Page "Diana (mythology)" Paragraph 29

It looks as if the confrontation happened 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.

The cult introduced by Orestes at Nemi is apparently that of the Artemis Tauropolos.

The literary amplification reveals a confused religious background: different Artemis were conflated under the epithet.

As far as Nemi's Diana is concerned there are two different versions, by Strabo 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.

The only possible interpretatio graeca of high antiquity concerning Diana Nemorensis could have been the one based upon this ancient aspect of deity of light, master of wildlife.

Tauropolos is an ancient epithet attached to Hecate, Artemis and even Athena.

According to the legend Orestes founded Nemi together with Iphigenia.

At Cuma the Sybil is the priestess of both Phoibos and Trivia.

Hesiod and Stesichorus tell the story according to which after her death Iphigenia was divinised under the name of Hecate, 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.

A coin minted by P. Accoleius Lariscolus in 43 BC has been acknowledged as representing the archaic statue of Diana Nemorensis.

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.