The ''rex Nemorensis'' (

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

, "king of Nemi" or "king of the Grove") was a

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

of the goddess Diana at Aricia in

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 re ...

, by the shores of

Lake Nemi Lake Nemi ( it, Lago di Nemi, la, Nemorensis Lacus, also called Diana's Mirror, la, Speculum Dianae) is a small circular volcanic lake in the Lazio region of Italy south of Rome, taking its name from Nemi, the largest town in the area, that ...

, where she was known as

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 ...

. The priesthood played a major role in the

mythography Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrat ...

James George 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 ...

in ''

The Golden Bough ''The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion'' (retitled ''The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion'' in its second edition) is a wide-ranging, comparative study of mythology and religion, written by the Scottish anthropologist Sir ...

''; his interpretation has exerted a lasting influence.

Ancient sources

The tale of the ''rex Nemorensis'' appears in a number of ancient sources.

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 ...

gives a poetic account of the priesthood of Nemi

Publius Ovidius Naso 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 ...

'', Book 3, 271 (on the

month of March March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is the second of seven months to have a length of 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of March ...

) noting that the lake of Nemi was "sacred to antique religion", and that the priest who dwelt there "holds his reign by strong hands and fleet feet, and dies according to the example he set himself." The Latin name of the priesthood is given by

Suetonius Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (), commonly referred to as Suetonius ( ; c. AD 69 – after AD 122), was a Roman historian who wrote during the early Imperial era of the Roman Empire. His most important surviving work is a set of biographies ...

: "He /nowiki>Caligula.html" ;"title="Caligula.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Caligula">/nowiki>Caligula">Caligula.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Caligula">/nowiki>Caligula/nowiki> caused the ''rex Nemorensis'', who had held his priesthood for many years, to be supplanted by a stronger adversary." That same passage indicates that by the time of the early Principate, the custom of succession in the office by combat had become subject to outside control. The Greek geographer Strabo also mentions the institution: "and in fact a barbaric, and

Scythia Scythia (Scythian: ; Old Persian: ; Ancient Greek: ; Latin: ) or Scythica (Ancient Greek: ; Latin: ), also known as Pontic Scythia, was a kingdom created by the Scythians during the 6th to 3rd centuries BC in the Pontic–Caspian steppe. His ...

n, element predominates in the sacred usages, for the people set up as priest merely a run-away slave who has slain with his own hand the man previously consecrated to that office; accordingly the priest is always armed with a sword, looking around for the attacks, and ready to defend himself." Diana Nemorensis denarius2

Pausanias Pausanias ( el, Παυσανίας) may refer to: *Pausanias of Athens, lover of the poet Agathon and a character in Plato's ''Symposium'' *Pausanias the Regent, Spartan general and regent of the 5th century BC *Pausanias of Sicily, physician of th ...

gives an

etiological Etiology (pronounced ; alternatively: aetiology or ætiology) is the study of causation or origination. The word is derived from the Greek (''aitiología'') "giving a reason for" (, ''aitía'', "cause"); and ('' -logía''). More completely, e ...

myth on the founding of the shrine: In

Roman mythology Roman mythology is the body of myths of ancient Rome as represented in the literature and visual arts of the Romans. One of a wide variety of genres of Roman folklore, ''Roman mythology'' may also refer to the modern study of these representat ...

, Hippolytus was deified as the god

Virbius upright=1.3, ''The Death of Hippolytus'', by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836–1912) In Greek mythology, Hippolytus ( el, Ἱππόλυτος'', Hippolytos'' 'unleasher of horses'; ) is the son of Theseus and either Hippolyta or Antiope. His d ...

;

Artemis In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Artemis (; grc-gre, Ἄρτεμις) is the goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, nature, vegetation, childbirth, care of children, and chastity. She was heavily identified wit ...

was the Greek name of the goddess identified with the Roman Diana. A possible allusion to the origins of the priesthood at Nemi is contained in

Vergil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: th ...

's ''

Aeneid The ''Aeneid'' ( ; la, Aenē̆is or ) is a Latin Epic poetry, epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Troy, Trojan who fled the Trojan_War#Sack_of_Troy, fall of Troy and travelled to ...

'', as Virgil places Hippolytus at the grove of Aricia. An alternative story has the worship of Diana at Nemi instituted by

Orestes In Greek mythology, Orestes or Orestis (; grc-gre, Ὀρέστης ) was the son of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon, and the brother of Electra. He is the subject of several Ancient Greek plays and of various myths connected with his madness and ...

; the flight of the slave represents the flight of Orestes into exile.

Ritual murder

Surviving lore concerning the ''rex Nemorensis'' indicates that this priest or king held a very uneasy position. Macaulay's quatrain on the institution of the ''rex Nemorensis'' states: : Those trees in whose dim shadow
The ghastly priest doth reign
The priest who slew the slayer,
And shall himself be slain. This is, in a nutshell, the surviving legend of the ''rex Nemorensis'': the priesthood of Diana at Nemi was held by a person who obtained that honour by slaying the prior incumbent in a

trial by combat Trial by combat (also wager of battle, trial by battle or judicial duel) was a method of Germanic law to settle accusations in the absence of witnesses or a confession in which two parties in dispute fought in single combat; the winner of the ...

, and who could remain at the post only so long as he successfully defended his position against all challengers. However, a successful candidate had first to test his mettle by plucking a golden bough from one of the trees in the

sacred grove Sacred groves or sacred woods are groves of trees and have special religious importance within a particular culture. Sacred groves feature in various cultures throughout the world. They were important features of the mythological landscape and ...

. The

human sacrifice Human sacrifice is the act of killing one or more humans as part of a ritual, which is usually intended to please or appease gods, a human ruler, an authoritative/priestly figure or spirits of dead ancestors or as a retainer sacrifice, wherein ...

conducted at Nemi was thought to be highly unusual by the ancients. Suetonius mentions it as an example of the moral failings of

Caligula Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (31 August 12 – 24 January 41), better known by his nickname Caligula (), was the third Roman emperor, ruling from 37 until his assassination in 41. He was the son of the popular Roman general Germanicu ...

. Strabo calls it ''

n'', implying that he found it

barbaric A barbarian (or savage) is someone who is perceived to be either uncivilized or primitive. The designation is usually applied as a generalization based on a popular stereotype; barbarians can be members of any nation judged by some to be less c ...

. The violent character of this singular institution could barely be justified by reference to its great antiquity and mythological sanctity. The ancient sources also appear to concur that an escaped slave who seeks refuge in this uneasy office is likely to be a desperate man.Fontenrose J, ''The Ritual Theory of Myth'', University of California Press, 1971, p. 38.

''The Golden Bough''

, in his seminal work ''

'', argued that the tale of the priesthood of Nemi was an instance of a worldwide myth of a

sacred king In many historical societies, the position of kingship carries a sacral meaning; that is, it is identical with that of a high priest The term "high priest" usually refers either to an individual who holds the office of ruler-priest, or to one ...

who must periodically die as part of a regular

fertility rite Fertility rites or fertility cult are religious rituals that are intended to stimulate reproduction in humans or in the natural world. Such rites may involve the sacrifice of "a primal animal, which must be sacrificed in the cause of fertility or ...

. In 1990, a radio programme entitled "The Priest of Nemi" was produced by Michael Bakewell and broadcast on BBC Radio 3. This programme was based on the 1990 book ''The Making of the Golden Bough'' by Robert Fraser, which was written to mark the centenary of the first edition of Frazer's book.

External references

The novel ''Nemorensis'', by Simon Spurrier (set in the universe of the Elite: Dangerous

MMORPG A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a video game that combines aspects of a role-playing video game and a massively multiplayer online game. As in role-playing games (RPGs), the player assumes the role of a Player charac ...

), is based on the legend.

Notes

Bibliography

* Fraser, Robert. ''The Making of the Golden Bough: The Origins and Growth of An Argument'' Macmillan, 1990. * Frazer, Sir James G. ''The Golden Bough'' Macmillan, 1950, abridged edition. * Hornblower, Simon, et al. (eds.) ''The Oxford Classical Dictionary'' (3d edition. 2003)

External links

Blog of exhibition of Nemi material at Nottingham museum 2013Nemi at Nottingham project
by Julia Dyson
''Lays of Ancient Rome by Baron Thomas Babington Macaulay Macaulay''
from Project Gutenberg {{Roman religion Sacred groves Ancient Roman religious titles Diana (mythology) Ancient Roman priests Lake Nemi