Roman Religion and the Cult of Diana at Aricia
Cambridge University Press, 12/4/2006
EAN 9780521851589, ISBN10: 0521851580
Hardcover, 348 pages, 23.6 x 15.9 x 2.6 cm
Language: English
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.