🪷 Bust of #Antinous from #Patras, now at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens, the city #Hadrian loved and which the Emperor and #Antinoos visited during their fateful tour of the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire. 🪷
🪷 11 March is a major feast of #Hercules. This statue is #Antinous as #Herakles with lion skin at the Louvre. Like Hercules, #Antinoos is a divine hero who slew a lion. Hercules slew the #Nemean lion. Antinous slew a man-eater in Egypt. 🪷
🪷 #NovemberCountdown to Antinous' Birthday on November 27th: #Antinous as #Osiris at #vaticanmuseums. Like Osiris, #Antinoos died tragically in the Nile. Like Osiris, #Antinoo triumphed over death as a deity. Antinous is within us ALL! The Blessing of Antinous is with us all!🪷
🪷 #NovemberCountdown to Antinous' birthday on November 27th: #Antinous as #Vertumnus the shape-shifting god-of-plenty & luck. #Antinoos as Vertumnus can take "any form his heart desires" the Obelisk of #Antinoo says. He can be anyone you meet, or you yourself. #MuseiVaticani 🪷
🪷 Modern Priests of #Antinous commemorate his death on 28 Oct, but many scholars say 22 Oct, 23 Oct, 24 Oct or 30 Oct was when he "plunged into the Nile" (#Hadrian's words) in October of 130 AD. The important thing is that #Antinoos truly lived. He is not a myth or a legend. 🪷
🪷 Art by @idahlart Instagram ... Emperor #Hadrian loved #Antinous so much that when he died tragically in the Nile in October 130 AD, he declared #Antinoos a god and founded the city of #Antinoopolis there and erected temples and raised statues to him throughout the Roman Empire. 🪷
🪷 August 13th is #LeftHandersDay: Was Antinous left-handed? His left hand is prominent in many sculptures. But we will never know for sure. All we can say is that #Antinous loves lefties. #Antinoos loves right-handers too. His love is ambidextrous!#InternationalLeftHandersDay! 🪷