THE ACCESSION OF HADRIAN AS EMPEROR OF ROME

ON August 8th 117 AD, Trajan died amidst doubts as to who would be his successor ... paving the way for Hadrian to succeed him as emperor. 

It would not be until August 11th that the situation would become clear and the Legions would proclaim Hadrian emperor.

Hadrian had been on tenterhooks for years wondering whether Trajan would formally adopt him as his heir. 

If Trajan died without the issue of succession being settled, it could result in civil war — or at least in the assassination of Hadrian by some other ambitious man.

Then finally, while on campaign in Nikomedia, capital of Bithynia, Hadrian receives word that Trajan unexpectedly died on August 8th. 

He learns that Trajan's "deathbed will" named him as the emperor's adopted son and successor. 

It is believed that Trajan's wife, the Empress Plotina (who adored Hadrian), forged the will of her husband, naming Hadrian as successor.

Whatever happened, the Legions proclaimed Hadrian emperor on August 11th. 

The support of the army insured the validity of our Emperor's claim, ushering in the Sacred and Golden Age of the Antonines, the dynasty of peaceful and wise emperors which would end with Marcus Aurelius.

Our own FLAMEN ANTINOALIS ANTONIUS SUBIA explains what this means to gay men everywhere:

"Hadrian became Emperor over Rome at the pinnacle of her glory. Her boundaries stretched farther than ever before; farther than they ever would again. Millions of people were subject to his authority. As Emperor, Hadrian first made peace with the Parthians, surrendering some of the land that Trajan had occupied, and then began the work of consolidating the Empire from the inside. We celebrate the Accession of Hadrian as the miracle that might never have been, without which Antinous would never have been known, and our religion would never have been born. Hadrian is Our Father, Our Emperor and Our Capitoline God, we recognize on this day that the beginning of his age is the beginning of our own."

On August 11th, please take a moment to remember the day on which Hadrian's long and heartfelt dreams and ambitions became reality and the path was paved for him to begin work on creating a civilization based on Hellenistic tolerance — and above-all his dream of founding the perfect religion based on love and beauty.

May the Divine Hadrian help us all achieve our heartfelt dreams and ambitions in this regard.

HAPPY WORLD CAT DAY IS YOUR HOME A CAT TEMPLE TOO?

AUGUST 8th is World Cat Day ... so it's the purrr-fect day to look over the shoulders of archaeologists who have unearthed what appears to have been a major temple to the cat goddess Bastet in the royal quarter of ancient Alexandria.

The discovery represents the first trace of the true location of Alexandria's royal quarter, where the Ptolemies resided and which served as the home base for Roman visitors, such as Julius Caesar and Marcus Antonius, and later Emperor Hadrian and his lover Antinous in 130 AD.

The temple was in use for centuries. Presumably it was still in use when Hadrian and Antinous arrived in Alexandria. In later centuries Christians and Moslems used it as a "quarry" for stone to build new structures.

Its ruins remained buried until an archaeological team, doing routine excavations near the Roman theatre in Alexandria, stumbled onto the temple foundations and a cache of 600 Ptolemaic statues, primarily of cats and the goddess Bastet.

The temple was built by Queen Berenike, wife of Ptolemy III (246-222 BC). The temple compound is believed to measure 60 metres by 15 metres and extends underneath the present Ismail Fahmi Street in the heart of Alexandria.

The team, which comprises 18 skilled excavators and restorers, unearthed a large collection of statues depicting the cat goddess Bastet, the goddess of protection and motherhood, which confirms that the temple was dedicated to this popular Delta goddess.

The Bastet statues were unearthed in three different areas of the site  together with other limestone statues of unidentified women and children, according to Al Ahram newspaper. Clay pots as well as bronze and faience statues of various ancient Egyptian deities have also been uncovered, along with terracotta statues of the gods Harpocrates and Ptah.

The temple foundations definitely can be dated to the reign of Queen Berenike, making this the first Ptolemaic temple discovered in Alexandria to be dedicated to the goddess Bastet. It also indicates that the worship of the goddess Bastet continued in Egypt after the decline of the ancient Egyptian dynasties.

An inscribed base of a granite statue from the reign of Ptolemy IV was also unearthed. It bears an Ancient Greek inscription written in nine lines stating that the statue was commissioned by an official of high standing at the Ptolemaic court. Abdel-Maqsoud believes the inscription celebrates Egypt's victory over the Greeks during the Battle of Raphia in 217 BC.

Archaeologists also found a cluster of other ancient structures, including a Roman water cistern, a group of 14-metre-deep water wells, stone water channels, and the remains of a bath area, as well as a large number of clay pots and shards that can be dated as far back as the founding days of Alexandria in the 4th Century BC.

"This find is the first trace of the real location of Alexandria's royal quarter," the newspaper reported.

WE HONOR KLAUS NOMI AS A SAINT OF ANTINOUS

SAINT of Antinous Klaus Nomi was a German-trained Baroque opera countertenor who transformed New Wave, Synth Pop and Disco and who inspired David Bowie, Lady Gaga and other artists.

Born 24 Jan 1944 in Bavaria, he died 6 August 1983 in a New York hospital room, shunned and alone because he had AIDS. 

He performed to the end, despite the fact that his body was ravaged by lesions. Watch his last performance: 

CHAVELA VARGAS SAINT OF ANTINOUS

CHAVELA VARGAS, 17 April 1919 - 5 August 2012, the forceful lesbian songstress who was born in Costa Rica and rose to fame in Mexico, and influenced generations on both sides of the Atlantic, is a Saint of Antinous.

When she died in 2012 at age 93, she was especially known for her rendition of Mexican rancheras, but she is also recognized for her contribution to other genres of popular Latin American music.

Never one to hide her lesbianism, she has been an influential interpreter in America and Europe, muse to figures such as Pedro Almodóvar, hailed for her haunting performances, and called "la voz áspera de la ternura," the rough voice of tenderness.

FLAMEN ANTONIUS SUBIA speaks for millions of gays in the Spanish-speaking world when he says her passing is a saddening loss. He grew up with her music.

ANTONIUS RECALLS:

My parents had always played her music it...among many other singers...she was the only one who made an impact on me.  She was the only one who stood out...mostly because I could tell that she was crazy...she wasn't trying to sound pretty or traditional...but more like someone having an attack of too much feelings.

It wasn't until I was in my late teens that a friend pointed out that all her love songs are sung about women, I hadn't even noticed, I had just taken them at face value, you broke my heart songs, without really thinking about the context...that was when I really started to like Chavela Vargas...when it suddenly dawned on me that this dramatic, bellowing woman, who was such a favorite of my parents, was A LESBIAN!!!

As it turns out she was a hard-core lesbian, though never public about her sexuality, she never actually hid it...it was pretty much right there for everyone to see.  She drank heavily, carried a gun and wore a big red poncho...how can you not love a lesbian such as that?!  Eventually the drinking became too much and she dropped out of making music for a long, long time...only to return about 10 years ago, at 83 years of age with a new album...and it was during her return that I finally learned that, yes indeed, just as I suspected, she was in fact a Lesbian.  My favorite quote is when she said: 

"I've never even been to bed with a man. Never. That's how pure I am; I have nothing to be ashamed of. My gods made me the way I am." - Chavela Vargas

Chavela Vargas is a blessed Saint of Antinous.

ANTONIUS SUBIA

A BROKEN ANTINOUS CALLS TO US FROM A SHATTERED MIDDLE EAST By Flamen Antonius Subia

AUGUST marks the beginning of the second year of the sacred peregrination cycle, which is a recurring 3-year cycle commemorating the journey of Antinous and Hadrian through the Eastern Provinces of the Roman Empire. 

It is at this time that we believe the Imperial Entourage arrived at the ancient city of Antioch, founded by Seleuces I Nicanor, one of Alexander's generals and the founder of the Hellenistic kingdom of Seleucia. 

Antioch was the greatest city in the province of Syria during the Roman age, and was the command center from which Trajan conducted his war against the Parthians. It is very likely that Hadrian would have based his court at Antioch during his visit to Syria making excursions throughout the province. 

Antioch is known as the cradle of Christianity, because it was where the majority of Hellenized Jews lived at the time, those who had embraced the Hellenic culture of the previous Seleucid empire, and then of the Romans, and had essentially created a culture with both Greek and Jewish influence, these were of course the first to embrace Christianity. 

This had taken place only over the course of 100 years before, so Antioch was a city full of mixed cultures and cults and beliefs, but it was in Antioch that Hadrian and Antinous may have first encountered significant opposition and ridicule to their relationship from the Christian factions. 

After traversing the deeply Hellenic provinces of Asia Minor, who loved and adored Hadrian, even proclaiming him to be the living Zeus, and lavishing adoration upon his beautiful young Ganymede, it must have come as a shock to be reviled and openly insulted by the Hellenized Jews and early Christians of Antioch. 

For us, Antioch represents the first serious encounter with Homophobia that they have even experienced. There was of course, so much more to come as they progressed deeper towards Jerusalem.

It is significant that now, the Middle East is in a state of total chaos and war, based on the very same ideological beliefs that were growing in Antioch at that time. The war has the potential to bring the entire world into global disaster, as if Trajan's conflict has never ended.

The irony is that it all began when Antinous set foot in Syria.

Recently there was an auction of an Antinous bust that sold for $28 million, one of the highest prices ever paid for an ancient bust...but of course it was for Antinous. And it was not just any Antinous, but the only image of Antinous with his name engraved upon it. 

The engraving says:

ANTINOO HEROON
M. LUCIUS FLACCUS

Or: Dedicated to Antinous the Hero by Marcus Lucius Flaccus

It was found in the now disputed Golan Heights region of Syria and has been owned by privately since the British occupation.

It made celebrity news for an antiquities sale, because of course it is Antinous.

Taken from the same land where so many gay people are being tortured and executed...with no realistic end in sight, the bust has vanished again into private hands...but it is one of the few Antinous images from the tumultuous middle-east, and even broken it is one of the most precious and significant, the one and only Antinous image with his name carved onto it and the name of the believer, our brother from ancient times who had it made!

This is what the beginning of the Second year of the Peregrination cycle means to us now:

It means entry into the darkness and suffering that we must not turn away from, but with the sign that Antinous was there, and that his believers were among the same people and that there is hope, there is even word of an LGBTQIA group of soldiers who have banded together under the rainbow flag (photo above left).

May Antinous of Antioch be with them and with all of us in our struggle.

~ANTONIUS SUBIA
Flamen Antinoalis

ANTINOUS MAY HAVE SEEN THIS MOSAIC OF A DRUNK SKELETON IN ANTIOCH

A 2,400-year-old mosaic in Antioch shows a drunken skeleton admonishing the living to eat, drink and be merry … for one day they shall join him in death.

It is possible that Antinous and Hadrian saw the remarkably intact mosaic, because it was found in the ruins of the dining room of a wealthy person's home in Antioch ... and they spent several months in that city on their tour of the Eastern Provinces in 129-130 AD.

It was found by accident during excavation construction work for a cable-car route in the modern city of Antakya … built partly over the suburbs of ancient Antioch in what is now Turkey's Hatay Province.

Excavations were then launched to search the area for more remains.

The mosaic shows a skeleton reclining on a cushion with a kylix drinking bowl in his left hand and its right arm thrown drunkenly over his head, with legs crossed.

Next to the skeleton, two loaves of bread are strewn on the floor and a large amphora of wine waits to refill his drinking bowl.

A Greek inscription says: "Be merry ... enjoy being alive," according to archeologist Demet Kara at Hatay Archeology Museum.

Kara further noted that professors have referred to the mosaic as the 'skeleton mosaic' and have concluded that the mosaic belonged to the dining room of a house belonging to the upper class back then.

She noted that there is a similar mosaic in Italy, but this one is more comprehensive, making it a unique piece.

The ancient city of Antioch was established by Seleucus I Nicator … who is one of Alexander the Great's generals ... in the 4th Century BC.

Hadrian and Antinous visited Antioch, so it is possible that they saw this mosaic at some point in their extended stay over a period of several months.

Hatay is known for its Roman-era mosaics dating back to the 2nd and 3rd Centuries BC.

THE ANTINOUS COLORING BOOK (YES, THERE REALLY IS SUCH A THING)

WE have seen every sort of Antinous collectible ... jewelry, coffee mugs, T-shirts, amulets, posters ... but even the most avid collectors were surprised (and envious) to learn of the existence of an Antinous coloring book.

Thirty years ago there was a spate of paper-doll cutout books and coloring books for adults. Paper dolls of Joan Crawford and Mae West, for example.

These "children's" books were targeted at adult specialty genre collectors. 

Some were published as refrigerator magnets ... the most famous being Michelangelo's "David" with a wardrobe of magnetic fashion accessories.

By and large, these books were gimmicky and often campy. But some took on serious highlights from art history ... offering coloring books which gave collectors a tongue-in-cheek gallery of famous works of art. There were coloring books of all sorts of things, including ancient civilizations. 

But we had never heard of a coloring book featuring Antinous ... until now ....

One of our far-flung correspondents literally stumbled upon it ... here is what he says:

"I am always on the look out for Antinous finds. You know that feeling when you come face to face with our Beloved. You blink once, twice. Is that him? Then in your heart you know. 

"Sharing my first find is a coloring book titled: 'Liber Romanus Pingendus A Coloring Book of Rome'. I found this in a used book store. You know the kind. The books are stacked floor to ceiling. They all have dust and that smell of old. I know it's weird but, I like that smell, the smell of history. Here are some pages that I know you will like."

Yes indeed ... we certainly like them. And we know you will too. The coloring book includes detailed plates showing Emperor Hadrian, his hand-picked heir Lucius Verus (hand-picked by Hadrian to be co-emperor with Marcus Aurelius), as well as a depiction of the Assumption of Antoninus Pius (Hadrian's immediate successor) ... and two pages devoted to Antinous himself.

Above is Antinous as Phanes encircled by astrological signs and enwrapped by a serpent. 

At right is a line drawing of the famous Lanuvium bas-relief showing Antinous as the rustic deity Sylvanus/Aristaeus harvesting grapes with a dog looking up at him adoringly.

Get out your crayons!