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p149 Aedes Dianae

Articles on pp149‑151 of

Samuel Ball Platner (as completed and revised by Thomas Ashby):
A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome,
London: Oxford University Press, 1929.

Diana: a shrine in the vicus Patricius, the only one of the many temples of Diana into which men were not allowed to enter (Plut. q. Rom. 3: ναὸς Ἀρτέμιδος; RE V.332).

Diana, aedes: the temple of Diana on the Aventine (in Aventino, CIL VI.32323, 10, 32: Censorin. de die nat. 23.6) ascribed by tradition to Servius Tullius, who assembled here the representatives of the surrounding Latin towns and persuaded them to build this temple as the common sanctuary of the league, in imitation of the temple of Diana at Ephesus and its relation to the Ionian cities (Varro, LL V.43: commune Latinorum Dianae templum; Liv. I.45.2‑6; Dionys. IV.26; de vir. ill. 7.9). It was the oldest and most important temple on the Aventine, ordinarily known as Diana Aventina (Prop. IV.8.29), or Aventinensis (Fest. 165; Mart. VI.64.13; Val. Max. VII.3.1), and the Aventine itself was called collis Dianae (Mart. XII.18.3; VII.73.1). It was near the thermae Suranae (q.v.; Mart. VI.64.13) and therefore probably just west of the church of S. Prisca on the clivus Publicius (BC 1914, 346). Besides aedes, it is referred to as templum (Varro, LL V.43; Liv. I.45), fanum p150 (Liv. loc. cit.), νεώς (Dionys. IV.26), ἱερόν (Dionys. III.43; X.32; Plut. C. Gracch. 16), Ἀρτεμίσιον (App. B. C. I.26; Plut. q. Rom. 4),1 Dianium (Oros. V.12; CIL VI.33922: vestiarius de Dianio). The day of its dedication was 13th August ( Mart. XII.67.2; Hemeroll. Allif. Vall. Amit. Ant. Philoc. Rust. ad Id. Aug., CIL I2 pp217, 240, 244, 248, 270, 281; Fast. Ant. ap. NS 1921, 106), celebrated throughout Italy (Stat. Silv. III.1.59‑60), especially by slaves (Fest. 343: servorum dies festus vulgo existimatur Idus Aug. quod eo die Servius Tullius natus servus aedem Dianae dedicaverit in Aventino cuius tutelae sint cervi).

This temple was rebuilt by L. Cornificius during the reign of Augustus (Suet. Aug. 29). In this form it may be shown on coins (BM Rep. II.15.4355 = Aug. 643); and it is probably represented under the name aedes Dianae Cornificianae on a fragment (2) of the Marble Plan (BC 1891, 210‑216; CIL VI.4305: aedituus Dianae Cornif.), where it is drawn as octostyle and dipteral, surrounded by a double colonnade. It was standing in the fourth century (Not. Reg. XIII), but no trace of it has been found. According to Censorinus (loc. cit.) one of the oldest sun-dials in Rome was on this temple, and it contained a wooden statue resembling that of Diana at Ephesus (Strabo IV.1.5) brought to Rome from Marseilles, and another of marble (Plin. NH XXXVI.32: in magna admiratione est. . . . Hecate Ephesi in templo post aedem).

In the Augustan period it contained a bronze stele on which was engraved the compact between Rome and the Latin cities, probably a copy of the original (Dionys. IV.26), and another with the lex Icilia de Aventino publicando of 456 B.C. (Dionys. X.32). It must also have contained a lex arae Dianae, which served as a model for other communities (CIL III.1933; XI.361; XII.4333), and probably other ancient documents. The date of the founding of this temple, and its real significance, have been the subject of much discussion (HJ 157‑159; Gilb. II.236‑241; RE V.332‑333; DE I.177; II.1734‑1737; and esp. Merlin 203‑226, 282‑283, 303‑305 and literature there cited). Cf. also Beloch, Römische Geschichte, 192.

Diana, aedes: a temple vowed by M. Aemilius Lepidus in 187 B.C. (Liv. XXXIX.2) and dedicated by him in 179 (ib. XL.52, templum) in circo Flaminio on 23rd December (Fast. Ant. ap. NS 1921, 121). It probably stood just west of the circus (AR 1909, 76, pl. I; for an identification with one of the two temples of S. Nicola a' Cesarini, see BC 1918, 135‑136).

Diana, sacellum: a shrine of Diana on the Caeliolus, called by Cicero (de har. resp. 32) maximum et sanctissimum. It was destroyed by L. Calpurnius Piso when consul in 58 B.C. It was probably dedicated originally by some private person or family (cf. Cic. loc. cit.). Its exact site is not known (RE V.332; Gilb. II.25).

p151 Dianium: a shrine of Diana on the Esquiline at the crossing of the clivus Orbius and clivus Cuprius. It is mentioned only once (Liv. I.48), but had then already disappeared (Gilb. II.62). Cf. CIL VI.33922 (the funeral inscription of a vestiarius de Diano), which cannot refer to the same building, as it belongs to the imperial period; and ib. VI.10006: unguentaria ab D[ianio?] (Eranos, 1924, 151, 152).

Diana, shrine of (supposed), on Palatine, see JRS 1914, 219; BM. Imp. I p. cxxiii, and No. 643 (Cohen, Aug. 121).

The Authors' Note:

1 He refers to it (ib. 3) as ναὸς Ἀρτέμιδος.

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p149 Aedes Dianae

Articles on pp149‑151 of

Samuel Ball Platner (as completed and revised by Thomas Ashby): A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome, London: Oxford University Press, 1929.

The Authors' Note:

Samuel Ball Platner (as completed and revised by Thomas Ashby):
A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome,
London: Oxford University Press, 1929.