THE APOTHEOSIS OF AELIUS CAESAR

ON December 31st we commemorate the Apotheosis of Aelius Caesar.

Hadrian adopted Lucius Ceionius Commodus Verus, and called him Aelius Verus Caesar (portraits by Priest Uendi).

It was said that beauty was his only recommendation. His poor health soon overtook him and Hadrian is reported to have said, "We have leaned against a tottering wall and have wasted the four hundred million sentences which we gave to the populace and the soldiers on the adoption of Commodus."

He died on the Calends of January in the year 138 ... only a few months before Hadrian ... from an overdose of medicine given to help him make a speech to the Senate thanking Hadrian for the succession.

After Aelius Caesar's death, Hadrian adopted Antoninus Pius (September 19, 86 - March 7, 161) on the condition that Antoninus Pius adopt the younger Lucius Verus and Hadrian's great-nephew by marriage, Marcus Aurelius (April 26, 121 - March 17, 180).

Marcus later co-ruled with Lucius as Marcus Aurelius until Lucius' death in 169, at which time he was sole ruler until his own death in 180. Collectively, they are remembered as the Antonine Dynasty of emperors who ruled wisely over a period noted for its peace and prosperity.

In his classic text The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, 18th Century historian Edward Gibbon considers the reign of the Antonines, as well as those of their predecessors Nerva, Trajan and Hadrian, the height of the Roman Empire, after which time the empire began its inexorable decline.

Aelius Caesar is a major character in Marguerite Yourcenar's epic historical novel Mémoires d'Hadrien (Memoirs of Hadrian).

Lucius, as we affectionately call him, is the recipient of much bittersweet love and adoration from followers of the Religion of Antinous. 

For us he represents so many pretty young men whose bright futures are thwarted by tragic illness.

Aelius Caesar is often called the Western Favorite, because of the possibility that he rivaled Antinous for Hadrian's love.

We venerate Aelius Caesar as the fallen Prince of Flowers, the spiritual twin brother of Antinous whose death is the end of the Saturnalia.

ANTINOUS WELCOMES ALL

AS we celebrate the Saturnalia on the cusp of 2019/20 we welcome the hundreds of new subscribers and followers on this blog and on FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM  and  TWITTER.

Antinous welcomes you!

Antinous, last of the Classical deities, embraces all others. 

He is the Gay God who embraces all Gays from all cultures and from all nations. 

Just as each gay man is different, His ancient statues depict HIM in the guise of Hermes, Dionysus, Apollo and many others. 

The image on this page by ANDRÉ DURAND shows a new follower adoring Antinous (as Osiris) in the inner-most alcove of the Canopus Pool at Hadrian's Villa.

Antinous welcomes all, regardless of cultural origins or religious beliefs.

There is no record that Antinous has ever fought against or squabbled with any deity. Instead, he prefers to cloak himself in their starry mantle and become one with them.

Antonyus Nikias Subia is the spiritual leader of our religion. Check out the online TEMPLE OF ANTINOUS. 

Some of us, like Antonius, worship Antinous to the exclusion of all other deities. 

But there are lots of Wiccans in this group, as well as Buddhists, Hindus, along with Jews, Christians and many, many fallen Catholics ... plus the odd Chaos "magickian" as well as none-of-the-above individualists.

All ages are represented, from 19 to 99. They are scattered around the world on all continents ... with the possible exception of Antarctica! 

Temples are being established in Mexico and -Brazil, where there is a huge contingent of Antinous worshipers.

So feel free to introduce yourself to the group and to tell us where you're coming from ... physically and spiritually.

Whether you decide to stay or whether you are "just browsing" and decide to move on elsewhere ... may the love of the Most Great and Good God, the Blessed Boy Antinous, enter your heart and fill it with His love and joy.

May He become one with you, as He has with so many mortals and deities throughout the ages. And may you discover Him in your heart and may you take the spiritual plunge to god-man-sameness," a process Antonius Subia calls HOMOTHEOSIS.

THIS EXQUISITE BUST OF ANTINOUS IN BRAZIL WAS A MAJOR HIGHLIGHT OF THE YEAR 2019

A major highlight of the year 2019 was the exquisite NEW BUST OF ANTINOUS that now graces the primary altar of the first Temple of Antinous in Brazil, a nation which has more followers of Antinous than any other in the world.

This bust of Antinous was consecrated in July 2019 during joyous ceremonies at the TEMPLO DE ANTÍNOO BRASIL in São Paulo.

The temple's high priest, DECO RIBEIRO, shows us now how the bust was created.

Decus Lupercus, his priestly name as sacerdote, says the bust is based of the famous bust of Antinous-Dionysus in Rio de Janeiro ... the only Antinous sculpture in the Southern Hemisphere and one of only two Antinous sculptures in the Western Hemisphere (photo right). 

Notice the skin of a lion over his shoulder, a reference to the man-eating lion that was hunted by Hadrian and Antinous in Egypt in 130 AD.

The altar bust is a gracious contribution to the Brazilian temple by Lorena Medeiros.

The bust was created by sculptor RICARDO COSTA, who provides these photos of how this extraordinary sculpture was created. 

He did not simply create a plaster bust cast from a mold taken from the Rio de Janeiro museum bust.

Instead, he sculpted an original work of art in clay based on the Rio bust.

You can watch the sculpting process in this FACEBOOK VIDEO on Ricardo Costa's Facebook page.

Then he made a "bonded stone" cast of the clay model ... mixing marble dust with epoxy resins to create a finished bust with the look, texture and feel of pure marble.

The result is a unique work of art which will be cherished by generations of Antinous worshipers. More photos below:

EDWARD PERRY 'NED' WARREN SAINT OF ANTINOUS

ON December 28th the Religion of Antinous celebrates the life of Saint Edward Perry "Ned" Warren, who died on this day in 1928. 

Estranged and ostracized by "decent" socialites, Saint Ned Warren was a famed gay Bostonian art collector who virtually single-handedly built up the collections of the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art and Boston Museum of Fine Arts through his passion for Classical art.

As a sissified schoolboy who suffered the taunts of bullies, he wrote a poem comparing a classmate in whom he was infatuated to Antinous.

He and his lover John Marshall travelled around Europe seeking out and buying art treasures for great museums. They were referred to snidely as "the bachelors of art" among society circles in Britain and America. 

But Warren was so fabulously rich, and museums depended on him  so much, that nobody dared say anything to his face about his blatant homosexuality. His gifts to the Boston MFA made up 90 per cent of its Classical collection, one of the finest in the world.

Even so, he found puritanical Boston deeply disagreeable, and spent most of his life in England when he was not at his apartment in Rome.

The famous Warren Cup and Rodin's statue The Kiss are just two of the most well-known objects he rounded up -- both of which were rejected by museums in Britain and America as being too raunchy. Museum curators feared museum-goers could be lured into thinking unwholesome thoughts.


Warren in fact actually commissioned the The Kiss from Rodin, explicitly saying he wanted large genitals on the man. To this day, photographs of the famous statue tend to avoid a full-frontal male view for that very reason.

The Warren Cup is a solid silver goblet which dates back to the 1st Century CE/AD and was found near Jerusalem. It is believed that it was deposited along with other valuables (some gold coins, jewellery and other precious items) in a cache by the servants of a fleeing Roman nobleman during one of several Jewish uprisings. It is even possible that it was buried during the uprising that was crushed by Hadrian's legions. 

The cup itself is considerably older, and may date to Republican times. And it is done in a retro-style which was a bit archaic even when it was new.

As the photos demonstrate, the Warren Cup shows two scenes (one on each side of the cup) of a man and a youth having sex on a couch. The silverwork is exquisitely done and the hair and draperies and facial expressions are beautifully rendered. It also reflects a bit of tongue-in-cheek wit by showing a servant boy peering curiously around a door frame at the lovers.

On one side a young man (barely more than a boy himself) is having his way with a young boy. On the other side, an older man with a beard is having anal sex with a younger man who is seated on top of him and holding onto what appears to be perhaps part of the drapes of a canopy bed. A servant looks on from the doorway off to the right side.

Saint Ned is believed to have purchased the Warren Cup from an antiquities dealer in Italy.
His efforts to sell it to museums in London and the U.S. were rebuffed.

The Warren Cup's unabashedly gay sex theme is impossible to ignore. The cup has been controversial in the art world ever since it first came to light in the 19th Century.

For many, many years, museums on both sides of the Atlantic refused to obtain it (despite its unquestionable value as a remarkably important historical piece of art) because of Victorian and Edwardian moral objections to its "immoral and beastly" theme.

At one time a curator for the British Museum was interested in acquiring the Warren Cub.

But other experts reminded him that one of the members of the board of directors of the British Museum was the Archbishop of Canterbury. The result was that museum officials were loathe to show his reverence even a photograph of the cup, let alone ask him to condone purchasing it for the collection.

So the cup languished in Warren's personal collection for many years and changed hands many times after his death, never ever being put on public display.

The British Museum finally purchased the Warren Cup for a large sum in 1999 -- and even then there was much titillation in the tabloid press.

Ned Warren wrote extensively about his views that homosexuality is a spiritual state of being, something divinely magical. Taunted as a schoolboy for being a bookworm and a sissy (he would get up at 5 a.m. to read Greek until breakfast), he nonetheless had many crushes on other schoolboys. He wrote about them all in his diary, and even wrote a poem about one especially beautiful boy whom he called a modern Antinous.

As an adult, he continued to proclaim his notion of idealized homosexual love, much to the distress of his family in Boston.

He even wrote a book entitled The Defence of Uranian Love about the same time that Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray was published. 

He also used his wealth to sponsor the educations of numerous boys and young men who showed promise but had no money.

He was very generous and had a big heart. For example, he heard that the daughter of a vicar in his district in England had become pregnant out of wedlock and was going to be forced to give up the child. 

Saying "this is as bad as Boston," he was so outraged that he legally adopted the little boy himself. He allowed mother and son to live upstairs in his home in England at his expense and loudly defied anyone to besmirch her honor or that of Travis, the little boy.

Ned Warren and his lover John Marshall had a stormy, on-again off-again relationship, but they were together at their flat in Rome in February of 1928. On the evening of the 15th, John went to bed early not feeling well. Ned tiptoed in later and kissed him good night and got in bed beside him. John was dead by morning.

Ned never recovered from that blow. He returned to England, where his health declined rapidly. Saying he couldn't face Christmas and New Year's without John, he died in a nursing home in England on December 28, 1928, at the age of 68.

He was cremated on January 1, 1929. But because he had always been blatant about his homosexuality, no members of his family attended the funeral and none of the museums that had benefitted so much from his largesse sent a representative to the memorial service.

His ashes were buried in the non-Catholic cemetery in Bagni di Lucca, Italy, a town known as a spa in Etruscan and Roman times.

We honor Edward Perry "Ned" Warren, 1860-1928, who wrote a poem likening a boy he loved to Antinous.

FOUR OF KARNAK'S RAM-HEADED SPHINXES BEING MOVED TO A BUSY CAIRO SQUARE

EGYPTOLOGISTS were stunned today when an Egyptian official announced the removal four ram-headed sphinxes from Karnak Temple for transfer to a busy public square in Cairo.

Head of Karnak Antiquities Mostafa el Sagheer announced that four sphinxes from Luxor's Karnak Temple will be placed in Tahrir Square in Cairo alongside an obelisk which was recently moved to Tahrir Square to decorate it.

This obelisk was transferred to Tahrir square from San El-Haggar archaeological site in Zagazig two months ago.

The transferred sphinxes were taken from behind the temple's first pylon, not from the famous avenue of sphinxes known as Kebbash Road that once connected Karnak and Luxor temples, they are from the first courtyard behind Karnak’s first pylon.

That courtyard contains 30 pairs of sphinxes that once decorated the temple’s second pylon.

During the 22nd, 25th and 30th dynasties, the sphinxes were removed to the temple's first courtyard, in order to free the second pylon for the construction and installation of the Taharqa column and a group of shrines.

More than 90 percent of Kebbash road has been restored and developed, and will inaugurated soon.

The Pharaonic Kebbash Road is to become the longest gangway and open museum in the world.

The renovation of the Pharaonic Kebbash Road is considered a monumental moment for Luxor, as the project will bring the great road to life again.

Its new design is set to change Luxor's position on the touristic map, as it will become the longest gangway and open museum in the world.

It is expected that the new makeover of Kebbash Road will attract tourists the world over and play a vital role in pushing the Egyptian tourism forward.

Kebbash Road will be reopened after its renovation.

In Ancient Egypt, Kebbash Road connected the Karnak Temple Complex with the Luxor Temple.

During the time of the Pharaohs, the road was one of the most important, as it hosted ceremonies and festivals.

The road was opened to the public in March 2013 by the Minister of Tourism.

Although Kebbash Road is 2.7 kilometers long, a walk through it is enjoyable as there are around 1,200 statues lining one side of the road, each resembling the Sphinx (where the head is that of a ram and the body is that of a lion) and sculpted from sandstone.

'MY DEATH NEEDS TO MEAN SOMETHING' 17-YEAR-OLD TRANS GIRL SAID IN FINAL NOTE

ANTINOUS weeps for Leelah Alcorn (November 15, 1997 – December 28, 2014) the 17-year-old US transgender girl who committed suicide to make a statement about the societal standards of transgender people. 

A suicide note was published on her Tumblr page in which she declared that she wanted her suicide to cause an impact and create a dialogue about the discrimination and abuse of transgender people.

Meanwhile, Leelah Alcorn rallies are planned and a candlelight vigil is scheduled to be held at Leelah's high school near Cincinnati, Ohio, on January 3.

Laverne Cox and Emmy Rossum are a few of the celebs who spoke out after Leelah took her own life after struggling for many years as a transgender girl. 

At the Hollywood Temple of Antinous, Antonius Subia said he was devastated by the news, coming on the heels of many hundred deaths this past year involving LBGT youth.

"When these kids say that there is no hope for them, it's because that's all they see," Antonius said.  

"We need to look into our souls and see how we can change the world for them, what we can do to give them hope. The list of Saint nominations for 2015 keeps growing," he said.

"May Antinous take Leelah Alcorn into his arms and give her a place on the Barque of Millions of Years," Antonius added.

Leelah was born in November 1997 to parents Doug and Carla Alcorn. Her birth name was Joshua Ryan Alcorn. One of four children, she was raised in a fundamentalist Christian environment. 

In a suicide note, she referred to herself as Leelah Alcorn.

According to the suicide note, she identified as a transgender female from age 14, when she became aware of the term, having felt "like a girl trapped in a boy’s body" since she was four. 

She subsequently came out online, and turned primarily towards the internet for friendship. 

She attempted to convince her parents that she had to medically transition, but claims she instead received therapy and "biased" counseling from Christian therapists.

The note also describes her coming out as gay at age 16, hoping it would be a stepping stone to coming out as transgender at a later date. 

She wrote that she was instead taken out of school by her parents and cut off from the outside world for five months as her parents denied her access to social media and many forms of communication. She described this as a large contributing factor towards her suicide.

She committed suicide by walking into the path of a tandem-trailer truck on a highway near her home in Ohio on December 28, 2014.

THE BIGGEST ANTINOUS NEWS OF 2019 WAS THE TRIUMPHANT WORLD PREMIERE OF A NEW STAGE PLAY IN NEW YORK CITY

THE biggest Antinous-related cultural news in 2019 was the triumphant world premiere of a new play at Columbia University School of the Arts in New York City.

The play, HADRIAN & ANTINOUS, updates the ancient love story between a provincial young man and the most powerful man in the world.

Scroll down for photos from the premiere performance!

Hadrian & Antinous was written by Mark Barford (Directing Candidate 2019) and Anna Jastrzembski (Playwriting Candidate 2019) premiered at The Lenfest Center for the Arts at 615 W. 129th St. Performances on March 27.

Writer/director Mark Barford describes his play this way:

"Beneath an endless sky, young Antinous searches the heavens for a sign of what his future will hold. His next test - an uncertain journey to a distant shore - will prove to be his greatest yet. For when this insignificant page from Greece meets Rome's most powerful man, their love will turn the world.

"Hadrian & Antinous unearths an ancient story, adds a modern voice and speaks to what it is to love, to mourn, and to remember those who have been forgotten."

Mark Barford is an Australian stage director, writer and teacher based in New York City. He specializes in the development of new work and the reimagining of classics. Most recently he worked with director Barrie Kosky on La Boheme at the Komische Oper in Berlin and with Ivo van Hove on Network at the Belasco on Broadway.

His recent directing credits include the award-winning production of F*cking Men at The Vaults London, Edinburgh Fringe Festival (Assembly Festival), International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival, and The King's Head Theatre London (multiple sold-out seasons).

As resident director for The Music Theatre Company of W.A/ ICW productions, he directed large-scale productions of The Phantom of the Opera, The Sound of Music, The Mikado, CATS, and Company.

Other directing/writing highlights include: antidote (Croatian National Theatre), Hadrian & Antinous, King Richard II, The Cherry Orchard, Freddie, Dark Meat, The Only Living Boys in South Jersey, Hillary & Monica, The Cat in the Box, and Never Mind the Monsters.

He is a graduate of the Acting Shakespeare program at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and holds a Bachelor of Arts (Film & Theatre) and Graduate Diploma of Education (Secondary Teaching) from Murdoch University. Mark is currently completing an MFA in Theatre Directing at Columbia University under the tutelage of Anne Bogart and Brian Kulick. www.markbarford.com.

FEATURING

Jack Becker, Sarah Chapin*, Drew Gardner, Seth Hatch, Ezra Li, Kohler McKenzie*, Uma Paranjpe, Andres Robledo*, Joey Santia, Tricia Sorresso, Kelly Strandemo*, and Kiana Wu.

* Appearing courtesy of Actors' Equity Association

PRODUCTION TEAM

Producer Sami Pyne, Dramaturg James Monaghan, Production Stage Manager Alison R. Simone*, Assistant Stage Managers Robbie Armstrong and Emily Todt, Lighting Designer Jenn Burkhardt, Scenic Designer Sarah Nietfeld, Costume Designer Summer Lee Jack, Sound Designer Matt Coggins, Composer Theo Teris, Projection Designer Ted Boyce-Smith, Choreographer Daxx Jayroe Wieser, Company Manager Yuchen Xia, and Graphic Designer Annie Jin Wang.

Tickets: $15 General Admission/ $5 Seniors/ FREE with any Student ID (enter code: "BLOOMS").

Photos from the 27th March 2019 premiere:

MITHRAS TEMPLE IN NORTHERN ENGLAND WAS ALIGNED TO SUNRISE DECEMBER 25

AN ancient temple constructed by a mysterious cult in northern England may have been built to align with sunrise on December 25, to "recall the birth" of the light god Mithras.

A new analysis using satellite maps and a software that can plot the direction of sunrise and sunset revealed that the Mithraeum beside a Roman fort in Carrawburgh, England, lines up with both the winter solstice and December 25th.

Followers of the cult of Mithras often associated these two dates with the god, and were even said to celebrate the New Year on December 25th, as it marked his birth.

In a paper published to Philica, Amelia Carolina Sparavigna of Politecnico di Torino says the temple at Carrawburgh was designed for the birth of Mithras.

Sparavigna used the SunCal.net software to pinpoint the direction of sunrise and sunset at different times of the year for this location.

And, this revealed "good alignment" for the December 25 sunrise along with the winter solstice (December 21), with a difference of just 0.2 degrees.

"As we can see using software giving the sunrise and sunset directions on satellite maps, the orientation of the temple and the direction of the sunrise on winter solstice are in good agreement," Sparavigna wrote.

"It means that, probably, the orientation of the temple was chosen to recall the birth of Mithras on December 25."

Worship of Mithras spurred the rise of a mystery cult during the Roman era.

It was practiced from the 1st Century to 4th Century AD, and is linked to the sun god Sol Invictus.

"The cult of Mithras, such as that of the Sol Invictus, who was the patron of the soldiers, was very popular in the Roman army," Sparavigna wrote.

"Both Sol Invictus and Mithras, who were often identified in the same god, are linked to winter solstice.

"Actually, the followers of Mithras worshipped the New Year on December 25, to celebrate the birth of Mithras."

ANTINOUS EMBRACES GEORGE MICHAEL (25 June 1963 - 25 December 2016)

MUSIC legend George Michael is a saint of Antinous for inspiring millions of LGBT people. 

Known for hit songs such as “Faith,” “Freedom ‘90” and holiday favorite “Last Christmas,” he died at age 53 on 25 December 2016, of heart failure.

But the legacy of the pop icon, who sold well over 100 million albums in the span of his career, extends far beyond his music.

"George was probably the first gay pop star in the modern era, who was totally unabashed about gay sexuality,” said Martin Aston, a music journalist.

Even though Michael was forced out of the closet, once he was out, Aston noted, "he took a great leap forward" and "came out guns blazing."

Michael's moment of liberation followed what seemed at first to be a time of deep humiliation.

He was blessed with sensual good looks and an exquisite voice, attributes he used to become first a teenybopper heartthrob and then a mature solo artist with videos that played up his considerable appeal.

He kept his own sexual orientation private, until he was arrested in 1998 for lewd conduct in a public toilet in Los Angeles after being spotted by a male undercover police officer.

In an earlier era, that might have doomed his career. Instead of retreating, however, Michael made a single and video ... "Outside" ... that ridiculed the charges against him and mocked the Los Angeles police officers who busted him.

The memorable image of the two uniformed policemen kissing in the video ... both funny and outrageous at the time ... helped Michael come out as a proud gay man.

Despite his infamous outing, “he never dealt with [his sexuality] in terms of shame,” Aston told NBC Out. “He realized he had to be true to himself, and that had to have helped bust that closet door open.”

THE SATURNALIA THE GOLDEN AGE OF SATURN

IN celebration of the return of Antinous Invictus, for the five days between December 25th and the 1st of January, we commemorate the Golden Age of the reign of Saturn.

This is a time outside of time, and an occasion for joy and freedom from the world when Sol Invictus returns.

The divine twins are born, Osiris and Isis, Seth and Nephthys, Castor and Pollux, Freyr and Freya (for whom this time is also known as Yule).

(Image: Antinous as the Ghost of Christmas Present by S.L. GORE.)

We celebrate the Saturnalia with indulgence and as the festival of Liberty and total Freedom. There shall be no authority and no submission during this sacred period.

There is to be no war, and no form of violence committed, only peace and harmony and the many joys of ecstasy are allowed.

The rejoicing of the Saturnalia ends with the apotheosis of the Prince of Flowers, Aelius Caesar, on January 1st.

LOVELY 'BIRTH OF MITHRAS' SCULPTURE OLDEST DEPICTION OF ZODIAC IN BRITAIN

ON what is now Christmas Day, troops on Hadrian's Wall 1,800 years ago were celebrating the birthday of the god Mithras.

Born on December 25, Mithras was worshipped at sites on at least three locations along the Wall.

This stunning sculpture of Mithras was discovered at Housesteads Roman fort in the 19th Century.

The stone relief shows Mithras emerging from the Orphic Egg – the symbol of eternal time.

The god is surrounded by an egg-shaped representation of the signs of the zodiac, representing the cosmos.

This is the earliest representation of the signs of the zodiac to be found in Britain.

It would have been lit from behind to present a powerful image for worshippers entering the semi-underground temple at Chapel Hill at Housesteads.

The sculpture is one of the main exhibits in a collection of Mithraic items from the Wall on show at the Great North Museum in Newcastle.

"It is one of the best collections of Mithraic material in the world," said Andrew Parkin, keeper of archaeology at Tyne Wear Archives and Museums.

It was totally repaired and conserved in recent years and is one of the most breath-taking works of art at the museum.

The carving is on display underneath a relief sculpture which shows a scene of Mithras slaying a bull, which was also found at Housesteads and was a common depiction in Mithraic temples.

"Our Mithras stone is a unique and powerful Roman object that blends several religious traditions," Andrew said. "We still have offerings left at the museum at Christmas time. Previously we've had a pot plant, pine cones, money and even a Chocolate Orange."

The stone is part of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne's collection.

The cult of Mithras was popular amongst the military and originated around 1400 BC in Persia.

It was confined to male worshippers and involved progression through several grades of worship with different ranks and costumes.

Mithraic temples have been identified in Northumberland at Housesteads, Rudchester and Carrawburgh, where three altars were found along with the remains of cockerels which had probably been sacrificed and statues of the god's helpers.

The complex imagery of the Housesteads sculpture suggests the sophistication of the cult at the fort. The celebration of Christmas became superimposed on earlier religious and ritual practices.

"To some extent there have always been mid-winter festivals at what is the darkest part of the year to mark the turning point when it will begin getting lighter," said Andrew. "In the early days Christianity was competing with a lot of different cults around the world."

Mithras was celebrated as the Lord of Ages and a god of light, who is often shown carrying a torch and bringing light to the world.

ANTINOUS THE STAGE DRAMA MOVED VICTORIANS TO TEARS

IN the late 19th and early 20th Century numerous novels were written about Antinous in all major European languages ... and even a stage play.

Novelist Abbe Carter Goodloe (1867-1960) wrote many popular works of fiction. But her first major work was the play "Antinous: A Tragedy" (1891), published just two years after her graduation from Wellesley College. 

It is a five-act play written in neo-Shakespearean blank verse.

The preface to the play says:

"In this drama no attempt at historical accuracy has been made, with the exception of the portrayal, such as it is, of the character of Hadrian. 

"And even that has been but very indifferently done; not only defective because of the literary difficulties of such an effort, but because primarily it is not very easy to discover what Hadrian's character really was. 

"His nature seems to have been composed of the most contradictory qualities.

Hadrian had great vices, an inordinate desire to be first in everything, and consequently a malignant envy of the merit of others; he was restless, capricious, and ungrateful. 

"He has even been accused of a leaning towards cruelty. But as he was a sagacious prince, he appreciated how his vices, if he did not control them, would tell against him, and vanity (for he was very vain) impelled him to affect virtue, at least externally.

"His good qualities, and he had many, seemed always to be counterbalanced by opposing vices."

You can find copies of her play online, and a full transcript of the five-act play by clicking HERE.

ANTINOUS ARRIVES IN DELPHI SITE OF THE FAMED APOLLO ORACLE

DURING the December Solstice, the Religion of Antinous commemorates the magical day in the year 128 AD when Antinous and Hadrian visited the Oracle of Delphi. 

Hadrian and Antinous entered Delphi at the magical time when Dionysus was the supreme deity of the shrine. 

They solemnly advanced in procession up the sacred way, and entered the Temple of Apollo, the oracle of Apollo.

The Oracle may not have been in consultation, and there is no evidence of Antinous or Hadrian receiving her words. 

Antinous was further instructed in the mysteries of Orpheus by his priests who were a religious order devoted to Dionysus, and limited to men.

Having been initiated in Athens into the dark mysteries that Orpheus revealed of death and resurrection, Antinous was here shown the high Orphic Secrets of Creation.

The meaning of the egg of the dark bird of Night was infused into the deepening abyss the mystery of Antinous during this visit.

And the full brilliance of Antinous Invictus was ignited as Phanes-Beauty, Eros-Love, and Zagreus-Ecstasy were awakened within him.

An exquisite statue of Antinous was discovered at Delphi. The forearms had been broken off, but the ancient priests had lovingly buried the statue standing upright.

That was the way it was found in the 19th Century, incredibly intact except for the missing forearms.

Alas, Antinous would drown in the similarly magical waters of the River Nile only a few scant months after visiting Delphi, during what we call the imperial "Three-Year Peregrination" ... the wondrous and fateful final three-year Eastern Empire travels of Hadrian and Antinous.

DAWN SUNBEAMS ILLUMINATE TEMPLE DURING THE DECEMBER SOLSTICE

AT dawn on December 21st, during the December Solstice, crowds of tourists witness the magnificent phenomenon of the sun aligning on the inner sanctum of a crocodile god temple at Qasr Qarun in Egypt.

Close to edge of Lake Qarun in Fayoum, Qasr Qarun marks the original location of the ancient town of Dionysias. 

Antinous and Hadrian are not known to have visited this city, although they went on a lion-hunting expedition to the Western Desert, where Qasr Qarun is located, on the edge of Lake Qarun.

A crocodile has been found buried under a temple to Antinous in the city of Antinoopolis not far south of Qasr Qarun. Crocodiles were both feared and respected by the Egyptians and Sobek was regarded as a powerful protective deity.

The town is spread out and is now mostly in ruins apart from a few structures. A few houses are still standing, at least partially. Some even have decorations remaining on the interior walls.

The most interesting structure still remaining is the temple dedicated to the crocodile god, Sobek Ra. 

This is sometimes referred to as the "Temple of Stone" and is located in the middle of the ancient town. It dates to between 323 and 330 BC.

The temple is made of blocks of yellow limestone and the exterior of the temple has been partially restored by the Egyptian Antiquities Service.

One of the most interesting aspects of the temple is that its roof is still place, offering us a sense of the atmosphere that once prevailed. 

The interior of the temple is a labyrinth of rooms, stairways, corridors, cellars, tunnels and upper rooms of all sizes and at different levels. 

Specifically, there are fourteen rooms on either side of central corridor that lead to three chapels. There is a stairway that leads you to the roof and the amazing views.

ODE TO CAPRICORNUS By Flamen Antinoalis Antonius Subia

WITH the Solstice, the Sun enters the sign of Capricornus ... the Sun Sign of Antonius Subia and the home sign of the Star of Antinous. Antonius Subia says: 

ANTINOUS-MITHRAS
 
I pray to the New Born Sun,
 
Pater Saturn, Attis, Invictus,
 
The One who walks
 
Across the spine of the cosmos
 
Here, now, always in darkness,
 
The blood of the bull is my wine
 
The stars are my crown
 
The lotus-rose is my heart
 
My hooves cloven among tombs
 
I am Bacchus
 
Rising from stone by night
 
...returned,
 
Capricornus!

~ ANTONIUS SUBIA

ANTINOUS INVICTUS AND THE SOLSTICE

ON Sunday at 04:19 Universal Time (8:19 p.m. Saturday at the Hollywood Temple of Antinous) the sun "stands still" ("Sol Stasis") — the 21/22 December Solstice for the year 2019. 

This is a special day every year in the Religion of Antinous for it marks the return of Sol Invictus, the Unconquerable Sun.

The return of the sun is the Conquest of Unconquered Light over chaos and darkness, the emergence of Phanes-Eros-Dionysus from the cosmic egg (image at right).

On this day, we observe the moment when the unknown god Bythus-Narcissus gazed into the pool of the abyss and saw his own reflection. 

His image caused the birth of the thrice-great Phanes-Eros-Zagreus, the saviors, who together are called Antinous Invictus.

The three-fold mystery of their birth is the descent of Phanes-Beauty, Eros-Love and Zagreus-Ecstasy into our world. 

These great spirits are the divine light of Antinous the God, it is their presence at the ground of our soul that is our immortal spark.

Within us all is the perfect image of the perfect face of light and love, a reflection of Narcissus-Bythus gazing down into the darkness of our world.

Antinous Invictus the perfect image of the perfect face of light and love will illuminate the way ahead.

It was Hadrian's dream to create the perfect civilization ... a civilization based on the Hellenistic principles of love, beauty, learning and tolerance. And it was his dream to create the perfect religion ... a religion which would encompass all others.

In the Northern Hemisphere today is the Winter Solstice and the days will be getting longer now. In the Southern Hemisphere it is the Summer Solstice and the days will become shorter now.

Wherever you live on this blue marble of ours, it is the same moment in the eye of Antinous the Gay God.