"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, on November 27th, according to an inscription found a Lanuvium outside Rome.
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 birthday of Antinous is an introspective moment ... an evaluation of things past ... and things to come. And above all, it is birthday party time!
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