Outside the old Roman town of Segóbriga, across the creek and where the woods start, is a mysterious shrine. On a rock wall, in a place that´s hard to reach (basically you have to skin your hand and ruin a pair of pants), there is a relief, now almost worn away, of DIANA (the goddess of Nature and Fertility) and her hunting dogs. Under it are Latin inscriptions (all by women), thanking Her for granting the favor they had asked (conceiving a child?) or for curing them.
(Click twice on thumbnail to enlarge)
[This is an old etching of the votive iinscriptions. Today they are nearly illegible.]
And just a few feet below is an old well which surely “goes with” the shrine. Those women must have considered its water curative or blessed.
The place was a SACRED WOOD.
See A Lost Roman City to learn more Segóbriga.
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