Diana Is in the Bible — the Goddess of Ephesus in Acts 19

Diana is in the Bible, but not as the name of a woman. It is the name the King James Version gives to the goddess of Ephesus in Acts 19, where the Greek text has Artemis. The Reina-Valera, Almeida, Louis Segond and Nuova Riveduta Bibles also call her Diana (Diane in French). No woman in Scripture bears the name.

What does Diana mean?

Diana probably means “divine” or “goddess-like,” from the Latin dia or diva, “goddess,” and it shares an ancient root with the name Zeus. Diana was the Roman goddess of the moon, hunting, forests and childbirth, and the Romans identified her with the Greek goddess Artemis. That identification is why translators could put either name in Acts 19.

As a given name, Diana became more common in English after Walter Scott’s novel Rob Roy (1817). Its best-known modern bearer was Diana, Princess of Wales (1961–1997).

Where is Diana in the Bible?

Acts 19 tells of a riot in Ephesus. Paul had been teaching in the city for two years, and so many people had turned from the old worship that the craftsmen feared for their trade. A silversmith named Demetrius, who made silver shrines of the goddess, called the craftsmen together and told them: “You know, my friends, that we receive a good income from this business.” Paul, he said, was teaching “that gods made by human hands are no gods at all,” and the danger was “not only that our trade will lose its good name, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be discredited” (Acts 19:25-27). In the King James Version the goddess in these verses is Diana.

The craftsmen began to shout, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” or, in the King James, “Great is Diana of the Ephesians” (Acts 19:28). The whole city was in an uproar, and a crowd rushed into the theater, dragging two of Paul’s traveling companions with it. Luke notes that “most of the people did not even know why they were there” (Acts 19:32). For about two hours they chanted the goddess’s name.

The city clerk ended it. He reminded the crowd that Ephesus was “the guardian of the temple of the great Artemis,” told them that if Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen had a grievance, “the courts are open,” and warned that the city was “in danger of being charged with rioting.” Then he dismissed the assembly (Acts 19:35-41).

The temple of Artemis at Ephesus

The temple Demetrius feared for was one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world, and trades like his depended on it. The theater in which the crowd gathered still stands in the ruins of Ephesus, in what is now western Turkey.

Diana as a Christian name

The pagan origin of the name has not kept Christians from using it. Blessed Diana degli Andalò (1201–1236) was a Dominican nun in Bologna who founded a convent of her order there. Jordan of Saxony, who led the Dominicans after Saint Dominic, wrote her letters that still survive, and she was beatified in 1891.

The meaning “divine” has a Christian sense of its own: God shares his own life with his people. Peter writes that through God’s promises “you may become partakers of the divine nature, now that you have escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires” (2 Peter 1:4). For a Christian Diana, that is where the word belongs: in the life God gives to ordinary people.

Related reading

• Is Your Name in the Bible? A Directory of 231 Names
• Alex Is Not in the Bible — Alexander, the Name It Shortens, Is