ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that at the religious landscape plays a relevant role in attempts to distinguish between ‘primary’ and ‘secondary’ cult places: it comes out as a precious repository of data and features that belong to a ‘longue duree’ dimension. Looking at the map of all the testimonies of Diana Feronia’s cult, it is evident that traces of her worship are ‘peppered’ throughout ancient Italy, but they also show a clear and significant density in Central Italy. The argument of Roman imperialism as responsible for the diffusion of Feronia’s cult in Italy presupposes of course the advent of Feronia in the Roman pantheon. The deep-rooted presence of Feronia in Terracina is well documented thanks to several literary sources: the best known is of course Vergil’s Aeneid. The Vergilian verses already quoted suggest that in Terracina Feronia is linked to a young male god, eponymous of the city: Jupiter Anxur.
