THE FOUNDING OF ANTINOOPOLIS

UNLIKE other so many other deities, Antinous started out as a mortal human being, who was born in Asia Minor and who became the companion of the mightiest man on Earth ... and who died tragically in the Nile ... and was deified to become the last Classical God.

At the command of his friend and lover Emperor Hadrian, who proclaimed the deification of Antinous, a mighty city of white marble rose on the banks of the Nile where he had died.

It was the Sacred City of Antinous, the glorious city in Egypt called ANTINOOPOLIS originally and later Ansena and Antinoé (also spelled Antinopolis or Antinoupolis).

It flourished for centuries before sinking into gradual decline and ruin. Now only a wretched village huddles the banks of the Nile, with a plain of rubble-strewn mounds stretching out behind it ... all that is left of the fabled city of Antinoopolis.

Archaeologists working at the site announced this week that they may have found A RIVERSIDE TEMPLE COMPLEX which may have marked the actual spot where Antinous died.

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. 

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 was initiated.