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V.—Notes on recent excavations on the supposed site of the Artemisium, near the Lake of Nemi, made by Sir John Savile Lumley, G.C.B.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2012

R.P. Pullan
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Extract

The following brief observations have reference to a remarkable discovery that has very recently been made by Sir John Savile Lumley, Her Britannic Majesty's Ambassador at Rome, near the lake of Nemi. The excavations which he has carried on at that spot simultaneously with those at Cività, La Vigna,—about which you have lately had a paper submitted to you,—have apparently resulted in the identification of the site of the Artemisium—the shrine of Diana Aricina.

Type
Research Article
Information
Archaeologia , Volume 50 , Issue 1 , 1887 , pp. 58 - 65
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1887

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References

page 58 note a Archaeologia, vol. XLIX. pp. 367–381.Google Scholar

page 58 note b Nibby, , Dintorni di Roma, vol. i. pp. 254, 255Google Scholar; vol. ii. pp. 395, 397.

page 58 note c Topography of Rome and its vicinity, by Sir W. Gell, F.S.A. Edited by Bunbury, 1846.

page 59 note a Strabo, bk. v. c. iii. § 12.

page 59 note b The term Artemisium would seem to be more properly applied to the Temple than to the Grove. The Temple of Apollo Smintheus was called the Sminthium, that of Apollo Grynæus Grynium.

page 60 note a Nibby, vol. ii. p. 396.

page 60 note b Suet., Cœs. 46.

page 60 note c There is a large piece of timber from this structure preserved in the British Museum.

page 60 note d Paus. ii. 27, § 4.

page 60 note e Some antiquaries suppose that there were two temples dedicated to Diana, one at Aricia, the other at Nemi, although it is not likely that there would be two celebrated shrines of the same goddess within two or three miles of one another; besides, Salmasius says, “Latini Aricina Dianæ templum proprie vocabant Nemus … Ex his locis constat Nemus proprie vocatum fuisse templum illud Dianas Aricinee quod in nemoribus positum esset.” Sir W. Gell goes so far as to apply the description given by Vitruvius of the temple, of- Nemi to.the small temple of which, there are some slight remains at Aricia. “Nemori Dianæ. Columnis adjectis dextra ac sinistra ad humeros pronai,” and gives a ground plan of his idea of what the restoration of it should be. (See Topography of Rome and its vicinity, by Sir W. Gell, revised by E. H. Bunbury, 1846.

page 65 note a Since this paper was read, further proof of the truth of Sir Savile Lumley's surmise, that this was the site of the Artemisium, has been afforded by the discovery of a bronze implement of sacrifice, with the word Diana inscribed upon it, and also of seventeen bronze statuettes of female figures, with buskins, bows, and quivers, the apparel of the huntress Diana. Eight hundred coins of Republican times have also been dug up, which help to confirm my conjecture as to the early date of the temple.