Editing Antinous (section)

===Antinoöpolis===
{{Main|Antinoöpolis}}
[[File:Fayum--52.jpg|left|thumb|240px|2nd-century funeral portrait depicting two men of the cult of Antinous. Tempera painting on wooden panel, now at the [[Egyptian Museum]]]]
The city of Antinoöpolis was erected on the site of Hir-we. All previous buildings were razed and replaced, with the exception of the Temple of [[Ramses II]].{{sfn|Lambert|1984|p=149}} Hadrian also had political motives for the creation of Antinoöpolis, which was to be the first Hellenic city in the Middle Nile region, thus serving as a bastion of Greek culture within the Egyptian area.{{sfn|Lambert|1984|pp=148-150}} To encourage Egyptians to integrate with this imported Greek culture, he permitted Greeks and Egyptians in the city to marry and allowed the main deity of Hir-we, [[Bes]], to continue to be worshipped in Antinoöpolis alongside the new primary deity, Osiris-Antinous.{{sfn|Lambert|1984|p=150}}<ref>{{cite web |title=Antinoöpolis |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Antinoopolis |website=Britannica |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.}}</ref> He encouraged Greeks from elsewhere to settle in the new city, using various incentives to do so.{{sfn|Lambert|1984|p=199}} The city was designed on a [[Hippodamian grid]] that was typical of Hellenic cities,{{sfn|Speller|2003|p=163}} and embellished with columns and many statues of Antinous, as well as a temple devoted to the deity.{{sfn|Lambert|1984|pp=200&ndash;202}}

Hadrian proclaimed that games would be held at the city in Spring 131 in commemoration of Antinous. Known as the Antinoeia, they would be held annually for several centuries, being noted as the most important in Egypt.{{sfn|Boatwright|2000|p=193}} Events included athletic competitions, chariot and equestrian races, and artistic and musical festivals, with prizes including citizenship, money, tokens, and free lifetime maintenance.{{sfn|Lambert|1984|pp=149, 205}}

Antinoöpolis continued to grow into the Byzantine era, being Christianised with the conversion of the Empire. However, it retained an association with magic for centuries to come.{{sfn|Lambert|1984|pp=199&ndash;200, 205&ndash;206}} Over the centuries, stone from the Hadrianic city was removed for the construction of homes and mosques.{{sfn|Lambert|1984|p=206}} By the 18th century, the ruins of Antinoöpolis were still visible, being recorded by such European travellers as Jesuit missionary [[Claude Sicard]] in 1715 and [[Edme-François Jomard]] the surveyor {{circa|1800}}.{{sfn|Lambert|1984|p=198}} However, in the 19th century, Antinoöpolis was almost completely destroyed by local industrial production, as the chalk and limestone were burned for powder while stone was used in the construction of a nearby dam and sugar factory.{{sfn|Lambert|1984|p=207}}

An excavation of the city in the early twentieth century revealed a relatively realistic funeral tondo painted on wood. Although the men in the portrait are traditionally identified as brothers, there is speculation that they were lovers, the reason for this being that behind the beardless figure is a representation of Antinous-Osiris, the only pictorial representation that has survived of a statue of the deified young man.{{sfn|Mambella|2008|pp=146-147}}