Here at Aedicula Antinoi, I am hoping not only to provide those of you reading with information you may find useful (and, indeed, information I may find useful to have to hand easily from any computer with internet access), and to help support my devotion and service to Antinous and my other various gods in the process of doing so (while never mistaking the time I spend doing this as a substitute for actual cultic practice and other such activities), but to also actively serve the community, both in the Ekklesía Antínoou and more widely, by providing you with answers to questions, resources to which I might be well suited to facilitating access, and just general education on the topics to which this blog and my wider work is dedicated. I can’t be a doctor unless I doct…uhh, I mean, teach! 
So, consider this an open invitation to anyone and everyone reading: feel free to ask me any questions, or suggest something for me to post on. In the future, I hope to have other daily posts on a particular topic or series of topics, and I hope to start the next one of those in early October, after a few days’ break when the syncretism series runs out on about September 26 (that is, if no further syncretisms pop up and let me know they’re lurking in the shadows…as about three more have done recently!).
Go on–seriously: Ask me something!
Has Antinous made any pop culture appearances (movies, books, comics, music, etc)?
By: thehouseofvines on September 13, 2010
at 12:02 am
I will make a post on this topic later today, or perhaps tomorrow.
This is perfect, actually, because I wanted to try a little experiment, and this is the only topical and appropriate way to try my experiment without having a lot of non sequiturs in a post…!
And, this could be a rather huge post, in the end…hmm!
By: aediculaantinoi on September 13, 2010
at 11:36 am
Ask you something? That’s rather a challenge. I am somewhat in awe both of your erudition and of your skill in expressing yourself. I wouldn’t want to bother you with trivial questions and I don’t feel any need to inform you when I disagree with your opinions. Indeed, I am rather unsocialized (actually extremely so) and I find asking meaningful questions of anyone is a difficult challenge for me. I don’t like challenges, not one little bit.
I do like and appreciate your blog posts, especially the syncretism ones. I was thinking of starting my own blog but I don’t know what I would say other than just presenting a summary of my own beliefs about the gods and the universe. Yes, I know that you don’t like the word “belief” but I think that you need to get over that particular prejudice.
I do have a few comments about things that have come up recently:
Climate change was briefly mentioned and I have some thoughts about that: the climate is going to change no matter what people do – it’s either going to get warmer or colder. If it gets warmer we will lose coastal lands and cities built near the sea. If it gets colder the glaciers will come back, most of North America, Europe, and Asia will become covered with ice and billions of people will starve. Moaning and bitching about the evil corporate industrial complex causing global warming will not do any good; people do need to grow up and start consciously managing the climate, if we want to maintain a large human population and a high level of technology. I don’t see people giving up cars, computers, or electricity, not unless civilization collapses, in which case the great majority of us will be dead.
Temples and the recognition of paganism: we need big expensive temples in urban centers and scatterings of smaller temples across the suburbs and countryside. And, yes, we need a large enough pagan population to support such institutions. As long as the physical expression of paganism is confined to people’s homes with shrines on kitchen shelves or hidden in bedroom closets, then the academic world and society in general will regard paganism as nothing more than a weird novelty that has no real importance. Of course, institutions do not have to be temple buildings: the development of Biblioteca Alexandrina and the Red Lotus Library are steps in the right direction.
Orthodoxy: I thought that the concept of orthodoxy was invented by Saint Augustine in a specifically Christian context. I really don’t think that the idea of orthodoxy has anything to do with paganism, unless people want to use the word as a synonym for “common opinion” or “common practice”.
So there, I didn’t really ask any questions, but I did babble on a bit. Maybe I can think of something more relevant to ask or say later on.
Should I start a blog or not – I don’t know. Should I bring back my website – I don’t know. I do a lot of dithering.
In any event, Phillupus, your efforts are appreciated. Keep up the good work.
Poppaeus
By: Poppaeus on September 13, 2010
at 12:50 am
Thank you for your comments, and for reading, Poppaeus!
I do think you should start your own blog! That would be great, and it would be nice for others of our religious niche to be a bit more vocal and present on the internet. If you do that in lieu of, or in addition to reviving your website–your choice, of course, but I think either or both would be great.
My allergy to the word “belief” is primarily in its usage by mainstream religions, as well as by the populace at large. If “belief” is understood as “an articulation of an experience of a divine reality,” then I have no problem with it whatsoever; if it is understood as “thinking something without proof” or “taking it on blind faith” or the like, I have no use for or interest in it. Because more people take the latter definition rather than the former, I try and refrain from using it as much as possible, and instead say “I think” or “I’ve experienced” or what have you.
Very good points on the temple/visibility issues. I wish there were an easier way to make these things come into being, though. That Qu’ran-burning fool in Florida has an active and contributing congregation of less than 30, though a supposed enrolled membership in his church of about 100, and he’s having a hard time paying the bills on his church (which, if I’m not mistaken, is an aluminum building). As we can’t even get 30 people to post on a once-yearly basis in the Ekklesía, and I certainly didn’t sell 30 of my previous books to Ekklesía members, I really don’t think we should be wasting our time thinking about temples at this point, since none of us either have the means to get one built ourselves, or would be willing nor able to contribute to creating one should the possibility viably arise.
Again, thanks for your comments, and keep ‘em coming!
By: aediculaantinoi on September 13, 2010
at 11:43 am
Hey, I was wondering if there was a syncretism between Antinous and Asklepios at some point, for I’ve come across a statue of Antinous that seems to me to have some distinctive Asklepian characteristics, namely the Antinous of Pergamon. Any insight would be mightily appreciated!
By: Jay on September 16, 2010
at 9:51 pm
Jay, do you have a link for that statue? I’m not recognizing it off the top of my head…
There are one or two Asklepios statues that look slightly like Antinous, but probably aren’t. Their cults share a number of characteristics, but at this point, no author has really suggested a direct syncretism. There is one possibility, however, which will be explored in the final post of this series, which has to do with a possible syncretism of Antinous at Lepcis Magna with Echmoun, who was also syncretized to Asklepios.
By: aediculaantinoi on September 16, 2010
at 10:23 pm
The statue that I’m referring to can be found here: http://cgi.ebay.com/Antinous-Pergamon-classic-male-nude-art-print-/290467031486
It depicts a beardless youth (who is said to be Antinous wherever I find the picture) who carries a staff with a serpent winding up it. Interestingly enough, I first came across this picture on the yahoogroup for the Asclepios Shrine that my group runs every year at Spring Mysteries. What do you think?
By: Jay on September 16, 2010
at 11:04 pm
Aha! Just as I suspected!
Nope, almost all the info on that statue in the eBay description is incorrect. That statue is actually the topic for today in the syncretism posts, so you’ll be seeing more on that immediately! How’s that for service with a smile!
By: aediculaantinoi on September 17, 2010
at 1:41 am
I have what may be a rather trivial question, but one I have interest in so I figured, “what the hey?” Do you follow the practice of head-covering during ritual and prayer? If so, what do you use? Because a toga seems incredibly impractical most of the time. I’m just sort of interested in practical considerations like that.
By: William Hood on September 17, 2010
at 3:40 pm
It’s a very good question, and thank you for asking!
I have done it once, to be honest–at the opening hymn for PantheaCon ’09, so that I had total concentration on it. I used an actual hood (somewhat like a monk’s cowl), and it served its purpose well on that occasion. No one was in the room when I started (except for the other ritualists), and by the end of it, the room was over-full!
However, on most occasions, I don’t. Most of my ritual postures and preparations these days, outside of larger rituals involving people besides me, are pretty rough-and-ready and low-key. When occasion arises to be more formal, though, I may switch over to something like that. I do find the capite velate with a toga a bit much, though…if I ever have late antique-esque ritual garb, it won’t be a toga.
By: aediculaantinoi on September 17, 2010
at 11:19 pm
Interesting, thanks for the info!
I agree with you on the full-on toga capite velate. Personally I’m not really into “period” garb at all, but I still have an interest in the tradition of head-covering for certain rites. I haven’t found a satisfactory way to implement it yet, though.
By: William Hood on September 21, 2010
at 7:31 pm