Diana of Versailles Diana of Versailles The Diana of Versailles is a slightly over lifesize marble statue of the Roman goddess Diana (Greek: Artemis), with a deer, located in the Musée du Louvre, Paris. It is a Roman copy (1st or 2nd century AD) of a lost Greek bronze original attributed to Leochares, c. 325 BC. The statue is also known as "Diana à la Biche", "Diane Chasseresse" ("Diana Huntress"), "Artemis of the Chase", and "Artemis with the Hind". The statue was discovered in Italy: the Louvre website suggests Nemi, where there was an ancient sanctuary; other sources posit Hadrian's Villa at Tivoli;
Iana (goddess) to "Dianium", referring to either a shrine or the Temple of Diana on the Aventine Hill. Diana is one of the Roman goddesses most often identified with the moon, but Usener thought Iana might be better identified with Juno Lucina. The Church Father Tertullian, however, calls Iana a "diva arquis", "goddess of arches" (Latin "arcus" or "arquus", "arch; rainbow"). The arch as a passageway or portal suggests Iana as the female counterpart of Janus, whose role as a "doorkeeper" includes functions pertaining to time and the heavens. Varro's contemporary Nigidius Figulus identified Janus with Apollo and Iana with Diana. W.H.