古罗马神之月亮女神Diana

李欣蔚

Etymology
     In Roman mythology, Diana was the goddess of the hunt, being associated with wild animals and woodland, and also of the moon. She was goddess of fertility and quick to anger. Her parents are Jupiter(Zeus) and Juno(Leto) and her sibling is Apollo(Apollo). In literature she was the equivalent of the Greek goddess Artemis, though in cult beliefs she was Italic, not Greek, in origin. Diana was worshipped in ancient Roman religion and is currently revered in the religions of Religio Romana Neopaganism and in Stregheria①.
Along with her main attributes, Diana was an emblem of chastity. Oak groves were especially sacred to her. According to mythology, Diana was born with her twin brother Apollo on the island of Delos②. Diana made up a trinity with two other Roman deities: Egeria and Virbius.

Worship
      Diana was worshipped at a festival on August 13, when King Servius Tullius, himself born a slave, dedicated her shrine on the Aventine Hill③ in the mid-sixth century BC. Being placed on the Aventine, and thus outside the pomerium④, meant that Diana's cult essentially remained a "foreign" one; she was never officially 'transferred' to Rome. It seems that her cult originated in Aricia⑤, where her priest, the Rex Nemorensis⑥ remained. There the simple open-air fane was held in common by the Latin tribes, which Rome aspired to weld into a league. Diana of the wood was soon thoroughly Hellenized, "a process which culminated with the appearance of Diana beside Apollo in the first lectisternium⑦ at Rome". Diana was regarded with great reverence by lower-class citizens and slaves; slaves could receive asylum in her temples.
      Though some Roman patrons ordered marble replicas of the specifically Anatolian "Diana" of Ephesus, where the Temple of Artemis stood, Diana was usually depicted for educated Romans in her Greek guise. If she is 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 Acteon⑧, who saw her bathing naked. Diana transformed Acteon into a stag and set his own hunting dogs to kill him.
      Worship of Diana is mentioned in the Bible. In Acts of the Apostles⑨, Ephesian metalsmiths who felt threatened by Saint Paul’s preaching of Christianity, jealously rioted in her defense, shouting "Great is Diana of the Ephesians! "

Legacy
  In religion
      Diana's cult has been related in Early Modern Europe to the cult of Nicevenn⑩. She was related to myths of a female Wild Hunt. Diana remains an important figure in some modern mythologies. Those who believe that prehistoric peoples lived in matriarchal societies consider Diana to have originated in a mother goddess worshiped at that time.
  Wicca
      Today there is a branch of Wicca named for her, which is characterized by an exclusive focus on the feminine aspect of the Divine.
  Stregheria
      In Italy the old religion of Stregheria embraced goddess Diana as Queen of the Witches; witches being the wise women healers of the time. Goddess Diana created the world of her own being having in herself the seeds of all creation yet to come. It is said that out of herself she divided into the darkness and the light, keeping for herself the darkness of creation and creating her brother Apollo, the light. Goddess Diana loved and ruled with her brother Apollo.
      As time went on, the Earth was created and Diana descended to Earth, as did her brother Apollo. Diana taught magic and witches were born. One night using witchcraft in the form of a cat, his most beloved animal, Diana tricked Apollo. She gained entrance to his chamber where she seduced him. From this union a daughter was born, the goddess Aradia.
      Some people see Diana Nemorensis as a separate person of goddess, but she is the same Roman goddess, with different stories from different points of view, the strega and the Romans had different stories.
  In the arts and literature
      Since the Renaissance the mythic Diana has often been expressed in the visual and dramatic arts. There are also references to her in common literature. In Shakespeare's play, Romeo and Juliet, many references are made to Diana. Rosaline, a beautiful woman who has sworn to chastity, is said to have "Dian's wit". Later on in the play, Romeo says, "It is the East, and Juliet is the sun. Arise fair sun, and kill the envious moon." He is saying that Juliet is better than Diana and Rosaline for not swearing chastity. Diana is also a character in the 1876 Leo Delibe ballet "Sylvia". In Jean Cocteau's 1946 film La Belle et la Bête it is Diana's power which has transformed and imprisoned the beast. In comic book lore, the character of Wonder Woman who hails from Paradise Island which is rich in Greek mythology is written to be a descendant of the Gods, and named after the moon goddess, Diana. In the Roman temples, many times a statue of Diana can be seen in the background, depicted as a well rounded lady, usually sitting on a stag, who appears to be suffering.
  In language
      Both the Romanian word for "fairy", zânǎ and the Asturian word for "water nymph", xana, seem to come from the name of Diana.
  Other
      In the funeral oration of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997, her brother drew an ironic analogy between the ancient goddess of hunting and his sister - "the most hunted person of the modern age".



Notes:
①Stregheria: an archaic Italian word meaning "witchcraft"
②Delos: one of the most important mythological, historical and archaeological sites in Greece
③Aventine Hill: one of the seven hills on which ancient Rome was built
④Pomerium: the sacred boundary of the city of Rome
⑤Aricia: a town in the Province of Rome
⑥Rex Nemorensis: a sort of sacred king who served as priest of Diana
⑦Lectisternium: a propitiatory ceremony, consisting of a meal offered to gods and goddesses
⑧Acteon: a famous Theban hero in Greek mythology
⑨Acts of the Apostles: a book of the Bible, which now stands fifth in the New Testament
⑩Nicevenn: a Scottish Goddess during the Middle Ages




The Diana of Versailles



Diana huntress, by Houdon. Louvre


[ 本帖最后由 李欣蔚 于 2008-10-18 11:31 编辑 ]

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