Two Inscriptions On the Worship of Antinous

Remembered Among the Stars: Hadrian Honors His Dead Lover by Deifying Antinous

Name: Marcus Oulpius Apollonius Date:  2nd century CE Region:  Rome [modern Italy] Citation:    Cagnat, R., ed. Inscriptiones Graecae ad Res Romanas Pertinentes, Vol 1.31-32 (1911) 32

To Antinous, equal-throned among the Egyptian gods, Marcus Oulpius Apollonius Sacerdos Dedicates This...

ANTINOΣ ΣΥΝΘΡΟΝΩ ΤΩΝ ΕΝ ΑΙΓΥΠΤΩ ΘΕΩΝ Μ ΟΥΛΠΙOC AΠΟΛΛΩNIOΣ ПРОФТНС

Antinoi, pariter-regnans apud Aegyptios deos, M. Oulpios Apollonius Sacerdos Translated into Latin by Kris Masters

 

Name: Unknown Date:  2nd century CE Region:  Inscription found in the Campus Martius, Rome [modern Italy] Citation:    31

To Antinous, equal-throned among the Egy...

ANTINOΣ ΣΥΝΘΡΟΝΩ ΤΩΝ ΕΝ ΑΙΓΥ...

Antinoi, pariter-regnans apud Aegy... Translated into Latin by Kris Masters

 

 

Remembered in the Stars: Antinous, Caelum Astronomico-poeticum, 179-180

ANTINOUS:

Hadrian’s Boyfriend / Hadrian’s Lover / Bythinian Lad / New Egyptian God / (Others think it’s Ganymede, the Trojan Lad, The Trojan, The Trojan, The Phrygian, Jupiter’s Lover (according to Catullus), The Lover, The Eagle’s Boyfriend, Jupiter’s Cupbearer, The Cupbearer.

This constellation passes through the south in the middle of the night, during the middle of July. It is comprised of seven stars in a cluster, as we saw in the previous sign [Aquila].

Antinous was an extremely beautiful youth born in Claudiopolis, Bithynia. After he drowned in the Nile, his lover, the Emperor Hadrian, ordered him to be worshipped by the Egyptians, and had a constellation named after him. The constellation is near the Milky Way under the constellation Aquila, between the Zodiac signs and the Equator (which is also part of the constellation Ara). It was taken away from the Egyptian Pharoah Cleopatra by Augustus, and then rededicated by Hadrian as a new god for the Egyptians, (of course—he named it in honor of Antinous).

In Goltzius’ Thesaurus of Antiquities, there was an ancient inscription found in the Campus Martius in Rome, in a shrine to Isis, which reads: “Dedicated to Antinoos, sharing the same throne as the Egyptian Gods.”  Hadrian also named a town after Antinous in Egypt, which is also called Hadrianopolis. He not only dedicated statues for Antinous there, but he also established temples and priests for him as well. He also created coins in his honor, or rather, had them minted. One of these is a bronze coin in Bavaria. On one side is the head of Antinous, with the inscription “Hostilius Marcellus, the Priest of Antinous.” On the other side is Mercury with Pegasus, with the inscription “dedicated to the Achaeans.”

--Phillippi Caesi a Zesen. Caelum Astronomico-poeticum, sive Mythologicum Stellarum Fixarum, 1662.p. 179-180

ANTINOUS:

Puer Adrianeus, Adriani Amasius, Puer Bithynicus, Novus Aegypti Deus; aliis Ganymedes, Puer Troius, Troianus, Iliacus, Phrygius, Catullo Iovis Cinaedus, catamitus, Puer Aquilae, Iovis Pincerna, sive Pocillator. Meridianum media nocte transit medio Iulii: et septem in globo nosro continet stellas, de quibus in praecedenti egimus Signo.

[Antinous admirandae pulchritudinis puer Claudiopoli Bithyniae natus, postquam Nilo submersus erat, Ariani Caesaris iussu, cuius amasius fuit, ab Aegyptiis cultus, ac in coelum locatus, prope Viam lacteam, sub Aquila, inter Zodiacum, et Aequatorem, Arae quasi insistitit. Devicta enim ab Augusto Cleopatra Aegypti regina,ac Adriano postea imperium consecuto, novum hic Aegyptiis Duem, nempe hunc Antinoum dedit. Unde apud Goltzium in Thesauro rei antiquariae, vetus inscriptio Romae reperta in Campo Martio ad Isidis fanum, haec habet: ANTINOΩI SYNΘΡONΩI TΩN EN AIGYPTΩI ΘEΩN, hoc est, Antinoo eundem cum Diis Aegyptiis thronum occupanti. Quin et idem Adrianus in eiusdem Antinoi honorem urbem Antinoiam, quae et Adrianopolis dicta, in Aegypto condidit: imo non solum statuas erexit, templa & sacerdotes constituit; sed etiam numismata procudit, aut procudi fecit. Quod praeter alios, testatur nummus Bayeri aeneus, in cuius altera facie Caput Antinoi expressum, cum hac inscriptione: OCTILIOS MAΡKELLOS O IEΡEΥS TOΥ ANTINOOΥ, hoc est, Hostilius Marcellus Sacerdos Antinoi: in altera conspicitur Mercurius cum Pegaso, circumque haec legitur epigraphe: TOIC AΧAIOC ANEΘEKE , hoc est, Achaeis consecravit.

I Thirst While Drowning in Waves: Iphis Yearns to Marry Ianthe, Ovid, Meta.9.665-795

Name:   Ovid Date:     43 BCE – 17 CE Region:    Sulmo [modern Italy] Citation: Metamorphoses 9.735, 742 – 744, 755 – 763

In Ovid’s mythology-based epic, The Metamorphoses, Iphis prays to be transformed into a man in order to marry the love of their life, Ianthe:

“I wish I weren’t a girl! … Daedalus, the most intelligent man in the entire world, the one who flew away with waxen wings, could he do the same for me: make a girl into a boy? Could he even change you, Ianthe?

“...So far no part of my prayers have been in vain. The gods readily gave whatever they could to me and my family. They’ve provided what I want, what my father wants, what Ianthe wants, what my father-in-law wants. But Nature herself doesn’t want this, and she overrides us all.

“Look, the perfect occasion is here; the wedding day is here. Ianthe will soon be mine. But it’s no use! I thirst while drowning in waves. What’s the purpose of my matron of honor Juno being here? Why has Hymenaeus come? The groom is absent, but two brides are here.”

I Thirst While Drowning in Waves: Iphis Yearns to Marry Ianthe

Vellem nulla forem!

...ipse licet revolet ceratis Daedalus alis,

quid faciet? Num me puerum de virgine doctis

artibus efficiet? Num te mutabit, Ianthe?

...Nunc quoque votorum nulla est pars vana meorum,

dique mihi faciles, quicquid valuere, dederunt;

quodque ego, vult genitor, vult ipsa, socerque futurus.

At non vult natura, potentior omnibus istis,

quae mihi sola nocet. venit ecce optabile tempus,

Luxque iugalis adest, et iam mea fiet Ianthe—

nec mihi continget: mediis sitiemus in undis.

Pronuba quid Juno, quid ad haec, Hymenaee, venitis

sacra, quibus qui ducat abest, ubi nubimus ambae?”

Ovid [Publius Ovidius Naso; 43 BCE – 17 CE, modern Italy] was one of the most famous love poets of Rome’s Golden Age. His most famous work, the Metamorphoses, provides a history of the world through a series of interwoven myths. Most of his poetry is erotic in nature; for this reason, he fell into trouble during the conservative social reforms under the reign of the emperor Augustus. In 8 CE he was banished to Bithynia [modern Turkey], where he spent the remainder of his life pining for his native homeland.