"The
little tomb was beside the Nile adjacent to where its occupant had
died. Outside it was a very simple mastaba. Hadrian wanted no
unscrupulous thieves to pay it any attention. Inside, however, it had
been lavishly decorated with scenes from the Egyptian Book of the Dead
....
"Hadrian
was immensely pleased with it but still couldn't really believe he was
to leave part of his lovely Antinous in Egypt ....
"Despite
the months since Antinous was lost, it still seemed perfectly
conceivable to Hadrian that Antinous would skip into view with some
quote or other from the latest scroll he'd been reading. Hadrian had to
work hard, mentally, to shake these visions from his head and face his
grandly dressed new priests with dignity.
"The
mummy of Antinous was carried in on a boat-shaped bier. Three men
carried it on each side with one behind to steady it. Hadrian walked in
front - his head shrouded in a white hood. The preserved body was now
placed on top of a sarcophagus. Hadrian now turned to address his seven
pallbearers ....
"Hadrian
stood before each man and dipped his thumb into a vial of liquid. It
contained collected, salty liquid from his tears. To each man, he said,
'Accept Antinous as your God. Carry forward his name as our God with my
blessing.' He then pressed his damp thumb onto the centre of their
foreheads."
(Editor's
note: This passage has been shortened for space. Afterwards, Hadrian
and the newly ordained Antinous priests watched as Egyptian embalming
priests of Anubis, while chanting the sacred words of the Book of the
Dead, ritually opened the mouth of Antinous, thereby allowing his spirit
to receive homage, which was the high ceremony that opened the way for
the immortality of the body. Now we continue with Martin Campbell's
narrative.)
"The
next stage of the ceremony would normally have been to return the mummy
to its sarcophagus and seal it with wax, further ceremony and chanting.
Today, however, the mummy was gently carried back out of the tomb. It
would accompany Hadrian back to the villa at Tibur.
"...
Hadrian was soon outside supervising the final stage of today's event.
Near to the tomb, Hadrian was watching as masons heaved an obelisk into
place on its plinth .... on each of its four sides hieroglyphs had been
carved with words written by Hadrian and the priests ....
"...
Hadrian was satisfied. The tomb and the obelisk were effectively his
foundation stones for the new city that would emerge triumphant from
these barren sands.
"Antinoopolis, Hadrian's great earthbound tribute to Antinous, was beginning to take shape"
Editor's note: This text has been greatly shortened for space considerations with kind permission of the author.
Martin Campbell's "The Love God" is available as paperback or Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/The-Love-God-Martin-Campbell/dp/1500902543
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