CARDINAL ALESSANDRO ALBANI

SAINT OF ANTINOUS

 

ON December 11th the Religion of Antinous honors SAINT ALESSANDRO ALBANI, who was an Italian aristocrat and cardinal, and a collector and patron of the arts. 

It is largely thanks to Cardinal Albani that Antinous experienced a resurgence of interest in the 18th Century which continues to this day.

It is also believed that Albani secretly worshiped the Beauteous Boy as a gay god.

Albani became a trend-setter and an arbiter of taste. Albani, whose sexuality was ambivalent, and the openly gay Winkelmann more or less single-handedly launched a craze throughout the European aristocracy for Classical art. 

When he was 29, by special dispensation from his uncle Pope Clement XI, Alessandro Albani was made a Cardinal, although he had never been a priest or member of a lower order. 

Indeed, he would have preferred to pursue a military career. But chronic eye problems, which eventually resulted in total blindness in old age, convinced him to take up his uncle's generous offer.

He is said to have been a continuing cause of great concern to his uncle, due to his wordly and irreligious obsessions, first among these his passion for art. 

Cardinal Albani used his vast wealth to collect Classical art, and to patronize artists of his day, such as Anton Raphael Mengs, and the "Father of Archaeology" Johann Joachim Winckelmann, who was an open homosexual.

The art collection of Cardinal Albani contained an extraordinary number of statues of Antinous, and these were studied by Winckelmann, who had taken up residence in the sprawling and very lavish Villa Albani outside of Rome (pictured at right).

And Antinous was the pre-eminent example of male beauty in Classical art. 

Every aristocrat in Europe wanted a statue or Antinous. And monarchs such as Frederick the Great of Prussia (who never married and favored intimate friendships with males) sent out experts to find statues of Antinous. 

Thus, the science of archaeology was born largely through a desire by aristocrats to furnish their palaces with the sort of Antinous-style Classical art which Albani had made fashionable.

By the time he died on December 11th in the year 1779, it was rumored that Cardinal Albani, along with his intimate friends Winckelmann and neo-classicist painter Anton Mengs, had been secret worshippers of Antinous and Priapus. 

It was asserted that they reinstated the religion of the Beloved Boy as a kind of underground cult along with other, unnamed persons.

For this reason, though based largely on rumor, Cardinal Alessandro Albani is sanctified as a Saint of the Religion of Antinous.

Although he was a Cardinal of the Catholic Faith, he may in fact have been the first High Priest of Antinous since the extermination of the ancient religion 1,300 years before. 

Albani's secret cult -- assuming it truly existed -- is the only known predecessor since ancient times to the current Religion of Antinous.

YOU CAN HELP ANTINOUS

MAKE IT BIG ON BROADWAY

THIS breathtaking portrait of Antinous may soon be displayed on the giant Times Square billboard in New York City ... with your help!

British artist ANDREW PRIOR has entered this and other examples of his work in the SEE/ME art competition and is already in the top 100 or so finalists.

"The more likes I get the higher up the ratings I go. And if I am lucky and get enough votes my painting of Antinous will be displayed on the giant Times Square billboard for all to see," Andrew explains.

"So please have a look at my PAGE and give me some likes."

Andrew is a brilliant modern-day interpreter of the ancient technique of encaustic style portraiture ... like the Fayoum/Antinoopolis MUMMY PORTRAITS.

His paintings were exhibited parallel to lectures by JOHN J JOHNSTON entitled Antinous: Gay Icon? at London's Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology as part of Gay History Month.

Andrew practices his art in a wide array of media including works on paper, canvas and wood, DIGITAL ART, fashion design, interior design and jewellery design ... even exquisite hand-tooled Antinous shoes!

He often works to commission, but also uses the inspiration of the ancient Mediterranean for his creations. 

The Antinous portrait above was inspired by the mummy portraits of Antinoopolis. The photo does no justice to the portrait, which has gilt elements and a hand-tooled metal frame studded with coins and semi-precious gemstones.

TOMB OF GENERAL WHO INSPIRED MOVIES

TO BE REBURIED FOR LACK OF FUNDS

THE tomb of the Roman general and statesman who inspired GLADIATOR and THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE is to be reburied because Italy does not have enough money to restore it and protect it from the elements.

Marcus Nonius Macrinus was a legend in his own time. 

He was a general and consul who achieved major victories in military campaigns for Antoninus Pius, the Roman emperor from 138 to 161 A.D., and Marcus Aurelius, emperor from 161 to 180 A.D.

He made headlines in modern times when his tomb was discovered on the banks of the Tiber near the VIA FLAMINIA north of Rome in 2008.

But now lack of funding is forcing Italian archaeologists to bury again the large marble monument. 

It is hoped that the reburial is only a temporary measure to protect the marble. But the precarious financial situation in Italy jeopardizes the future of this and many other archaeological projects throughout the country.

Although the tomb collapsed in antiquity because of floods, its marble columns, carvings and friezes remained perfectly preserved, sealed by the Tiber's mud.

Rome's officials had planned to fully reconstruct the monumental tomb as the centerpiece of a new archaeological park, but the project failed due to a tight budget and a lack of private sponsors.

"It is a painful choice, but we cannot risk losing the monument. The marbles can't face another winter, we must bury the site in order to preserve it," Mariarosaria Barbera, Rome's archaeological superintendent, told the daily La Repubblica.

Born in Brescia in northern Italy in 138 A.D., Macrinus was one of Marcus Aurelius's favorite men. 

His life is believed to have inspired the fictional character Maximus Decimus Meridius played by Russell Crowe (above) in Ridley Scott's film as well as a very similar character in the 1964 blockbuster which starred Stephen Boyd as a general who ended up in the gladiatorial arena fighting Emperor Commodus to the death.

In both movies, the general is a favorite of Marcus Aurelius and ends up killing Commodus, but this is where the similarities end. 

In reality, Marcus Nonius Macrinus went on to enjoy a successful career and died a wealthy man. His tomb attests to his high standing and wealth.

SPECTACULAR MERENPTAH TOMB RE-OPENS

TO LURE TOURISTS BACK TO EGYPT

AFTER three years of restoration, the tomb of Ramses the Great's beloved son, Pharaoh Merenptah, has re-opened in an attempt to revive Egypt's tourism industry, which has ground to a standstill since since the 2011 January revolution

The walls were reinforced, cracks removed, reliefs and colors restored. New wooden stairways, flooring, lighting and special ventilation systems have been installed. Glass barriers that cover the tomb reliefs were cleaned or replaced.

Merenptah's tomb (dubbed "KV8" by Egyptologists) is one of the most impressive royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings not only for its length, which reached 164.5 metres, but for its exquisite reliefs and the biggest granite sarcophagus ever found in the Valley.

Priest Hernestus has visited all the accessible tombs in the Valley of the Kings and says he was more impressed by Merenptah's tomb than with Tutankhamun's. 

While Tutankhamun was buried in a cramped space the size of a New York City one-bedroom flat, Merenptah was interred in virtually a subterranean Versailles featuring a grand staircase and chambers so big they needed pillars to support the ceiling.

The tomb was discovered by British archaeologist Howard Carter in 1903. It consists of three slopping corridors; the first one lead to the ritual shaft and the pillared hall with two pillar annex. The second corridor has a stairway.

The tomb is decorated with scenes from the Litany of Ra, Book of Gates, Imydwat, Book of the Dead, and scenes depicting the deceased, opening of the mouth rituals, along with several deities and members of his family.

It has also a stunningly beautiful ceiling painted with golden stars on a blue background and the columns of the burial chamber are decorated with fine religious scenes.

At the formal re-opening ceremonies at the entrance to the tomb, Mohamed Ibrahim, Minister of State for Antiquities, told Ahram Online that although he ruled Egypt for only a decade after the death of his father King Ramses II, Merenptah is a very important king. 

He protected Egypt's borders from an invasion by the mysterious "Sea People" (possibly Phoenicians) as well as by the Libyans.

Merenptah is the only king's name mentioned in association with Israel. On display at the Egyptian museum in Tahrir, Ibrahim continued, there is the famous "Stelae of Victory." Its text reads, "Israel has been destroyed and their women no longer conceive."

"This is the only ancient Egyptian artifact that mentions the word 'Israel'," asserted Ibrahim.

Mansour Boreih, head of Luxor antiquities, said that the sarcophagus has been also restored and put on show for the first time at the burial chamber inside the tomb.

He pointed out that when the tomb was discovered the mummy of the king was not inside it. However in 1898, the mummy was found among the mummies discovered inside the tomb of King Amenhotep II.

HADES ORIGINALLY WAS THE HOME

OF CAVE DWELLERS, EXPERTS REVEAL

HADES was once the site of a cave-dweller village which housed hundreds of people, according to new evidence unearthed by archaeo-spelunkers.

The enormous cavern in southern Greece is believed to have been the legendary entrance to Hades in myth and legend for the Ancient Greeks.

Now experts say the cave once housed hundreds of people, potentially making it one of the oldest and most important prehistoric villages in Europe — before it collapsed and killed everyone inside, researchers told LIVESCIENCE.

The complex settlement seen in this cave suggests, along with other sites from about the same time, that early prehistoric Europe may have been more complex than previously thought.

Ironically, the giant cave could have resembled something vaguely similar to the scene depicted by Jan the Elder Bruegel of Aeneas and the Sybil entering Hades (above left). 

The cave, located in southern Greece and discovered in 1958, is called Alepotrypa, which means "foxhole."

"The legend is that in a village nearby, a guy was hunting for foxes with his dog, and the dog went into the hole and the man went after the dog and discovered the cave," said researcher Michael Galaty, an archaeologist at Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi. 

"The story's probably apocryphal — depending on who you ask in the village, they all claim it was their grandfather who found the cave." [ See Photos of Alepotrypa Cave ]

After its discovery, Greek officials originally saw the cave as a potential tourist attraction. However, when archaeologists realized the historical secrets it might hold, they led efforts to keep tourism from inadvertently destroying the site. 

The main chamber of the cave is about 200 feet (60 meters) tall and up to about 330 feet (100 m) wide. Altogether, the cave is nearly 3,300 feet (1,000 m) long, large enough to have its own lake, in which famed explorer Jacques Cousteau once scuba-dived.

Excavations that have taken place at Alepotrypa since 1970 uncovered tools, pottery, obsidian and even silver and copper artifacts that date back to the Neolithic or New Stone Age, which in Greece began about 9,000 years ago. 

"Alepotrypa existed right before the Bronze Age in Mycenaean Greece, so we're kind of seeing the beginnings of things that produced the age of heroes in Greece," Galaty said. 

Cave dwellers apparently used the cavern not only as a shelter, but also as a cemetery and place of ritual.

"You have to imagine the place torchlit, filled with people lighting bonfires and burying the dead," Galaty said. "It was quite like a prehistoric cathedral, a pilgrimage site that attracted people from all over the region and perhaps from further afield." 

The cave apparently went through a series of occupations and abandonments. 

"Alepotrypa was at a perfect place to intercept sea trade from Africa all the way to the eastern Mediterranean, being right at the southern tip of Greece," Galaty said. 

Settlement at the cave abruptly ended when its entrance collapsed about 5,000 years ago, perhaps due to an earthquake, burying cave dwellers alive.

 "The burial sites and rituals that took place really do give the cave an underworld feel. It's like Hades, complete with its own River Styx," Galaty added, referring to the river that in Greek myth served as the boundary between the mortal realm and the netherworld.

MEET SANTA'S HELPERS

KRAMPUS AND ANTINOUS/APOLLO

DECEMBER 6th is the day when millions of children in Europe and Latin America get a visit from Santa and his dark and spooky helpers — the feast day of St. Nicholas.

But old St. Nick was never actually canonized for lack of evidence that he actually ever lived. He is only a "folk saint"  and few people are aware that he is related to Antinous/Apollo.

The pagan history shows that St. Nicholas is a vastly more complex being than most Christians could imagine, stemming from the Temples of Apollo and Artemis in Asia Minor (the birth country of Antinous) which would later be the birthplace of the mythical Nicholas.

The truth is that when you see a department store Santa, you are seeing only a composite being whose multitudinous composite aspects (many of them very dark and spooky) trace their origins back to the beginnings of mankind.

If you look very, very carefully, you will see the face of Antinous/Apollo shining through the centuries of folk customs under a variety of names including Santa, Sinter Klaas, das Christkind and Kriss Kringle.

In some parts of Central Europe, St. Nick goes from house to house on December 6th accompanied by a coterie that includes figures resembling Pan, Apollo and Artemis (Austrian Alps photo right).

 The legend of St. Nicholas begins in the Turkish town of Patara in Asia Minor which was also the birth land of Antinous. Patara was also the birth place of Apollo and a famous oracle was located there.

Apollo's sister Artemis also had a cult center in nearby Myra, where Nicholas grew up and allegedly became a "bishop." Myra's main cult was dedicated to Artemis Eleuthera, a distinctive form of Cybele, the ancient mother-goddess of Anatolia. She had a magnificent temple in Myra.

Unfortunately, St. Nicholas was zealous in his duties as bishop and took strong measures against paganism. The temple of Artemis and the Apollo oracle were among many other temples in the region that he destroyed. It is said that the very foundations were uprooted from the ground, so complete was its destruction, "and the evil spirits fled howling before him".

St. Nicholas was never officially canonized by the Church. He simply usurped the popularity of Artemis and Apollo and promoted his own reputation for being a protector and a giver of good things.

Antinous/Apollo more or less morphed into Old St. Nick, aka Santa Claus, Father Christmas, Sinter Klaas, das Christkind and Kriss Kringle.

And in a lot of places, Santa has several dark and scary sidekicks — all related to Pan, who also originated in Asia Minor.

In the Alps, Santa's helpers take the form of a demonized Pan who chases and abducts children who have been naughty. He is called Krampus and, thanks to the Internet, Krampus is becoming widely known in English-speaking countries.

In the Nordic and English version, of course, all that is left of Krampus with his horns and hooves and fur is the reindeer which accompany Santa's sleigh. 

In Holland, St. Nick is accompanied on December 6th by a Moorish youth wearing a turban and a fur-trimmed costume called Svarte Piet, who delights in teasing naughty children.

In English-speaking countries, prudish Victorians stripped Santa of all his impish devilry. Santa is nice to all and punishes no one. 

In Europe, Santa's Dark Side still prowls — marches defiantly, in fact. In a way, the Anglo-American Santa Claus was lobotomized by the Victorians so that he is only docile and sweet-humoured.

But to understand the REAL Santa Claus, you have to understand his Darker Side. You have to understand where Santa is coming from, literally....

He is composite spirit being who in English-speaking countries is called St. Nicholas, Santa Claus or Father Christmas. 

But the deeper you go back into the forests of Europe, the more differentiated this ancient being becomes so that you see his various component parts — including Antinous-Apollo — all competing against each other — sometimes morphing into each other.

NEFERTITI MARKS A CENTURY IN BERLIN

NEFERTITI is marking her 100th anniversary as a resident of Berlin with a major exhibition which opens today at Berlin's NEUES MUSEUM, new home of the world-famous Berlin Egyptian collection.

It was on December 6, 1912, that a German archeologist, Ludwig Borchard, unearthed a 3,300-year-old painted stone bust of Nefertiti in southern Egypt and carried it off to Germany.

The centenary will turn up the volume on Egypt's demands for its return, and for the repatriation of other priceless antiquities discovered by foreign collectors and shipped out of the country.

Before he was fired by Egypt's new Islamist-led government, Egyptian antiquities minister Zahi Hawass campaigned unsuccessfully for the return of the Rosetta Stone from the British Museum and for the bust of Nefertiti, the wife of Pharaoh Akhenaten, from Berlin’s Neues Museum.

Balking museum directors argue that the treasures are safer where they are, an argument supported by the looting of antiquities during Egypt's recent turmoil.

German officials also argue that Nefertiti was brought to Germany legally and is too fragile to move.

Turkey and Greece are also involved in trying to retrieve antiquities, while in Syria, they are reported to be looted to buy guns.

The early days of the uprising saw thieves taking advantage of the temporary lack of security to loot several archaeological sites and museums around Egypt, including the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square, the Saqqara and Abusir necropolises in Giza, and sites in the Delta and Upper Egypt.

Some of the stolen items were later recovered. Many are still missing. Though less intense, the turmoil and political upheaval continue, raising worries about the ongoing safety of the country’s pharaonic treasures.

At the Neues Museum, the Nefertiti bust will be on display from until Apr 13 as part of the "In the Light of Amarna - 100 Years of the Find of Nefertiti" exhibition.

Borchardt and his team excavated up to 7,000 archaeological objects in Akhenaten, located barely 20 kms south of ANTINOOPOLIS. About 5,500 of those objects made their way to Berlin.

Despite persistent rumors that Borchardt smuggled out the Nefertiti bust under a coating of mud, the plain truth of the matter is that Ottoman authorities failed to recognize the bust as a masterpiece. In those days, the uniquely fluid style of the Amarna Period was viewed as an "aberrant" deviation from traditional styles of other Egyptian periods.

The discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922 spawned an Egyptomania craze as well as the Art Deco style. King Tut's treasures flaunted the "aberrant" style of the late 18th Dynasty, and Nefertiti suddenly was a fashion trend-setter.

Crowds flocked to the Berlin museum to see Nefertiti and shame-faced Egyptian authorities realized they had made a ghastly mistake back in 1912.

"They suddenly realized that this bust, which had been dismissed as 'un-Egyptian' in 1913, was in fact one of the most exquisite examples of Egyptian art," the Berliner Zeitung newspaper quoted one expert as saying.

When Hitler came to power in 1933 the Egyptian government renewed its demands for Nefertiti's return -- counting on Hitler's anti-Semitism. Hermann Goering was new premier of Prussia, including Berlin. As head of Berlin's museums, Goering hinted to King Fouad I of Egypt that Nefertiti would indeed soon be back in Cairo.

But Hitler had other plans. Through the ambassador to Egypt, Eberhard von Stohrer, Hitler informed the Egyptian government that he was an ardent fan of Nefertiti:

"I know this famous bust," the fuehrer wrote. "I have viewed it and marvelled at it many times. Nefertiti continually delights me. The bust is a unique masterpiece, a precious adornment, a true treasure!"

Hitler said Nefertiti had a place in his dreams of rebuilding Berlin and renaming it Germania.

"Do you know what Im going to do one day? I'm going to build a new Egyptian museum in Berlin," Hitler wrote.

"I dream of it. Inside I will build a chamber, crowned by a large dome. In the middle, this wonder, Nefertiti, will be enthroned. I will never relinquish this bust of the Queen."

Hitler and his mad dreams are long dead. But Nefertiti continues to smile serenely. In 2009 she and the entire Berlin Egyptian collection moved to new/old quarters in the Neues Museum, where the she and thousands of other Amarna treasures are on display in the historic new exhibition.

Many of these have never been on display before, but around 600 have been restored and are being unveiled as part of the exhibition. The display will be supplemented with loans from other museums abroad, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Louvre in Paris and London's British Museum.