What was the name of the Roman goddess of the hunt?

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What was the name of the Roman goddess of the hunt? Diana was the Roman goddess of the hunt.

Diana was associated with wilderness, wild animals, hunting, and the countryside. Roman worshippers also connected her with childbirth, crossroads, the night, and the Moon. Her Greek counterpart was Artemis, and over time Diana absorbed much of Artemis’s mythology and imagery.

She was often portrayed as a young huntress carrying a bow and quiver, accompanied by hunting dogs or a deer. In the Roman literary tradition, the story of Actaeon tells how the hunter stumbled upon Diana bathing; she transformed him into a stag, and his own hounds killed him.

Diana had an important sanctuary at Lake Nemi and a major temple on Rome’s Aventine Hill. Her festival, the Nemoralia, was celebrated in August. A common mistake is treating Diana as only a moon goddess: that association became prominent later, while hunting and the wilderness were central to her older identity.

Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Sept. 2026

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