Allow me to regale you with a tale: Three years ago, now, I was on a tour of one of the many ruined Roman temples in Italy. This particular temple was situated in the sanctuary of Diana Nemorensis, just off the northern shore of Lake Nemi. It rests within the Alban Hills outside Rome, one of the oldest regions of Latin settlements – the region finds representation in the Aeneid, and Aeneas is said to have married a Latin woman named Lavinia, after whom Lavinium was named. Just to put the age of this place into some context. The site is for Diana of Nemi, and had a temple situated within a still-functioning olive grove and associated farm. At the time of my visit,…
Anglo-Saxon Heathenry and Roman Polytheism
Posts from the “A Breadth of Time” Category
I get nostalgic sometimes, especially when I think about the extent of human history. It is the constant threat of being a historian. Of course, that is but a bare blink of the eye of time for this world, galaxy, and universe. As far as species go, we’re young. We have cousins with longer lineages than us, even though they are all long since passed. But I wonder. Sometimes, I wonder. When the first humans looked up at the stars, could they imagine? Could they imagine the world that was in store for them? When the ices receded, and the world thawed, and tribes and factions splintered and wandered their own ways. Could they know? In that expanse of their intellect, in the depths…
