Author : C. Verbruggen
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 60 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (15 download)
Book Synopsis Tracing the Antinous Cult by : C. Verbruggen
Download or read book Tracing the Antinous Cult written by C. Verbruggen and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 60 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The face of Antinous is still as recognizable today as it was in the second century CE, when his fame was spread throughout the Roman Empire. The eromenos of the emperor Hadrian, who died in the Nile in 130 CE, became a deity, an event of epic proportions unprecedented in Roman history for persons outside of the imperial family. From Antinoopolis in Egypt, a new city founded in his honor, his cult spread quickly throughout the eastern part of the empire, with especially strong presences in Bithynion, the Pontic hometown of Antinous, and Mantineia, its mother city in Greece. As a credit to his popularity, his likeness is only the third most commonly encountered among ancient statues in our own age (with the emperors Augustus and Hadrian filling the respective first and second places). Besides statues and busts, his likeness can be encountered on coins, cameos, amulets and even his name became a popular choice to give to children, by parents who were apparently inspired by the young Bithynian. Furthermore, games and mysteries were devoted to Antinous in several places, such as in Athens and Argos. Perhaps the most striking evidence for the popularity of Antinous? cult is its longevity: whereas most of the cults connected with the imperial house disappeared after the death of its recipient, the cult of the young ephebe very likely outlived that of Hadrian himself, ending only in the fourth century CE as one of paganism's last great symbols in the struggle with Christianity. In the West, however, a very different picture emerges. With the exception of Rome, there are hardly any remains to be found of cults dedicated to Antinous. This fact often surfaces in the secondary literature regarding the history of Hadrian and Antinous, yet it is never fully explained. Often, the focus is on a single peculiarity of one of these two ancient celebrities, such as the disputed nature Hadrian?s pro-Hellenic policies, his harsh treatment of the Jews, Antinous as the champion of paganism in Late Antiquity and, of special interest, the exceptional relationship between Hadrian and Antinous, and its status within Roman culture. Yet though often mentioned, a thorough explanation for the unequal spread of the Antinous cult is never fully explained. The main goal of this investigation will thus be to analyze the extent of the Antinous cult in the Roman Empire, comparing its presence in the two halves of the empire, in order to answer the question why his cult appears to have been much more widespread in the eastern than in the western part.
