THE CULTS OF ARICIA.

By Arthur E. Gordon '23. University of California Press, 1934. 20 pp.

Professor Gordon is one of a group of American scholars, drawing original inspiration from residence at the American Academy in Rome, which has recently been engaged in rewriting the history of central Italian cults of the Roman period: Peterson confining himself to Campania, Taylor to Etruria and Gordon to Latium. Professor Gordon's report of his investiga tions in a portion of his field is now published in The Cults of Aricia. Aricia, a small town to the south of Rome, is noted in a cultural-historical way for the temple of Diana there and for the strange priesthood of the rex nemorensis, "the priest who slew the slayer and shall himself be slain" made famous in the Lays of Macaulay and in the brilliant distortions of the now outmoded speculations of FrazeSr's Golden Bough. The discussion of Diana and of this priesthood fills the major part of the essay. Here the views expressed are in line with a sound reaction, now happily manifest in many studies of Roman religion, against wide generalizations based upon random analogies drawn from all parts of the world. To cite an examplewith a cogency as fully informed as it is sane Professor Gordon argues in favor of the Italian origin of the Diana cult against the theory of Altheim, who has thrown the resources of his great learning in support of a Graeco-Etruscan origin. His other summaries and conclusions, both with respect to this cult and to all the cults of Aricia, are equally rational and persuasive. The scholarly world will anticipate with interest further contributions from Professor Gordon on the remaining rites and sanctuaries of Latium.