LIFE AS MYTH
JOURNAL
JOURNAL 2006
Scheherazade Project
Telling untold stories
AUTUMN 2006
Moths and moons and metamorphosis
Moths and moons and metamorphosis
LIFEWORKS
ATLAS
AUTUMN 2006
THE TWIN SIDE OF THE SUN
When the finger points at the moon, the fool looks at the finger.
Chinese proverb
Diana [meaning heavenly or divine] is the Roman goddess of the moon, the hunt, the wilderness, virginity, young girls, and childbirth. The Greek equivalent of Diana is Artemis who was one of the most highly regarded of the Greek deities.
The crescent moon headpiece on this statue dates the piece as post-Classical. Ancient statues sometimes feature crescent moons but these are always additions from later periods. The deer, the crescent moon and the bow and arrow are all symbols which accompany artistic depictions of her.
Diana is the twin and counterpoint to her brother Apollo, god of the sun. In the mythology of her birth, she is the first twin born and serves immediately afterward as her mother's midwife in the delivery of Apollo. This myth is the origin for her designation as the protecting goddess of childbirth.
Diana, late Hellenistic or early Imperial periods, 1st century BC-1st century AD, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New YOrk, NY. The Diana of Versailles, copy of lost bronze attributed to Leochares. ca. 325. Louvre.
