Marble Bust of Antinoüs-Osiris
Antinoüs (Antinous. Antinoös. Greek: Ἀντίνοος) was a Greek youth, born in Claudiopolis (present day Bolu, Turkey), in the Roman province of Bithynia et Pontus.
By 128 A.D., he had become the Roman Emperor Hadrian’s favourite and lover. Little is known about Antinoüs other than his connection to Hadrian, however, he became a legend after his mysterious early death at age 18 or 19 in October of 130 A.D.
While the two were part of a flotilla travelling along the Nile in Egypt, it is believed Antinoüs drowned.
Several theories have been proposed concerning how Antinoüs truly died, ranging from accidental drowning to premeditated human sacrifice or even suicide.
Scholars say that within Hadrian’s lost memoirs, Hadrian himself documented that he believed it was an accidental death due to intoxication. Yet, the writings of Dio Cassius, 80 years after the event, claim the death of Antinous was a self-sacrifice on behalf of Hadrian’s ill or worsening health. Such an event would have been extremely controversial, as Hadrian had strengthened laws against sacrifice within the Empire.
Following the death of Antinoüs, it is said Hadrian became inconsolable and contemporaries claimed he, “wept like a woman”. It is thought that the local priesthood immediately deified Antinous by identifying him with the Egyptian god Osiris, due to the manner of his death (drowning in the Nile). However, it is also suggested Hadrian himself deified Antinoüs and established the cult dedicated to his worship that would go on to spread and expand throughout the Roman Empire.
Hadrian also established the city of Antinoöpolis at Antinous’s funeral site (the Ancient Egyptian site of Hir-we), which became a cultic hub for worshipping Antinoüs-Osiris. All earlier structures, including a Necropolis, were dismantled and replaced, with one notable exception, the Temple of Ramesses II, which Hadrian left erected.
As well as emotional reasoning, Hadrian had political reasons for establishing Antinoöpolis in Egypt, which would be the first Hellenic metropolis in the Middle Nile region, functioning as a stronghold of Greek culture in Egypt. To encourage Egyptians to merge with the imported Greek culture, he allowed Greeks and Egyptians in the city to marry and allowed the major deity of Hir-we, the dwarf god Bes, to continue to be worshipped in Antinoöpolis alongside the new chief deity, Antinoüs-Osiris.
The bust, depicting Antinoüs in Egyptian dress, identified with the god Osiris, with 21st–century English restorations, is now on display at the Art Institute of Chicago. Obj: 230470
