ProQuest Dissertations - Historia Antigua

the floor of the Grand Temple.This dedication indicates that the magistrates were notonly nodding to their patron's connection with Diana, but also performing a publicbenefaction for their own prestige in their new community. Second, the placement of thetemple within the city, but near the northern gate that faces the Ligurian hills, suggeststhat the cult of Diana adopted two roles: first as the patron goddess of the city and hercitizens. As such, Diana's customary place was within the walls on the highest possiblelocation. Furthermore, because a significant part of the population was now Roman andon the northern edges of Roman territory facing a bitter Ligurian enemy, Diana's secondrole was as protectress of the civilized world from the barbarian Ligurians. Theplacement of the temple so near the gate, which faces the northern hills emphasizes thismessage. On a regional scale, this temple was on the borders of the territory, it was stillmediating between Rome and her allies, such as Pisa, and the barbarian other.Strazzulla and Rossignani posit that the multi-cultural iconography of the templeacts as a dialogue between the Roman colonists and the not yet fully integrated locals, towhom the message is both conciliatory and an expressed wish of substitution of Romansfor locals, rather than coexistence.I suggest that the message is more complicated thanthat. The presence of the potnia theron antefixes discussed earlier ties this temple also tothe Latin conception of Diana as a goddess who offers a safe place of meeting to hostile47 CIL I 2 3368: L. Folcinifujs L.f. C. Fabius [f.J duovirum/pav[im]en[tumfaci]un[d]um dederun(t)eisfdemque probaverunt]. This dedicatory inscription was found inlaid with white tiles in the black sherdpavement of the pronaos of the Grand Temple of Luna. The letters are 8-9 cm high, and the overall lengthof the inscription is 5.4 m. The dedication seems to pertain to the first phase of the temple, during the firstdecades of the second century BCE. Cf. Calabi Limentani (1973-4), cc. 828 f., n. 67, table 229; Coarelli(1985-87), pp. 31 f.; Strazzulla (1992), p. 163, n. 10; Fontana (1997), pp. 260-261.48 Rossignani (1995), p. 65.207