Last Sunday my pastor was preaching on Acts and when talking about the passage “great is Diana of the Ephesians” he mentioned that Diana was the goddess of love and beauty. I corrected him at a later time, but when I saw this article I had to laugh. Who says the Lord does not have a sense of humor? I’ve emailed a link to the article to my pastor, that should settle our little “argument”. LOL
Diana, goddess of the hunt, was the provider goddess. Much as Pan was a god to a nation of goatherds.
Your pastor may have been thinking of Venus/Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty. Diana/Artemis was a bit more “butch”, shall we say?
Your pastor is not wrong. Diana is usually associated with the Greek Artemis, a virgin Goddess who is identified with the hunt, the moon and protector of women.
Diana of the Ephesians is often identified as a fertility Goddess. The famous statue of her shows her as having a huge number of breasts although some think they were dates of even bulls testicles.
Diana has some overlap with Cybele — and that one was definitely *not* a love goddess. ;’)