WITH respect to the layers of Antinous that we have looked at over the last several days, these are the layers that Royston Lambert wrote about in his book Beloved and God.
By no means can we just neatly fit Antinous into one of these four categories. Antinous is infinite. There are so many aspects to Antinous as the stars in the sky.
So, to conclude this small series, we can see the Godhead of Antinous in these four layers and they all work harmoniously together or separate in the mind of his people according to their culture, location, rank in society or needs.
We see in the Divine Ephebe the Spiritual Element in the seeking youth.
In the Hero we have Antinous giving his life for Hadrian and by his first miracle with the Nile inundation in the year 131 eliminating a possible catastrophic famine for the whole empire.
As True Pure God we find “in Antinous a myriad of sacred beings contained in One” (ANTONIUS SUBIA) just as Hadrian intended.
According to Antonius Subia: “The comparisons which were made by Hadrian and his mythologist between Antinous and the more famous gods were meant to communicate his message to the masses who may not have understood the written or spoken oracles that were being woven to further his deification.”
Continuing with the quotes from Antonius Subia: “If you understand Dionysus then you understand Antinous, if you understand Osiris than you will begin to understand Antinous….”
“But the written words have been lost, and His name has been erased from the maps of heaven, only the statues remain to guide our way. With these perfect images as our compass, let us remember that the majority does not portray Antinous with the attributes of any god at all, but entirely naked, and as human as any of us. This gives the impression that Antinous was an unprecedented God, comparable to the famous gods only to an extent, which we must first understand, and then depart from.
"These are only a few of the many ways that lead to the true Antinous, any one of which constitutes the whole of his religion. Through his grace, may they lead us to the Black Star that is the gateway to his salvation.”
If you want to know more, I suggest you LOOK HERE.
No comments:
Post a Comment