Aricini, the ancient inhabitants of Aricia, the form of the name ranking them with the

Sidicini The Sidicini (Ancient Greek Σιδικῖνοι) were one of the Italic peoples of ancient Italy. Their territory extended northward from their capital, Teanum Sidicinum (modern day Teano), along the valley of the Liri river up to Fregellae, cove ...

Marrucini The Marrucini were an Italic tribe that occupied a small strip of territory around the ancient ''Teate'' (modern Chieti), on the east coast of Abruzzo, Italy, limited by the Aterno and Foro Rivers. Other Marrucinian centers included ''Ceio'' (Sa ...

, etc., as one of the communities belonging probably to the earlier or

Volsci The Volsci (, , ) were an Italic tribe, well known in the history of the first century of the Roman Republic. At the time they inhabited the partly hilly, partly marshy district of the south of Latium, bounded by the Aurunci and Samnites on the ...

an stratum of population on the west side of

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, who were absorbed by the

Sabine The Sabines (; lat, Sabini; it, Sabini, all exonyms) were an Italic people who lived in the central Apennine Mountains of the ancient Italian Peninsula, also inhabiting Latium north of the Anio before the founding of Rome. The Sabines di ...

or Latin immigrants. Footnote: On the anthropological aspect of the cult, see also A. B. Cook, ''Class. Rev.'' vi., 1902, p. 365, where the whole evidence is very fully collected; and Frazer's ''Studies in the Early History of Kingship'', where he accepts Cook's criticism of his own earlier theory. Special interest attaches to this trace of their earlier origin, because of the famous cult of

Diana Nemorensis Diana Nemorensis ("Diana of Nemi"), also known as " Diana of the Wood", was an Italic form of the goddess who became Hellenised during the fourth century BC and conflated with Artemis. Her sanctuary was to be found on the northern shore of Lake ...

, whose temple in the forest close by Aricia, beside the '' lacus Nemorensis'', was served by "the priest who slew the slayer, and shall himself be slain"; that is to say, the priest, who was called ''rex Nemorensis'', held office only so long as he could defend himself from any stronger rival. This cult, which is unique in Italy, is picturesquely described in the opening chapter of

J. G. Frazer Sir James George Frazer (; 1 January 1854 – 7 May 1941) was a Scottish social anthropologist and folklorist influential in the early stages of the modern studies of mythology and comparative religion. Personal life He was born on 1 Janua ...

's '' The Golden Bough'', where full references will be found. Of these references the most important are, perhaps, Strabo v.3.12;

Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...

, ''

Fasti In ancient Rome, the ''fasti'' (Latin plural) were chronological or calendar-based lists, or other diachronic records or plans of official and religiously sanctioned events. After Rome's decline, the word ''fasti'' continued to be used for simil ...

'', 263-272; and Suetonius, ''Caligula'' 35, whose wording indicates that the old-world custom was dying out in the 1st century AD. It is a reasonable conjecture that this extraordinary relic of barbarism was characteristic of the earlier stratum of the population who presumably called themselves Arici.

References

{{EB1911 article with no significant updates Ancient Roman religion