Thursday, November 30, 2017

BAY IN SOUTHEAST ENGLAND
WAS WHERE JULIUS CAESAR LANDED



ARCHAEOLOGISTS say they have finally discovered the landing site of Julius Caesar's 55BC invasion of Britain … at the far southeast tip of England.

Until now, mystery has surrounded the Roman army's first encounter with ancient Britons, but researchers now believe the fleet landed on the Isle of Thanet, Kent.

A team from the University of Leicester have pinpointed a previously overlooked site near Pegwell Bay, as the place the Roman army first landed.

They have uncovered a large ditch in the neighbouring hamlet of Ebbsfleet.

Judging by its size and date, it appears to have been a Roman base from the 1st Century BC.

The trench's shape is also reportedly very similar to Roman defences in France, and contained iron weapons, including a Roman javelin, suggesting it was used by the invading army.

With the site now half-a-mile inland, searches had previously focused on the Kent shoreline ten miles to the south.

However at the time of Caesar's first attempted landing in 55 BC, the bay would have far closer to the coast.

The location also matches the one described by Caesar, which he said was visible from the sea, with a large open bay, and was overlooked by higher ground.

If correct, the group may have discovered the first concrete evidence of a camp established by the Roman army which had never previously been found.

Wednesday, November 29, 2017

YOU CAN TAKE IT WITH YOU
THANKS TO THIS WINGED SNAKE GOD



WE all know that the Ancient Egyptians believed you can take it with you ... that death does not mean you have to part with everything that was important to you in life ... but few people today understand that there was a far more sophisticated spiritual interpretation.

Yes, of course, the simple folk believed that you literally took things with you to the afterlife ... mummified body, ushabti figures, food, clothing. There was a huge industry specializing in tomb furnishings, mummification and supplying the dead with sustenance.

But the material goods in tombs were only symbolic of a far richer, and spiritually deeper understanding of "taking it with you" after death.

The curious-looking winged snake on the papyrus 
of the 19th Dynasty scribe Amenemwija in Berlin's Egyptian Museum hints at that far deeper spiritual meaning.

The deity is called "Nehebkau" (Harnesses KAs) ... and he is poised in front of the deceased ... taking in the every spiritual essence (KA) that the deceased wants to take with him in the afterlife.

November 29th was one of this deity's feast days.

The Egyptians believed you give up only those things you don't want to take with you ... you take anything and everything else which you deem worth saving for eternity.

Nehebkau represents an advanced spiritual element. In computer parlance, he "downloads" the spiritual essence or "KA" of everything you want to have with you ... and Nehebkau defrags and condenses everything for instant retrieval.

The "KA" is the spiritual essence of everything. Each human has a main KA plus many subsidiary ones. Everything has at least one KA ... every blade of grass, every object, every animal ... everything.

Nehebkau literally takes all the KAs of the person and all the KAs that the person wants to have with him/herself in the afterlife ... all friends, memories, pets, pleasant experiences, houses, furnishings ... the spiritual essence of EVERYTHING ... and then he "downloads" them by swallowing them into his slender serpentine body ... and condenses them like zip files and defrags them and compacts and configures them all into an infinitely small corner of his infinitely vast mind ....

It is important to point out that this does not mean that the dead person drains the life force from all friends and family and leaves them empty. It does not mean they all have to die to accompany the deceased.

Instead, it is exactly like "downloading" the essence of the persons or objects. The persons and objects themselves remain intact ... their spiritual essence is unaffected ... but Nehebkau has downloaded the spiritual essence to accompany the deceased.


Nothing is diminished. Nothing is lost. The KA is copied and saved and filed away.

And in the afterlife, the deceased retrieves any and all docs, jpegs, YouTube URLS and files ... eternally fresh and alive ... for all eternity.

We tend to buy the Judaeo-Christian idea of ashes-to-ashes, dust-to-dust which means that we must "let go" while our loved ones, memories and treasures all crumble away and end up on the conveyor belt of the garbage incinerator ... like the final scene from a "Toy Story" movie.

Or we opt for the Eastern idea that you become one with the universe and everything dissolves away into one-ness ... no self, no ego, no death, no suffering, no end to suffering, no end to death ... etc. ... like the final scene of a movie about Tibetan monks and a little boy from Seattle.

These scenarios would have been appalling to the Egyptians. You take whatever and whomever you want along with you into the afterlife ... no carry-on bags necessary ... everything is neatly defragged and compressed and configurated and stored away in the infinitely vast mind of Nehebkau.


Yes, all of your earthly friends, pets and possessions will crumble away ... but their spiritual essence has been downloaded as a back up for you to keep with you ... for all eternity ... thanks to Nehebkau.

Tuesday, November 28, 2017

JEAN-BAPTISTE de LULLY
SAINT OF ANTINOUS


ON November 28th the Religion of Antinous honors Saint Jean-Baptiste de Lully, who was born on this day in 1632 in Florence, Italy. 

Parlaying his looks, his dancing and his musical genius into an erotic/artistic career, he rose from being a scullery knave to becoming director of music in the Court of French King Louis XIV. 

By the time he died on March 22, 1687, he had created a new art form and had changed the course of the performing arts forever.

Lully's story has some parallels to the story of Hadrian and Antinous. The parallels are not exact. It is more as though Lully and Louis XIV were a "parallel universe" story of Antinous and Hadrian with bizarre twists thrown in to the plot of the story.

Lully was totally dependent upon the Sun King and was totally devoted to him. When the king expressed a whim to learn to dance, Lully became his dance instructor, creating a whole new art form involving dance and song.

Quite aside from his infamous carousing with boys, Lully was desperately in love with Louis XIV. It was an impossible love, of course. It could never be consummated.

The king viewed Lully as his artistic mentor, but nothing more. Lully viewed the king as the love of his life, and his art was merely an expression of that love.

Unwittingly, Lully planted the seeds for his own doom. Others took his idea and developed it further: And Opera was born.

The king became infatuated with Opera and totally lost interest in Lully's Baroque stage productions. He forgot all about Lully.

For Lully, that was tantamount to death, and he soon died as the result of a tragic "accident" -- he plunged a sharp baton-sceptre through his foot in a rage of despair after the king failed to appear at the debut of his latest masterpiece.

The wound became gangrenous, but when physicians advised that the foot must be amputated, St. Jean-Baptiste refused, saying that if he could never dance again, then he would prefer to be dead.

Yes, his life was like some nightmare, parallel-universe version of the Hadrian and Antinous story, set against the backdrop of men in silk brocade costumes and in four-inch heels and wearing ornate wigs. It is a story of a man's unconditional love and self-sacrifice for his Sun King.

St. Jean-Baptiste de Lully had a deep fondness for the Roman Gods, and he portrayed them with the gay flourish of the the court of the Sun King. It remains a style all its own, completely out of fashion...even among classical music weirdos.

We adore St. Lully's music...we adore the grace and profound emotions that pour from his chords. We love the beauty of his style of dance.


No doubt when Monsieur St. de Lully arrived at the Divine court of Hadrian the God, he immediately set about rearranging the Imperial Orchestra, replacing the Ney Flutes with Bassoons and Oboes, dismissing the Cythara in favor of Violas de Gamba.

Perhaps the old Greek musicians might have taken insult at being swept aside, but with a wave of his hand...Antinous calmed them.

So it was that the celestial Imperial Orchestra performed the new opera Of Saint Jean-Baptiste de Lully. The Imperial Court was astonished to hear the new sound. Even the Greeks were amazed (and the Greeks had heard everything). And With a wreathed nod of his illuminated head, Hadrian enthroned commanded his beloved Antinous to dance.


When we join the court of Hadrian in the heavens, we will see Antinous dance to the new music of Saint Jean-Baptiste de Lully.


ANTINOUS BIRTHDAY CEREMONIES
CELEBRATED GLOBALLY VIA SKYPE



"THE most salient feature about Antinous, and the thing that makes our religion different from others, is that Antinous was a mortal human being who actually lived," said Antonius Subia in a global Skype link-up this weekend celebrating the birthday of Antinous.

Speaking from the Hollywood Temple of Antinous to celebrants taking part from across the United States, Europe and as far away as Brazil, he noted that we know his birth date ... 27 November ... and we know what he looked like from countless statues.

"He was a human being just like you or me," Flamen Antonius said. "He was not some ray of light of divine perfection. He was a person with faults and failings just like any of us. And yet he became the last deity of the Classical era ... we know he lived ... and we know he became a god."

Joining ceremonies from Germany via Skype, Priest Hernestus offered a reading from MARTIN CAMPBELL's brilliant historical novel about the life of Antinous entitled, THE LOVE GOD, which has received critical acclaim. 

The passage described the mountainous woodlands of Bithynia (modern Turkey) where Antinous was born in the year 111 AD.

More big news was made at the virtual-reality conclave was held in conjunction with ceremonies at the HOLLYWOOD TEMPLE OF ANTINOUS when Antonius announced the 4th Sacred Games of Antinous in the modern era will be held August 21st, 2018. Applications for entries are being taken now.

"Everyone has heard of the Ancient Olympics, but there were other Games held in antiquity," Antonius told the celebrants gathered at the Hollywood Temple and via phone and Skype.

"And among the most famous were the Games of Antinous, which were called the Megala Antinoeia ... the Great Games of Antinous," Antonius said. "These were Sacred Games which were held in Antinoopolis, Bithynia and in Mantinea."

The most famous Games were held at Antinoopolis, the city founded by Emperor Hadrian in Egypt at the spot along the Nile where Antinous had drowned in the year 130 AD.

The competitors were primarily young men called Ephebes. 

In Antinoopolis these included swimming and boat races in the Nile.

But the Antinous Games were unique in that they also included competition in the arts and music. 

The over-all winner was consecrated as the living embodiment of Antinous and given citizenship in Antinoopolis, with an all-expense-paid life of luxury and adoration. 

He was worshiped in the temple as the representative of Antinous, the emblem of youth and masculinity. He was the Divine Ephebe.

The Great Antinoeia, as the Games of Antinous were called, were held for hundreds of years. 

But little was known of the actual competitions until a fragile papyrus was deciphered recently which revealed some intriguing and somewhat shocking details about the Games of Antinous of the year 267 AD and two wrestlers named NICANTINOUS AND DEMETRIUS.

The Games of Antinous faded into obscurity ... but have been revived in the past decade by us. They are held every four years during the cycle of the blooming of the ROSY LOTUS OF ANTINOUS AFTER THE LION HUNT in August.

This is the IV ANTINOEIAD of the modern era, and entry is open to everyone wishing to honor Antinous with their own artistic, academic or athletic talents.

"These Games are open to all ... regardless whether you are gay and regardless of gender," Antonius said.

"You can submit any form of artistic endeavor ... poems, paintings, videos or literary works. But you can also submit dancing, running or other physical effort ... as long as you provide documentation of your performance art," he explained.

Prizes will be awarded to winners, details of which are to be unveiled on this blog in coming days and weeks as the deadline approaches.

For enquiries and submissions, contact us here: antinouspriest@gmail.com



Monday, November 27, 2017

ANTINOUS BIRTHDAY PRAYER
By Flamen Antinoalis Antonius Subia



Today is the Birthday of Antinous 
May He bless us all with his coming
May he rise up inside us and be reborn,
In our Darkest moments, when hope seems far
And Purpose seems faded
When the end seems closer than the beginning
May he rise up from the deep
Ave Antinous, who was born on this day
Ave Antinous, of the Pine Forest
Ave Antinous, son of Venus 
Ave Antinous, destiny of the gods
The Child Antinous is with us Again

~ANTONIUS SUBIA




ANTINOUS WAS BORN ON THIS DAY
1,906 YEARS AGO


ANTINOUS was born on this day, November 27th in the year 111 AD — 1,906 years ago!

Festive celebrations are being held by worshipers all over the world, with special rites being conducted at the HOLLYWOOD TEMPLE OF ANTINOUS.

Antinous was born in the Bithynian city of Claudiopolis, modern-day Bolu in Turkey.

It was a major city in those days with a Hellenistic/Roman heritage dating back centuries. It was nestled among snow-capped peaks and woodlands full of wild beasts and full of mythical magic.

The portrait of the newborn baby Antinous and his mother against the backdrop of a Bithynian conifer forest is by PRIEST UENDI, a New York artist who now lives in Hollywood.

Modern Claudiopolis/Bolu is a sleepy health resort. Not too many foreign tourists go there, but the area is a popular with Turkish vacationers because of its pine-covered mountains and its sparkling lakes and spa waters.


The altitude makes it refreshingly cooler than lower-lying regions, so Turks go there to get away from the heat and noise of places like Istanbul and Ankara.

Wikipedia says: "Local specialities include a sweet made of hazelnuts (which grow in abundance here) and an eau-de-cologne with the scent of grass. One feature of Bolu dear to the local people is the soft spring water obtained from fountains in the town."
 

Hazelnut candy? Grass-scented cologne? Amazingly soft spring water? Somehow that one little paragraph makes it sound like a place where Antinous would have to have been born.

The area where Antinous was born is a beautiful place, nestled high in piney forests and yet only a short distance from the sparkling Black Sea coast about halfway between Istanbul and Ankara.

The region is teeming with bountiful wildlife and so Hadrian and Antinous went on hunting forays while in Bithynium. As a boy, Antinous must have played in these forests and bathed in these sparkling lakes.

He would have remembered these boyhood days during his travels with Hadrian to the far corners of the Empire. We often forget that Antinous had a family who must have loved him and missed him. They were no doubt proud of him, but they missed him.

And he missed them as he also missed his lovely Bithynia with its mountains and lakes and deep forests which, in winter, are covered in deep snow.

The first snows may have already fallen "back home" at the end of October in 130 AD when Antinous stood on the banks of the Nile in Upper Egypt. Perhaps he had received a letter from home with the latest family gossip and news of the first snowfall. He would have remembered the scent of pine forests and fresh-fallen snow.

As he looked into the green waters of the Nile in far-away Egypt at the end of his brief life, perhaps he thought of "home" and lakes and dark forests and pine cones and the scent of hazelnuts being roasted and mixed with rose water and honey to make candy.


November 27th is an introspective moment ... an evaluation of things past ... and things to come. And above all, it is birthday party time. Let the Festive Season Begin with an Antinous Birthday Party!

Sunday, November 26, 2017

ICONIC GAY PORN STAR JOEY STEFANO
IS A SAINT OF ANTINOUS



WE honour iconic gay porn actor Joey Stefano as a saint of Antinous. 

Nicholas Anthony Iacona Junior was born January 1, 1968, in suburban Philadelphia USA and died November 26, 1994, of a drug overdose. 

Over the course of his five-year career, Stefano appeared in 58 gay adult films, and two music videos with Madonna. 

Despite his success, Stefano did not save his earnings and relapsed into drug and alcohol abuse. 

In 1990, he was diagnosed HIV positive. 

On November 21, 1994, Stefano's body was found in a motel room in Hollywood. He was 26 years old.

He symbolizes gay men who skyrocket to celebrity but who fall into disillusionment and ruin just as quickly.

Saturday, November 25, 2017

THIS IS THE DAY THE ORION NEBULA
WAS DISCOVERED AND NAMED



ON 25 November 1610 French astronomer Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc (Peiresc) discovered the Orion Nebula and coined the term "nebula". 

The Ancient Egyptians equated Orion with Osiris ... the rise of the Orion Constellation and dog star Sirius coincided with the Nile Inundation ... symbolized by Osiris rising from the dead.

Like Osiris, Antinous died in the Nile and rose to divinity. The first miracle of Antinous was the bountiful Nile Inundation in 131 AD which ended a long drought ... bringing life from death.

JOSEPH CHRISTIAN LEYENDECKER
SAINT OF ANTINOUS


WE honor Joseph Christian Leyendecker as a Saint of Antinous for his trail-blazing work as a homoerotic illustrator who changed the face of magazine publishing and advertising in the early 20th Century.

He is best known for his poster, book and advertising illustrations, the trade character known as The Arrow Collar Man, and his numerous covers for The Saturday Evening Post.


J. C. Leyendecker's sexuality, often attributing the apparent homoerotic aesthetic of his work to a homosexual identity. Without question, Leyendecker excelled at depicting male homosocial spaces (locker rooms, clubhouses, tailoring shops) and extraordinarily handsome young men in curious poses or exchanging glances.

Moreover, Leyendecker never married, and he lived with another man, Charles Beach, for much of his adult life, who is assumed to have been his lover and who was the original model of the famous Arrow Collar Man.

While Beach often organized the famous gala-like social gatherings that Leyendecker was known for in the 1920s, he apparently also contributed largely to Leyendecker's social isolation in his later years. 



Beach reportedly forbade outside contact with the artist in the last months of his life.

Due to his fame as an illustrator, Leyendecker was able to indulge in a very luxurious lifestyle which in many ways embodied the decadence of the Roaring Twenties. 


However, when commissions began to wane in the 1930s, he was forced to curtail spending considerably.

By the time of his death, Leyendecker had let all of the household staff at his suburban New York estate go, with he and Beach attempting to maintain the extensive estate themselves.


Leyendecker left a tidy estate equally split between his sister and Beach.

Leyendecker is buried alongside parents and brother Frank at Woodlawn Cemetery in Bronx, New York. Charles Beach died a few months after Leyendecker, and his burial location is unknown.

Friday, November 24, 2017

FREDDIE MERCURY
SAINT OF ANTINOUS



ON November 24th the Religion of Antinous celebrates the outrageous life of St. Freddie Mercury.

St. Freddie Mercury whose death from AIDS on this date in 1991 shocked the world, was a courageous performer whose gayness, while not always stated, was a visible part of his persona. He served as an inspiration for millions of gay men, particularly those who, like him, fight ethnic prejudice every day of their lives.

St. Freddie, who was of Indian Parsi descent, and who was born on the island of Zanzibar and grew up in India, has been referred to as "Britain's first Asian rock star."

Like all great showbiz artists, St. Freddie was acutely aware of his public image and went to great lengths to cultivate the persona of Freddie Mercury -- and to hide any trace of the little Parsi boy named Farrokh Bulsara. Freddie Mercury -- or rather the showbiz image called Freddie Mercury -- was beyond all definitions of ethnic origin, or sexual orientation or political affiliation. Not surprisingly, many people were confused and sometimes irritated by the image.

People criticized him for "hiding" his ethnic background. But as a friend told an interviewer after Freddie's death, "[Farrokh] Bulsara was a name he had buried. 

He never wanted to talk about any period in his life before he became Freddie Mercury, and everything about Freddie Mercury was a self-constructed thing."

People also criticized him for not "coming out" publicly. But again, Freddie Mercury (the showbiz image) was beyond gender limitations. 

In fact, Mercury referred to himself as "gay" in a 1974 interview with NME magazine. He was frequently spotted at the cruisiest gay bars across Europe, the UK and America. On the other hand, he would often distance himself from partner Jim Hutton during public events in the 1980s.


Freddie Mercury (the rock icon) was too big to be contained in one gender mold.

He was diagnosed with HIV in 1987. Everyone knew he was sick and everyone surmised the reason. But Freddie Mercury (the image) could never die.

And so it was, that Freddie Mercury never acknowledged his illness until November 23, 1991, when a tersely worded statement was issued announcing that he had AIDS.

A few hours later, he was dead. At the age of 45.

Although he cultivated a very flamboyant stage personality, several sources (including people of my own acquaintance who knew him "intimately") refer to Mercury as having been very shy in person. He also granted very few interviews. Mercury once said of himself: "When I'm performing I'm an extrovert, yet inside I'm a completely different man."

One man was an Indian Parsi kid called Farrokh Bulsara who had been born in Zanzibar.

The other man was FREDDIE MERCURY:

Farrokh Bulsara died on November 24, 1991.

Freddie Mercury will live forever.

The Religion of Antinous honors Freddie Mercury as a Saint of Antinous because he embodies the artistic genius and the flamboyant courage that inspires each of us to strive to be a "star". St. Freddie Mercury admonishes us to strip off the guise of conventionality and the put on our "star" outfits and to take the stage of life. He teaches us to live each day as if it is forever.

Thursday, November 23, 2017

NEW STUDY SHEDS LIGHT ON BOYHOOD
IN ROMAN-ERA EGYPT NEAR ANTINOOPOLIS


IN Roman Egypt, 14-year-old boys were enrolled in a youth organization in order to learn to be good citizens, according to a new study into a field that has never properly been studied until now … boyhood in Roman-ruled Egypt.

The researchers from the University of Oslo and Britain's University of Newcastle, have unearthed papyrus documents from the 5th Century AD from OXYRHYNCHUS Egypt. 

(Image: Head of a 2nd Century AD Roman-era boy with Egyptian-style "Sidelock of Horus" in Oslo Museum of Cultural History)

The documents shed new light into boyhood in Egypt in the heyday of Antinoopolis, which was located only a short distance from Oxyrhynchus (also spelled Oxyrhynchos).

Only boys born to free-born citizens were entitled to be members of the town's youth organization, which was called a "gymnasium." These boys were the children of local Egyptians, Greeks and Romans. 

Their families would necessarily have been quite prosperous, and have had an income that placed them in the "12 drachma tax class." 

It is uncertain how large a proportion of the population would have qualified, probably somewhere between 10 and 25 per cent, says social historian and historian of ideas Ville Vuolanto.

Girls were not enrolled as members of the gymnasium, but are often mentioned in the administrative documents as being the boys' siblings. This may have had to do with family status or tax class. Both girls and women could own property, but in principle they had to have a male guardian.


For boys from well-off families of the free-born citizen class, the transition to adult life started with enrollment in the 'gymnasium'.

Other boys started working before reaching their teens, and might serve an apprenticeship of two to four years. 

(Illustration by Roger Payne)

The researchers have found about 20 apprenticeship contracts in Oxyrhynchus, most of them relating to the weaving industry since Oxyrhynchus was a major weaving center in Egypt. 

Males were not reckoned to be fully adults until they married in their early twenties.

Slave children could also become apprentices, and their contracts were of the same type as for the boys of free-born citizens. Slaves lived either with their owners or in the same house as their master, while free-born children generally lived with their parents.

But life was different for slave children nonetheless. Vuolanto says they have found documents to show that children as young as two were sold and separated from their parents.

(Image: Boys learning to write)

In one letter, a man encourages his brother to sell the youngest slave children, and some wine ... whereas his nephews should be spoiled. He writes "…I am sending you some melon seeds and two bundles of old clothes, which you can share with your children."

Little is known about the lives of children until they turn up in official documents, which is usually not before they are in their early teens. 

It seems that children began doing light work between the ages of seven and nine. Typically, they might have been set to work as goatherds or to collect wood or dry animal dung for fuel.

There were probably a good number of children who did not live with their biological parents, because the mortality rate was high.

"It's like putting together a jigsaw puzzle. By examining papyri, pottery fragments with writing on, toys and other objects, we are trying to form a picture of how children lived in Roman Egypt," explains Vuolanto.

The documents originate from Oxyrhynchus in Egypt, which was a large town of more than 25,000 inhabitants. 

(Image: Mummy-face portrait of a young boy from Antinoopolis)

Oxyrhynchus was so important that Antinous and Hadrian visited the city only a few days before Antinous died in the Nile in 130 AD.

The city had Egypt's most important weaving industry, and was also the Roman administrative centre for the area.

Researchers possess a great deal of documentation precisely from this area because archaeologists digging one hundred years ago discovered thousands of papyri in what had once been the city's rubbish dumps.

Wednesday, November 22, 2017

WE PRAY TO ANTINOUS/DIANA
TO GUIDE US IN OUR HUNT BY MOONBEAMS


TONIGHT, November 22,  is one of the festivals of Diana goddess of the Moon and hunting. 

She is goddess of wild places and wild animals and the protector of young women, pregnant women and those giving birth. 

Diana is the twin sister of Apollo. 

As Antinous is often assimilated to Apollo, he therefore substitutes as the twin of Diana, though he can often be viewed as her male double, so that Antinous is Diana. 

Antinous and Diana are both hunters, and moon deities, and they are also gods of magic and darkness. 

Diana is often compared to Hecate, the supreme goddess of Theurgian magicians, who rose to prominence during the reign of Marcus Aurelius. 

Antinous therefore is the male equivalent of Hecate.

ANTONIUS SUBIA says: "We pray to Diana to guide us in our hunt and to illuminate our nights with the silver light of her sublime power. We recognize that the Moon of Diana is the Moon of Antinous."

Tuesday, November 21, 2017

SEE ANTINOUS IN A NEW LIGHT
AT CAMBRIDGE'S FITZWILLIAM MUSEUM



THE famous Lansdowne bust of Antinous as Dionysus can be seen in a new light … literally … during a new lighting instillation at the FITZWILLIAM MUSEUM in Cambridge, England.

The artist Hugo Dalton will be projecting his dramatic lightdrawings onto sculptures in the Greece and Rome Gallery.

His works will interact with the architecture of the surrounding gallery to create a series of immersive installations.

Dalton’s work has previously been shown at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, Today Art Museum in Beijing and he has created a stage set at Sadler’s Wells Theatre in Britain.

The lighting installation opened 21 November 2017 and runs through 14 January 2018. Admission is free of charge.

QUENTIN CRISP
SAINT OF ANTINOUS


ON November 21st the Religion of Antinous honors Saint Quentin Crisp, who died on this day in 1999. He was born on Christmas Day in 1908. 

He became a gay icon in the 1970s after publication of his memoir, The Naked Civil Servant, his true-life account of his defiant exhibitionism and longstanding refusal to conceal his homosexuality.

John Hurt helped to make Quentin Crisp a media star in the movie adaptation of The Naked Civil Servant in the 1970s. In a sequel 30 years later Hurt made him a screen legend, very much in keeping with the lifelong ambition of Quentin Crisp.

In the second film, An Englishman In New York, Hurt portrayed the elderly Quentin Crisp as the New York gay icon based in Manhattan's funky-gritty Lower East Side in the 1980s and '90s.



At an age when most people would retire to a nursing home, Quentin Crisp left his native England and moved to New York City, where he pursued a career as a bon vivant and raconteur.

Asked by a BBC interview if he intended to die in New York, Saint Quentin emphatically said: "Oh no, I didn't come to New York to die. I came to New York to LIVE."

Arriving in New York in his 70s, he lived in his accustomed artistic squalor in a Lower East Side walk-up with a view through a grimy window pane of the next door neighbor's grimy bedroom window.



Every bit the considerate Englishman, he turned off his bare-bulb light at 11 p.m. and sat in the dark, lest the neighbor complain the glare from the 60-watt bulb (through two filthy window panes) kept him awake.

Saint Quentin experienced a meteoric rise after his cunning agent launched him into a career as a raconteur in an off-Broadway one-man show and he became a movie reviewer for a Christopher Street magazine.

But he experienced a meteoric fall from grace when, during one of his frequent TV talk-show appearances, he flippantly remarked that AIDS was "just a fad" which would soon be out of fashion, and the gay community viciously turned on him. Quentin, who had never apologized for anything in his life (and was not about to start apologizing), was perplexed when he was dropped by his agent and editor until his eyes were opened when he got to know young artist Patrick Angus, who later died of AIDS.

But in a Hollywood happy ending, Quentin was rescued by performance artist Penny Arcade, who put him back on stage, and Christopher Street re-hired him, paving the way for a glorious comeback and reconciliation with the gay community when he was in his 90s. 


It is fitting that most people know Saint Quentin only through these two films. As might be expected, the best recommendation for the films comes from Quentin Crisp himself, who once famously said: "Any film, even the worst, is better than real life."

Monday, November 20, 2017

FINDS SUGGEST ROMANS USED CAMELS
EVEN IN ROMAN BRITAIN



DID Antinous ride a camel … in Roman Britain?

In a new blog post by Dr. Caitlin Green, the historian explores the prevalence of camels across the Roman Empire, based on a number of camel remains excavated in areas such as Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Slovenia and the Balkans ... and possibly even in Britannia. 

As she notes, the remains are dated to between the 1st and 5th centuries CE, with many coming from the third century or later. 

Also, Dr. Green remarks on the variant use of different types of camels across the empire: 

"Recent surveys by both Pigière & Henrotay and Tomczyk indicate that, where identification is possible, the evidence points to dromedaries or Arabian camels being dominant in the western half of Roman Europe whilst Bactrian camels were mainly found in the east, although the split was not absolute … for example, a near-complete skeleton of a Bactrian camel is known from a Roman urban context at Saintes, France, and dromedary remains have been recovered from Kompolt-Kistér, Hungary."

Archaeological evidence indicates that camels were used across the Roman empire well into the early medieval period.

As historian Caitlin Green suggests, this includes the island province of Britannia.

In Roman antiquity, the camelus (from the Greek word κάμηλος) could come with one hump or two. 

The single humped camel is commonly called a dromedary. The dromedary was usually from the Arabian Peninsula and the African steppe regions.

The two-humped camel was the Bactrian camel (Camelus bactrianus), which generally hailed from the colder desert regions of Asia. 

There is strong evidence to support the hybridization of these two types as early as the 1st millennium BC, which produced a sturdier one-humped animal that could carry about 100 kg more per day.

From the Hellenistic to the Roman period, dromedaries were used to carry not only freight, but also mail along roads often protected by a police force. 

This was a camel mail service model inspired by the earlier Persian Empire. A number of overland trade routes stemming from the Red Sea ports used these pack animals to transport freight to the East, in order to connect to the Nile.

Yet bone evidence for camels within the empire has now expanded our view of these animals to include an area far beyond just the Red Sea region.

Sunday, November 19, 2017

FLUSHED WITH PRIDE, WE OFFER
THE LATEST POOP ON WORLD TOILET DAY



TODAY November 19 is WORLD TOILET DAY and we are flushed with pride to have kept you on the edge of your seats for five years with headlines on what's new in ancient toilets.

In Ancient Rome, many people believed demons lurked in the sewers ... which meant going to the latrine exposed very delicate parts of the anatomy to demonic attack.

For that reason, lavatories in Rome sometimes featured frescoes emblazoned with protective deities and apotropaic serpents shielding a person squatting in a vulnerable position ... to ward off evil.

In the fresco above, some ancient visitor to a lavatory scrawled graffiti saying: "Cacator cave malum" which means "He who defecates here, beware of evil!"

We were the first to report the discovery by Philippe Charlier, a Parisian forensic expert, that Ancient Greek ceramic discs which hitherto had been thought to be gaming pieces may actually have been used as a form of ANCIENT TOILET PAPER.


Charlier (pictured here) presented among other things, a Greek proverb stating, "Three stones are enough to wipe one's arse," as evidence that such stones were used to clean up after going to the bathroom.

This blog also was among the first to report on the discovery of the world's oldest WOODEN TOILET SEAT in September 2014 at Vindolanda Roman Fort near Hadrian's Wall in northern England.

Experts at Vindolanda believe it is the only find of its kind and dates from the 2nd Century, which dates to the time when the Emperor and Antinous may have visited on an inspection tour.

The site, near Hexham, has previously revealed gold and silver coins and other artefacts of the Roman army. The seat (at right) was discovered in a muddy trench, which was previously filled with rubbish.

Dr Andrew Birley, director of excavations at Vindolanda, told the BBC: "We know a lot about Roman toilets from previous excavations at the site and from the wider Roman world, which have included many fabulous Roman latrines.

"But never before have we had the pleasure of seeing a surviving and perfectly preserved wooden seat.


"As soon as we started to uncover it there was no doubt at all on what we had found. It is made from a very well worked piece of wood and looks pretty comfortable. Now we need to find the toilet that went with it as Roman loos are fascinating places to excavate ... their drains often contain astonishing artefacts," he said.

"Let's face it, if you drop something down a Roman latrine you are unlikely to attempt to fish it out unless you are pretty brave or foolhardy."

Dr Birley said many examples of stone and marble toilet benches existed from across the Roman Empire, but this is believed to be the only surviving wooden seat.

He said it was probably preferred to a cold stone seat given the "chilly northern location".

Saturday, November 18, 2017

IS THIS A TEMPLE TO ANTINOUS?



IS this a small temple to Antinous in Newcastle England? 

This small temple is dedicated to a curly-haired boy god called ANTENOCITICUS ... a deity worshiped by soldiers and local people at the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall.

Antinous in the guise of Antenociticus is not mentioned at any other Romano-British site or on any inscriptions from Europe, which is why it has been identified as a local deity.

Antinous priest and writer MARTINUS CAMPBELL, author of THE LOVE GOD about the life of Antinous, says it is highly possible Antenociticus is a local aspect of Antinous ... perhaps in honor of a visit to this outpost by Antinous and Hadrian.

Martinus says: "Archaeologically there is a period of time in AD 126 to 127 when we have no record of where Hadrian was. We do know, however, that the wall was completed in Ad 128."

He says: "It is believed he would have come to Britannia to oversee the final stages of the wall. It is further believe he would have brought Antinous with him."

Martinus adds: "That is why the locals (mostly of mixed Roman and British blood, by then) connected Antinous to a local deity Citicus and re-named him Antenociticus."  Stone heads of Antenociticus have been found nearby.

Friday, November 17, 2017

NEW ATHENS MUSEUM EXHIBITION
FEATURES RARE ANTINOUS ART



ATHENS was Hadrian's favorite city, and now the National Archaeological Museum in Athens is putting the spotlight on Hadrian and Antinous in a special exhibition.

Included will be treasures long tucked away in storage, such as the inscribed base of a monument in honour of the Emperor Hadrian (below) and an outstanding bust of Antinous (above). 

The works are being displayed for the first time in the heart of the Museum, 19 centuries after the emperor's visit to Athens with Antinous at his side.

The exhibition, entitled "The Builder, Saviour and Olympian" opened 13 November 2017 in the “Hall of the Altar” (hall 34). The show runs through 4 March 2018. 

Their display in the Unseen Museum is part of the temporary exhibition of the National Archaeological Museum entitled "Hadrian and Athens. Conversing with an ideal world" that begins on 28 November 2017 and will be on for a year.

From December 2017 to February 2018, the Museum's archaeologists will welcome visitors and take them on a magic walk into the world of Hadrian and Antinous, from Athens to the sanctuary of the Egyptian Gods in Marathon, revealing the spiritual rebirth of Greek culture in the times of the philhellene emperor.

Presentations

Dates of presentations: December 15 2017, January 12, 26, February 9 and 23 2018, on Friday. December 17 2017, January 14 and 28, February 11 and 25 2018, on Sunday.
Starting time: 13.00

To participate in the presentation it is necessary to purchase a ticket and register upon arrival. The first come first served policy will be observed.


Contact details: National Archaeological Museum, 44 Patision Str, Athens. Tel.: 213214 4817, 213214 4856 / -4858 / -4866 / -4893. Opening hours: Monday 13:00-20:00, Tuesday-Sunday 09:00-16:00. E-mail: eam@culture.gr, www.namuseum.gr

QUINTUS AURELIUS SYMMACHUS
VENERABLE SAINT OF ANTINOUS



WE are proud to consecrate Quintus Aurelius Symmachus as a Venerable Saint of Antinous for his unyielding efforts to uphold the Religion of Antinous in the face of Christian opposition.

A Roman statesman, orator, and man of letters who lived 345 – 402 AD, he held the offices of governor of proconsular Africa in 373, urban prefect of Rome in 384 and 385, and consul in 391.

Symmachus sought to preserve the traditional religions of Rome at a time when the aristocracy was converting to Christianity, and led an unsuccessful delegation of protest against Gratian, when he ordered the Altar of Victory removed from the curia, the principal meeting place of the Roman Senate in the Forum Romanum.

Two years later he made a famous appeal to Gratian's successor, Valentinian II, in a dispatch that was rebutted by Ambrose, the bishop of Milan.

Symmachus's career was temporarily derailed when he supported the short-lived usurper Magnus Maximus, but he was rehabilitated and three years later appointed consul.

Much of his writing has survived: nine books of letters, a collection of Relationes or official dispatches, and fragments of various orations.

Antonius Subia says:

In an age when almost all other Roman Nobility were turning away from our ancient Religion, this gentleman stood strong and faithful and was a voice of dissent against the tidal wave of Christianity that was enveloping the Roman world.  This was the time when the Ancient Religion of Antinous was finally suppressed and destroyed.  We can be sure that this Great Noble Roman was one of the last champions and defenders of our God.

The portrait above shows the Apotheosis of Symmachus ... a relief depicting Symmachus being carried up to the realm of the gods by two divine figures as though he were being deified.  The Zodiac figures may indicate that his Deification took place around the Winter Solstice.