TRIUMPH OF THE LIBERATOR

ON this Sacred Night, we celebrate the return of Antinous from the underworld ... the Triumph of the Liberator!

Many of us gathered in person and via Skype to celebrate the event at our friend Rick Thompson's house in the Hollywood Hills, a home filled with exquisite art.

We made a very special consecration on this night, which had remained top-secret for so many months, but was finally revealed tonight!

We consecrated this magnificent 19th Century bronze replica (pictured above) of the famous ANTINOUS OSIRIS statue in the Vatican Museums. It is the sort of souvenir which wealthy Victorian travelers brought home from their "Grand Tour" trips to Europe and Egypt.

Rick acquired it several months ago, but it has been literally under wraps until tonight's sacred Foundation Day consecration ceremonies.

Tonight is also the CONCORDIA MOON (Aquarius First Quarter Moon), and it is a great, mysterious sign that such an auspicious New Moon would occur on this Sacred Night. The Concordia Moon represents setting old conflicts aside, renewing bonds with loved ones, and making new friends. 

This is an excellent omen for the coming year of Antinous faith! I ask that the New Moon of Concordia will bless all of us tonight!

This is also the beginning of the New Year of Antinous the God ... 1,884!

During tonight's ceremonies, which drew Skype participants from Brazil, Mexico and Germany as well as the US, we also canonized new SAINTS OF ANTINOUS for the year 2014 ... including 365 BRAZILIAN MARTYR SAINTS ... LGBTIU people who were victims of homophobic violence in recent months in Brazil.

Antinous is with us Again! He is spreading his power with renewed force, after having visited the Underworld to recharge his energy!

I offer my blessing upon all of you everywhere in the world tonight as FLAMEN ANTINOALIS, as the first person to respond to the call he sent out, that the time had come to renew his ancient faith in the modern world. 

That time is happening now and we are all part of it, each and every one of us everywhere in the world.

We are in a state of war against our enemies. They have stepped up their hatred against us many fold ... Not since the Nazis sent us to the concentration camps, or since the Catholic Church burned us at the stake, have we seen so much hatred and violence against us. 

A Gay Genocide is underway! 

Antinous has chosen this moment now to return ... as Liberator. 

At first, years ago, it seemed like a mystery to me ... Why was I called to worship him? ...  Why had no one previous to me attempted to restore his ancient cult?

But now as events have gotten worse and worse (yet better and better) for gay people ... I understand. Because Antinous waited for this moment now to return in spirit to the world.

What I have seen so far of him ... is nothing compared to what will come ... and it brings immense hope for the future. 

As Dark as events in the world may become ... a powerful light is shining stronger for Gay, Bi, Lesbian and Transgender people everywhere in the world!

Every day, more and more of us come together,

Every day, the fire of Antinous spreads

His name becomes less a strange, unheard of and difficult to pronounce name from Ancient times ... and more a realization that once there was a time when being gay was a sacred state of being, and that there was a god who represented us, and spoke on our behalf to the immortal powers.

Antinous is with us again...his power is growing stronger in our hearts.

Antinous is within all of US!

The Blessing of Antinous is with us all!

The Arisen Antinous has Come Again!

Ave Antinous!

~ANTONIUS SUBIA

THE FOUNDING OF ANTINOOPOLIS

ON this day we commemorate the founding of the Sacred City of Antinous, the glorious city called ANTINOOPOLIS originally and later Ansena and Antinoé. 

Our Lord Hadrian Augustus, Emperor of Rome, Pontifex Maximus, the New Jupiter, Hercules reborn, consecrated the shore of the Nile where Antinous fell, and solemnly founded the Holy City of Antinoopolis in Egypt in the year 130 AD.

Antinous had risen again from the depths of Tartarus, he had conquered death and returned to the place of the living.

By Victory and Proclamation, Antinous was elevated to godliness, and the ancient religion of Our God was set in motion. The Priesthood of Antinous was ordained, sacred statues and images proliferated, and Temples rose up in every corner of the world, for the glory of Antinous the God.

We exalt in the deification of Antinous, and marvel at his assumption into heaven. 

On this day we concelebrate the Foundation of Antinoopolis by re-founding the sacred city within our hearts, declaring ourselves the New Stones of Antinoopolis. 

With love for Antinous in our hearts, the New Temple of Antinous was founded in 2002, called Ecclesia Antinoi, and the New Priesthood of Antinous initiated.

We recognize the Foundation of Antinoopolis as the first day of the New and Holy Year of Religion of Antinous.

THE DEATH OF ANTINOUS OCTOBER 28 IN THE YEAR 130 AD

ANTINOUS IN THE UNDERWORLD

ANTINOUS is dead. Hadrian is weeping over his limp body on the banks of the Nile where his beloved perished in late October of the year 130 AD.

While mourners wail in the world of the living, Antinous descends into the Underworld. The modern Religion of Antinous commemorates this descent into the Egyptian Duat on October 29th.

Flamen Antonius Subia says:

Antinous is embraced by Osiris beneath the water of the Holy Nile, and he is given over to Hermes-Anubis and led into the underworld.

He appears before the Lords of the scale of Maat, but his spirit is divine and the scales crumble at his touch.

Hermes-Anubis escorts Antinous into the Hall of the Queen of the Dead, Persephone, and because he is a witness of the Mysteries of Eleusis, he obtains from her the pomegranate of immortality.

The immortal spirit of Antinous does not taste death, and he is given to drink of the fountain that restores memory because he has learned from Orpheus that he is from the Earth but is a Child of the Stars.

Antinous conquers death and returns from darkness. At midnight Antinous the God arises from the Nile and steps onto the shore from which he fell. The spirits of the entourage of Dionysus attend his resurrection and he is reborn as the New Osiris-Dionysus.

In the Religion of Antinous, this is the last day of the Ecclesiastic Year, it is spent in darkness and in solemn devotion.

As Antinous journeys through the underworld, we confront the weakness of being without our god, we reflect on the passage of the year, and on the influence of Antinous upon our lives, and we pray for the triumph of his return. 

At midnight, a pure candle is ignited to symbolize the deification of Antinous Our God. 

BRAZIL HOMOPHOBIA VICTIMS REMEMBERED ON ANNIVERSARY OF DEATH OF ANTINOUS

ON three continents tonight, adherents of Antinous took part via a Skype video call in a candlelight vigil in memory of Brazilian victims of homophobia.

The vigil coincided with the October 28 observance of the Death of Antinous on that date in the year 130 AD.

Worshipers in Brazil, Mexico, the US and Europe took part in the candlelight ceremonies.

At the Hollywood Temple of Antinous, the founder of the modern religion of Antinous, ANTONIUS SUBIA, solemnly read out more than 300 names of Brazilian LGBTIU victims of homophobic murders over the past two years ... and linked them to the tragic death of Antinous.

"Compiling this list has been truly one of the most emotionally devastating things I have ever done for Antinous," he said during the video link-up. "I want to simply just lie down and cry for an hour or two ... so much death, so much suffering and pain and sadness ... so much cruelty in the world."

He added, "As I was preparing the list, I set it aside for a couple of days, and when I came back to it, I was horrified to see that 10 more people had been murdered and needed to be added to the list."

People are dying from homophobic attacks at the rate of one every 36 hours in Brazil alone ... in addition to the countless others elsewhere around the world.

"That means someone has probably died in the time it has taken me to read this list over the past 20 minutes or so," Antonius said. "So our ceremonies tonight are also for that person."

Noting that many of the victims are unidentified, Antonius said, "These ceremonies are important because very many of these young people were given no funeral rites. No one mourned for them, so it is important that we ask tonight for Antinous to bless them and take them into his arms," he told the worshipers joining him via Skype.


"We must do what we can for those who are lost, for the souls of our beloved Gay, Lesbian and Trans who are languishing lost and forgotten by the side of the river Styx in the underworld, trapped between our world and the next, unable to move on," he said.

"We pray that as Antinous passes through the Kingdom of the Dead, that he will gather them together and give them a place of peace and love forever on his Barque of Millions of Years," he said.

"I pray to Antinous to watch over them, now as his divine spirit sinks down into the place of the dead ... and when he returns, that he will bring for hope again, that these deaths will stop," Antonius said. "This is what I wish for."

Taking part from Brazil in the video link-up, journalist and gay educator Deco Ribeiro pointed out that the upsurge in LGBTIU murders has prompted lawmakers to draw up legislation making homophobia a crime.

"The legislation is called the Alexandre Ivo Law, named after a 14-year-old boy who was bludgeoned to death by three youths in 2010. His mother Angelica Ivo has led the lobbying effort to criminalize homophobia in Brazil," Deco said.

Only a few weeks ago, the headline-making murder of JOÃO ANTÔNIO DONATI spawned protest rallies in major Brazilian cities.

Brazil has the largest Antinous faith community in the non-English speaking world, and adherents of Antinous have taken the unprecedented move of proclaiming João the first SAINT OF ANTINOUS in Brazil.

Tonight's solemn candlelight ceremonies ... spanning seven time zones Monday evening (in Hollywood) and Tuesday morning (in Europe) ... concluded with Antonius draping the bust of Antinous at the temple's sacred altar in commemoration of the Death of Antinous.

We believe it was on October 28 in the year 130 AD, near the village of Hir-wer in Egypt, that Antinous fell into the Nile and drowned.

There are those who believe that he was murdered, or that he willingly gave himself over to human sacrifice to prolong the life of his beloved Hadrian, or that his death was the suicidal effect of teenage melodrama, or that is was merely an accident, but there is no way to know, no way to be certain.

Grief-stricken Hadrian only said he "plunged into the Nile" but never elaborated on the circumstances of the death of his beloved.

Antonius says:

We priests of Antinous do not take a definite position and leave the matter as an unknowable mystery. The manner in which Antinous died is not important, only the effect that his death had upon the world has significance.

On this day, we solemnly and silently mourn the Death of Antinous whom Hadrian loved and for whom he wept, and we sorrow for the loss of such great beauty at so young an age.

We pray for the Bithynian boy who died so far from home.

With his death, our religion was set in motion.

We lament and exalt in the grief of Hadrian that was so strong and so powerful that it spread to the whole face of the world, and affects us still today.

We pray also for all those homosexuals who have died in youth as a consequence of repression, we mourn the suicides, and commit them to the soothing arms of Antinous, who was assumed into the Nile for all of us.

It is one of the great ironies of history that, by dying dramatically, a young person who was unremarkable except for his beauty became irrevocably bound with the most powerful man in the world. 

Emperor Hadrian proclaimed Antinous a God. He established a city on the bend of the Nile where the young man died — Antinoopolis. 

He named a constellation in the heavens after Antinous.

And without gentle Antinous at his side, Hadrian became an embittered and broken man. He became capricious and at times cruel. A reign which had been marked by Hellenistic principles of tolerance descended into bloodshed.

It is indeed remarkable how one young man, a commoner with no wealth or political influence, changed the course of history simply by dying. And the thousands of statues sculpted on orders of grieving Hadrian became the iconic image of Classical beauty — the last deity of Ancient Greece and Rome.

Antinous fell into the Nile, beneath the swirling waves, but when his body was pulled from the water ... a God emerged. Antinous is our God, he has accomplished the salvation of all lovers of his beauty. His is our salvation. He is Antinous the Gay God. He is the last pagan God of Classical Rome.

For centuries, he was worshiped in secret by gay men who were afraid to worship him publicly. Men such as Oscar Wilde and Walt Whitman sang his praises. When the Nazis marched into the offices of gay-rights advocate Magnus Hirschfeld in Berlin, they smashed a ceramic wall relief of Antinous which Dr. Hirschfeld had set in a place of reverence over the doorway.

And now, in the 21st Century, the "Most Great and Good God" (as he was known among his followers) is being discovered by a whole new generation of people seeking gay spirituality. 

We dedicate our lives and our souls to fulfilling the Divine Hadrian's command to establish the Religion of Antinous for all who seek gay spirituality. We dedicate our lives and our souls to serving Antinous the Gay God.

YOU CAN TAKE PART IN MONDAY'S VIGIL FOR VICTIMS OF HOMOPHOBIA

IN memory of the tragic death of Antinous on October 28 in the year 130 AD, candlelight vigil ceremonies will be held via Skype Monday night and into early Tuesday.

The ceremonies commemorate the deaths of more than 300 LGBT victims of homophobia in Brazil over the past year.

Participants from Brazil, North America and Europe have already committed themselves to taking part ... and you can too.

Officiating at the ceremonies will be Antonius Subia as head of the Hollywood Temple of Antinous.

"I am going to recite the names of over 300 LGBT victims of homophobic violence who have died in Brazil alone as representing the thousands who have died globally. We do this in memory of the death of Antinous," Antonius said in announcing the candlelight vigil.

"To participate wear black and have a small candle ready to light," he said.

"It will start on Monday 27th October at 11:30 p.m. Sao Paolo time ... 6:30 p.m. Pacific Time," he added.

Because the UK and Europe turned their clocks back one hour this weekend, that means the ceremonies will begin at 1:30 a.m. Tuesday British time, 2:30 a.m. European Time.

To take part, add Antonius as a friend on Skype: Antonius.subia and then notify him via Facebook Messenger by clicking HERE.

At the time of the ceremony, Antonius will message you via Facebook to stand by for the Skype video call.

The same procedure will apply to the annual Foundation Day ceremonies on October 30 when we celebrate the establishment of the religion of Antinous and the Sacred City of Antinoopolis.

You are invited to take part in both of these global events.

HERCULES LION-SLAYER BUST DISCOVERED IN HOMELAND OF ANTINOUS

EXPERTS in Turkey, birth place of Antinous, have found this stunning bust of Hercules the Lion-Slayer which dates to the Hadrianic era.

Excavations in the ancient city of Kibyra revealed the bust dating from the 2nd Century AD which shows Hercules wearing the hide of the Nemean lion as a head covering.

Antinous and Hadrian slew a lion in the Egyptian desert, prompting Hadrian to be equated with Hercules the Lion Slayer with Antinous as his Hylas ... male lover of Hadrian.

One of the excavation team members, Dicle University’s İsmail Baytak, said they had found the bust in a foundation in the agora of the ancient city, according to Andalou news agency.

Noting that the most important feature of the bust was the depiction of the lion, Baytak said: “This bust has great importance. We made a review of the literature and realized that such a bust has never been seen in this region and in other museums. It is the first and only of its type that makes us very pleased.”

Baytak said the workmanship on the bust pointed to the era of the Antonine dynasty founded by Trajan and Hadrian. 

"You can see the eyes of the lion in the upper part of the bust and its mane in the back side. The mane does not belong to Heracles but to the lion. In mythology, Heracles already has the feature of a demi-god. The depiction of the lion represents power."

Baytak said the bust would be cleaned and preserved in a depot.

"Heracles puts the fur of the lion on his head and ties it to his own body. We have removed the head of the bust only," he added. 

In mythology, Mycenaean king Eurystheus asked Heracles to kill the Nemean lion as one of the 12 labors he was assigned. Upon completing the task, Heracles donned the feline’s fur, assuming its magical powers.

The academic said they would give the bust to the Burdur Museum after the end of the excavation season and were planning to unearth the other section of the statue during next year’s excavations. 

Heracles is a divine hero. He is the son of Zeus and Alcmene, and great-grandson (and half-brother) of Perseus. He enjoyed celestial power from the day he was born. When he turned 18, he killed a famous monster living in the Kitharion forests. As a reward, he was given the daughter of Thebai king, Megara.

Driven mad by the goddess Hera, Heracles killed his three children and wife. To atone for the crime, Eurystheus ordered him to carry out 12 labors, which included slaying the lion and the hydra and capturing Cerberus from Hades, among others.

TRIPLE-DECKER AUTOBUS GIGANTE TOOK TOURISTS TO TIVOLI IN STYLE

ANYONE who has taken a modern blue municipal bus to Tivoli outside Rome to visit Hadrian's Villa will appreciate the irony of this film (below) showing the inaugural run on February 26, 1932, of the "autobus gigante" ... a luxury triple-decker motor coach catering to well-heeled tourists in furs and three-piece suits.

Despite the incessant bleeping of the horn, there is virtually no traffic on the road to Tivoli aside from bicycles and donkey carts. No strip malls. No subsidized housing projects. No open sewage plants and garbage dumps to assail your nostrils through open bus windows.

For our next Sacred Pilgrimage to Hadrian's Villa, the Hollywood Temple of Antinous should charter one of these:

COVER BOY ANTINOUS IS STILL MAKING HEADLINES

GET the October edition of MINERVA magazine for the cover story: "A Passion for Greece: Emperor Hadrian's Love of all things Greek." 

It focuses on the CURRENT EXHIBIT at Hadrian's Villa (Tivoli) which ends November 2. 

Also included a brief article on a recently discovered/sold sculpture of Antinous in Derbyshire in the UK.

The marble bust, about which nothing was known when it was discovered in a British country house four years ago, has been identified as a 2nd Century Roman portrait of Antinous-Osiris. 

It has now been sold to an American collector for a six-figure sum. 

The bust, pictured, was found by Oliver Forge and Brendan Lynch, antiquities consultants, in Thornbridge Hall, Derbyshire, in 2010. 

It is thought to have originally been located at Hadrian's Villa in Tivoli. 

Excavated in 1769, it found its way into the sculpture collection of Thomas Hope in London, whose great grandson sold it at Christie's in 1917. 

It was later acquired by Charles Boot, heir to a construction business, who bought Thornbridge Hall in 1930. When he died in 1945, the sculpture was sold with the house and its history forgotten.

Antonius Subia is elated about the find. He says: 

"Just when you think that you have seen EVERY Antinous image there is from ancient times...another one turns up out of nowhere! And as we move into the sacred weeks of October...this is a Good One!
"Seeing his face again, as if for the first time...I am struck by how beautiful he is, and I can't help but fall in love all over again. Ave Antinous the Arisen God!"

INSCRIPTION COMMEMORATES THE VISIT OF ANTINOUS AND HADRIAN TO JERUSALEM

THIS amazing fragment of stone bears an inscription commemorating the visit of Antinous and Hadrian to Jerusalem on their fateful tour of Rome's eastern provinces … a tour which ended in the death of Antinous in October 130 AD.

The inscription proves that the 10th Legion was stationed in Jerusalem between the two Jewish Revolts and that troops were on hand when Antinous and Hadrian visited.

Jerusalem was a turning point in the Emperor's tour which, until then, had been glorious. But strife-torn Jerusalem set the stage for the tragic ending to the tour. 

Hadrian's crackdown on Jewish hardline dissidents led by Rabbi Bar Kochba ... banning circumcision, renaming Jerusalem and forcing Jews into the diaspora ... created shock waves which reverberate to this day.

The stone engraved with an official Latin inscription dedicated to the Roman Emperor was discovered in the capital in July by the Antiquities Authority. 

It has just now been unveiled at Rockefeller Museum in east Jerusalem.

It was probably part of Hadrian's own main gate into the Old City of Jerusalem.

It was found under the Mameluke Era Damascus Gate which was built over Hadrian's Gate … probably erected after the Bar Kochba Revolt when Jerusalem was renamed Aelia Capitolina (after Hadrian's Aelian family name).

According to Dr. Rina Avner, who led the Antiquities Authority's excavation north of Damascus Gate, the relic from the Roman period is among the most important Latin inscriptions ever discovered in Jerusalem.

The inscription proves that the 10th Legion was stationed in Jerusalem between the two Jewish Revolts and that troops were on hand when Antinous and Hadrian visited.

“The [date] is a significant and tangible confirmation of the historical account regarding the presence of the 10th Legion in Jerusalem during the period between the two revolts, and possibly even the location of the legion’s military camp in the city, and of one of the reasons for the outbreak of the Bar-Kochba revolt several years later and the establishment of Aelia Capitolina,” she said.

The English translation of the inscription is as follows: “To the Imperator Caesar Traianus Hadrianus Augustus, son of the deified Traianus Parthicus, grandson of the deified Nerva, high priest, invested with tribunician power for the 14th time, consul for the third time, father of the country (dedicated by) the 10th legion Fretensis Antoniniana.”

The Bar-Kochba revolt is ascribed to the reign of the Emperor Hadrian, who is remembered in Jewish history for having issued dictates imposing the persecution of Jews, which the sources referred to as the “Hadrianic decrees.”

The history of the Bar-Kochba revolt is known from, among other events, the works of the contemporary Roman historian Cassius Dio, who also mentions Hadrian’s visit to Jerusalem in the year 129/130 CE, within the framework of the emperor’s travels in the eastern empire.

But the inscription is the first proof of Cassius Dio's claim.

“This is apparently exactly what happened in Jerusalem,” said Avner. “The completion of the two parts of the text reveals an especially large inscription that is quite impressive. The inscription itself might have set in the top of a free-standing triumphal arch on the city’s northern boundary such the Arch of Titus in Rome.”

Jerusalem's fate after destruction of the Second Temple (70 CE), and prior to the Bar-Kochba revolt (132-136 CE), is one of the major issues in the history of the city and the Jewish people, she noted.

“We know from ancient writers and the inscriptions on coins that the new city, which Hadrian established, was granted the status of ‘colonia,’ that is a city whose citizens and gods are Roman, and its name was changed to Aelia Capitolina, or COLONIA AELIA CAPITOLINA in Latin,” Avner said.

“There is no doubt that the discovery of this inscription will contribute greatly to the long-standing question about the reasons that led to the outbreak of the Bar-Kochba revolt: Were the reasons for the rebellion the construction of Aelia Capitolina and the establishment of the pagan temple on the site of the Jewish Temple Mount; or conversely perhaps, these were the results of the revolt – that is, punitive action taken by Hadrian against those who rebelled against Roman rule?” 

SUNRAYS ILLUMINATE INNER SANCTUARY OF ABU SIMBEL AT DAWN TODAY

FOR most of the year, the inner sanctum of the main temple at Abu Simbel is shrouded in darkness.

On two days, traditionally the anniversary of the birthday and coronation of pharaoh Ramses II, a shaft of sunlight pierces the gloom, illuminating statues of gods and the king in the temple's inner sanctum.

On February 22, a day celebrating the king's birthday and again on October 22, a day celebrating his coronation, sunlight illuminates seated statues of the sun gods Re-Horakhte and Amon-Re, as well as a statue of king Ramses II. The statues sit in the company of the Theban god of darkness, Ptah (who remains in the shadows all year).

The spectacle—which has endured more than 3,200 years of Egyptian history—draws thousands of tourists to Abu Simbel to watch this ancient tribute to a pharaoh whose name is still known up and down the Nile Valley for his military exploits and monumental building projects.

Ramses, who ruled Egypt for 66 years from 1270 to 1213 BC (about 50 years after the death of Tutankhamen, better known as King Tut) made a name for himself by battling the Hittites and the Syrians, Egypt's enemies to the north.

To celebrate his victories, Ramses erected monuments up and down the Nile with records of his achievements. He completed the hypostyle hall at Karnak (Thebes), and completed the funerary temple of his father, Seti I, at Luxor on the West Bank of the Nile.

The main temple at Abu Simbel, which Ramses ordered built near the border of Nubia and Upper Egypt, was dedicated to two sun gods, Amen-Re and Re-Horakhte. 

Standing 100 feet (33 meters) tall, the temple was carved into an already-standing sandstone mountain on the banks of the Nile.

Four colossal statues of Ramses, each 66 feet (22 meters) high, guard the entrance to the temple.

Rising to the pharaoh's knees are smaller statues of family members: his mother; favorite wife, Nefertari; and son, Prince Amonherkhepshef.

Inside the temple, three connected halls extend 185 feet (56 meters) into the mountain. 

Images of the king's life and many achievements adorn the walls. 

A second temple at Abu Simbel is dedicated to Nefartari, who appears to have been Ramses' favorite wife.

"Abu Simbel was one of, if not the largest, rock-cut temples in Egypt," says Bruce Williams of the Oriental Institute of Chicago, "The rock was sacred because the Egyptians believed the deity was living inside the mountain."

Rock-cut temples may have been especially significant in ancient Egypt because the bulge in the otherwise flat land may have signified the location where the gods emerged from the Earth, says Williams.

ANTINOUS READ THESE DATING TIPS FROM OVID'S 'ARS AMATORIA'

BEFORE the days of Match.com, Skype sexting and Facebook stalking, singles mixers and even personal ads, there was a love and marriage guide for ancient Romans which Hadrian and Antinous were bound to have read.

Ovid’s Ars Amatoria is a colorful three-part book on how to catch ‘em and keep ‘em for both men and women. The author of the Metamorphoses includes instructions on how to be a gentleman, where to meet beautiful people (the theatre, obviously), and even proper dating hygiene (don’t smell like your livestock). Here are eleven of his best notes of advice for the world’s oldest sport.

1. DON’T EXPECT THE ONE AND ONLY TO FALL OUT OF THE SKY AND LAND AT YOUR FEET.

Even with Cupid pitching on your side, Mr. Right is not going to be “wafted down to you from heaven on the wings of the wind,” as Ovid writes. Satisfying love may take some searching, at least in the beginning, and your hard work breaking the two-mile courtship circle will eventually pay off.  

2. LEARN TO KNOW THE PLACES WHERE THE FAIR ONES DO MOST HAUNT.

The best place to find a date back in the day was apparently Rome, despite mythological heroes such as Hercules finding his Hylas elsewhere. Ovid’s favorite local hotspots for singles mingling included the circus, the arena, and even the open-air public market known as the forum.  For a modern hopeful, that could be the local bar, the public library, or a section of the Brighton seaside pier—it all depends on your tastes. 

3. THE THEATRE IS A GREAT PLACE TO PICK UP HOTTIES.

Beautiful people were apparently everywhere in the ancient world (if surviving sculpture is anything to go by), but the go-to place for a veritable “galaxy” of beauties was a good play. There, a Roman could find “crowds of lovely beauties, gaily dressed,” in search of art and culture. And quite possibly scads of bachelors hoping to score before intermission.

4. NEVER JUDGE A MAN, OR A WOMAN, BY CANDLELIGHT.

That Adonis or Helen gyrating under the strobe light may be a gorgon under the sunshine the next morning, both in looks and, more importantly, in personality. Ovid warns against an ancient form of drunk goggles as well: “Bringing love and wine together is adding fuel to the fire … If you really want to know what they are like, look at them by daylight, and when you’re sober.”

5. PERSONAL HYGIENE IS ALWAYS IMPORTANT.

Research has found that humans are attracted to each other by hormonal scent patterns, but locker room etiquette suggests that you keep at least some of them under wraps. In addition to avoiding strutting out “reeking like a billy-goat,” keep your clothes, hair, teeth, and nails well-groomed and clean. And trim that nose hair.

6. NOTHING IS SO POTENT AS A HABIT.

If you want the object of your affections to stick around for the long term, begin by paying a visit as frequently as possible. Just as saplings grow into trees and trickles of water grow into rivers, a few friendly conversations might grow into a strong relationship if you take the trouble to drop by every day for a few weeks.

7. DO NOT MAKE A PARADE OF YOUR NOCTURNAL EXPLOITS.

Those notches on the proverbial bedpost might be a pleasure to brag about, Ovid suggests, but they won’t help your or your paramour’s reputation. If you have to spill the juicy details to a friend, at least refrain from painting yourself as the gods’ gift to women or men: “Let us… speak sparingly of our real amours, and hide our secret pleasures beneath an impenetrable veil.” Don’t be a roamin’ Roman. 

8. STUDY THAT GREEK AND LATIN.

Hadrian was eloquent in Greek and Latin, and so fluent in ancient tongues and storytelling that he won over his Beloved Boy. Studying the “refinements of life” in language and history just might land you your own Antinous. And who doesn’t find dead languages titillating?

9. FORTUNE, AND VENUS, FAVOR THE BOLD.

Be bold. It helps that the Goddess of Love and all her minions are on your side, but whether your talents lie in translating Latin poetry or unclogging the office paper shredder, you can use them to pursue and woo the one you set your sights on.

10. BE PERSISTENT.

"Love is like warfare … The night, winter, long marches, cruel suffering, painful toil, all these things have to be borne by those who fight in Love's campaigns ... If the ordinary, safe route to your mistress is denied you, if her door is shut against you, climb up on to the roof and let yourself down by the chimney, or the skylight. How it will please them to know the risks you've run for their sake! T'will be an earnest of your love." Just check for burglar alarms first.

11. PAY YOUR LOVERS IN POETRY.

Finally, Ovid says, the best way to flatter, thank, praise, or seduce anyone is by a good piece of homemade literature. Even if you’re too poor to afford anything else, a few heartfelt words will let your beloved know how much you cherish him or her, and how much you’d like to keep hanging around for the long run. And even if you haunt the wrong places, can’t speak Greek, fall through the skylight, or smell like a goat, they’ll have at least one good reason to remember you.

ANTINOUS MEETS THE REPTILE FROM HADES BUT WILL HE KILL IT? ... OR RESCUE IT?

HERE is one of the most mysterious ... and missing ... statues of Antinous, showing him as Antinous Sauroktonos, the Lizard-Slayer.

The statue once stood in Dresden's Japanische Palais. But it was lost in the firestorms which swept Dresden during Allied bombing in the final days of World War II.

There is a famous statue of by Praxiteles of Apollo Sauroktonos, showing the God of Light with a stone poised over a lizard on a tree stump. 

The Praxiteles statue was oft copied by the Romans and also by artists up to the present day.

But this statue depicts Antinous as Apollo.

There is an ambivalence which has always intrigued historians. 

Is Antinous/Apollo about to kill the lizard? Or is he consciously sparing the life of the lizard?

Forget Nietzsche and other modern "experts" who philosophize about the "light" and "dark" side of human libidos and psyches.

The answer lies ... as always ... in Greek and Roman Symbological Imagery. 

(Image: Versions of Praxiteles' Apollo-Sauroktonos)

In Greek and Roman myths, the lizard symbolizes a sneaky spy who is eavesdropping on us. 

It is keeping tabs on our every move … It is a boyish tattle-tale who says, "Nyah, nyah ... I saw what you did and I'm gonna tell on you!"

The lizard is Ascalaphus, who is mentioned variously in Ovid's Metamorphoses and also by Pseudo-Apollodorus and other writers.

There are a couple of versions of the tale of Ascalaphus being metamorphosed into a skulking lizard and/or an owl (the better to spy on you at night).

In one version, Demeter persuades Pluto to permit her daughter Proserpine (Persephone) to return to the land of the living on condition that she imbibe neither food nor drink in the Elysian Fields.

But the mischievous little Hades boy "daimon" (Greek for "spirit") Ascalaphus observers her secretly biting into a pomegranate to eat its seeds and drink its juice.

Ascalaphus goes running off to tell Jupiter what he had seen ... whereupon Proserpine is condemned to remain with Pluto forever.

Proserpine/Persephone curses Ascalaphus by hurling a few drops of pomegranate juice at him which results in red speckles on his skin -- and he is transformed into a slinking newt ("askalaxos") with red-speckled scales for skin. 

Or else he becomes a speckled owl ("Bubos askalaphos").

In yet another version, Demeter herself takes vengeance by transforming Ascalaphus into a lizard and crushing him with a huge stone at the bottom of Pluto's realm.

Then, in turn, Hercules comes along and lifts the stone ... freeing Ascalaphus. Thus, Hercules is sometimes called the "Lizard Liberator" for that reason. 

But Ascalaphus's new-found freedom was short-lived because Demeter transformed him into a spotted horned owl ... as Ovid writes: "... a loathsome bird, ill omen for mankind, a skulking screech-owl, sorrow's harbinger. That tell-tale tongue of his no doubt deserved the punishment."

Thus, throughout the ages, Ascalaphus has become a synonym for someone who is punished cruelly for telling the truth. Back in the days when cultivated people studied the Classics, the imagery of a boy with a stone poised over a lizard was very clear. 

Tennessee Williams used that Classical imagery throughout his play "Night of the Iguana"which uses a Mexican lizard tied to a tree as a metaphor for the lies and mendacity and religious hypocrisy which have restricted unpleasant truths from being set free.

Antonius Subia says: 

This story of the tatter-tale daemon boy-lizard is endearing … and I have a fondness for sneaky little spies who reveal the truth...and I admire him for not letting Proserpina get away with fooling the Lord of the Underworld … he made quite sure that she stayed in the underworld like everybody else.  
This Ascalaphus is obviously a Gay lizard-boy, not in the least charmed by Prosephone's supposed beauty … when he saw that she had broken the rules, he wasted no time reporting it to Jupiter.  Perhaps Demeter/Sabina held a grudge against the little Gay Lizard...but I'm sure Jupiter/Hadrian appreciated the loyalty of the little traitor-informant. Antinous had no secrets to hide … and even if he did … I'm sure that he could count on the loyalty of the little gay lizard … if anything … the lizard kept Antinous informed of what Hadrian was up to behind closed doors … always a dangerous game … but for the sake of truth … this little gay lizard isn't afraid to die!

Why is Apollo so often depicted as the Lizard-Slayer? There's a theory that Apollo Sauroktonos is a spoof of Apollo's first deed as a young boy-god.

(Image: Apollo Vanquishing Python by symbolist painter Gustave Moreau)

Apollo's first achievement was to rid Pytho (Delphi) of the serpent (or dragon) Python. 

This monstrous beast protected the sanctuary of Pytho from its lair beside the Castalian Spring. 

There it stood guard while the "Sibyl" gave out her prophecies as she inhaled the trance inducing vapors from an open chasm. 

Apollo killed Python with his bow and arrows (Homer wrote "he killed the fearsome dragon Python, piercing it with his darts"), and then Apollo took charge of Delphi, turning it into his own special Oracle.

So ... is Antinous about to slay the lizard like Apollo slaying Python?

Or is Antinous actually lifting the stone away from the lizard, like Hercules liberating Ascalaphus in the River of Styx? 

Either way, of course, Antinous is engaging very powerful, dark energies. 

The Python is the guardian of Divine Secrets ... and Apollo mastered and become lord of Divine Secrets by overpowering Python. And Ascalaphus is the herald of dark secrets and unpleasant truths which must be told ... even at the risk of severe penalty.

Either way, these images have nothing to do with 21st Century sensitivities about animal cruelty.

These are very powerful images of Divine Secrets.

SAINT DIVINE HARRIS GLENN MILSTEAD

ON October 19th we honor Saint Divine (October 19, 1945 — March 7, 1988), born Harris Glenn Milstead. 

Divine was an openly gay American actor, singer and drag queen.

Described by People magazine as the "Drag Queen of the Century," Divine often performed female roles in both cinema and theater and also appeared in women's wear in musical performances. 

Even so, he considered himself to be a character actor and performed male roles in a number of his later films.

He was most often associated with independent filmmaker John Waters and starred in ten of Waters's films, usually in a leading role.

Concurrent with his acting career, he also had a successful career as  a disco singer during the 1980s, at one point being described as "the  most successful and in-demand disco performer in the world."

Divine, the seventh-of-a-ton transvestite star of Mr. Waters's early movies, helped set a new standard for drag that endured long after Divine's death of heart failure in 1988, Mr. Waters said.

"When we started in those days, drag queens were square," Mr. Waters explained. "They hated Divine: they wanted to be Bess Myerson. And Divine would show up in a see-through miniskirt with a chainsaw instead of a pocketbook."

The Divine look, which stylist Van Smith first created in 1972 for Pink Flamingos, had three components. First was the hair, shaved back to the crown to allow more room for eye makeup. Second was the makeup, acres of eye shadow topped by McDonald's-arch eyebrows; lashes so long they preceded the wearer; and a huge scarlet mouth. Third were the clothes: shimmering, skintight numbers that gave Divine a larger-than-life female sensuality.

The net effect, as Mr. Smith ordained it, was a cross between Jayne Mansfield and Clarabell the Clown.

"If you look at anything that Divine wore, you sure couldn't find that off the rack," Mr. Waters said.

All of Divine's costumes were constructed by a Baltimore woman who made outfits for strippers. Subtle they were not. There was the red fishtail dress from Pink Flamingos, in which Divine looks equal parts mermaid, Valkyrie and firetruck. And there was the sheer wedding gown she wears in Female Trouble (1974), underwear not included.

Divine once famously said that if anybody was shocked by a 300-pound drag queen in a slinky cocktail dress "then maybe they need to be shocked." He himself would describe his stage performances as "just good, dirty fun, and if you find it offensive, honey, don't join in."

As a part of his performance, he would constantly swear at the audience, often using his signature line of "fuck you very much", and at times would get audience members to come onstage, where he would fondle their buttocks, groins and breasts.

He became increasingly known for outlandish stunts onstage, each time trying to outdo what he had done before. At one performance, held in the Hippodrome in London, that coincided with American Independence Day, Divine rose up from the floor on a hydraulic lift, draped in the American flag, and declared that "I'm here representing Freedom, Liberty, Family Values and the fucking American Way of Life." 

When he performed at London Gay Pride parade, he sang on the roof of a hired pleasure boat that floated down the Thames passed Jubilee Gardens, whilst at a performance he gave at the Hippodrome in the last year of his life, he appeared onstage riding an infant elephant, known as Bully the Elephant, who had been hired for the occasion.

Divine and his stage act proved particularly popular amongst gay audiences, and he appeared at some of the world's biggest gay clubs, such as Heaven in London. According to Divine's manager, Bernard Jay, this was "not because Divine happened to be a gay person himself... but because it was the gay community that openly and proudly identified with the determination of the female character Divine."

He was also described as "one of the few truly radical and essential artists of the century ... who was an audacious symbol of man's quest for liberty and freedom." 

On the evening of March 7, 1988, a week after his starring role in Hairspray was released, Divine was staying at the Regency Hotel in Los Angeles. The next day, he auditioned for a part in the Fox network's television series Married ... with Children. After dining with friends and returning to the hotel, he died in his sleep of an enlarged heart at age 42.

EL SANTO NIÑO FIDENCIO

ON October 18th  we honor a gay man who is adored as a saint by millions of people in Mexico.

El Niño Fidencio, Saint of Antinous, was a Mexican "curandero" (male witch healer or shaman) in the 1920s and '30s who is regarded as a saint by his modern-day followers (although he is not recognized by the Catholic Church) and who depicted himself in drag as the Virgin Mary.

His millions of believers point to the fact that he has been credited with innumerable healings and other miracles. He is credited with saving countless lives and with curing incrable ailments.

His millions of believers also point to the numerological phenomenon that he was born on October 18, 1898, and he died on October 19, 1938.

The story of El Niño Fidencio also has many parallels to the story of the Magnificent Religion of Antinous.

Like ANTINOUS THE GAY GOD after deification on the banks of the Nile, El Niño Fidencio was a winsome young man beloved by all who worked miracles along the banks of a great river (Rio Grande) flowing through the barren wasteland of a desert between two lands, the US and Mexico.

The Nile divided the Land of the Living from the Land of the Dead,  the Rio Grande divides (or joins) two culturally merging societies.

The Ancients believed Antinous worked miracles in the lives of his faithful followers. Antinous healed the sick, he granted people love and prosperity, he shielded them from peril.

Historian Royston Lambert's book Beloved and God: The Story of Hadrian and Antinous devotes a full chapter to the Religion of Antinous and mentions the miracles he was able to bring forth.

The oracle priests of Antinous could intercede with the God, or followers could appeal directly to Antinous:

"There is evidence of oracles at Tarsos and perhaps at Rome itself," Lambert writes. "No doubt it was through these pronouncements and visitations that he wrought miracles and healing for which he evidently became famous in the east."

In many areas, people named their children Antinous in the fervent belief that he would watch over and protect their offspring all their lives.

There is the well-documented case of a man named Serapamon who lived in Antinoopolis in the 3rd Century and who called on the priests of Antinous for a love spell to attract a certain woman named Ptolemais. Clearly, his followers truly believed he could work miracles for those who believed in him.

Lambert points out: "The frequent use of his medals as talismans or amulets demonstrates demonstrates a widespread faith in his powers in Greece, Asia Minor and Egypt."

Lambert makes it clear that, for early followers of Antinous, there was no doubt in their hearts or minds that he could work miracles — and did so on an everyday basis.

"Indeed," Lambert goes on to state, "the popular vigour and genuine conviction of the 'belief' in Antinous were widespread and persistent enough to provoke the scorn of some sophisticated pagans and the anxious and unremitting indignation of most Christian apologists for two and a half centuries to come."

We should remember the heart-felt faith of the early followers of Antinous, who knew Him to be their salvation. We should remember their undying faith when we honor El Niño Fidencio in the face of the "anxious and unremitting indignation" of Catholic clerics to this day.

AMPHIPOLIS TOMB MOSAIC DEPICTS THE ABDUCTION OF PROSERPINE BY PLUTO

EXPERTS working at the mysterious large tomb at AMPHIPOLIS in Macedonia, Greece, have uncovered the rest of the mosaic flooring of the second chamber ... revealing the Abduction of Proserpine/Persephone by Pluto. 

The symbolism of the beautiful MOSAIC, which was discovered in the second chamber of the tomb and is the site of the CARYATIDS discovery, vastly increases the chances that this tomb houses a member of the Macedonian royal family.

In a news conference following the recent discovery of a stunning mosaic, Lena Mendoni, general secretary of the Greek Ministry of Culture,said that the scene of the abduction of Persephone gives archaeologists great certainty that the occupant of the mysterious tomb is a member of the Macedonian royal family.

"We have also found the scene of the abduction of Persephone in the mural of the so-called tomb of Persephone at the royal cemetery at Vergina, Greece. We have a second display of Pluto and Persephone, in a sacred marriage scene at the backrest of the marble throne found at the tomb of Eurydice, mother of Philip, in Aeges," she said.

"The scenes are linked with the cults of the underworld, the Orphic cult-descent into Hades and the Dionysian rites. The leader of the Macedons was always the archpriest of these cults," Mendoni added.

"Therefore, the mosaic scene in Amphipolis has a symbolic importance, which may indicate that there is a relationship of the 'tenant' of the tomb with the Macedonian royal family. The political symbolism is very strong at all times," she added.

Until now, archaeologists had only uncovered a portion of the mosaic showing Mercury-Hermes and a chariot driven by a bearded deity ... now identified as Pluto-Hades. 

The colorful floor was laid with white, black, grey, blue, red and yellow pebbles and depicts a chariot in motion. 

Mercury-Hermes, the messenger of the gods and guide to the Underworld, is pictured in front of the chariot driven by Pluto-Hades with his abducted bride-to-be in tow.

She is depicted with flowing auburn hair and wearing a white chiton trimmed in red ribbons. The ancient artists even gave her a jeweled ring for her left hand.

Her facial expression is strikingly detailed, her eyes displaying a plaintive look of woe. 

The mosaic showcases the artists' abilities to portray the figures, horses and colors in exquisite detail.

The stunning artwork spans the entire floor of the second chamber. It measures 4.5 meters in width and 3 meters in length. 

The central scene is surrounded by a decorative frame, 0.60 meters in width, featuring a double meander, squares and a wave-curl design.

According to archaeologists, the central a section of the mosaic floor was destroyed in antiquity. The Amphipolis team was able to recover many of the loose pieces of the mosaic during the excavation process, however, and plans on being able to eventually piece the mosaic back together.

Greek prime minister has said he is almost certain it must be the LOST TOMB OF ALEXANDER. Alexander sailed from Amphipolis to Asia. However, it is almost certain that his tomb is located in Alexandria, since people such as Julius Caesar, Hadrian and Antinous are supposed to have visited his burial site there.

Other candidates for the tomb include the MOTHER OF ALEXANDER or possibly Roxana the WIFE OF ALEXANDER or even his male lover Hephaestion.