SEEK THE LOST TOMB OF ANTINOUS WITH BEN PASTOR'S 'THE WATER THIEF'

IT's summer vacation time in the Northern Hemisphere and anyone who is interested in historical fiction in general and Antinous in particular should read this book by Ben Pastor, the award-winning Italian-American historian and author. 

She knows more about Hadrian and Antinous than almost any other living expert. 

Her historical novel THE WATER THIEF is an example of fine scholarly research, as are indeed all of her books.

This novel traces the efforts of Aelius Spartianus to discover the fabled LOST TOMB OF ANTINOUS. 

Aelius Spartianus is a true-life figure who did in fact write a biography of Hadrian nearly 200 years after the death of Antinous.

Set in the year 304 AD, it tells of this very literate Roman army officer who is commissioned by Emperor Diocletian to do research on his predecessor the Divine Hadrian, who had died nearly two centuries earlier. 

It is while delving into the mystery of the death of Antinous and while trying to learn the whereabouts of the Boy's tomb that the officer stumbles onto evidence of a letter penned by Hadrian uncovering a covert conspiracy to bring down the Empire ... a conspiracy that is still very much at work in 4th Century Rome. 

As Spartianus comes ever closer to finding the answer to the death of Antinous, the conspirators' efforts to thwart him become ever more violent, resulting in numerous brutal murders and attempts on the officer's life.

Pastor's descriptions of Rome in the year 304 AD are superb. You get a real feel for the teeming city in mid-summer, with all the odors and noise, colors and steamy heat that that implies. 

Best of all, for those of us who love and worship Antinous, are the chapters in which Spartianus ensconces himself in Hadrian's derelict villa outside Rome. 

It is there, as he stares up into the stars at night, that he makes a startling connection between the layout of the villa and the eight visible constellations in the nighttime sky in late October when Antinous died ... indicating that Hadrian's obsession with horoscopes and astrology led him to create an earthly universe where time stood still at the death of Antinous.

Did Hadrian's belief in astrological fate compel him to have Antinous killed? Or did Antinous take his own life in a bid to fulfill his astrological fate? 

Or was it more mundane? Did he and Hadrian have a lovers' tiff that ended tragically? Was he done in by young male rivals intent on gaining Hadrian's affections for themselves? 

Or was something even more sinister at work? And why is someone desperate to preventing the officer from finding out what happened to Antinous all those years ago?

For those of us who love Antinous, this book is a joy to read. Pastor works in many small and obscure details which are well known to his modern-day followers. 

To give just one example, the Roman officer expends a great deal of effort trying to locate and decipher the OBELISK OF ANTINOUS which today stands in a park in Rome and is the focus of much current research in the 21st Century.

The obelisk's key inscription, which is the focus of modern experts seeking his tomb, says that Antinous "rests within the garden bounds of the great lord of Rome". 

Just as today's researchers have puzzled over the meaning of that phrase, Ben Pastor's protagonist must also make sense of it ... and he arrives at a startling answer that almost costs him his life and jeopardizes future of the Empire.

The novel's characters are well drawn and the reader identifies with Spartianus as he attempts to unravel this Gordian Knot while at the same time pulling together the strands of his own personal life.

There are numerous gay characters and they emerge as well-rounded and believable characters, especially the flamboyant Egyptian gays who find themselves unwittingly the target of unscrupulous killers in their very midst.

The tales of Antinous and Hadrian which unfold as the investigation progresses are a true pleasure to read, if only because they are all so contradictory and often far-fetched ... precisely as they are to today's researchers. 

Spartianus must work his way through this thicket of tall tales and outright lies and defamations in order to determine precisely what sort of persons Hadrian and Antinous were ... in order to save the Empire two centuries after their deaths.

One of the more outlandish tall tales is told to Aelius by a Roman transgender hustler named Cleopatra Minor who claims to have frequented a notorious whorehouse which specializes in boys for aristocratic customers whose villas line the Bay of Naples. 

Cleo claims it is "well-known there" that Antinous was a boy prostitute who had just arrived from Bythinia and "had barely become accustomed to his little bed" when Hadrian stopped by the whorehouse and took a fancy to him.

There are lots of other, equally intriguing characters in this book. But the most intriguing character of all, of course, is the one character who cannot take active part in the plot but whose presence is felt at every turn of the plot:

Antinous himself.

Though the 4th Century murders take center stage in the story, this book actually is more concerned with telling the story of Antinous and Hadrian and their abiding love affair which spans the gulf of the centuries.

As you read the novel, you get a growing awareness of Antinous as the living, breathing, three-dimensional human being that he must have been in life. 

The more Spartianus looks into the life of Antinous, the more he becomes obsessed with the Blessed Boy. He simply has to find that tomb, even if it means his death and the downfall of Rome.

We won't give away the thrilling ending, except to say that, when Spartianus finally "exchanges glances" with Antinous (in a manner of speaking), Spartianus is overcome with emotion ... and the reader finds it hard to hold back the tears. 

CLICK HERE to order, but don't wait too long ... or the Water Thief will catch up with you.

THE TWO LOVERS OF ANTINOOPOLIS

ON MAY 10th the Religion of Antinous honors two men we call the Two Lovers of Antinoopolis who lived in the Sacred City of Antinoopolis and who worshiped the Beauteous Boy and whose joint portrait is one of the great mysteries of Egyptology.

This round portrait, called a "tondo" because of its circular format, was used as a face plate on a mummy. The vicinity of Antinoopolis and the Fayoum Oasis region is famous for hundreds of such mummy portraits which give us a priceless look at how the residents of the Sacred City actually looked. It is believed these were portraits which had hung in people's homes and which were interred with the deceased, as a reminder to their Ka about who they were in mortal life.

The tondo is unique, though, because it shows two faces. Archaeologists have no explanation as to why anyone would want the face plate on a mummy to show two men's faces. The conventional explanation is that they were perhaps brothers and when one of them died, his surviving brother insisted on burying him with their joint portrait to show his fraternal love.

But one glance at the portrait shows that the two men bear little resemblance to each other.

Even more striking is the difference in skin coloring. Throughout Egyptian art, males were portrayed as having typically ruddy-brown skin and girls and women as having creamy colored skin ... that was the iconic rule in Ancient Egyptian art. The skin colors do not represent the ACTUAL skin tones of the people, just as the idealized features of pharaohs don't reflect how they actually looked.

In Ancient Egyptian art, even if two individuals appear to be identically dressed with wigs and flowing robes, you can distinguish gender roles by skin color.

Ruddy skin means male. Creamy skin means female.

That makes it all the more interesting to look at the Tondo of the Two Lovers, because one man has dark "male type" skin coloring and the other man has very light "female type" skin coloring. Such contrasting skin coloring traditionally was used only for married male-female couples in Ancient Egyptian art.


Even when the hairstyles and clothing are barely indistinguishable in Egyptian art, the difference in skin tones is a gender-role clue. Any Egyptian would instantly register the visual "pun" and would think it no accident.The artist who painted the Tondo of the Two Lovers appears to have been giving us a clue as to the relationship between the two men.

The Tondo has been dated between 130-150 AD which would place them as nearly contemporaries of Antinous, living in His Sacred City in the first bloom of the Religion of Antinous. French architectural historian Jean-Claude Golvin painted this stunning rendering of Antinoopolis at its height.

But of even more significance are the small images of Greco-Egyptian gods placed above their shoulders. The darker man is guarded by a figure which some experts identify as Hermanubis, a god of the underworld adored in the nearby city of Hermopolis. His name is variously interpreted as "Hermes/Anubis" or "Horus-as-Anubis", depending on whether you read the Latin or the Egyptian spellings.

The cult of Hermanubis was on the rise in Rome at this time and he was interpreted as a solar deity who (like Hermes/Mercury and Horus) led the dead through the darkness to everlasting sunlight. A crack runs through the figure, however, making its identity somewhat unsure. At one point Hermanubis had a large cult following in Rome itself and his face graced Imperial coins. But his cult was suppressed almost as quickly as it rose, for moralistic reasons which are hard to reconstruct.

The lighter skinned and more beautifully dressed boy is watched over by Antinous, the patron god of Antinoopolis, who grasps a Dionysiac scepter and who wears the SWTY (Two Feathers) crown of divinity symbolic of his many-faceted Sacred Powers. It is ironic that the Christians later suppressed the cult of Antinous for moralistic reasons, just as the cult of Hermanubis had been suppressed by the Romans. Was there a sexual/moral connection between the two cults?

At any rate, this makes the Tondo of the Two Lovers the only portrait painting of Antinous to have survived, and the only image of two probable followers of HIS religion.

The faint inscription beneath the image of Antinous reads 15 Pachon, which is a date in the Greek calendar that corresponds to the 10th of May. No one knows what the significance of this date might be. An anniversary, perhaps.

The younger figure is wearing a splendid red wrap held in place by an impressive amethyst brooch in a gold setting ... a family heirloom perhaps. The artist has gone to pains to render it perfectly. The embroidery on his white tunic is very fine. An oriental swastika good-luck charm is stitched into his right sleeve.

Perhaps the portrait was commissioned for the day (May 10th) when he donned his manly robes for the first time on his 16th birthday, as was the Roman custom. The peach-fuzz on his face gives him the appearance of an adolescent.

The older man (who could 30-something) stands behind him, as if symbolically showing his love and support of his young companion. He could be an older brother or uncle. He could even be the youth's father ... life expectancy was shorter then, and people married early in those days and were grandparents by their mid-30s.

But just perhaps the composition and skin-tone nuances are subtle clues by the artist that these two men shared an older-man, younger-man relationship ... a Classical Greek-style erastes/eromenos relationship ... similar to that of Hadrian and Antinous. After all, this city was founded on Hadrian's love for Antinous.

The Temple of Antinous honors these two men on May 10th ... the day which was so special to them, for reasons known only to them and to the gods they worshiped ... Hermanubis and Antinous! 

NAPOLEON BONAPARTE SAINT OF ANTINOUS

ON May 5th the Religion of Antinous celebrates the life of Napoleon Bonaparte, who died on this day in 1821.

Napoleon is a saint primarily because he was the first European ruler to "decriminalize" homosexual acts. It had once been a crime punishable by burning at the stake...but Napoleon, under the advice of his top legal adviser, who was a homosexual...chose to legalize homosexuality.

He may seem a very unlikely person to be a champion of gay rights...but that's what he is...he didn't care...he saw no reason to persecute men for being homosexual...one of the greatest military commanders the world has ever known...and he accepted gay people...he would laugh at "Don't Ask, Don't Tell....he would laugh as his gay army invaded America and set things right.

Napoleon was trying to restore the Roman Empire...that's what all his imagery and symbolism were about...the fashions of the day were inspired by Rome...the Empire waist dress...women were styling their hair to look like Sabina...men combed their hair forward like Hadrian.

For gay people, one of the most disastrous turning points in world history was the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo. We've been led to believe that the British are heroes and Napoleon was a tyrant. But he was the best "tyrant" the world has known since Hadrian.

Napoleon would have set the world forward decades or even centuries. But that didn't happen...instead of tremendous social progress...the opposite occurred.

Another reason why we Consecrate Emperor Napoleon as a Saint of Antinous is because, in 1799-1801, when Napoleon tried and nearly succeeded in conquering the entire Middle East, it was French scientists who were the last to see and the first to record and depict the remains of our Sacred City of Antinoopolis. Those ruins have vanished beneath the sands of Egypt since then.

Had Napoleon not invaded, had he not defeated the Mamluk army at the Battle of the Pyramids, then the expedition to Antinoopolis would not have occurred and the fragments of Antinoopolis would never have been recorded.

MEET MARCO ANTINOUS OF EGYPT By Flamen Antinoalis Antonius Subia

I have the pleasure to introduce someone very special. A beautiful boy who was very likely one of our brothers.

Mummy of Marco Antinous, encaustic painting on linen, the frieze of the aureus protector in gilded stucco. 

Egyptian civilisation, Roman Empire, 3rd Century. Paris, Musée Du Louvre.

The hauntingly lovely portrait from the heyday of Antinoopolis features the face of a young man with striking, realistic features painted with encaustic (wax-based paint) on thin wood panels and embellished with intricate gold-leaf details.

Portraits like these are highly treasured today. They are often known as FAYOUM PORTRAITS, after the region, near Antinoopolis, where most of them were found. There are fewer than 1,000 extant.

The Ancients believed Antinous worked miracles in the lives of his faithful followers. 

Antinous healed the sick, he granted people love and prosperity, he shielded them from peril.

Historian Royston Lambert's book Beloved and God: The Story of Hadrian and Antinous devotes a full chapter to the Religion of Antinous and mentions the miracles he was able to bring forth.

The oracle priests of Antinous could intercede with the God, or followers could appeal directly to Antinous:
 

"There is evidence of oracles at Tarsos and perhaps at Rome itself," Lambert writes. "No doubt it was through these pronouncements and visitations that he wrought miracles and healing for which he evidently became famous in the east."

In many areas, people named their children Antinous in the fervent belief that he would watch over and protect their offspring all their lives.

Marco Antinous undoubtedly is one of these children named after Antinous ... undoubtedly a follower of Antinous ... we hail Marco Antinous as our brother in Antinous!

~ANTONIUS SUBIA

APOLLONIUS AND PHILEMON SAINTS AND MARTYRS OF ANTINOUS

AS the fires of intolerance under the guise of "freedom of religion" rage all around us, we remember St. Apollonius and St. Philemon of Antinoopolis, two loving friends who died together as martyrs to religious persecution.
 
Antinoopolis was built upon the bank where Antinous had fallen into the Nile. From its birth the city was enshrouded with the specter of death.

The Religion of Antinous under the Curia of Antinoopolis was a death cult. The city's two major temples, that of the Egyptian faction and the larger Antinoeion which is the second possible site of the Lost Tomb of Antinous, were places for the perpetual lamentation of the death of Antinous, and for the passing of all beauty and youth in the world.

Antinoopolis was the flower of Greek civilization deep in the desert of the Thebaid, and it was a haven for dispossessed and exiled thinkers and theological revolutionaries of all sorts. But there came a time when even liberal-minded Antinoopolis fell under the sway of the fear and violence that had swept across the world.

The Christian faith was suffering one of the bloodiest persecutions in its history. In the 4th Century CE, as Antinoopolis was in full flower, Emperor Diocletian had sought to curb the rising tide of Christianity with brutal violence. He issued decrees that all citizens should be compelled to demonstrate their piety to the Roman Gods by offering sacrifice. It was a direct challenge.

Any person who refused was not only insulting the Gods of Rome, but also showing disloyalty to the Emperor and to Rome herself. Such treason was punishable by death. This was a legal way to persecute Christians. It was not an attack on the Christian doctrine, or its practices, but demonstrated an unavoidable line that no Christian would cross.

It is interesting to note that, although many of the Christians were executed by beheading or by being shot through with arrows, some were executed by being drowned in the Nile. This similarity between their deaths and the death of Antinous must have been very moving to the Ancient Priests of Antinous.

And it is also curious that the authorities apparently were not sensitive to the nature of this form of execution in the sacred city of a boy who had become a god simply by drowning in the Nile.

Of these Martyrs, the most profoundly moving are Apollonius and Philemon. Apollonius was a Deacon of the Church, also called a reader. The story goes that he was ordered to make a pagan sacrifice at Antinoopolis in order to prove that he was not a practicing Christian. He couldn't bring himself to do that, so he asked his "dearest friend" Philemon to make the sacrifice for him, since Philemon was a pagan.

Philemon is said to have been a flute player, an occupation notoriously held by homosexuals. While one was a young Christian priest and the other a pagan, it is indeed noteworthy that Apollonius the priest would have the confidence and trust to ask Philemon to take his place, and that Philemon would risk his life to aid the young priest. The two must have had a very close friendship, the nature of which has escaped the attention of the Christian martyrologists.


In the end, of course, the ruse was found out and they both died together by being drowned after the manner of Antinous, in the Nile.

One key element of the story is the irrefutable fact that Philemon, though not a Christian himself, refused under torture to renounce his friendship. In other words, he would rather die with his friend than renounce him and live on without him.

The details of the story of their martyrdom are shrouded in legend. In one version, they were tortured separately and were to be executed by archers.

But the story goes that the arrows bounced off their bodies. And in one version, an arrow point ricocheted back at Arian himself, blinding him in one eye.

Saint Philemon predicted that, after his martyrdom, Arian would be healed at Philemon's tomb on condition that he became a Christian. Arian did so, was cured miraculously -- and subsequently was put to death himself for being a Christian.

After arrows failed to kill them, Apollonius and Philemon, bloody but alive, were chained together and placed in a sack and thrown into the river. In one version, they were thrown into the sea at Alexandria.

Their deaths occurred on April 10th in the year 305.

What would cause a man to link his fate with that of another man, the two of them residents of a city founded in honor of a man who linked his fate with that of another man?

As for Apollonius, he must have been regarded as a rebellious hothead and self-destructive with his talk about this martyred Hebrew carpenter boy being an alternative to Antinous -- right there in the Sacred City of Antinoopolis!

What thoughts went through Philemon's mind as he was being bound up in chains together with his beloved friend and they were shoved into the river?

They probably weren't very nice men. Remember that actor/musicians were considered scum in ancient Rome. One was an actor and the other was a rabble-rousing religious fanatic. Not nice men.

Theirs was not a very pretty story. But then, few of the saints of any religious canon were very "sweet and nice" people to actually be around. "Nice" people obey the rules. "Nice" people obey the rules.

These people did not. They stood up against authority and convention. And their life stories generally are not very pretty.

But most of us are not very "sweet and nice" people, once you get past the smiling exteriors that most of us present to neighbors and co-workers. Most of our life stories are not particularly very pretty.

But "nice" people with pretty life stories don't become saints. Most saints are usually just ordinary people who were placed in an extraordinary situation and who did something extraordinary as a result. We read the lives of the saints because they shock us into facing the reality of our own not very nice selves and our own not very pretty little lives.

It is very fitting and appropriate that we remember Philemon and Apollonius, two friends from the Sacred City of Antinoopolis whose lives were linked by bonds of love and whose deaths were linked by bonds of chains.

ANCIENT CROCODILE SKELETON FOUND UNDER A TEMPLE AT ANTINOOPOLIS

TODAY is the ancient Egyptian Festival of Sobek, the ancient Egyptian crocodile god. 

Sobek is fierce, frightening, nurturing, and virile ... and as such was much loved by the Egyptian pharaohs. 

Archaeologists have found a crocodile skeleton under a temple of Antinous at Antinoopolis (see photo below). 

The crocodile protects the temple in all eternity! 

Sobek is celebrated for his protective and nurturing nature. In ancient Egypt, crocodiles were often mummified with a baby crocodile in their mouth, or on their back. 

This aspect of crocodile behavior was unknown to Western science until late in the 20th century, but the ancient Egyptians knew it. That is why a crocodile was buried at a temple of Antinous ... to protect Antinous for all eternity! 

The crocodile skeleton is one of the mysteries surrounding an INTENTIONALLY BURIED STONE STRUCTURE at Antinoopolis where ot just one ... but three ... human skeletons interred in sand directly on top of the structure.

With the discovery of the first body in 2017, archaeologists reluctantly speculated about "human sacrifice" ... but now they believe humans were buried separately but along with sacrificial animals.

The team of archaeologists working at ANTINOOPOLIS in Egypt say the subterranean "stone structure," which they believe may be an underground mortuary temple, is covered by two meters of soil strewn with sacrificial pottery sherds, bones of livestock and a crocodile ... and the skeleton of at least three human beings.

None of the animals was mummified ... nor were the humans,
says James B. Heidel, president of the Antinoupolis Foundation.

Some of the animals ... livestock ... were ritually butchered as normal for a Roman-era sacrifice. But a crocodile was buried intact, without being mummified.

But the human bodies were interred intact, also without being mummified. One of the bodies was accompanied by pottery vessels and ushabti figurines ... small clay dolls representing spirits who tend the deceased in the afterlife. 

The experts are certain that the pottery vessels and the bodies date to the earliest days of the city which Hadrian founded at the site where Antinous died in the Nile.

None of the pottery is later than the 2nd or 3rd Century AD, the experts said ... meaning the sacrificial offerings were made at the time when the city was founded and under construction.

The archaeologists are also certain that the site is intact and has not been disturbed by looters over succeeding centuries.

They found bones of large livestock, which appear to have been butchered prior to burial. An intact crocodile skeleton is seen as proof that the site was used as a religious sacrificial offering venue ... since crocodiles were sacred to Ancient Egyptians and not a source of food.

But the human skeleton is a total mystery. In Roman times, human sacrifice was taboo, but the archaeologists say the human bones mixed in amongst the bones of sacrificial animals and pottery suggest a gruesome possibility.

"The human burial is sealed in the same clean sand layer as all the other offerings, and the not unreasonable, but somewhat uncomfortable, hypothesis must now be that at least one human was sacrificed and offered with the animals," says James B. Heidel, president of the Antinoupolis Foundation.

The pottery and bones are in soil which covers the mystery-shrouded "intentionally buried stone structure" which Heidel's team found in January 2017 in the heart of the city founded by Hadrian at the spot where Antinous died in the Nile.

Using ground-penetrating radar, the experts discovered the rectangular stone structure ... 12 by 22 meters in size ... which consists of three successive chambers. 

The archaeologists suggest it could be an OSIREION ... symbolic Tomb of Osiris ... raising hopes that this could be the Lost Tomb of Antinous.

The structure was detected with ground-penetrating radar.

It is located near the waterfront peristyle discovered last season.

It is within what possibly was the Great Temple of Antinous and is a rectangular chamber which is subdivided into three sub-chambers ... apparently an antechamber, a middle chamber and an inner sanctum.

THE ASCENSION OF MARCUS AURELIUS AND LUCIUS VERUS AS CO-EMPERORS

UPON the occasion of the Death and Apotheosis of Antoninus Pius on 7th March 161 AD, Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus became co-Emperors, both surnamed Antoninus, a name which the ancient Romans equate with inestimable glory.

Marcus being the elder and wiser, was given the title Augustus, while Lucius took the name Caesar. 

They remained cordial to one another though their vastly different characters were always a cause of discord, though never of rivalry or outright animosity. 

They were a harmonious and cooperative pair of rulers, the only example of effective imperial brotherhood in the long history of Rome.

ANTONINUS PIUS, THE ROMAN EMPEROR WHO FULFILLED HADRIAN'S DREAMS

AT the end of February and beginning of March the Religion of Antinous marks Three Holy Days involving the Divine Antoninus Pius.

On February 25th we celebrate the Adoption of Antoninus Pius by Hadrian. And on March 7th we commemorate the Apotheosis of Antoninus Pius . Also on March th, we celebrate the Ascension of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus.

After the death of Aelius Caesar, Hadrian adopted Antoninus, imposing on him the condition that he adopt two sons, Lucius Verus and Marcus Antoninus to be his successors. Antoninus supported the dying Hadrian for the remainder of his years, and obeyed his commands even after his death. For this Antoninus is called Pius.

As the Fates would have it, March 1st is the date when Antoninus Pius died in 161 AD after 23 years as Emperor. His rule is marked by an almost unbroken period of peace and tranquility. The golden era of Rome, known as the Age of the Antonines, takes its name from Antoninus, because every emperor afterward took up his name as an emblem of glory. Antoninus is the emperor most responsible for the perpetuation of the Religion of Antinous.

He had served as Proconsul of Asia Minor under Hadrian from 130 to 135, while the Religion of Antinous was being formed, and it was during his reign that construction of the Sacred City of Antinoopolis was completed.

The Senate deified Antoninus Pius shortly after his death. The base of the column erected in his honor, shows Antoninus Pius and his wife Faustina the elder, rising up to heaven. They are ascending upon the wings of an Aeon, with Mother Rome on one side, and a beautiful reclining male figure on the other who grasps an obelisk. We believe this figure to be Antinous, guardian spirit of the Age of the Antonines.

Upon the occasion of the Death and Apotheosis of Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus became co-Emperors, both surnamed Antoninus, a name which the ancient Romans equate with inestimable glory.

Marcus being the elder and wiser, was given the title Augustus, while Lucius took the name Caesar. They remained cordial to one another though their vastly different characters were always a cause of discord, though never of rivalry or outright animosity. They were a harmonious and cooperative pair of rulers, the only example of effective imperial brotherhood in the long history of Rome.

ANTONIUS SUBIA'S PILGRIMAGE TO EGYPT INCLUDES A PRIVATE TOUR OF KARNAK

I was totally and completely overwhelmed by Karnak.

I knew that it is the biggest temple in the world but I did not expect the scale of how magnificent it is and what it must have looked like when it was intact and functioning ... it brought me to tears.

In a secluded side temple away from all the millions of tourists the attendant took us into off limits areas, opening locked doors, down unlit stairways, across single beam walkways over deep pits to see amazing, beautiful rooms that I'm sure most people never see ... all for a heavy tip of course. 

He knew that we were there for religious purposes and took us to the secret shrines.

He even left us alone in an off limits "chapel," closed the door behind him and let us pray ... it was really great ... and extremely moving to have opportunity to see so many beautiful rooms that most people never see.

We took a carriage along the Nile-side Corniche from the hotel to Karnak, and I told the kid who was driving to come back and pick us up if he wanted.

And when we came out, there he was waiting so I gave them a nice tip. The boy insisted that I sit up front with him and gave me the reins to drive the horse.

I actually was driving the horse who's name was Rambo. I pulled him to the right because a car was coming and he responded. He was very cool.

We ended our day watching the sun go down from the rooftop area ... a beautiful day in Luxor.

Ave Antinous!

~ANTONIUS SUBIA

                        MORE PHOTOS BELOW:

ANTONIUS SUBIA FIRST PRIEST OF ANTINOUS TO VISIT ANTINOOPOLIS IN 1,600 YEARS

EXACTLY six years ago, in February 2020, our spiritual leader Antonius Subia became the first priest of Antinous in 1,600 years to set foot in the sacred city of Antinoopolis, founded by Emperor Hadrian on the banks of the Nile in Egypt where Antinous died in the year 130 AD.

Below is his first-hand account, published on this blog then:

I went to Antinoopolis today, and it was wonderful ... everything I had hoped it would be and so much more!

The trip there was long and crazy but a wonderful adventure and I could tell that it has probably been years since any westerners have been there. The local people were so nice and fascinated. All the little kids along the way came out to see us and say hello. It was great.

First we went to Amarna, saw the tombs while accompanied by police with AK-47s ... that was a really cool start to our adventure.

Then as we left, the cops kept talking to our driver about where we were going. The driver needed directions, but then the cops said they needed to go with us, so one jumped in the van and off we went. 

I also wanted to go to Hermopolis but kept saying that was last on the list. They kept saying Sheikh Abada (Antinoopolis) was far and Al-Ashmunein (Hermopolis) was closer and that we should go there first ... as if I don't know where everything is around there.

But finally they agreed to take us to Sheikh Abada ... so off we went. I saw we were going towards the bridge that crosses the Nile, I saw a little road go north on the East bank which I knew leads to Antinoopolis ... but we kept driving past ... I got nervous, thinking they were taking us to Hermopolis regardless. But the driver said to relax, that it was shorter to go around ... so I was like okay fine what am I gonna do about it. 

So we went through the little town of El Minya, which may be little but it is packed full of people and the traffic is just as crazy as Cairo .... then we went into fields of sugar cane, then turned suddenly right towards the Nile, which I knew was away from Hermopolis so I was thinking ... we are headed the right way now ... but how are we going to get across the Nile. 

Then we pulled up to where the road ends on the Nile bank and right there across the water is what I thought was Antinoopolis, but in fact was just a little north. 

Then I realized that we were where the ferry was going to pick us up and carry us across. I could see the ferry on the other side further downstream. 

So I was thrilled!!! We were going to Antinoopolis by boat across the Nile! 

This man came out and asks us if we wanted to wait in his little riverside cafe while waited, so we did. Our friend Daniel had some hookah, I smoked cigarettes and drank Turkish coffee.

Meanwhile, the boat came. We said we needed to go but the policeman said take your time they will wait ... and they did. 

The driver pulled the car on top of the boat while we had our coffee and hookah and then we boarded with the locals. 

The people were totally fascinated by us. They asked where we were from and where we were going I told them "Antinoe" and they understood. 

When we reached the other bank there was a truck of armed cops waiting to escort us! They led the way through the village streets and then suddenly we stopped and There was the little Ramesseum temple which is SO BEAUTIFUL!

We explored it for a while and then I wanted to explore the streets of Antinoopolis, so off I went followed by the others, with about eight policemen following us. 

I very quickly found THE CARDO ... the main north-south street of the city ... it was just where the old French maps said it would be. 

I was astonished to see how much of it was left. You could clearly see it in sections, many of the flat well-worn smooth paving stones were intact. 

And on either side were the granite columns lying in broken fragments or still standing in broken stumps, the limestone curbs on both sides were still in place here and there. 

We found some beautifully carved acanthus leaf capitals here and there ... they had their own particular style which was Corinthian-like but not exactly. 

In the distance I could see some white marble columns which I thought might be the East-West street and I told the guards I wanted to go over there. 

They said they wanted to go by car because it was far, so we got into the vehicle and drove over there. 

It turned out to be the ruins of a Byzantine church ... but on the way we passed the recent excavation site.

At the Byzantine site, the guards chilled out and sat on the fallen columns, leaving me to explore the area around by myself. 

I climbed the top of an enormous ruined building from which I could see the whole city around me and I could see the Hippodrome in the distance (which is HUGE by the way) and realized that I was on the far north end of Antinoopolis near where the theater once was, though I'm sure I was not on it.

While I was alone, a took the time to pray and meditate and take the place in deeply, and feel the spirit of he city flow through me ... all I can say is that it was the most powerful experience of my life to stand there looking over the Enormous ruins of Antinoopolis ... The Holy City!

When I came down, the head policeman said that they were tired so I knew my visit was soon to be over, so we wouldn't be going to the Hippodrome unfortunately, which was too far away.

But I can say that even from the distance I could tell that it was enormous! 

There was a local man walking around by the entrance and, from his size, I could see that the remains were at least two stories tall and this is just the base without any of the limestone seats and arches that might have made it twice as big.

It was almost as large as the Circus Maximus in Rome and must have been able to seat 20,000-40,000 people.

I am the first Priest of Antinous to return to the holy city in over 1,600 years. I feel very blessed to have been able to go there. And from the way the authorities were acting and the reaction of the locals we are probably the only outsiders to have visited there in a long long time ... at least since the archaeological digs two years ago.

So, for our last stop on the way back, I asked to stop at the dig site, which was open and like everywhere in Egypt was full of garbage including goat bones, jaws with teeth and hips and leg bones here and there.

This is where they believe the Antinoeion once stood. There is the outline of a small temple with steps, a circular pit that looks like a cistern with the remains of spiral steps (much like the catacombs of Alexandria) and the opening of a subterranean passage with steps and a peaked stone ceiling that ended in mud. 

The area is surrounded by a pavement and a few broken columns with papyrus capitals.

Even though the guards were right there and the village children had gathered around, I took a moment to say my prayers to Antinous and place a specially made paper ivy leaf between the foundation stones on the Temple.

I took a little piece of the limestone from the Temple and gathered some sand from the foot of the steps.

The guards were totally cool with us taking things that we found on the ground.

I found a perfect little square of cut white marble with a rounded edge that was probably from some stairs and nearby I found a little piece of marble which on closer examination has the remnant of a curl of hair and some drill work which must have come from a broken statue of Hadrian or one of his successors.

I found it along the Cardo, so it might even be a little semi-lock of Antinous hair ... in any case to me it is a treasure. 

The entire site is full of broken pottery sherds. We found way more than we can carry and have no idea what we can bring through customs but we are going to try.

The important thing is that I have been to Antinoopolis ... one of the greatest dreams of my life, and it was so much more than I expected! 

First of all the boat ride across the Nile was an unexpected wonder ... my first trip on a boat on the Nile and it was to Antinoopolis ... and I loved being among the people, they are all so friendly and welcoming ... the police escort was also very cool I have to admit, made us feel very important ... I am after all the High Priest of Antinous.

Antinoopolis was way larger than I anticipated. I also did not anticipate for so much of it to be intact that I could find my way around based on what I have read ... I anticipated a wasteland ... but instead we found a forest of broken columns everywhere ... but all in line showing exactly what the major street must have been like.

I have been to Antinoopolis

If I die now my life is fulfilled

I have been to Antinoopolis.

When we were driving away from Antinoopolis I took one last look at the city which will live in my heart forever. I knew all about the neighboring towns. Our driver even said, "You know your way around. Were you born here?" I said, "Yes ... I am from here."

I am from Antinoopolis.

~ANTONIUS SUBIA