nymph surprised by Actaeon. Ruins of [[Volubilis]], 2nd century CE.]]
Unlike the [[Greek mythology|Greek gods]], Roman gods were originally considered to be [[numen|numina]]: divine powers of presence and will that did not necessarily have physical form. At the time Rome was founded, Diana and the other major Roman gods probably did not have much mythology per se, or any depictions in human form. The idea of gods as having [[Anthropomorphism|anthropomorphic]] qualities and human-like personalities and actions developed later, under the influence of Greek and Etruscan religion.<ref name=novaroma>[http://www.novaroma.org/religio_romana/deities.html Gods and Goddesses of Rome]. ''Nova Roma''.</ref>

By the 3rd century BCE, Diana is found listed among the twelve major gods of the Roman pantheon by the poet [[Ennius]]. Though the [[Capitoline Triad]] were the primary state gods of Rome, early Roman myth did not assign a strict hierarchy to the gods the way Greek mythology did, though the Greek hierarchy would eventually be adopted by Roman religion as well.<ref name=novaroma/>

Once Greek influence had caused Diana to be considered identical to the Greek goddess [[Artemis]], Diana acquired Artemis's physical description, attributes, and variants of her myths as well. Like Artemis, Diana is usually depicted in art wearing a women's chiton, shortened in the [[kolpos]] style to facilitate mobility during hunting, with a hunting bow and quiver, and often accompanied by hunting dogs. A 1st-century BCE Roman coin (see above) depicted her with a unique, short hairstyle, and in triple form, with one form holding a bow and another holding a [[poppy]].<ref name=diana_religion/>

===Family===
When worship of Apollo was first introduced to Rome, Diana became conflated with Apollo's sister Artemis as in the earlier Greek myths, and as such she became identified as the daughter of Apollo's parents Latona and Jupiter. Though Diana was usually considered to be a virgin goddess like Artemis, later authors sometimes attributed consorts and children to her. According to [[Cicero]] and [[Ennius]], Trivia (an epithet of Diana) and [[Caelus]] were the parents of [[Janus (mythology)|Janus]], as well as of [[Saturn (mythology)|Saturn]] and [[Ops]].<ref>[[Ennius]], ''Annales'' 27 (edition of Vahlen); Varro, as cited by [[Nonius Marcellus]], p. 197M; [[Cicero]], ''Timaeus'' {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20030805071216/http://www.forumromanum.org/literature/cicero_timaeus.html XI]}}; Arnobius, ''Adversus Nationes'' 2.71, 3.29.</ref>

According to [[Macrobius]] (who cited [[Nigidius Figulus]] and [[Cicero]]), [[Janus]] and Jana (Diana) are a pair of divinities, worshiped as the [[Sol (Roman mythology)|sun]] and [[Luna (mythology)|moon]]. Janus was said to receive sacrifices before all the others because, through him, the way of access to the desired deity is made apparent.<ref>[[Macrobius]] ''Saturnalia'' I 9, 8–9; [[Cicero]] ''[[De Natura Deorum]]'' ii. 67.</ref>

===Myth of Actaeon===
Diana's mythology incorporated stories which were variants of earlier stories about Artemis. Possibly the most well-known of these is the myth of [[Actaeon]]. In [[Ovid]]'s version of this myth, part of his poem ''[[Metamorphoses]]'', he tells of a pool or grotto hidden in the wooded valley of Gargaphie. There, Diana, the goddess of the woods, would bathe and rest after a hunt. Actaeon, a young hunter, stumbled across the grotto and accidentally witnessed the goddess bathing without invitation. In retaliation, Diana splashed him with water from the pool, cursing him, and he transformed into a deer. His own hunting dogs caught his scent, and tore him apart.<ref name=diana_religion/>

Ovid's version of the myth of Actaeon differs from most earlier sources. Unlike earlier myths about Artemis, Actaeon is killed for an innocent mistake, glimpsing Diana bathing. An earlier variant of this myth, known as the Bath of [[Athena|Pallas]], had the hunter intentionally spy on the bathing goddess Pallas (Athena), and earlier versions of the myth involving Artemis did not involve the bath at all.<ref name=diana_actaeon>Schlam, C.C. (1984). Diana and Actaeon: Metamorphoses of a Myth. ''Classical Antiquity'', Vol. 3, No. 1 (Apr., 1984), pp. 82–110.</ref>

==Worship in the classical period==
[[File:Scene of sacrifice in honour of Diana. Fresco from the triclinium of House of the Vettii in Pompeii.jpg|thumb|An ancient [[Pompeian Styles|Fourth-Pompeian-Style]] [[Roman art|Roman wall painting]] depicting a scene of sacrifice in honor of the [[goddess Diana]]; she is seen here accompanied by a deer. The fresco was discovered in the [[triclinium]] of [[House of the Vettii]] in [[Pompeii]], Italy.]]
Diana was an ancient goddess common to all Latin tribes. Therefore, many sanctuaries were dedicated to her in the lands inhabited by Latins. Her primary sanctuary was a woodland grove overlooking [[Lake Nemi]], a body of water also known as "Diana's Mirror", where she was worshiped as [[Diana Nemorensis]], or "Diana of the Wood". In Rome, the cult of Diana may have been almost as old as the city itself. Varro mentions her in the list of deities to whom king [[Titus Tatius]] promised to build a shrine. His list included Luna and Diana Lucina as separate entities. Another testimony to the antiquity of her cult is to be found in the ''lex regia'' of King [[Tullus Hostilius]] that condemns those guilty of incest to the ''sacratio'' to Diana. She had a temple in Rome on the [[Aventine Hill]], according to tradition dedicated by king [[Servius Tullius]]. Its location is remarkable as the Aventine is situated outside the [[pomerium]], i.e. original territory of the city, in order to comply with the tradition that Diana was a goddess common to all Latins and not exclusively of the Romans. Being placed on the Aventine, and thus outside the ''[[pomerium]]'', meant that Diana's cult essentially remained a ''foreign'' one, like that of [[Dionysus|Bacchus]]; she was never officially ''transferred'' to Rome as [[Juno (mythology)|Juno]] was after the sack of [[Veii]].

Other known sanctuaries and temples to Diana include Colle di Corne near [[Tusculum]],<ref>Pliny the Elder ''Naturalis Historia'' XVI, 242.</ref> where she is referred to with the archaic Latin name of ''deva Cornisca'' and where existed a [[collegium]] of worshippers;<ref>CIL, 975; CIL XIV,2633.</ref> at Évora, Portugal;<ref>Hifler, Joyce. "The Goddess Diana. " Witches Of The Craft. [http://witchesofthecraft.com/2012/01/12/the-goddess-diana/] (accessed November 27, 2012).</ref> Mount Algidus, also near Tusculum;<ref>Horace, ''Carmina'' I 21, 5–6; ''Carmen Saeculare''.</ref> at [[Lavinium]];<ref>CIL XIV,2112.</ref> and at [[Tibur]] (Tivoli), where she is referred to as ''Diana Opifera Nemorensis''.<ref>CIL, 3537.</ref> Diana was also worshiped at a sacred wood mentioned by Livy<ref>[[Livy]] ''[[Ab Urbe Condita Libri (Livy)|Ab Urbe Condita]]'' XXVII 4.</ref> – ''ad compitum Anagninum'' (near [[Anagni]]), and on Mount [[Tifata]] in Campania.<ref>Roy Merle Peterson ''The cults of Campania'' Rome, Papers and Monographs of the American Academy in Rome, 1919, pp. 322–328.</ref>

According to [[Plutarch]], men and women alike were worshipers of Diana and were welcomed into all of her temples. The one exception seems to have been a temple on the [[Vicus Patricius]], which men either did not enter due to tradition, or were not allowed to enter. Plutarch related a legend that a man had attempted to assault a woman worshiping in this temple and was killed by a pack of dogs (echoing the myth of Diana and Actaeon), which resulted in a superstition against men entering the temple.<ref name=roman_questions>Plutarch, ''Roman Questions'', 3.</ref>

A feature common to nearly all of Diana's temples and shrines by the second century CE was the hanging up of stag antlers. Plutarch noted that the only exception to this was the temple on the Aventine Hill, in which bull horns had been hung up instead. Plutarch explains this by way of reference to a legend surrounding the sacrifice of an impressive [[Sabine]] bull by King Servius at the founding of the Aventine temple.<ref name=roman_questions/>

===Sanctuary at Lake Nemi===
{{main|Diana Nemorensis}}
[[File:John Robert Cozens 002.jpg|thumb|left|An 18th-century depiction of Lake Nemi as painted by [[John Robert Cozens]]]]
Diana's worship may have originated at an open-air sanctuary overlooking [[Lake Nemi]] in the [[Alban Hills]] near [[Ariccia|Aricia]], where she was worshiped as [[Diana Nemorensis]], or ("Diana of the Sylvan Glade").<ref name=forest_folklore>Porteous, A. (2001). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=ZtUoAwAAQBAJ&q=nemoralia+&pg=PP1 The Forest in Folklore and Mythology]''. Courier Corporation. {{ISBN|0486420108}}, 9780486420103</ref> According to legendary accounts, the sanctuary was founded by [[Orestes]] and [[Iphigenia]] after they fled from the [[Tauri]]. In this tradition, the Nemi sanctuary was supposedly built on the pattern of an earlier Temple of Artemis Tauropolos,<ref name=carlsen>Carlsen, J. (2009). Sanctuaries of Artemis and the Domitii Ahenobarbi. Tobias Fischer-Hansen & Birte Poulsen, eds. ''From Artemis to Diana: The Goddess of Man and Beast''. Museum Tusculanum Press. {{ISBN|8763507889}}, 9788763507882.</ref> and the first cult statue at Nemi was said to have been stolen from the Tauri and brought to Nemi by Orestes.<ref name=Poulsen_sanctuaries/><ref name=gordon/> Historical evidence suggests that worship of Diana at Nemi flourished from at least the 6th century BCE<ref name=gordon/> until the 2nd century CE. Her cult there was first attested in Latin literature by [[Cato the Elder]], in a surviving quote by the late grammarian [[Priscian]].<ref>Supposed Greek origins for the Aricia cult are strictly a ''[[literary topos]]''. (Gordon 1932:178 note, and p. 181).</ref> By the 4th century BCE, the simple shrine at Nemi had been joined by a temple complex.<ref name=gordon/> The sanctuary served an important political role as it was held in common by the [[Latin League]].<ref name="autogeneratedxliv">''commune Latinorum Dianae templum'' in [[Varro]], ''Lingua Latina'' V.43; the cult there was of ''antiqua religione'' in [[Pliny's Natural History]], xliv. 91, 242 and [[Ovid's Fasti]] III 327–331.</ref><ref name=Poulsen>Poulsen, B. (2009). Introduction. Tobias Fischer-Hansen & Birte Poulsen, eds. ''From Artemis to Diana: The Goddess of Man and Beast''. Museum Tusculanum Press. {{ISBN|8763507889}}, 9788763507882.</ref>

A festival to Diana, the [[Nemoralia]], was held yearly at Nemi on the Ides of August (August 13–15).<ref>The date coincides with the founding dates celebrated at Aricium. Arthur E. Gordon, "On the Origin of Diana", ''Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association'' '''63''' (1932, pp. 177–192) p 178.</ref> Worshippers traveled to Nemi carrying torches and garlands, and once at the lake, they left pieces of thread tied to fences and tablets inscribed with prayers.<ref>Ovid, Fasti, trans. James George Frazer, Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1931), 3:259–275.</ref><ref>Anguelova, V. N. (2011). The Sound of Silence: Sacred Place in Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Devotional Art.</ref> Diana's festival eventually became widely celebrated throughout Italy, which was unusual given the provincial nature of Diana's cult. The poet [[Statius]] wrote of the festival:<ref name=diana_religion/>
:"It is the season when the most scorching region of the heavens takes over the land and the keen dog-star Sirius, so often struck by Hyperion's sun, burns the gasping fields. Now is the day when Trivia's Arician grove, convenient for fugitive kings, grows smoky, and the lake, having guilty knowledge of Hippolytus, glitters with the reflection of a multitude of torches; Diana herself garlands the deserving hunting dogs and polishes the arrowheads and allows the wild animals to go in safety, and at virtuous hearths all Italy celebrates the Hecatean Ides." (Statius ''Silv.'' 3.I.52–60)

Statius describes the triple nature of the goddess by invoking heavenly (the stars), earthly (the grove itself) and underworld (Hecate) imagery. He also suggests by the garlanding of the dogs and polishing of the spears that no hunting was allowed during the festival.<ref name=diana_religion/>

Legend has it that Diana's high priest at Nemi, known as the [[Rex Nemorensis]], was always an escaped slave who could only obtain the position by defeating his predecessor in a fight to the death.<ref name=forest_folklore/> Sir [[James George Frazer]] wrote of this sacred grove in ''[[The Golden Bough]]'', basing his interpretation on brief remarks in [[Strabo]] (5.3.12), [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] (2,27.24) and [[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]]' commentary on the ''[[Aeneid]]'' (6.136). The legend tells of a tree that stood in the center of the grove and was heavily guarded. No one was allowed 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. He was then in turn granted the privilege to engage the Rex Nemorensis, the current king and priest of Diana, in a fight to the death. If the slave prevailed, he became the next king for as long as he could defeat his challengers. However, [[Joseph Fontenrose]] criticised Frazer's assumption that a rite of this sort actually occurred at the sanctuary,<ref>Fontenrose, J. (1966). ''The Ritual Theory of Myth''. University of California Press, ch. 3.</ref> and no contemporary records exist that support the historical existence of the ''Rex Nemorensis''.<ref>Gordon, Arthur E., "On the Origin of Diana," 186; and Encyclopedia Britannica, 1911, "Nemorensis Lacus," 369, which cites Strabo, Pausanius, and Servius as the first sources for the rex N. legend.</ref>

===Spread and conflation with Artemis===
[[File:Ipogeo di via livenza, diana cacciatrice.jpg|thumb|A Roman fresco depicting Diana hunting, 4th century CE, from the Via Livenza hypogeum in Rome]]
Rome hoped to unify into and control the Latin tribes around Nemi,<ref name="autogeneratedxliv"/> so Diana's worship was imported to Rome as a show of political solidarity. Diana soon afterwards became Hellenized, and combined with the [[Greek mythology|Greek goddess]] [[Artemis]], "a process which culminated with the appearance of Diana beside Apollo [the brother of Artemis] in the first ''[[lectisternium]]'' at Rome" in 399 BCE.<ref>Gordon 1932:179.</ref> The process of identification between the two goddesses probably began when artists who were commissioned to create new religious statues for Diana's temples outside Nemi were struck by the similar attributes between Diana and the more familiar Artemis, and sculpted Diana in a manner inspired by previous depictions of Artemis. Sibyllene influence and trade with [[Massilia]], where similar cult statues of Artemis existed, would have completed the process.<ref name=gordon/>

According to Françoise Hélène Pairault's study,<ref>"Diana Nemorensis, déesse latine, déesse hellénisée" in ''Mélanges d' archéologie et d'histoire'' '''81''' 1969 p. 425-471.</ref> historical and archaeological evidence point to the fact that the characteristics given to both Diana of the Aventine Hill and [[Diana Nemorensis]] were the product of the direct or indirect influence of the cult of Artemis, which was spread by the Phoceans among the Greek towns of Campania [[Cumae|Cuma]] and [[Capua]], who in turn had passed it over to the Etruscans and the Latins by the 6th and 5th centuries BCE.

Evidence suggests that a confrontation occurred between two groups of Etruscans who fought for supremacy, those from [[Tarquinia]], [[Vulci]] and [[Caere]] (allied with the Greeks of Capua) and those of [[Clusium]]. This is reflected in the legend of the coming of Orestes to Nemi and of the inhumation of his bones in the Roman Forum near the temple of Saturn.<ref>Servius ''ad Aeneidem'' II 116; VI 136; [[Fabulae|Hyginus]] ''Fabulae'' 261.</ref> The cult introduced by Orestes at Nemi is apparently that of the [[Artemis Tauropolos]]. The literary amplification<ref>Ovid ''Metamorphoses'' XIV 331-2 ''Scythicae regnum nemorale Dianae''; Lucanus ''Pharsalia'' III 86 "qua sublime nemus Scythicae qua regna Dianae". Silius Italicus ''Punica'' IV 367; VIII 362; Valerius Flaccus ''Argonauticae'' II 305.</ref> reveals a confused religious background: different versions of Artemis were conflated under the epithet.<ref>[[Jean Bayet]], "Les origines de l'Arcadisme romain" p.135; M. P. Nilson ''Griechische Religionsgeschichte'' Munich 1955 p. 485 ff.</ref> As far as Nemi's Diana is concerned there are two different versions, by [[Strabo]]<ref>Strabo V 249: αφιδρύματα της ταυροπόλου.</ref> and [[Servius Honoratus]]. Strabo's version looks to be the most authoritative as he had access to first-hand primary sources on the sanctuaries of Artemis, i.e. the priest of Artemis Artemidoros of Ephesus. The meaning of ''Tauropolos'' denotes an Asiatic goddess with lunar attributes, lady of the herds.<ref>Suidas s.v. :η Άρτεμις εν Ταύροις της Σκυθίας τιμωμένη; η από μέρους, των ποιμνίων επστάσις. η ότι  η αυτη τη σελήνη εστι καί εποχειται ταύροις. Darehnberg -Saglio-Pottier ''Dictionnaire des antiquités '' s.v. Diana fig.. 2357.</ref> The only possible ''interpretatio graeca'' of high antiquity concerning ''Diana Nemorensis'' could have been the one based on this ancient aspect of a deity of light, master of wildlife. ''Tauropolos'' is an ancient epithet attached to Artemis, [[Hecate]], and even [[Athena]].<ref>Hesichius s.v. Tauropolai; Scholiasta ad Aristophanem ''Lysistrata'' 447; Suidas above; Photius ''Lexicon'' s.v. Tuaropolos; N. Yalouris ''Athena als Herrin der Pferde'' in ''Museum Helveticum'' '''7''' 1950 p. 99; E. Abel ''Orphica, Hymni'' I ''in Hecaten'' 7. ''Hymni magici'' V ''in Selenen'' 4.</ref> According to the legend Orestes founded Nemi together with Iphigenia.<ref>Servius ''ad Aeneidem'' VI 136.</ref> At Cuma the [[Sibyl|Sybil]] is the priestess of both [[Phoibos]] and Trivia.<ref>''Aeneis'' VI 35; F. H. Pairault p. 448 citing Jean Bayet, ''Origines de l' Hercule romain'' p. 280 n. 4.</ref> [[Hesiod]]<ref>Hesiod ''Catalogue''edited by Augusto Traversa, Naples 1951 p. 76 text 82; R. Merkelbach, M. L. West ''Fragmenta Hesiodea Oxonii'' 1967, fragment 23.</ref> and [[Stesichorus]]<ref>''Orestia'' cited by Philodemos ''Περι εύσεβείας'' 24 Gomperz II 52: fragment 38 B; Pausanias I 43, 1; II 22, 7.</ref> tell the story according to which after her death [[Iphigenia]] was divinised under the name of Hecate, a fact which would support the assumption that Artemis Tauropolos had a real ancient alliance with the heroine, who was her priestess in [[Taurid]] and her human paragon. This religious complex is in turn supported by the triple statue of Artemis-Hecate.<ref name=alfoldi/>

In Rome, Diana was regarded with great reverence and was a patroness of lower-class citizens, called [[plebeians]], as well as [[slavery|slaves]], who could receive asylum in her temples. [[Georg Wissowa]] proposed that this might be because the first slaves of the Romans were Latins of the neighboring tribes.<ref>as quoted by Dumézil ''La religion romaine archaique'' Paris, 1974, part 3, chap. 1.</ref> However, the [[Temple of Artemis]] at Ephesus had the same custom of the asylum.

===In Rome===
[[File:Diane de Versailles - Musée du Louvre AGER Ma 589.jpg|thumb|left|''[[Diana of Versailles]]'', a 2nd-century Roman version in the Greek tradition of iconography ([[Louvre Museum]], Paris).]]
Worship of Diana probably spread into the city of Rome beginning around 550&nbsp;BCE,<ref name=gordon>Gordon, A.E. (1932). "On the Origin of Diana", ''Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association'' '''63''' (1932, pp. 177–192) p 178.</ref> during her Hellenization and combination with the Greek goddess Artemis. Diana was first worshiped along with her brother and mother, [[Apollo]] and [[Latona]], in their temple in the [[Campus Martius]], and later in the [[Temple of Apollo Palatinus]].<ref name=Poulsen_sanctuaries/>

The first major temple dedicated primarily to Diana in the vicinity of Rome was the [[Temple of Diana (Rome)|Temple of Diana Aventina]] (Diana of the [[Aventine Hill]]). According to the Roman historian [[Livy]], the construction of this temple began in the 6th century BCE and was inspired by stories of the massive [[Temple of Artemis]] at [[Ephesus]], which was said to have been built through the combined efforts of all the cities of [[Asia Minor]]. Legend has it that [[Servius Tullius]] was impressed with this act of massive political and economic cooperation, and convinced the cities of the [[Latin League]] to work with the Romans to build their own temple to the goddess.<ref name="livy">[[Livy]], ''[[Ab urbe condita (book)|Ab urbe condita]],'' 1.45</ref> However, there is no compelling evidence for such an early construction of the temple, and it is more likely that it was built in the 3rd century BCE, following the influence of the temple at Nemi, and probably about the same time the first temples to [[Vertumnus]] (who was associated with Diana) were built in Rome (264&nbsp;BCE).<ref name=gordon/> The misconception that the Aventine Temple was inspired by the Ephesian Temple might originate in the fact that the cult images and statues used at the former were based heavily on those found in the latter.<ref name=gordon/> Whatever its initial construction date, records show that the Avantine Temple was rebuilt by [[Lucius Cornificius]] in 32&nbsp;BCE.<ref name=carlsen/> If it was still in use by the 4th century CE, the Aventine temple would have been permanently closed during the [[persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire]]. Today, a short street named the ''Via del Tempio di Diana'' and an associated plaza, ''Piazza del Tempio di Diana'', commemorates the site of the temple. Part of its wall is located within one of the halls of the Apuleius restaurant.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wantedinrome.com/yellowpage/apuleius.html|title = Apuleius|date = 24 November 2014}}</ref>

Later temple dedications often were based on the model for ritual formulas and regulations of the Temple of Diana.<ref>{{cite book|author=[[John Scheid]]|title=An Introduction to Roman Religion|url=https://archive.org/details/introductiontoro00sche|url-access=registration|translator=Janet Lloyd|date=2003|publisher=Indiana University Press|place=Bloomington, IN|trans-title=La Religion des Romains|orig-year=1998|page=[https://archive.org/details/introductiontoro00sche/page/66 66]}}</ref> Roman politicians built several minor temples to Diana elsewhere in Rome to secure public support. One of these was built in the [[Campus Martius]] in 187&nbsp;BCE; no Imperial period records of this temple have been found, and it is possible it was one of the temples demolished around 55&nbsp;BCE in order to build a theater.<ref name=carlsen/> Diana also had a public temple on the [[Quirinal Hill]], the sanctuary of Diana Planciana. It was dedicated by Plancius in 55&nbsp;BCE, though it is unclear which Plancius.<ref name=carlsen/>

In their worship of Artemis, Greeks filled their temples with sculptures of the goddess created by well-known sculptors, and many were adapted for use in the worship of Diana by the Romans, beginning around the 2nd century BCE (the beginning of a period of strong [[Hellenistic period|Hellenistic influence]] on Roman religion). The earliest depictions of the [[Artemis of Ephesus]] are found on Ephesian coins from this period. By the [[Roman imperial period (chronology)|Imperial period]], small marble statues of the Ephesian Artemis were being produced in the Western region of the Mediterranean and were often bought by Roman patrons.<ref name=Nielsen>Nielsen, M. (2009). Diana Efesia Multimammia: The metamorphosis of a pagan goddess from the Renaissance to the age of Neo-Classicism. In Tobias Fischer-Hansen & Birte Poulsen, eds. ''From Artemis to Diana: The Goddess of Man and Beast''. Museum Tusculanum Press. {{ISBN|8763507889}}, 9788763507882.</ref> The Romans obtained a large copy of an Ephesian Artemis statue for their temple on the Aventine Hill.<ref name=Poulsen_sanctuaries>Poulsen, B. (2009). Sanctuaries of the Goddess of the Hunt. In Tobias Fischer-Hansen & Birte Poulsen, eds. ''From Artemis to Diana: The Goddess of Man and Beast''. Museum Tusculanum Press. {{ISBN|8763507889}}, 9788763507882.</ref> Diana was usually depicted for educated Romans in her Greek guise. If she was shown accompanied by a deer, as in the ''[[Diana of Versailles]]'', this is because Diana was the patroness of hunting. The deer may also offer a covert reference to the myth of [[Actaeon|Acteon]] (or Actaeon), who saw her bathing naked. Diana transformed Acteon into a stag and set his own hunting dogs to kill him.

===At Mount Tifata===
[[File:Diana and her hound.jpg|thumb|Diana and her hound, {{Circa|1720}}]]
In [[Campania]], Diana had a major temple at Mount [[Tifata]], near [[Capua]]. She was worshiped there as ''Diana Tifatina''. This was one of the oldest sanctuaries in Campania. As a rural sanctuary, it included lands and estates that would have been worked by slaves following the Roman conquest of Campania, and records show that expansion and renovation projects at her temple were funded in part by other conquests by Roman military campaigns. The modern Christian church of [[Sant'Angelo in Formis]] was built on the ruins of the Tifata temple.<ref name=carlsen/>

===Roman provinces===
In the Roman provinces, Diana was widely worshiped alongside local deities. Over 100 inscriptions to Diana have been cataloged in the provinces, mainly from [[Gaul]], [[Upper Germania]], and [[Britannia]]. Diana was commonly invoked alongside another forest god, [[Silvanus (mythology)|Silvanus]], as well as other "mountain gods". In the provinces, she was occasionally conflated with local goddesses such as [[Abnoba]], and was given high status, with ''Augusta'' and ''regina'' ("queen") being common epithets.<ref name=deo>[http://www.deomercurio.be/en/dianae.html Diane Abnobae: to Diana Abnoba]. Deo Mercurio. Access date 21 Nov 2018.</ref>

===Household worship===
Diana was not only regarded as a goddess of the wilderness and the hunt, but was often worshiped as a patroness of families. She served a similar function to the hearth goddess [[Vesta (mythology)|Vesta]], and was sometimes considered to be a member of the [[Di Penates|Penates]], the deities most often invoked in household rituals. In this role, she was often given a name reflecting the tribe of family who worshiped her and asked for her protection. For example, in what is now [[Wiesbaden]], Diana was worshiped as ''Diana Mattiaca'' by the [[Mattiaci]] tribe. Other family-derived named attested in the ancient literature include ''Diana Cariciana'', ''Diana Valeriana'', and ''Diana Plancia''. As a house goddess, Diana often became reduced in stature compared to her official worship by the Roman state religion. In personal or family worship, Diana was brought to the level of other household spirits, and was believed to have a vested interest in the prosperity of the household and the continuation of the family. The Roman poet [[Horace]] regarded Diana as a household goddess in his ''[[Odes (Horace)|Odes]]'', and had an altar dedicated to her in his villa where household worship could be conducted. In his poetry, Horace deliberately contrasted the kinds of grand, elevated hymns to Diana on behalf of the entire Roman state, the kind of worship that would have been typical at her Aventine temple, with a more personal form of devotion.<ref name=roman_lyric>Cairns, F. (2012). ''Roman Lyric: Collected Papers on Catullus and Horace''. Volume 301 of Beiträge zur Altertumskunde. Walter de Gruyter, 2012.</ref>

Images of Diana and her associated myths have been found on [[Sarcophagus|sarcophagi]] of wealthy Romans. They often included scenes depicting sacrifices to the goddess, and on at least one example, the deceased man is shown joining Diana's hunt.<ref name=Poulsen_sanctuaries/>

==Theology==
Since ancient times, philosophers and theologians have examined the nature of Diana in light of her worship traditions, attributes, mythology, and identification with other gods.

===Conflation with other goddesses===
[[File:MUFT_-_Diana_Abnoba.jpg|thumb|right|Wooden statue of Diana Abnoba, Museum for Prehistory in Thuringia]]
Diana was initially a hunting goddess and goddess of the local woodland at Nemi,<ref name="Britanica15">{{cite web|title=Diana, Roman religion|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Diana-Roman-religion|website=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=25 August 2015}}</ref> but as her worship spread, she acquired attributes of other similar goddesses. As she became conflated with Artemis, she became a [[moon goddess]], identified with the other lunar goddesses goddess [[Luna (goddess)|Luna]] and [[Hekate]].<ref name=Britanica15 /> She also became the goddess of childbirth and ruled over the countryside. [[Catullus]] wrote a poem to Diana in which she has more than one alias: Latonia, [[Lucina (mythology)|Lucina]], [[Juno (mythology)|Juno]], Trivia, [[Luna (goddess)|Luna]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.scribd.com/doc/35900939/Latin-Oration|title=Latin Oration|work=scribd.com}}</ref>

Along with [[Mars (mythology)|Mars]], Diana was often venerated at games held in Roman amphitheaters, and some inscriptions from the [[Danubian provinces]] show that she was conflated with [[Nemesis]] in this role, as ''Diana Nemesis''.<ref name=Poulsen_sanctuaries/>

Outside of Italy, Diana had important centers of worship where she was syncretised with similar local deities in [[Gaul]], [[Germania Superior|Upper Germania]], and [[Britannia]]. Diana was particularly important in the region in and around the [[Black Forest]], where she was conflated with the local goddess [[Abnoba]] and worshiped as ''Diana Abnoba''.<ref>Nicole Jufer & Thierry Luginbühl (2001). ''Les dieux gaulois : répertoire des noms de divinités celtiques connus par l'épigraphie, les textes antiques et la toponymie.'' Paris: Editions Errance. {{ISBN|2-87772-200-7}}. p.18.</ref>

Some late antique sources went even further, syncretizing many local "great goddesses" into a single "Queen of Heaven". The [[Platonist]] philosopher [[Apuleius]], writing in the late 2nd century, depicted the goddess declaring:
<blockquote>"I come, Lucius, moved by your entreaties: I, mother of the universe, mistress of all the elements, first-born of the ages, highest of the gods, queen of the shades, first of those who dwell in heaven, representing in one shape all gods and goddesses. My will controls the shining heights of heaven, the health-giving sea-winds, and the mournful silences of hell; the entire world worships my single godhead in a thousand shapes, with divers rites, and under many a different name. The Phrygians, first-born of mankind, call me the Pessinuntian Mother of the gods; the native Athenians the Cecropian Minerva; the island-dwelling Cypriots Paphian Venus; the archer Cretans Dictynnan Diana; the triple-tongued Sicilians Stygian Proserpine; the ancient Eleusinians Actaean Ceres; some call me Juno, some Bellona, others Hecate, others Rhamnusia; but both races of Ethiopians, those on whom the rising and those on whom the setting sun shines, and the Egyptians who excel in ancient learning, honour me with the worship which is truly mine and call me by my true name: Queen Isis."
:--[[Apuleius]], translated by E. J. Kenny. ''[[The Golden Ass]]''<ref>{{cite book|last1=Apuleius|title=The Golden Ass|date=1998|publisher=Penguin classics|isbn=978-0140435900}}</ref></blockquote>

Later poets and historians looked to Diana's identity as a triple goddess to merge her with triads heavenly, earthly, and underworld (cthonic) goddesses. [[Maurus Servius Honoratus]] said that the same goddess was called Luna in heaven, Diana on earth, and [[Proserpina]] in hell.<ref name=servius>[[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]], ''Commentary on Virgil's Aeneid'' 6.118.</ref> [[Michael Drayton]] praises the Triple Diana in poem ''The Man in the Moone'' (1606): "So these great three most powerful of the rest, [[Phoebe (mythology)|Phoebe]], Diana, [[Hecate]], do tell. Her sovereignty in Heaven, in Earth and Hell".<ref>Alexander Chalmers, Samuel Johnson (1810), ''The Works of the English Poets, from Chaucer to Cowper VOL.IV'' p.421.</ref><ref>Gil Harootunian, Gil Haroian-Guerin (1996). ''The Fatal Hero: Diana, Deity of the Moon, As an Archetype of the Modern Hero in English Literature'', p.261.</ref><ref>Edited by Cesare Barbieri and Francesca Rampazzi (2001), ''Earth-Moon Relationships'' p.7. {{ISBN|0-7923-7089-9}}.</ref>

===In Platonism===
Based on the earlier writings of [[Plato]], the [[Neoplatonism|Neoplatonist]] philosophers of late antiquity united the various major gods of Hellenic tradition into a series of monads containing within them triads, with some creating the world, some animating it or bringing it to life, and others harmonizing it. Within this system, [[Proclus]] considered Diana to be one of the primary animating, or life-giving, deities. Proclus, citing Orphic tradition, concludes that Diana "presides over all the generation in nature, and is the midwife of physical productive principles" and that she "extends these genitals, distributing as far as to subterranean natures the prolific power of [Bacchus]."<ref name=proclus_7>Proclus, ''Platonic Theology'' Book VII.</ref> Specifically, Proclus considered the life-generating principle of the highest order, within the Intellectual realm, to be [[Rhea (mythology)|Rhea]], whom he identified with Ceres. Within her divinity was produced the cause of the basic principle of life. Projecting this principle into the lower, Hypercosmic realm of reality generated a lower monad, [[Persephone|Kore]], who could therefore be understood as Ceres' "daughter". Kore embodied the "maidenly" principle of generation that, more importantly, included a principle of division – where Demeter generates life indiscriminately, Kore distributes it individually. This division results in another triad or trinity, known as the Maidenly trinity, within the monad of Kore: namely, Diana, Proserpine, and Minerva, through whom individual living beings are given life and perfected. Specifically, according to a commentary by scholar Spyridon Rangos, Diana (equated with Hecate) gives existence, Proserpine (equated with "Soul") gives form, and Minerva (equated with "Virtue") gives intellect.<ref name=rangos/>

In his commentary on Proclus, the 19th century Platonist scholar Thomas Taylor expanded upon the theology of the classical philosophers, further interpreting the nature and roles of the gods in light of the whole body of Neoplatonist philosophy. He cites Plato in giving a three-form aspect to her central characteristic of virginity: the undefiled, the mundane, and the [[Anagoge|anagogic]]. Through the first form, Diana is regarded as a "lover of virginity". Through the second, she is the guardian of virtue. Through the third, she is considered to "hate the impulses arising from generation." Through the principle of the undefiled, Taylor suggests that she is given supremacy in Proclus' triad of life-giving or animating deities, and in this role the [[Theurgy|theurgists]] called her Hekate. In this role, Diana is granted undefiled power (''Amilieti'') from the other gods. This generative power does not proceed forth from the goddess (according to a statement by the [[Pythia|Oracle of Delphi]]) but rather resides with her, giving her unparalleled virtue, and in this way she can be said to embody virginity.<ref name=taylor_Proclus>Taylor, T. 1816. ''The Six Books of Proclus, the Platonic Successor, on the Theology of Plato''.</ref> Later commentators on Proclus have clarified that the virginity of Diana is not an absence of sexual drive, but a renunciation of sexuality. Diana embodies virginity because she generates but precedes active fertility (within Neoplatonism, an important maxim is that "every productive cause is superior to the nature of the produced effect").<ref name=rangos>Rangos, S. 200. [http://journals.openedition.org/kernos/1293 Proclus and Artemis: On the Relevance of Neoplatonism to the Modern Study of Ancient Religion.] ''Kernos'' [Online], 13 | 2000, Online since 21 April 2011, connection on 01 May 2019. DOI : 10.4000/kernos.1293</ref>

Using the ancient Neoplatonists as a basis, Taylor also commented on the triadic nature of Diana and related goddesses, and the ways in which they subsist within one another, partaking unevenly in each other's powers and attributes. For example, [[Persephone|Kore]] is said to embody both Diana/Hecate and [[Minerva (mythology)|Minerva]], who create the virtuous or virgin power within her, but also [[Proserpina|Proserpine]] (her sole traditional identification), through whom the generative power of the Kore as a whole is able to proceed forth into the world, where it joins with the [[demiurge]] to produce further deities, including Bacchus and "nine azure-eyed, flower-producing daughters".<ref name=taylor_Proclus/>

Proclus also included Artemis/Diana in a second triad of deities, along with [[Ceres (mythology)|Ceres]] and [[Juno (mythology)|Juno]]. According to Proclus:
:"The life-generating triad begins with Demeter who engenders the entire encosmic life, namely intellectual life, psychic life and the life that is inseparable from body; Hera who brings forth the birth of soul occupies the cohering middle position (for the intellectual goddess outpours from herself all the processions of the psychic kinds); finally, Artemis has been assigned to the end of the trinity because she activates all the natural formative principles and perfects the self-completeness of matter; it is for this reason, namely because she supervises natural development and natural birth, that the theologians and Socrates in the ''Theaetetus'' call her Lochia."<ref name=rangos/>

Proclus pointed to the conflict between Hera and Artemis in the ''Illiad'' as a representation of the two kinds of human souls. Where Hera creates the higher, more cultured, or "worthy" souls, Artemis brings light to and perfects the "less worthy" or less rational. As explained by Ragnos (2000), "The aspect of reality which Artemis and Hera share, and because of which they engage in a symbolic conflict, is the engendering of life." Hera elevates rational living beings up to intellectual rational existence, whereas Artemis's power pertains to human life as far as its physical existence as a living thing. "Artemis deals with the most elementary forms of life or the most elementary part of all life, whereas Hera operates in the most elevated forms of life or the most elevated part of all life.<ref name=rangos/>

==Worship in post-Roman Europe==
[[File:Bronze satuette Diana CdM Paris.jpg|thumb|[[Gallo-Roman religion|Gallo-Roman]] bronze statuette of Diana (latter 1st century)]]
Sermons and other religious documents have provided evidence for the worship of Diana during the Middle Ages. Though few details have been recorded, enough references to Diana worship during the early Christian period exist to give some indication that it may have been relatively widespread among remote and rural communities throughout Europe, and that such beliefs persisted into the [[Merovingian dynasty|Merovingian]] period.<ref name=pagan_survivals>Filotas, Bernadette. ''Pagan Survivals, Superstitions and Popular Cultures in Early Medieval Pastoral Literature.'' PIMS, 2005. {{ISBN|0888441517}}, 9780888441515</ref> References to contemporary Diana worship exist from the 6th century on the Iberian peninsula and what is now southern France,<ref name=pagan_survivals/> though more detailed accounts of Dianic cults were given for the [[Mythology in the Low Countries|Low Countries]], and southern Belgium in particular. Many of these were probably local goddesses, and wood nymphs or [[dryad]]s, which had been conflated with Diana by Christian writers Latinizing local names and traditions.<ref name=pagan_survivals/>

===In the Low Countries===
The 6th century bishop [[Gregory of Tours]] reported meeting with a deacon named [[Vulfilaic]] (also known as Saint Wulflaicus or Walfroy the [[Stylite]]), who founded a hermitage on a hill in what is now [[Margut]], France. On the same hill, he found "an image of Diana which the unbelieving people worshiped as a god." According to Gregory's report, worshipers would also sing chants in Diana's honor as they drank and feasted. Vulfilaic destroyed a number of smaller pagan statues in the area, but the statue of Diana was too large. After converting some of the local population to Christianity, Vulfilaic and a group of local residents attempted to pull the large statue down the mountain in order to destroy it, but failed, as it was too large to be moved. In Vulfilaic's account, after praying for a miracle, he was then able to single-handedly pull down the statue, at which point he and his group smashed it to dust with their hammers. According to Vulfilaic, this incident was quickly followed by an outbreak of pimples or sores that covered his entire body, which he attributed to demonic activity and similarly cured via what he described as a miracle. Vulfilaic would later found a church on the site, which is today known as Mont Saint-Walfroy.<ref>''[https://archive.org/stream/historyoffranks00greguoft/historyoffranks00greguoft_djvu.txt History of the Franks]'', Book VIII, 195.</ref>

Additional evidence for surviving pagan practices in the Low Countries region comes from the ''Vita Eligii'', or "Life of [[Saint Eligius]]", written by [[Audoin (bishop)|Audoin]] in the 7th century. Audoin drew together the familiar admonitions of Eligius to the people of [[Flanders]]. In his sermons, he denounced "pagan customs" that the people continued to follow. In particular, he denounced several Roman gods and goddesses alongside [[Druid]]ic mythological beliefs and objects:

<blockquote>"I denounce and contest, that you shall observe no sacrilegious pagan customs. For no cause or infirmity should you consult magicians, diviners, sorcerers or incantators. ..Do not observe [[augur]]ies ... No influence attaches to the first work of the day or the [phase of the] moon. ... [Do not] make [[:wikt:vetulas|vetulas]], little deer or [[iotticos]] or set tables at night or exchange New Year gifts or supply superfluous drinks... No Christian... performs solestitia or dancing or leaping or diabolical chants. No Christian should presume to invoke the name of a demon, not Neptune or Orcus or Diana or Minerva or [[Geniscus]]... No one should observe Jove's day in idleness. ... No Christian should make or render any devotion to the gods of the trivium, where three roads meet, to the [[:wikt:fane|fanes]] or the rocks, or springs or groves or corners. None should presume to hang any [[:wikt:phylactery|phylacteries]] from the neck of man nor beast. ..None should presume to make lustrations or incantations with herbs, or to pass cattle through a hollow tree or ditch ... No woman should presume to hang amber from her neck or call upon Minerva or other ill-starred beings in their weaving or dyeing. ... None should call the sun or moon lord or swear by them. ... No one should tell [[destiny|fate]] or fortune or [[horoscope]]s by them as those do who believe that a person must be what he was born to be."<ref>McNamara's translation of the ''Vita Eligii''.</ref></blockquote>

Legends from medieval [[Belgium]] concern a natural spring which came to be known as the "Fons Remacli", a location which may have been home to late-surviving worship of Diana. [[Remaclus|Remacle]] was a monk appointed by Eligius to head a monastery at [[Solignac]], and he is reported to have encountered Diana worship in the area around the river [[Warche]]. The population in this region was said to have been involved in the worship of "Diana of the [[Ardennes]]" (a syncretism of Diana and the [[Celtic polytheism|Celtic goddess]] [[Arduinna]]), with effigies and "stones of Diana" used as evidence of pagan practices. Remacle believed that demonic entities were present in the spring, and had caused it to run dry. He performed and exorcism of the water source, and installed a lead pipe, which allowed the water to flow again.<ref name=arnold>Arnold, Ellen F. ''Negotiating the Landscape: Environment and Monastic Identity in the Medieval Ardennes'' (The Middle Ages Series). University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012. {{ISBN|0812207521}}, 9780812207521.</ref>

===The "Society of Diana"===
Diana is the only pagan goddess mentioned by name in the [[New Testament]] (only in some Bible versions of [[Acts 19]]; many other Bibles refer to her as [[Artemis]] instead). As a result, she became associated with many folk beliefs involving goddess-like supernatural figures that [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] clergy wished to demonize. In the [[Middle Ages]], legends of night-time processions of spirits led by a female figure are recorded in the church records of [[Northern Italy]], western Germany, and southern France. The spirits were said to enter houses and consume food which then miraculously re-appeared. They would sing and dance, and dispense advice regarding healing herbs and the whereabouts of lost objects. If the house was in good order, they would bring fertility and plenty. If not, they would bring curses to the family. Some women reported participating in these processions while their bodies still lay in bed. Historian [[Carlo Ginzburg]] has referred to these legendary spirit gatherings as "The Society of Diana".<ref name=stregheria/>

Local clergy complained that women believed they were following Diana or [[Herodias]], riding out on appointed nights to join the processions or carry out instructions from the goddess.<ref name=aradia_sardinia>Magliocco, Sabina. (2009). Aradia in Sardinia: The Archaeology of a Folk Character. Pp. 40–60 in ''Ten Years of Triumph of the Moon''. Hidden Publishing.</ref> The earliest reports of these legends appear in the writings of [[Regino of Prüm]] in the year 899, followed by many additional reports and variants of the legend in documents by [[Ratherius]] and others. By 1310, the names of the goddess figures attached to the legend were sometimes combined as '''Herodiana'''.<ref name=aradia_sardinia/> It is likely that the clergy of this time used the identification of the procession's leader as Diana or Herodias in order to fit an older folk belief into a Biblical framework, as both are featured and demonized in the New Testament. Herodias was often conflated with her daughter [[Salome]] in legend, which also holds that, upon being presented with the severed head of [[John the Baptist]], she was blown into the air by wind from the saint's mouth, through which she continued to wander for eternity. Diana was often conflated with [[Hecate]], a goddess associated with the spirits of the dead and with witchcraft. These associations, and the fact that both figures are attested to in the Bible, made them a natural fit for the leader of the ghostly procession. Clergy used this identification to assert that the spirits were evil, and that the women who followed them were inspired by demons. As was typical of this time period, though pagan beliefs and practices were near eliminated from Europe, the clergy and other authorities still treated paganism as a real threat, in part thanks to biblical influence; much of the Bible had been written when various forms of paganism were still active if not dominant, so medieval clergy applied the same kinds of warnings and admonitions for any non-standard folk beliefs and practices they encountered.<ref name=aradia_sardinia/> Based on analysis of church documents and parishioner confessions, it is likely that the spirit identified by the Church as Diana or Herodias was called by names of pre-Christian figures like [[Holda]] (a Germanic goddess of the winter solstice), or with names referencing her bringing of prosperity, like the Latin '''Abundia''' (meaning "plenty"), '''Satia''' (meaning "full" or "plentiful") and the Italian Richella (meaning "rich").<ref name=aradia_sardinia/> Some of the local titles for her, such as ''bonae res'' (meaning "good things"), are similar to late classical titles for Hecate, like ''bona dea''. This might indicate a cultural mixture of medieval folk ideas with holdovers from earlier pagan belief systems. Whatever her true origin, by the 13th century, the leader of the legendary spirit procession had come to be firmly identified with Diana and Herodias through the influence of the Church.<ref name=aradia_sardinia/>

==Modern development and folklore==
===''The Golden Bough''===
[[Image:(Barcelona) The Golden Bough - Joseph Mallord William Turner - Tate Britain.jpg|thumb|[[J. M. W. Turner]]'s 1834 painting of the [[The Golden Bough|Golden Bough]] incident in the ''[[Aeneid]]'']]
In his wide-ranging, comparative study of mythology and religion, ''[[The Golden Bough]]'', anthropologist [[James George Frazer]] drew on various lines of evidence to re-interpret the legendary rituals associated with Diana at [[Nemi]], particularly that of the ''rex Nemorensis''. Frazer developed his ideas in relation to [[J. M. W. Turner]]'s painting, also titled ''[[The Golden Bough (painting)|The Golden Bough]]'', depicting a dream-like vision of the woodland lake of Nemi. According to Frazer, the ''rex Nemorensis'' or king at Nemi was the incarnation of a [[Life-death-rebirth deity|dying and reviving god]], a [[solar deity]] who participated in a mystical marriage to a goddess. He died at the harvest and was reincarnated in the spring. Frazer claimed that this motif of death and rebirth is central to nearly all of the world's religions and mythologies. In Frazer's theory, Diana functioned as a goddess of fertility and childbirth, who, assisted by the sacred king, ritually returned life to the land in spring. The king in this scheme served not only as a high priest but as a god of the grove. Frazer identifies this figure with [[Virbius]], of which little is known, but also with [[Jupiter]] via an association with sacred oak trees. Frazer argued furthermore that Jupiter and Juno were simply duplicate names of Jana and [[Janus]]; that is, Diana and [[Dianus]], all of whom had identical functions and origins.<ref>{{cite book|author=Frazer, Sir James|title= The Golden Bough|location= London|publisher= Wordsworth|date= 1993}}</ref>

Frazer's speculatively reconstructed folklore of Diana's origins and the nature of her cult at Nemi were not well received even by his contemporaries. Godfrey Lienhardt noted that even during Frazer's lifetime, other anthropologists had "for the most part distanced themselves from his theories and opinions", and that the lasting influence of ''The Golden Bough'' and Frazer's wider body of work "has been in the literary rather than the academic world."<ref name="Lienhardt">{{Citation|issn=0044-8370|volume=24|issue=1|year=1993|first=Godfrey|last=Lienhardt|title=Frazer's anthropology: science and sensibility|pages=1–12|journal=[[Journal of the Anthropological Society of Oxford]]}}</ref> Robert Ackerman wrote that, for anthropologists, Frazer is "an embarrassment" for being "the most famous of them all" and that most distance themselves from his work. While ''The Golden Bough'' achieved wide "popular appeal" and exerted a "disproportionate" influence "on so many [20th century] creative writers", Frazer's ideas played "a much smaller part" in the history of academic social anthropology.<ref name=Lienhardt/>

===''The Gospel of the Witches''===
[[File:Bust of the goddess of Issa, Vis Museum, Croatia.JPG|thumb|left|4th-century BCE [[Praxiteles|Praxitelean]] bronze head of a goddess wearing a [[lunate]] crown, found at Issa ([[Vis (island)|Vis]], Croatia)]]
Folk legends like the Society of Diana, which linked the goddess to forbidden gatherings of women with spirits, may have influenced later works of folklore. One of these is [[Charles Godfrey Leland]]'s ''[[Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches]]'', which prominently featured Diana at the center of an Italian witch-cult.<ref name=aradia_sardinia/> In Leland's interpretation of supposed Italian folk witchcraft, Diana is considered Queen of the Witches. In this belief system, Diana is said to have created the world of her own being having in herself the seeds of all creation yet to come. It was said that out of herself she divided the darkness and the light, keeping for herself the darkness of creation and creating her brother [[Lucifer]]. Diana was believed to have loved and ruled with her brother, and with him bore a daughter, [[Aradia]] (a name likely derived from Herodias), who leads and teaches the witches on earth.<ref>Charles G. Leland, ''Aradia: The Gospel of Witches'', Theophania Publishing, US, 2010</ref><ref name=aradia_sardinia/>

Leland's claim that ''Aradia'' represented an authentic tradition from an underground witch-cult, which had secretly worshiped Diana since ancient times has been dismissed by most scholars of folklore, religion, and medieval history. After the 1921 publication of [[Margaret Murray]]'s ''The Witch-cult in Western Europe'', which hypothesized that the European [[witch-hunt|witch trials]] were actually a persecution of a pagan religious survival, American sensationalist author Theda Kenyon's 1929 book ''Witches Still Live'' connected Murray's thesis with the witchcraft religion in ''Aradia''.<ref name = "Kenyon">Hutton, 2000, p. 199.</ref><ref name = "Clifton 62">Clifton, p. 62.</ref> Arguments against Murray's thesis would eventually include arguments against Leland. Witchcraft scholar [[Jeffrey Burton Russell|Jeffrey Russell]] devoted some of his 1980 book ''A History of Witchcraft: Sorcerers, Heretics and Pagans'' to arguing against the claims Leland presented in ''Aradia''.<ref name="Russell">{{cite book | first=Jeffrey | last=Russell | author-link=Jeffrey Burton Russell | title=A History of Witchcraft: Sorcerers, Heretics and Pagans | publisher=Thames and Hudson | year=1982 | isbn=0-19-820744-1 | page=[https://archive.org/details/triumphofmoonhis00hutt/page/218 218] | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/triumphofmoonhis00hutt/page/218 }}</ref> Historian Elliot Rose's ''A Razor for a Goat'' dismissed ''Aradia'' as a collection of incantations unsuccessfully attempting to portray a religion.<ref name="Rose">{{cite book | first=Elliot | last=Rose | title=A Razor for a Goat | url=https://archive.org/details/razorforgoatdisc0000rose | url-access=registration | publisher = University of Toronto Press | year=1962|pages=[https://archive.org/details/razorforgoatdisc0000rose/page/148 148–53]| isbn=9780802070555 }}</ref> In his book ''Triumph of the Moon'', historian [[Ronald Hutton]] doubted not only of the existence of the religion that ''Aradia'' claimed to represent, and that the traditions Leland presented were unlike anything found in actual [[medieval literature]],<ref name="Hutton145">Hutton, 2000, pp. 145–148.</ref> but also of the existence of Leland's sources, arguing that it is more likely that Leland created the entire story than that Leland could be so easily "duped".<ref name="Hutton301">{{cite book | first=Ronald | last=Hutton | author-link=Ronald Hutton | title=The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles: Their Nature and Legacy | publisher =Oxford University Press | year=1991 |page=301}}</ref> Religious scholar Chas S. Clifton took exception to Hutton's position, writing that it amounted to an accusation of "serious literary fraud" made by an "[[argument from ignorance|argument from absence]]".<ref name="Clifton67">Clifton, p. 67.</ref>

===Modern worship===
Because Leland's claims about an Italian witch-cult are questionable, the first verifiable worship of Diana in the modern age was probably begun by [[Wicca]]. The earliest known practitioners of Neopagan witchcraft were members of [[Gardnerian Wicca|a tradition]] begun by [[Gerald Gardner]]. Published versions of the devotional materials used by Gardner's group, dated to 1949, are heavily focused on the worship of [[Aradia]], the daughter of Diana in Leland's folklore. Diana herself was recognized as an aspect of a single "great goddess" in the tradition of [[Apuleius]], as described in the Wiccan [[Charge of the Goddess]] (itself adapted from Leland's text).<ref name=gardenrianBOS>Kelly, A. ''The Gardnerian Book of Shadows''. Accessed online 26 Nov 2018 at http://www.sacred-texts.com/pag/gbos/index.htm</ref> Some later Wiccans, such as [[Scott Cunningham]], would replace Aradia with Diana as the central focus of worship.<ref name=cunningham>Cunningham, S. (2009). ''Cunningham's Book of Shadows: The Path of An American Traditionalist''. {{ISBN|0-73871-914-5}}. Llewellyn: Woodbury, MN.</ref>

In the early 1960s, [[Victor Henry Anderson]] founded the [[Feri Tradition]], a form of Wicca that draws from both Charles Leland's folklore and the Gardnerian tradition. Anderson claimed that he had first been initiated into a witchcraft tradition as a child in 1926,<ref>Wallworth, William (2015). "Victor Henry Anderson (1917–2001)". Deadfamilies.com. Archived from the original on 19 February 2015. Retrieved 19 February 2015.</ref> and that he had been told the name of the goddess worshiped by witches was Tana.<ref name=Faerywolf>Faerywolf, S. (2018). ''Forbidden Mysteries of Faery Witchcraft''. Llewellyn Worldwide. {{ISBN|0738756644}}, 9780738756646</ref> The name Tana originated in Leland's ''Aradia'', where he claimed it was an old [[Etruscan religion|Etruscan]] name for Diana. The Feri Tradition founded by Anderson continues to recognize Tana/Diana as an aspect of the Star Goddess related to the element of fire, and representing "the fiery womb that gives birth to and transforms all matter."<ref name=Faerywolf/> (In ''Aradia'', Diana is also credited as the creatrix of the material world and Queen of Faeries<ref name=gary>Gary, Gemma (2018). "Forward". In Leland, Charles G. ''Aradia or the Gospel of Witches''. London: Troy Books Publishing.</ref>).

A few Wiccan traditions would elevate Diana to a more prominent position of worship, and there are two distinct modern [[Dianic tradition|branches of Wicca]] focused primarily on Diana. The first, founded during the early 1970s in the United States by Morgan McFarland and Mark Roberts, has a [[Second-wave feminism|feminist]] theology and only occasionally accepts male participants, and leadership is limited to female priestesses.<ref name=Adler1 /><ref name=McFarlandSite1>{{cite web| url=http://www.mcfarlanddianic.org/a-chronology.php| archive-date=27 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727074227/http://www.mcfarlanddianic.org/a-chronology.php | title= The McFarland Dianics – A Chronology – Spring Equinox, 2000}}</ref> McFarland Dianic Wiccans base their tradition primarily on the work of [[Robert Graves]] and his book ''[[The White Goddess]]'', and were inspired by references to the existence of medieval European "Dianic cults" in [[Margaret Murray]]'s book ''[[The Witch-Cult in Western Europe]]''.<ref name=McFarlandSite1 /> The [[Dianic Wicca|second Dianic tradition]], founded by [[Zsuzsanna Budapest]] in the mid-1970s, is characterized by an exclusive focus on the feminine aspect of the divine, and as a result is exclusively female. This tradition combines elements from [[British Traditional Wicca]], Italian folk-magic based on the work of Charles Leland, feminist values, and healing practices drawn from a variety of different cultures.<ref name=Budapest1>Budapest, Zsuzsanna. ''Holy Book of Women's Mysteries'', The. 1980 (2003 electronic). {{ISBN|0-914728-67-9}}.</ref><ref name=Adler1>[[Margot Adler|Adler, Margot]]. ''Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America Today''. Boston: Beacon press, 1979; 1986. {{ISBN|0-8070-3237-9}}. Chapter 8: Women, Feminism, and the Craft".</ref>

A third [[Neopagan]] tradition heavily inspired by the worship of Diana through the lens of Italian folklore is [[Stregheria]], founded in the 1980s. It centers around a pair of deities regarded as divine lovers, who are known by several variant names including Diana and [[Dianus]], alternately given as Tana and Tanus or Jana and Janus (the later two deity names were mentioned by James Frazer in ''The Golden Bough'' as later corruptions of Diana and Dianus, which themselves were alternate and possibly older names for Juno and [[Jupiter]]).<ref>''The Encyclopedia of Modern Witchcraft and Neo-Paganism'', Shelley Rabinovitch & James Lewis, page 262, (2004)</ref> The tradition was founded by author Raven Grimassi, and influenced by Italian folktales he was told by his mother. One such folktale describes the moon being impregnated by her lover the [[Venus in culture|morning star]], a parallel to Leland's mythology of Diana and her lover Lucifer.<ref name=stregheria>Magliocco, Sabina. (2006). [https://www.academia.edu/584607/Italian_American_Stregheria_and_Wicca_Ethnic_ambivalence_in_American_Neopaganism Italian American Stregheria and Wicca: Ethnic Ambivalence in American Neopaganism]. Pp. 55–86 in Michael Strmiska, ed., ''Modern Paganism in World Cultures: Comparative Perspectives''. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-Clio.</ref>

Diana was also a subject of worship in certain [[Feraferia]]n rites, particularly those surrounding the autumnal equinox, beginning in 1967.<ref>Butyrin, Svetlana. "[http://www.phaedrus.dds.nl/mabon5.htm Early Autumnal Festival]". Accessed online 26 Nov 2018, http://www.phaedrus.dds.nl/mabon5.htm</ref>

==Legacy==
{{More citations needed|section|date=May 2025}}
===In language===
Both the [[Romanian language|Romanian]] words for "[[fairy]]" {{Lang|ro|Zână}}<ref name="DEX">''[http://www.toatecuvintele.ro/cuvant/Z%C3%A2n%C7%8E Zână]'' in [[Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române|DEX]] '98''</ref> and [[Sânziană]], the [[Leonese language|Leonese]] and [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] word for "water nymph" ''[[xana]]'', and the Spanish word for "shooting target" and "morning call" ({{Lang|es|diana}}) seem to come from the name of Diana.

===In the arts===
[[File:Paul-Jacques-Aimé Baudry - Diana Reposing - Walters 3712.jpg|thumb|''Diana Reposing'' by [[Paul-Jacques-Aimé Baudry]]. The nude goddess, identified by the [[Lunar phase|crescent moon]] in her hair and the bow and [[quiver]] at her side, reclines on a blue drapery.]]
[[File:Seignac, Diane chassant (5613442047).jpg|thumb|''Diana Hunting'', [[Guillaume Seignac]]]]
Since the [[Renaissance]], Diana's myths have often been represented in the visual and dramatic arts, including the opera ''[[L'arbore di Diana]]''. In the 16th century, Diana's image figured prominently at the châteaus of [[Château de Fontainebleau|Fontainebleau]], [[Château de Chenonceau|Chenonceau]], and at [[Château d'Anet|Anet]], in deference to [[Diane de Poitiers]], mistress of [[Henry II of France|Henri of France]]. At [[Palace of Versailles|Versailles]] she was incorporated into the Olympian iconography with which [[Louis XIV of France|Louis XIV]], the Apollo-like "Sun King" liked to surround himself. Diana is also a character in the 1876 [[Léo Delibes]] ballet ''[[Sylvia (ballet)|Sylvia]]''. The plot deals with Sylvia, one of Diana's nymphs and sworn to chastity, and Diana's assault on Sylvia's affections for the shepherd Amyntas.

====In literature====
* Diana Soren, the main character in [[Carlos Fuentes]]' novel ''Diana o la cazadora soltera'' (''Diana, or The Lone Huntress''), is described as having the same personality as the goddess.
* In Jonathan Swift's poem: "The Progress of Beauty", as goddess of the moon, Diana is used in comparison to the 17th/early 18th century everyday woman Swift satirically writes about. Starts: 'When first Diana leaves her bed...'
* In Geoffrey of Monmouth's ''[[Historia Regum Britanniae]]'' ("History of the Kings of Britain"), Diana leads the Trojan Brutus to Britain, where he and his people settle.
* The character of Diana is the principal character in the children's novel ''The Moon Stallion'' by [[Brian Hayles]] (1978) and the BBC Television series of the same name ''Diana'' is played by the actress [[Sarah Sutton]].
* In [[Rick Riordan]]'s ''[[Camp Half-Blood Chronicles]]'', Diana acts as the Roman incarnation of [[Artemis]], although she does not appear until ''[[The Tyrant's Tomb]]''. Throughout ''[[The Heroes of Olympus]]'', along with the other gods, Artemis is split between her Greek and Roman incarnations. In ''The Tyrant's Tomb'', [[Apollo]] summons his sister for help against [[Lucius Tarquinius Superbus|Tarquin]] and his undead army. Diana appears with the Hunters of Artemis to slay Tarquin and his army and she heals Apollo's wounds before departing again.
;In Shakespeare
[[File:Giampietrino 05.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Diana as the Huntress, by [[Giampietrino]]]]
* In [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare's]] ''[[Pericles, Prince of Tyre]]'' Diana appears to Pericles in a vision, telling him to go to her temple and tell his story to her followers.
* In ''[[All's Well That Ends Well]]'' Diana appears as a figure in the play and Helena makes multiple allusions to her, such as, "Now, Dian, from thy altar do I fly..." and "...wish chastely and love dearly, that your Dian/was both herself and love..." The Steward also says, "...; Dian no queen of virgins,/ that would suffer her poor knight surprised, without/ rescue in the first assault or ransom afterward." It can be assumed that 'Dian' is simply a shortening of 'Diana' since later in the play when Parolles' letter to Diana is read aloud it reads 'Dian'.<ref name="Yale University Press">{{cite book|last=Cross|first=Wilbur L.|title=The Yale Shakespeare: the complete works|year=1993|publisher=Barnes & Noble|location=United States of America|isbn=1-56619-104-1|pages=365–399}}</ref>
;In games and comics
* The character of Diana from the video game ''[[League of Legends]]'' is largely based on the goddess.
* [[William Moulton Marston]] drew from the Diana archetype as an allegorical basis for [[Wonder Woman]]'s proper name, Princess Diana for [[DC Comics]]. Most versions of Wonder Woman's origin story state that she is given the name Diana because her mother [[Hippolyte]] was inspired by the goddess of the moon that Diana was born under.
* Diana also is one of the primary gods in the video game ''Ryse''.
* In the manga and anime series ''[[Sailor Moon]]'', Diana is the feline companion to Chibiusa, Usagi's daughter.  Diana is the daughter of Artemis and Luna.  All of these characters are advisers to rulers of the kingdom of the moon and therefore have moon-associated names.

====In painting and sculpture====
[[File:Escultura de "la Diana Cazadora".jpg|right|thumb|[[Fuente de la Diana Cazadora]] (1938–1942) in bronze at [[Paseo de la Reforma]], [[Mexico City]]]]
[[File:Diana of the Chase (Huntington, 1922).jpg|thumb|''Diana of the Chase'' (1922), [[Anna Hyatt Huntington]] in bronze at [[Brookgreen Gardens]] in [[Murrells Inlet, South Carolina|Murrells Inlet]], [[South Carolina]].]]
[[Image:Diana by Augustus Saint-Gaudens 01.jpg|right|thumb|''Diana'' (1892–93), [[Augustus Saint-Gaudens]]. Bronze, [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]], New York City.]]
[[Image:EB1911 Plate IV. v24, pg.505, Fig 6.jpg|right|thumb|''Diana Wounded'', bronze statue by [[Sir Edgar Bertram Mackennal]], housed in [[Tate Gallery]] of [[London]] ]]
Diana has been one of the most popular themes in art. Painters like [[Titian]], [[Peter Paul Rubens]], [[François Boucher]], [[Nicolas Poussin]] and made use of her myth as a major theme. Most depictions of Diana in art featured the stories of Diana and [[Actaeon]], or [[Callisto (mythology)|Callisto]], or depicted her resting after hunting. Some famous work of arts with a Diana theme are:
* ''[[Diana and Actaeon (Titian)|Diana and Actaeon]]'', ''[[Diana and Callisto]]'', and ''[[Death of Actaeon]]'' by Titian.
* ''[[Diana and Callisto]]'', ''[[Diana Returning from the Hunt]]'', ''Diana Resting After a Bath'', and ''[[Diana Bathing (Boucher)|Diana Getting Out of Bath]]'' by [[François Boucher]].
* ''[[Diana Bathing with her Nymphs with Actaeon and Callisto|Diana Bathing With Her Nymphs]]'' by [[Rembrandt]].
* ''Diana and Endymion'' by Poussin.
* ''Diana and Callisto'', ''Diana and Her Nymph Departing From Hunt'', ''Diana and Her Nymphs Surprised By A Faun'' by Rubens.
* ''Diana and Endymion'' by [[Johann Michael Rottmayr]].
* ''Diana Wounded'', bronze statue by [[Sir Edgar Bertram Mackennal]], housed in [[Tate Gallery]] of [[London]] (purchased 1908).<ref>[[Encyclopædia Britannica]], ed. 1911, vol. 24, pg. 505, Plate IV.</ref>
* The famous fountain at [[Palace of Caserta]], Italy, created by Paolo Persico, Brunelli, Pietro Solari, depicting Diana being surprised by Acteon.
* A sculpture by [[Christophe-Gabriel Allegrain]] can be seen at the Musée du Louvre.
* ''[[Diana (Saint-Gaudens)|Diana of the Tower]]'' a copper statue by [[Augustus Saint-Gaudens]] was created as the weather vane for the second [[Madison Square Garden (1890)|Madison Square Garden]] in 1893. It now is on display at the [[Philadelphia Museum of Art]]
* A [https://web.archive.org/web/20140823073936/http://www.dictionaryofsydney.org/item/18337 sculpture] by French sculptor [[François-Léon Sicard]] in the [[Archibald Fountain]], Sydney, NSW, Australia <ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/waterexhibition/OrnamentalFountains/ArchibaldFountain.html|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20030408220426/http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/waterexhibition/OrnamentalFountains/ArchibaldFountain.html|archive-date = 2003-04-08|title = City of Sydney}}</ref>
* In Parma at the convent of San Paolo, Antonio Allegri da Correggio painted the chamber of the Abbess Giovanna Piacenza's apartment. He was commissioned in 1519 to paint the ceiling and mantel of the fireplace. On the mantel he painted an image of Diana riding in a chariot possibly pulled by a stag.
* [[Diana the Huntress Fountain|''Fuente de la Diana Cazadora'' [Fountain of the Huntress Diana]]], a fountain sculpture of huntress Diana with arrow pointing skyward, stands in the roundabout at [[Paseo de la Reforma]], [[Zona Rosa, Mexico City|Zona Rosa]], [[Mexico City]]'s Mexican Federal District.
* ''Diana of the Chase'', a bronze statue by [[Anna Hyatt Huntington]] in 1922. ''Diana'' was a defining symbol at the time, placed at institutions, such as the [[Harvard Art Museums#Fogg Museum|Fogg Art Museum]] at [[Harvard University]], the [[New York Historical|New York Historical Society]] in New York City, and the [[Huntington Library|Huntington Art Gallery]] in [[San Marino, California]]. One of the most notable of replicas can be found at [[Brookgreen Gardens]] in [[South Carolina]], which was founded by Anna Hyatt Huntington and her husband [[Archer Milton Huntington]] in 1932.
* [[Beaux Arts architecture]] and garden design (late 19th and early 20th centuries) used classic references in a modernized form. Two of the most popular of the period were of [[Pomona (mythology)|Pomona]] (goddess of orchards) as a metaphor for Agriculture, and Diana, representing Commerce, which is a perpetual hunt for advantage and profits.
[[Image:DianaAndPomona.jpg|thumb|right|[[Pomona (mythology)|Pomona]] (left, symbolizing [[agriculture]]), and Diana (symbolizing [[commerce]]) as building decoration]]
There are many statues of Diana the Huntress in Yambol, Bulgaria.

====In film====
*In [[Jean Cocteau]]'s 1946 film ''[[Beauty and the Beast (1946 film)|Beauty and the Beast]]'', it is Diana's power which has transformed and imprisoned the beast.
*Diana/[[Artemis]] appears at the end of the 'Pastoral Symphony' segment of ''[[Fantasia (1940 film)|Fantasia]]''.
*In his 1968 film ''[[La Mariée était en noir]]'' [[François Truffaut]] plays on this mythological symbol. Julie Kohler, played by Jeanne Moreau, poses as Diana/[[Artemis]] for the artist Fergus. This choice seems fitting for Julie, a character beset by revenge, of which Fergus becomes the fourth victim. She poses with a bow and arrow, while wearing white.
* In the 1995 comedy ''[[Four Rooms]]'', a coven of witches resurrects a petrified Diana on New Year's Eve.
* French based collective LFKs and his film/theatre director, writer and visual artist Jean Michel Bruyere produced a series of 600 shorts and "medium" film, an interactive audiovisual 360° installation (''Si poteris narrare licet'' ("if you are able to speak of it, then you may do so" ...... ) in 2002, and a 3D 360° audiovisual installation ''La Dispersion du Fils''<ref>{{Cite web |title=N E W M E D I A A R T . E U |url=http://www.newmediaart.eu/str10.html#:~:text=La%20dispersion%20du%20fils |access-date=2024-07-28 |website=www.newmediaart.eu}}</ref> from 2008 to 2016 as well as an outdoor performance, "Une Brutalité pastorale" (2000), all about the myth of Diana and Actaeon.

==== In music ====
* Diana is a character in ''[[Hippolytus and Aricia]]'', an [[opera]] by [[Jean-Philippe Rameau]].
* For the album art of [[progressive metal]] band [[Protest the Hero]]'s second studio album ''[[Fortress (Protest the Hero album)|Fortress]]'', Diana is depicted protected by rams and other animals. The theme of Diana is carried throughout the album.
* The Norwegian classical [[composer]] [[Martin Romberg]] wrote a [[Mass (music)|mass]] for [[mixed choir]] in seven parts after a selection of poems from Leland's text ''Aradia'', in which Diana features heavily. The ''Witch Mass'' was premiered at the Vestfold International Festival in 2012 with [[Grex Vocalis]]. In order to create the right atmosphere for the music, the festival blocked of an entire road tunnel in [[Tønsberg]] to use it as a venue.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tb.no/kultur/ticker/kultur/tunnelen-blir-konsertarena/s/2-2.516-1.7178211|title= Report from the planning of the concert|date= 12 April 2012|publisher= tb.no.}}</ref> The work was released on CD through Lawo Classics in 2014.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.challengerecords.com/products/14482758027365/|title=Witch Mass on CD|publisher= challengerecords.com.}}</ref>
* Artemis, and subsequently Diana, is used as focal point in "Artemis", track twelve of AURORA's 2022 album ''The Gods We Can Touch''

===Other===
*In the funeral oration of [[Diana, Princess of Wales]] in 1997, [[Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer|her brother]] drew an analogy between the ancient goddess of hunting and his sister – "the most hunted person of the modern age".
*DIANA Mayer & Grammelspacher GmbH & Co.KG, an airgun company, is named after Diana, the goddess of hunting.<ref>"DIANA Mayer & Grammelspacher GmbH & Co.KG – THE DIANA TRADEMARK." COMPANY | THE DIANA TRADEMARK. [http://www.diana-airguns.de/index.php?id=22&L=1&width=1920&height=1080] (accessed November 27, 2012).</ref>
* The [[Royal Netherlands Air Force]] 323rd Squadron is named Diana and uses a depiction of Diana with her bow in its badge.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.f-16.net/units_article272.html|title=F-16 Units – RNLAF 323rd squadron|work=f-16.net}}</ref>
* In [[Ciudad Juárez]] in Mexico a woman calling herself "Diana Huntress of Bus Drivers" was responsible for the shooting of two bus drivers in 2013 in what may have been vigilante attacks.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/06/ciudad-juarez-bus-drivers-female-assassin-diana|title=Diana Huntress of Bus Drivers instils fear and respect in Ciudad Juárez|first=Jo|last=Tuckman|date=6 September 2013|website=The Guardian|access-date=20 September 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thisamericanlife.org/diana-hunter-of-bus-drivers/|title=Diana, Hunter of Bus Drivers|website=This American Life|access-date=20 September 2018}}</ref>
*Diana is commemorated in the scientific name of a species of coral snake, ''[[Micrurus diana]]''.<ref>[[species:Bo Beolens|Beolens, Bo]]; [[species:Michael Watkins|Watkins, Michael]]; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. {{ISBN|978-1-4214-0135-5}}. ("Diana", p. 72).</ref>

==See also==
* [[Dianic Wicca]]
* [[Janus]]
* [[Domus de Janas]]
* [[Pachamama]]
* [[List of lunar deities]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
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{{reflist |30em}}

===Bibliography===
{{sfn whitelist |CITEREFRinge2006}}
{{refbegin |30em |indent=yes}}
*{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lw7KxwEACAAJ|title=Etymological Dictionary of Greek|last=Beekes|first=Robert S. P.|year=2009|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-90-04-32186-1|language=en|author-link=Robert S. P. Beekes}}
*{{Cite book|last1=Mallory|first1=James P.|title=The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World|date=2006|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tF5wAAAAIAAJ|location=Oxford, England|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-929668-2|last2=Adams|first2=Douglas Q.}}
*{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ecZ1DwAAQBAJ|title=Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages|last=de Vaan|first=Michiel|date=2008|author-link=Michiel de Vaan|publisher=Brill|isbn=9789004167971|language=en}}
*{{cite Q |Q131605459 |first=Don |last=Ringe |author-link=Donald Ringe |mode=cs1 }}
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*A. Alföldi "Diana Nemorensis" in ''American Journal of Archaeology'' '''64''' 1960 p.&nbsp;137-144.
*A. Alföldi ''Early Rome and the Latins'' Ann Arbor 1964 p.&nbsp;47-100.
*E. Paribeni "A note on Diana Nemorensis" in ''American Journal of Archaeology'' '''65''' 1961 p.&nbsp;55.
*P. J. Riis "The Cult Image of Diana Nemorensis" in ''Acta Archaeologica'' Kopenhagen '''37''' 1966 p.&nbsp;69 ff.
*[[Jacques Heurgon|J. Heurgon]] in ''Magna Graecia'' 1969 Jan. Feb. 1969 p.&nbsp;12 ff.; March Apr. p.&nbsp;1ff.
*J.G. Frazer ''Balder the Beautiful'' II London 1913 p.&nbsp;95 ff.; 302 ff.
*L. Morpurgo "Nemus Aricinum" in ''MonAntLincei'' '''13''' 1903 c. 300 ff.
*A. Merlin "L'Aventin dans l'antiquité" Paris BÉFAR '''97''' 1906.
*G. Wissowa ''Religion und Kultus der Römer'' Munich 1912 p.&nbsp;198 ff.
*F. Altheim ''Griechischen Götter im alten Rom'' Giessen 1930 p.&nbsp;93–172.
*A.E. Gordon "On the Origin of Diana" in ''Transactions of the AMerican Philological Association'' '''63''' 1932 p.&nbsp;177ff.
*A.E. Gordon ''Local Cults in Aricia'' University of California Publications in Classical Archaeology 2 1934 p.&nbsp;1ff.
*J. Heurgon "Recherhes sur... Capoue préromaine" in BÉFAR '''154''' Paris 1942 p.&nbsp;307 ff.
*J. Gagé "Apollon Romain" in BÉFAR '''182''' Paris 1955.
*[[Jean Bayet|J. Bayet]] ''Histoire politique et psychologique de la religion romaine'' Paris 1957 p.&nbsp;20 ff., 39ff.
*K. Latte ''Römische Religionsgeschichte'' Munich 1960 p.&nbsp;169–173.
*[[Robert Schilling (historian)|R. Schilling]] "Une victime des vicissitudes politiques, la Diane latine" in ''Hommages á Jean Bayet, Collection Latomus'' '''45''' Bruxelles 1960 p.&nbsp;650 ff.
*A. Momigliano "Sul dies natalis del santuario federale di Diana sull' Aventino" in ''RAL'' '''17''' 1962 p.&nbsp;387 ff.
*G. Dumézil ''La religion romaine archaïque'' Paris 1966 p.&nbsp;398 ff.
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{commons|Diana}}
{{wiktionary|Diana}}
* [http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/picture-of-month/displaypicture.aspx?id=378 ''Landscape with Diana and Callisto'' painting] [http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/ladylever/collections/paintings/gallery1/dianaandcallisto.aspx page]
* [https://www.wga.hu/art/d/domenich/1/diana.jpg ''Diana and her Nymphs'' painting] [https://www.wga.hu/html_m/d/domenich/1/diana.html description]
* [https://iconographic.warburg.sas.ac.uk/category/vpc-taxonomy-000101 The Warburg Institute Iconographic Database (ca 1150 images of Diana)]

{{Clear}}
{{Roman religion}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Diana (Mythology)}}
[[Category:Diana (mythology)| ]]
[[Category:Roman goddesses]]
[[Category:Deities in the Aeneid]]
[[Category:Lunar goddesses]]
[[Category:Hunting goddesses]]
[[Category:Animal goddesses]]
[[Category:Fertility goddesses]]
[[Category:Metamorphoses characters]]
[[Category:Divine twins]]
[[Category:Mythological archers]]
[[Category:Childhood goddesses]]
[[Category:Characters in Roman mythology]]
[[Category:Nature goddesses]]
[[Category:Night goddesses]]
[[Category:Dog goddesses]]
[[Category:Dii Consentes]]
[[Category:Artemis]]
[[Category:Wolf deities]]
[[Category:Light goddesses]]
[[Category:New religious movement deities]]