Diana (mythology)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"When Actaeon saw Diana bathing naked, Diana transformed him into a stag and set his own hunting dogs to kill him."--Diana and Actaeon as told by Sholem Stein "The freedom of the deep forests once intoxicated me; the odours of the wild beasts and the exhalations of the marshes made me as one drank with joy. But the women whose maternity I protected, now bring dead children into the world. The moon trembles with the incantations of witches. Desires of violence, of immensity, seize me, fill me! I wish to drink poisons,--to lose myself in vapours, in dreams...!"--Diana in --The Temptation of Saint Anthony (1874) by Gustave Flaubert |
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In Roman mythology, Diana was the goddess of the hunt, being associated with wild animals and woodland, and also of the moon. In literature she was the equivalent of the Greek goddess Artemis, though in cult beliefs she was Italic, not Greek, in origin. Diana was worshipped in ancient Roman religion and is currently revered in the religions of Religio Romana Neopaganism and Stregheria.
Along with her main attributes, Diana was an emblem of chastity. Oak groves were especially sacred to her. According to mythology, Diana was born with her twin brother Apollo on the island of Delos, daughter of Jupiter and Latona. Diana made up a trinity with two other Roman deities: Egeria the water nymph, her servant and assistant midwife; and Virbius, the woodland god.
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Legacy
In religion
Diana's cult has been related in Early Modern Europe to the cult of Nicevenn (aka Dame Habond, Perchta, Herodiana, etc.). She was related to myths of a female Wild Hunt, close to the Benandantis' struggles against evil witches.
- Wicca
Today there is a branch of Wicca named for her, which is characterized by an exclusive focus on the feminine aspect of the Divine. In some Wiccan texts Lucifer is a name used interchangeably (in the story lines) for Diana's brother/husband Apollo. (See To Ride A Silver Broomstick and/or http://www.sacred-texts.com/pag/aradia/ara05.htm)
- Stregheria
In Italy the old religion of Stregheria embraced goddess Diana as Queen of the Witches; witches being the wise women healers of the time. Goddess Diana created the world of her own being having in herself the seeds of all creation yet to come. It is said that out of herself she divided into the darkness and the light, keeping for herself the darkness of creation and creating her brother Apollo, the light. Goddess Diana loved and ruled with her brother Apollo, the god of the Sun. (Charles G. Leland, Aradia: The Gospel of Witches)
Since the Renaissance the mythic Diana has often been expressed in the visual and dramatic arts, including the opera L'arbore di Diana. In the sixteenth century, Diana's image figured prominently at the Château de Fontainebleau, in deference to Diane de Poitiers, mistress of two French kings. At Versailles she was incorporated into the Olympian iconography with which Louis XIV, the Apollo-like "Sun King" liked to surround himself.
There are also references to her in common literature. In Shakespeare's play, Romeo and Juliet, many references are made to Diana. Rosaline, a beautiful woman who has sworn to chastity, is said to have "Dian's wit". Later on in the play, Romeo says, "It is the East, and Juliet is the sun. Arise fair sun, and kill the envious moon." He is saying that Juliet is better than Diana and Rosaline for not swearing chastity. Diana is also a character in the 1876 Leo Delibe ballet 'Sylvia'. The plot deals with Sylvia, one of Diana's nymphs and sworn to chastity and Diana's assault on Sylvia's affections for the shepherd Amyntas.
In Jean Cocteau's 1946 film La Belle et la Bête it is Diana's power which has transformed and imprisoned the beast.
In painting and sculpture
Diana has been one of the most popular themes in art. Painters like Titian, Peter Paul Rubens, François Boucher, Nicholas Poussin made use of her myth as a major theme. Most depictions of Diana in art featured the stories of Diana and Actaeon, or Callisto, or depicted her resting after hunting. Some famous work of arts with a Diana theme are :
- Diana and Actaeon, Diana and Callisto, and Death of Actaeon by Titian.
- Diana and Callisto, Diana Resting After Bath, and Diana Getting Out of Bath by François Boucher.
- Diana Bathing With Her Nymphs by Rembrandt.
- Diana and Endymion by Poussin.
- Diana and Callisto, Diana and Her Nymph Departing From Hunt, Diana and Her Nymphs Surprised By A Faun by Rubens.
- Diana and Endymion by Johann Micheal Rottmayr.
- The famous fountain at Palace of Caserta, Italy, created by Paolo Persico, Brunelli, Pietro Solari, depicting Diana being surprised by Acteon.
- A sculpture by Christophe-Gabriel Allegrain can be seen at the Musée du Louvre.
- "Diana of the Tower" a copper statue by Augustus Saint-Gaudens was created as the weather vane for the second Madison Square Garden in 1893. It now is on display at the Philadelphia Museum of Art
In Parma at the convent of San Paolo, Antonio Allegri da Correggio painted the chamber of the Abbess Giovanna Piacenza's apartment. He was commissioned in 1519 to paint the ceiling and mantel of the fireplace. On the mantel he painted an image of Diana riding in a chariot possibly pulled by a stag.
In literature
In comic book lore, the character of Wonder Woman who hails from the paradise island of Themyscira which is rich in Greek mythology is written to be a descendant of the Gods, and named after the moon goddess, Diana.
Diana, like many aspects of mythology, is depicted in the comic books Asterix. In the Roman temples, many times a statue of Diana can be seen in the background, depicted as a well rounded lady, usually sitting on a stag, who appears to be suffering.
She is also used by Shakespeare in the famous play As You Like It to describe how Rosaline feels about marriage.
There is also a reference to Dian in Shakespeare's play Much Ado About Nothing where Hero is said to seem like 'Dian in her orb', in terms of her chastity.
In The Merchant of Venice Portia states "I will die as chaste as Diana, unless I be obtained by the manner of my father's will". (I.ii)
In language
Both the Romanian word for "fairy", zânǎ and the Leonese word for "water nymph", xana, seem to come from the name of Diana.
In Beaux Arts
Beaux Arts architecture and garden design (late 19th and early 20th centuries) used classic references in a modernized form. Two of the most popular of the period were of Pomona (goddess of orchards) as a metaphor for Agriculture, and Diana, representing Commerce, which is a perpetual hunt for advantage and profits.
In Parma at the convent of San Paolo, Antonio Allegri da Correggio painted the camera of the Abbess Giovanna Piacenza's apartment. He was commissioned in 1519 to paint the ceiling and mantel of the fireplace. On the mantel he painted an image of Diana riding in a chariot pulled possibly by a stag.
Other
In the funeral oration of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997, her brother drew an ironic analogy between the ancient goddess of hunting and his sister - 'the most hunted person of the modern age'.
See also
