Diana and King of the Wood
The landscape of a little woodland Lake of Nemi,
called by the ancients “Diana’s Mirror,” was located in a green hollow of the
Alban hills in Italy. The two Italian villages, and the palace on its banks
with terraced gardens, descended steeply to the lake. It was a scene of a
strange and recurring tragedy.
On the northern side of the lake stood the sacred
grove and sanctuary of Diana of the wood, or Diana at Nemi. In this sacred
grove there grew a certain tree which at any time of the day and far into the
night, a grim figure might be seen to prowl. In his hand he carried a drawn
sword as he kept peering cautiously about him as if at any moment he expected
to be set upon by an enemy. He was a priest and a murderer. The man for whom he
looked for was sooner or later to murder him, and the priesthood would be transferred
to the new killer.
A candidate for the priesthood could only succeed to
office by slaying the priest, and having slain him, the candidate retained the
office, till he himself was slain by a stronger challenger.
The post which he held carried with it the title of
king. Year in and year out, night and day, in fair weather or foul, he had to
keep his lonely watch. Whenever he snatched a troubled sleep, it was at the
peril of his life.
The least relaxation of his vigilance, the smallest
loss of strength of limb or skill put him in jeopardy; grey hairs might seal
his death. Pilgrims who visit the shrine and catch sight of him would be
overcome with fear and gloom.
The strange role of this priesthood was found in most
ancient civilizations, and surviving
into the Roman imperial period about the 3rd century AD.
According to one story the worship of Diana at Nemi
was instituted by Orestes, who after killing Thoas, King of the Tauric
Chersonese (the Crimea), fled with his sister to Italy, bringing with him the
image of Diana hidden in a faggot of sticks.
After his death his bones were transported from
Aricia to Rome and buried in front of the temple of Saturn.
The Temple of Saturn
The bloody ritual which legend ascribed to
Diana, mentions that every stranger who landed was sacrificed on her alter. The
rite, after transported to Italy, assumed a milder form. Within the sanctuary at
Nemi grew a certain tree of which no branch might be broken. The only person
allowed to break off one of the boughs was a runaway slave if he could. Success
in the attempt entitled him to fight the priest in single combat, and if he
slew him he reigned with the title of King of the Wood.
According to public opinion of the ancients, the
fateful branch was the Golden Bough. It was said the flight of Orestes after
his combat with the priest was reminiscent of the human sacrifice once offered to Diana.
This rule of succession by the sword was observed down to imperial times where
Caligula, thinking that the priest of Nemi had held office too long, hired a
killer to slay him. A Greek traveller, who visited Italy in the age of the Antonines
(96 – 180 AD), remarks that down to his
time the priesthood was still the prize
of victory in a single combat.
In regards to the worship of Diana at Nemi, some offerings found at the
site shows that she was conceived as a hunter, blessing men and women with
offspring, and granting expectant mothers a healthy delivery.
Shrine of Diana
Also, fire seems to have played a part in her
ritual. During her annual festival, held on the thirteenth of August, at the
hottest time of the year, her grove shone with a multitude of torches, whose
ruddy glare was reflected by the lake; and throughout Italy the day was kept
with holy rites at every domestic hearth. Bronze statuettes found in her
precinct represent the goddess herself holding a torch in her raised right
hand; and a woman, whose prayers had been herd by her came crowned with wreaths
and bearing lighted torches to the sanctuary in fulfilment of their vows.
An unknown person dedicated a perpetually burning
lamp in a little shrine at Nemi for the safety of the Emperor Claudius and his
family.
The terra-cotta lamps which have been discovered in
the grove may perhaps have served a like purpose for humbler persons. If so,
the analogy of the custom to the Catholic practice of dedicating holy candles
in churches would be obvious.
Ancient terra cotta candle holder
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