Editing Hadrian (section)

===Antinous===
[[File:Hadrian and Antinous bust British Museum.jpg|thumb|left|[[Bust of Hadrian|Busts of Hadrian]] and [[Antinous]] in the British Museum]]
Hadrian had [[Antinous]] deified as [[Osiris]]-Antinous by an Egyptian priest at the ancient Temple of Ramesses II, very near the place of his death. Hadrian dedicated a new temple-city complex there, built in a Graeco-Roman style, and named it [[Antinopolis|Antinoöpolis]].<ref>Cassius Dio, LIX.11; ''Historia Augusta'', ''Hadrian''</ref> It was a proper Greek [[polis]]; it was granted an imperially subsidised alimentary scheme similar to Trajan's [[alimenta]],<ref>Tim Cornell, Kathryn Lomas, eds., ''Bread and Circuses: Euergetism and Municipal Patronage in Roman Italy''. London: Routledge, 2003, {{ISBN|0-415-14689-5}}, p. 97</ref> and its citizens were allowed intermarriage with members of the native population without loss of citizen status. Hadrian thus identified an existing native cult (to Osiris) with Roman rule.<ref>Carl F. Petry, ed. ''The Cambridge History of Egypt, Volume 1''. Cambridge University Press, 2008, {{ISBN|978-0-521-47137-4}}, p. 15</ref> The cult of Antinous was to become very popular in the Greek-speaking world and also found support in the West. In Hadrian's villa, statues of the [[Harmodius and Aristogeiton (sculpture)|Tyrannicides]], with a bearded Aristogeiton and a clean-shaven Harmodios, linked his favourite to the classical tradition of [[Greek love]].<ref>Elsner, Jás, ''Imperial Rome and Christian Triumph'', ''Oxford History of Art'', Oxford U.P., 1998, {{ISBN|0-19-284201-3}}, p. 176f.</ref> In the west, Antinous was identified with the Celtic sun god [[Belenos]].<ref>Williams, p. 61</ref>

Hadrian was criticised for the open intensity of his grief at Antinous's death, particularly as he had delayed the apotheosis of his own sister [[Paulina (sister of Hadrian)|Paulina]] after her death.<ref>Hadrian's "Hellenic" emotionalism finds a culturally sympathetic echo in the Homeric Achilles' mourning for his friend Patroclus: see discussion in [[Caroline Vout|Vout, Caroline]], ''Power and eroticism in Imperial Rome'', illustrated, Cambridge University Press, 2007. {{ISBN|0-521-86739-8}}, pp. 52–135.</ref> Nevertheless, his recreation of the deceased youth as a cult figure found little opposition.<ref>Craig A. Williams, ''Roman Homosexuality : Ideologies of Masculinity in Classical Antiquity''. Oxford University Press: 1999, {{ISBN|978-0-19-511300-6}}, pp. 60f</ref> Though not a subject of the state-sponsored, official Roman imperial cult, Antinous offered a common focus for the emperor and his subjects, emphasising their sense of community.<ref>Marco Rizzi, p. 12</ref> Medals were struck with his effigy, and statues were erected to him in all parts of the empire, in all kinds of garb, including Egyptian dress.<ref>Elsner, ''Imperial Rome'', p. 183f.</ref> Temples were built for his worship in Bithynia and Mantineia in Arcadia. In Athens, festivals were celebrated in his honour and oracles delivered in his name. As an "international" cult figure, Antinous had enduring fame, far outlasting Hadrian's reign.<ref>see Trevor W. Thompson [https://www.academia.edu/9076863/Antinoos_The_New_God_Origen_on_Miracle_and_Belief_in_Third-Century_Egypt "Antinoos, The New God: Origen on Miracle and Belief in Third Century Egypt"] for the persistence of Antinous's cult and Christian reactions to it. Freely available. The relationship of P. Oxy. 63.4352 with Diocletian's accession is not entirely clear.</ref> Local coins with his effigy were still being struck during [[Caracalla|Caracalla's]] reign, and he was invoked in a poem to celebrate the accession of [[Diocletian]].<ref>[[Caroline Vout]], ''Power and Eroticism in Imperial Rome''. Cambridge University Press; 2007, p. 89</ref>