Roman Religion and the Cult of Diana at Aricia

This 2007 book examines the history of Diana's cult and healing sanctuary.

C. M. C. Green (Author)

9781107407534, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 13 September 2012

388 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.2 cm, 0.57 kg

Review of the hardback: 'Green's is a magisterial study of all surviving evidence, well worth reading not only for scholars of religion, but for anyone with an interest in Roman cultural history. Her thorough coverage implicitly situates this rich material of myth and ritual in an anthropological perspective …' International Journal of the Classical Tradition

The sanctuary dedicated to Diana at Aricia flourished from the Bronze age to the second century CE. From its archaic beginnings in the wooded crater beside the lake known as the 'mirror of Dianea' it grew into a grand Hellenistic-style complex that attracted crowds of pilgrims and the sick. Diana was also believed to confer power on leaders. This 2007 book examines the history of Diana's cult and healing sanctuary, which remained a significant and wealthy religious center for more than a thousand years. It sheds light on Diana herself, on the use of rational as well as ritual healing in the sanctuary, on the subtle distinctions between Latin religious sensibility and the more austere Roman practice, and on the interpenetration of cult and politics in Latin and Roman history.

Part I: 1. The sanctuary of Diana to the end of the republic
2. The sanctuary in the Augustan age
3. The sanctuary in the empire
4. Diana: her name and appearance
5. The grove, the goddess, and the history of early Latium
6. The many faces of Diana
Part II. Fugitives and Slaves, Kings and Greeks: 7. The necessary murderer
8. 'We are fugitives'
9. Virbius, Hippolytus and Egeria
Part III. Healing and Ritual: 10. Diana the healer
11. Ritual healing and the Maniae
12. Conclusion: Diana and her worshippers.

Subject Areas: European history [HBJD]