The priest was king of the sacred grove 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.[1][2][3]
The tale of the rex Nemorensis appears in a number of ancient sources. Ovid gives a poetic account of the priesthood of Nemi[4] 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."[5]
The Latin name of the priesthood is given by Suetonius: "He [Caligula] caused the rex Nemorensis, who had held his priesthood for many years, to be supplanted by a stronger adversary."[6][7] 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 Scythian, 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."[8]
Denarius depicting Diana Nemorensis, who was conceived as a triple goddess (diva triformis)[9]
The Aricians tell a tale ... that when Hippolytus (the son of Theseus) was killed, owing to the curses of Theseus, Asclepius raised him from the dead. On coming to life again he refused to forgive his father; rejecting his prayers, he went to the Aricians in Italy. There he became king and devoted a precinct to Artemis, where down to my time the prize for the victor in single combat was the priesthood of the goddess. The contest was open to no freeman, but only to slaves who had run away from their masters."[10]
An alternative story has the worship of Diana at Nemi instituted by Orestes; the flight of the slave represents the flight of Orestes into exile.[12]
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 sacred grove.
The human sacrifice conducted at Nemi was thought to be highly unusual by the ancients. Suetonius mentions it as an example of the moral failings of Caligula. Strabo calls it Scythian, implying that he found it barbaric. 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.[13]
The Golden Bough
Diana in hunting boots, from a 2nd-century Roman mosaic
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: DangerousMMORPG), is based on the legend.
