Diana

 

Diana is the Roman incarnation of the Greek Artemis – goddess of the moon and the hunt. From Homer, Hesiod, and the Homeric Hymn to Apollo, we learn that Artemis is the twin of Apollo born to Latona and Jupiter. Known as Deiana, Diana’s name derives from the notion that she can turn darkness to daylight (dies). In The Nature of the Gods (De natura deorum, 45 bce), Cicero recounts that Diana and the moon (luna) are regarded as one and the same. While Diana and dies (day) are connected etymologically, luna (moon) is cognate with lux (light) and lucere (shine), hence Diana Lucifera. She is associated with secret activities taking place during the night even in ancient times. Along with Selene and Hecate, Diana’s trio of lunar goddesses is often associated with dark magic and witchcraft.

Diana also appears in the New Testament of the Bible. Acts 19.24 instructs: “the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised, and her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshippeth” (KJV). As Christianity spread across Europe, ecclesiastic authorities interpreted Diana as a demon. There may be a link between Diana Lucifera, Lucifer as another name for Venus (the bright star), and Lucifer (morning star) the angel who fell from heaven, i.e. Satan. Early in the medieval era, ecclesiastic authorities translated the Germanic Berta or Holda (the common name of a female leader of ghosts who haunted by night) as Diana when writing in Latin.

Bibliography

Cicero, Marcus Tullius. Cicero: The Nature of the Gods. Edited by P. G. Walsh. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016.

Durrant, Jonathan B., and Michael David Bailey. Historical Dictionary of Witchcraft. 2nd ed. Lanham MD: Scarecrow Press, 2012.

Ogden, Daniel. Magic, Witchcraft, and Ghosts in the Greek and Roman Worlds : A Sourcebook. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.