The ''rex Nemorensis'' (

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

, "king of Nemi") 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 deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

of the goddess Diana at Aricia in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, by the shores of

Lake Nemi Lake Nemi (, , also called Diana's Mirror, ) is a small circular volcanic lake in the Alban Hills south of Rome in the Lazio region of Italy. It takes its name from Nemi, the largest town in the area, which overlooks it from a height. It was ...

, where she was known as Diana Nemorensis. The priest was king of the

sacred grove Sacred groves, sacred woods, or sacred forests are groves of trees that have special religious importance within a particular culture. Sacred groves feature in various cultures throughout the world. These are forest areas that are, for the most ...

by the lake. No one was to break off any branch of a certain sacred oak, except that if a runaway slave did so, he could engage the Rex Nemorensis in mortal combat. If the slave prevailed, he became the next king for as long as he could, in turn, defeat challengers. The priesthood played a major role in the

mythography Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...

James George Frazer Sir James George Frazer (; 1 January 1854 – 7 May 1941) was a Scottish social anthropologist and folkloristJosephson-Storm (2017), Chapter 5. influential in the early stages of the modern studies of mythology and comparative religion. ...

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 Publius Ovidius Naso (; 20 March 43 BC – AD 17/18), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a younger contemporary of Virgil and Horace, with whom he i ...

gives a poetic account of the priesthood of Nemi Publius Ovidius Naso, ''

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 simi ...

'', Book 3, 271 (on the month of March) noting that the lake of Nemi was "sacred to antique religion"; its priest "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 ( ; – after AD 122), was a Roman historian who wrote during the early Imperial era of the Roman Empire. His most important surviving work is ''De vita Caesarum'', common ...

: "He /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 (, ) or Scythica (, ) was a geographic region defined in the ancient Graeco-Roman world that encompassed the Pontic steppe. It was inhabited by Scythians, an ancient Eastern Iranian equestrian nomadic people. Etymology The names ...

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 gives an

etiological Etiology (; alternatively spelled aetiology or ætiology) is the study of causation or origination. The word is derived from the Greek word ''()'', meaning "giving a reason for" (). More completely, etiology is the study of the causes, origin ...

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, and is a form of Roman folklore. "Roman mythology" may also refer to the modern study of these representations, and to th ...

, Hippolytus was deified as the god Virbius;

Artemis In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Artemis (; ) is the goddess of the hunting, hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, transitions, nature, vegetation, childbirth, Kourotrophos, care of children, and chastity. In later tim ...

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 (; 15 October 70 BC21 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: the ''Eclogues'' ...

's ''

Aeneid The ''Aeneid'' ( ; or ) is a Latin Epic poetry, epic poem that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Troy, Trojan who fled the Trojan War#Sack of Troy, fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Ancient Rome ...

'', 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 (; ) was the son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, and the brother of Electra and Iphigenia. He was also known by the patronymic Agamemnonides (), meaning "son of Agamemnon." He is the subject of several ...

; 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, 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

. 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 deity, gods, a human ruler, public or jurisdictional demands for justice by capital punishment, an authoritative/prie ...

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 Caesar Augustus Germanicus (31 August 12 – 24 January 41), also called Gaius and Caligula (), was Roman emperor from AD 37 until his assassination in 41. He was the son of the Roman general Germanicus and Augustus' granddaughter Ag ...

. Strabo calls it ''

n'', implying that he found it

barbaric A barbarian is a person or tribe of people that is perceived to be primitive, Savage (pejorative term), savage and warlike. Many cultures have referred to other cultures as barbarians, sometimes out of misunderstanding and sometimes out of prej ...

. 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 carried a sacral meaning and was identical with that of a high priest and judge. Divine kingship is related to the concept of theocracy, although a sacred king need not necessarily rul ...

who must periodically die as part of a regular fertility rite. 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