A Christian View Against the Deification of Antinous: Tatian, Against the Greeks 10

NOTE: Tatian's argument here is not against Antinous being Hadrian's lover, but only that his worship was idolatry against God.

Others have their own choice: but I refuse to worship constellations. What is it they say about the Lock of Berenice? Or, rather, where were those stars, before Berenice died? How did the marvelous youth Antinous wind up on the moon? Who brought him there? Unless, instead, it was someone who scoffs at the gods, who lied under the prospect of financial reward and said Antinous ascended to heaven, just like they made kings into gods in ancient times? Why are you being so wicked against God? Why do you slander His works? You kill a sheep, but worship another [in the sky]. There’s a bull in the sky, but you kill another one like him [in sacrifice].

--Tatian, Oratio Contra Graecos 10, (1700) ed. Wilhelmus Worth

Habent illi fatum suum: ego stellas erraticas adorare nolo. Quid est quod de crine Berenices traditur? Aut ubi stellae illius erant, antequam ipsa moreretur? Quomodo item Antinous speciosus adolescens in Luna collatus est? Aut quis eum eo levavit? Aliquis scilicet Deos irridens, hunc etiam in caelum ascendisse fingendo, sicut Reges olim quosdam mercede nimiurum conductus & pejerans, homines qui id crederent invenit, & Homericam Theologiam imitatus, honore muneribusque affectus est. Cur estis in Deum sacrilegi? Cur eiusdem opus ignominiose tractatis? Tu mactas ovem & eandem adoras. Taurus in caelo est, tu simile ei animal obtruncas.

Ἐχέτωσαν οὗτοι τὴν εἱμαρμένην· τοὺς πλανήτας προσκυνεῖν οὐ βούλομαι. Τίς ἐστιν ὁ Βερενίκης πλόκαμος; Ποῦ δὲ οἱ ἀστέρες αὐτῆς πρὶν τὴν προειρημένηνἀποθανεῖν; Πῶς δὲ ὁ τεθνεὼς Ἀντίνοος μειράκιον ἐν τῇ σελήνῃ ὡραῖον καθίδρυται; Τίς ὁ ἀναβιβάσας αὐτόν, εἰ μή τις καὶ τοῦτον, ὡς τοὺς βασιλέας μισθοῦ δι ἐπιορκίας τις, τοὺς θεοὺς καταγελῶν, εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν ἀνεληλυθέναι φήσας πεπίστευται, κατὰ τὸ ὅμοιον θεολογήσας τιμῆς καὶ δωρεᾶς ἠξίωται; Τί μοι τὸν θεον σεσυλήκατε; Τί δὲ αὐτοῦ τὴν ποίησιν ἀτιμάζετε; Θύεις πρόβατον, τὸ δ αὐτὸ προσκυνεῖς· ταῦρός ἐστιν ἐν οὐρανῷ, καὶ τὴν εἰκόνα σφάττεις αὐτοῦ. 

M/M: Phaeton and Cycnus, Servius In Aen.10.189

Name: Servius Date: 4th – 5th century CE Region: [modern Italy] Citation:   Commentary on the Aeneid, 10.189

“FOR, IT IS SAID, OUT OF LOVE FOR HIS LOVER PHAETON, CYCNUS…”

Commentary: Phaeton was the son of Clymene and the Sun. When Phaeton got upset because Epaphus, the Pharoah of Egypt, told him that he wasn’t the son of the Sun but a bastard, his mother Clymene took him to meet his father.  Phaeton asked the Sun to grant him a wish to prove he was really his son. When the Sun swore on the river Styx that we would grant Phaeton his wish, Phaeton said he wished to drive his chariot, and the Sun could not refuse.  

Phaeton took charge of his father’s chariot, and when he deviated from the Sun’s track, he began to burn up the world. Jupiter shot him down with lightning and Phaeton fell in the Po river.  

His sisters, Phaethusa and Lampetusa, wept over his death until the gods took pity on them and transformed into alder trees.  

Phaeton was also mourned by his lover, a Ligurian named Cycnus, (a man who was endowed with an amazing singing voice by Apollo). Because Cycnus mourned excessively over Phaeton’s death, he was transformed into the bird he shares a name with (a swan). Later on, Apollo turned him into a constellation. His son Cupavo is said to have the feathers of a swan in the crest of his helmet in tribute of his father. 

NAMQUE FERUNT LUCTU CYCNUM PHAETHONTIS AMATI Phaethon Clymenes et Solis filius fuit. qui cum doleret obiectum sibi ab Epapho, rege Aegypti, quod esset non de Sole, sed de adulterio procreatus, duce matre venit ad Solem et poposcit, ut si vere esset eius filius, petenda praestaret. quod cum Sol iurasset per Stygem paludem se esse facturum, petit ille ut eius currus agitaret. Sol post iusiurandum negare non potuit. acceptis itaque curribus Phaethon, cum orbitam solis exisset, et coepisset mundus ardere, a Iove fulminatus in Eridanum cecidit, qui et Padus vocatur. huius interitum flentes sorores, Phaethusa et Lampetusa, deorum miseratione in arbores commutatae sunt, ut hic dicit, in populos, ut in bucolicis, in alnos. fuit etiam quidam Ligus, Cycnus nomine, dulcedine cantus ab Apolline donatus, amator Phaethontis. qui cum eum fleret extinctum, longo luctu in avem sui nominis conversus est. qui postea ab Apolline inter sidera conlocatus est. cuius nunc filium Cupavonem dicit habere cycni pennas in galea ad formae paternae insigne monstrandum. 

--Servius, In Aen.10.189 

Servius [Maurus Servius Honoratus; 4th – 5th century CE] Servius’ name is unfortunately the only thing we know of this author. Little is known about the author or manuscript tradition for the grammatical commentary of Vergil’s Aeneid.

Antinous Listens To Your Prayers: Prudentius, Contra Symmachum 1.271-277

Name: Prudentius Date:  4th century CE Region:  Tarraconensis [modern Spain] Citation:  Against Symmachus 1.271-277

 In this poem, the Christian author Prudentius refers to Antinous as a "deliciae," which is usually used to refer to slaves / human trafficking victims. His disdain for same sex relationships is evident, as he equates the relationship as negating Antinous' masculinity. 

What can I say about Antinous,

The man turned into a constellation,

The boyfriend of our divine Emperor [Hadrian]

The man denied a man’s role

       as he lies in the emperor’s arms

The Divine Hadrian’s Ganymede,

Who doesn’t pour drinks for the gods

but instead reclines on the couch with his Jupiter

drinking the sacred drink of ambrosia & nectar

and listens to prayers offered to his imperial husband?

quid loquar Antinoum caelesti in sede locatum,

illum delicias nunc divi principis, illum

purpureo in gremio spoliatum sorte virili,

Hadrianique dei Ganymedem, non cyathos dis

porgere sed medio recubantem cum Iove fulcro

nectaris ambrosii sacrum potare Lyaeum,

dumque suo in templis vota exaudire marito?

 

Prudentius [Aurelius Prudentius Clemens; 348 – 413 CE, modern Spain] was a Christian author from Roman Hispania who had great influence in the court of Emperor Theodosius I. Most of his works deal with using his Christian beliefs to counter Roman polytheism and mythology. 

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.