The first temple honoring Diana at Rome was the Temple of Diana on the Aventine Hill. The Aventine Temple was established during the reign of King Tullius Servius in the sixth century BCE and was modeled after the renowned Temple of Ephesus, though the cult of Artemis at Ephesus was distinct from the cult of Diana at Rome. Diana’s Temple at the Aventine set the standard for all other temples founded in the Roman coloniae (colonies); instituting regulations for, among other religious acts, the performance of a sacrifice. The Temple was dedicated on 13 August which was a holiday for slaves, and it became a refuge for runaway slaves.

The completion of Diana’s Temple at the Aventine expounded Rome’s political and religious significance among its Latin neighbors. The Temple became the new federal center for the Latin League, a group of independent city-states of which Rome was the leading state. Diana was the patron goddess of the Latin League and it was at Her shrine in Aricia that the Latin League had previously met, perhaps prior even to the founding of Rome.

It was to Diana Aventinensis ("Diana of the Aventine") that sacrifices were made during the Ludi Saeculares (Secular games), possibly formed in 509 BCE. The Ludi Saeculares were considered turning points in Rome’s rebirth and ascendancy; marking the passing of an era and affirming divine intervention for the safekeeping of the Roman state. The games also served to avert disease and pestilence from the populace and both Apollo and Diana were honored during the celebration. The Ludi Saeculares commenced on the night of 31 and included a Sellisternia, a banquet for one or more gods given in honor of Iuno Regina (Juno Regina).

Diana had several cults, but Her most famous cult was at Aricia near Lake Nemi (from the word nemus meaning ‘sacred wood or grove’) also referred to as the "Mirror of Diana." Here, once a year, the women would meet on the idus (ides) of August after a 15-mile walk from Rome, carrying torches and wearing wreaths. The women would conduct rites to Diana after sunset in this sacred grove where they would also leave offerings for the tutelary goddess. The shrine of Diana at Nemi was also a sanctuary for slaves. The Rex Nemorensis ("King of the Lake") was an office held by a runaway slave who managed to pluck a bough from a sacred tree and defeat, in mortal combat, the previous Rex Nemorensis. The newly installed Rex Nemorensis was then joined in a sacred marriage with Diana’s high priestess, and this ceremony may have occurred annually for as long as he was able to defend his office. The Rex Nemorensis was identified as Diana’s consort, Virbius ("god of the forest") and may have possibly represented regeneration; a mortal lover of Diana, who is reborn as Her son and becomes Her consort once more.

Diana was very popular with women, yet she was also highly esteemed by men. There were numerous private societies in Rome which met under the auspices of a deity. Diana was a patroness of funeral societies, which provided adequate burials for their members. One funeral societas (society), dedicated to Diana and Antinous of Rome, convened once a month under a set of by-laws which were governed by the Senate under Augustan decree. Members of the societas, comprised of slaves and freedmen, paid monthly dues to ensure their own decent burials and to provide for monthly banquets. The societas was governed by a strict set of rules that regulated all of it’s various functions including the offices, the allotment of funds for members’ funerals (no funds were provided for suicides), and the fines imposed for abusing a fellow member.

The goddess Diana was very highly worshipped in ancient Rome. Her greek counterpart, fell under the name Artemis. Diana in Roman worship, was known as well as a maiden huntress, protector of all that is wild and free. This is virtually the same context that the greek Artemis fell under. However, as centuries past and ancient Rome grew, so did the followings of the goddess Diana. The Roman goddess of nature, fertility and childbirth. She is closely identified with the Greek goddess Artemis. Diana is also a moon-goddess and was originally worshipped on the mountain Tifata near Capua and in sacred forests (such as Aricia in Latium). Her priest lived in Aricia and if a man was able to kill him with a bough broken from a tree in this forest, he would become priest himself. Also torch-bearing processions were held in her honor here. Later she was given a temple in the working-class area on the Aventine Hill where she was mainly worshipped by the lower class (plebeians) and the slaves, of whom she was the patroness. Slaves could also ask for asylum in her temple. Her festival coincided with the idus (13th) of August.

Diana was essentially a goddess of the woodlands, as Ceres was a goddess of the corn and Bacchus a god of the vine. Her sanctuaries were commonly in groves, indeed every grove was sacred to her, and she is often associated with the forest god Silvanus in dedications. But whatever her origin may have been, Diana was not always a mere goddess of trees. Like her Greek sister Artemis, she appears to have developed into a personification of the teeming life of nature, both animal and vegetable. As mistress of the greenwood she would naturally be thought to own the beasts, whether wild or tame, that ranged through it, lurking for their prey in its gloomy depths, munching the fresh leaves and shoots among the boughs, or cropping the herbage in the open glades and dells. Thus she might come to be the patron goddess both of hunters and herdsmen, just as Silvanus was the god not only of woods, but of cattle.

But Diana was not merely a patroness of wild beasts, a mistress of woods and hills, of lonely glades and sounding rivers; conceived as the moon, and especially, it would seem, as the yellow harvest moon, she filled the farmer’s grange with goodly fruits, and heard the prayers of women in travail. In her sacred grove at Nemi, as we have seen, she was especially worshipped as a goddess of childbirth, who bestowed offspring on men and women. Thus Diana, like the Greek Artemis, with whom she was constantly identified, may be described as a goddess of nature in general and of fertility in particular. We need not wonder, therefore, that in her sanctuary on the Aventine she was represented by an image copied from the many-breasted idol of the Ephesian Artemis, with all its crowded emblems of exuberant fecundity. Hence too we can understand why an ancient Roman law, attributed to King Tullus Hostilius, prescribed that, when incest had been committed, an expiatory sacrifice should be offered by the pontiffs in the grove of Diana. For we know that the crime of incest is commonly supposed to cause a dearth; hence it would be meet that atonement for the offence should be made to the goddess of fertility.

Now on the principle that the goddess of fertility must herself be fertile, it behoved Diana to have a male partner. Her mate, if the testimony of Servius may be trusted, was that Virbius who had his representative, or perhaps rather his embodiment, in the King of the Wood at Nemi. The aim of their union would be to promote the fruitfulness of the earth, of animals, and of mankind; and it might naturally be thought that this object would be more surely attained if the sacred nuptials were celebrated every year, the parts of the divine bride and bridegroom being played either by their images or by living persons. No ancient writer mentions that this was done in the grove at Nemi; but our knowledge of the Arician ritual is so scanty that the want of information on this head can hardly count as a fatal objection to the theory.

Diana no longer was classed simply as a maiden huntress, but grew to the status of motherhood. By the birth of her daughter Ariadia. Diana was an ancient Italian goddess of woodland. In Capua and in Aricia, a locality near Rome, there are still shrines dedicated to the old Italian goddess. Diana was the twin sister of the god Apollo. Her father and mother were Jupiter and Latona. Diana was originally a goddess of fertility and, just as Bona Dea, she was worshipped mainly by women as the giver of fertility and easy births. Under Greek influence she was equated with Artemis and assumed many of her aspects. Her name is possibly derived from 'diviana' ("the shining one"). She is portrayed as a huntress accompanied by a deer. Diana was also the goddess of the Latin commonwealth.

Diana believed her body was very sacred, and so no man was to see her naked. One day a wandering hunter came across Diana bathing. She became very angry, and turned him into a stag. Now he was unable to speak, and so no one would ever hear about Diana's naked body. Actaeon was killed by his own hunting dogs, because he couldn't tell them he was their master. She was always surrounded by young beautiful attendants, who used to hunt with her. Romans identified Diana with the Greek goddess Artemis. As Artemis, she was also a Moon goddess.

Prayer To Diana