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Yesterday, I held a short ritual to consecrate my new “Doctor’s Edition” of Devotio Antinoo/portable shrine, transferring some of the numen from my previous ritual book/icon kit to the new one, with the help of various deities–chief amongst them being Thoth. In the meantime, I’ve “dirtied” the book considerably with hand-written additions, corrections, and so forth; and, as part of the consecration ritual, I put some storax oil on the pages. The smell was still strong this morning, but I’m a bit congested after being outside now, so I hope it lingers a bit well into the future, because nothing puts me into the right mindset like a particular, distinctive, pleasing smell such as storax!

Part of the reason I wanted to have the “Doctor’s Edition” is to have my own personal calendar condensed and included in such a book, so that no matter where I am, I can open it and find out both the general holy-days for any given date, and also the Sancti for the day. Over the last few months, when I’ve been tracking this very closely, I’ve made up a sheet at the beginning of each month with all of the dates; you may be asking “Why not just look on the calendars here on the blog pages for those purposes?” Well, I’d prefer not to have to turn on the computer to get that information each morning, I’d rather it just be available. “But why not have it all printed out for easy reference?” Sure, that would be fine; but, I’ve got loads of pieces of paper around here, photocopied articles, notes, and so forth…I really don’t need another such thing to keep track of. So, having it in a book that I will refer to daily, whether I am able to get out of bed each day or not (as it will be by the bedside each night when I go to sleep), is far more practical and appealing than to rely on electronics or other types of physical containment for the information. Yes, I’m a stickler like that–if it’s in a book (even though I created it myself), it has some authority and gravitas that a bunch of pieces of paper with a staple in the corner doesn’t. And yes, I am that shallow.

So, that brings me to today’s events of significance…

Today, being roughly the start of the traditional zodiac period for Aquarius, is the day we honor the syncretism of Antinous and Ganymede. It’s one of the odder syncretisms of Antinous, even though it would seem from the modern viewpoint to be totally expectable and even de rigeur to a certain extent, because no surviving text or inscription from the ancient world by actual devotees of Antinous invokes that syncretism. The places where it does occur in ancient writings is in the works of Lukian of Samosata–a rather severe critic of Antinous’ divinity–and in the writings of various Christian authors, who were not making that comparison in a flattering manner. However, it has had its effect. The statue above, now in Port Sunlight in the U.K., depicts Antinous in a Ganymede-like fashion, but the serving equipment he holds is not original to the core statue–nor, if I recall correctly, is the upraising of his arm. Nonetheless, it is a beautiful statue, and one that I have liked ever since I first saw it. (I can’t say that for all of the statues of Antinous!…though some grew on me later more than others…)

I am tempted to give one of Lukian’s excerpts which alludes to Antinous via Ganymede, and therefore I will. This is from The Parliament of the Gods, trans. A. M. Harmon:

Momus: It was you, Zeus, who began these illegalities and caused the corruption of our body politic by cohabiting with mortal women and going down to visit them now in one form, now in another. It has gone so far that we are afraid that someone may make a victim of you if he catches you when you are a bull, or that some goldsmith may work you up when you are gold, and instead of Zeus we may have you turning up as a necklace or a bracelet or an earring. However that may be, you have filled heaven with these–demigods! I do not care to put it otherwise. And it is a very ridiculous state of things when one suddenly hears that Hercules has ben appointed a god, but Eurystheus, who used to order him about, is dead; and that the temple of Hercules, who was a slave, and the tomb of Eurystheus, his master, stand side by side; and again, that in Thebes Dionysus is a god, but his cousins Pentheus, Actaeon, and Learchus were of all mankind the most ill-fated.

From the moment that you, Zeus, once opened our doors to such as they and turned your attention to mortal women, everyone else has copied you, and not the male sex alone but–what is most unseemly–even the goddesses. Who does not know about Anchises, Tithonus, Endymion, Iasion, and the rest of them? So I think I shall omit those incidents, for it would take too long if I were to pass censure on them.

Zeus: Say nothing about Ganymede, Momus, for I shall be angry if you vex the little lad by disparaging his birth.

Momus: Then am I not to speak of the eagle, either, and say that he too is in heaven, where he sits upon your royal sceptre and all but nests on your head, passing for a god? Or must I omit him also, for the sake of Ganymede?
But Attis at all events, Zeus, and Corybas and Sabazius–how did they get trundled upon us? Or Mithras yonder, the Mede, with his caftan and his cap, who does not even speak Greek, so that he cannot even understand if one drinks his health? The result is that the Scythians–the Getae among them–seeing all this have told us to go hang, and now confer immortality on their own account and elect as gods whomsoever they will, in the selfsame way that Zamolxis, a slave, obtained fraudulent admission to the roster, getting by with it somehow or other.

All that, however, is as nothing, Gods. –You there, you dog-faced, linen-vested Egyptian, who are you, my fine fellow, and how do you make out that you are a god, with that bark of yours? And with what idea does this spotted bull of Memphis receive homage and give oracles and have prophets? I take shame to mention ibises and monkeys and billy-goats and other creatures far more ludicrous that somehow or other have been smuggled out of Egypt into heaven. How can you endure it, Gods, to see them worshipped as much as you, or even more? And you, Zeus, how can you put up with it when they grow ram’s horns upon you?

Zeus: All these points that you mention about the Egyptians are in truth unseemly. Nevertheless, Momus, most of them are matters of symbolism and one who is not an adept in the mysteries really must not laugh at them.

Momus: A lot we need mysteries, Zeus, to know that gods are gods, and dogheads are dogheads!

*****

Very illuminating–thanks, Lukian.

Today is also the dies sancti of one of the ancient dedicants of Antinous: Dioscorus of Aphrodito, whose dies sancti has been placed on this date in relation to the syncretism of Ganymede and Antinous. Dioscorus lived in the 6th c. CE, and though he was from Aphrodito originally, he made the majority of his career in Antinoöpolis. Though he was a jurist by profession, he was also a poet in both Greek and Coptic, and a few of his poems mention Hadrian and Antinous in a flattering light…which is all the more noteworthy because Dioscorus was most definitely a Christian. You can read about him, and translations of his work, here. In a poem praising a bridegroom, he refers to the honorand as “sprung from Antinous’ eagle.” Hence, the syncretism for the day being important in considering upon which date to honor Dioscorus!

Today is also the dies mortis of Giles Lytton Strachey, who died on this day in 1932. The painting above was done by his friend, Dora Carrington, and the award-winning 1995 film Carrington starring Emma Thompson and Jonathan Pryce was about their unusual relationship–a deep friendship that was not sexual. (I’d recommend the film highly–but not if you’re in a bad mood.) Strachey was one of the founders of the Bloomsbury Group, and his most notable written work was Eminent Victorians, which was somewhat scandalous for its time because of its critique of Victorian “morals.” He was openly homosexual, and was also a conscientious objector during World War I. For much of the latter part of his life, he lived with Carrington, and she was so distraught at his death that she committed suicide two months later.

So, sing Ignis Corporis Infirmat, Ignis sed Animae Perstat for Sanctus Dioscorus of Aphrodito, Christian poet of Hadrian and Antinous’ virtues, and for Sanctus Giles Lytton Strachey, critic of his era and conscientious objector!

Khaire Ganymede! Khaire Khaire Antinoe!

On a very personal level (but then again, everything religious is personal, whether other people are marking the occasion or doing activities related to it or not), today was also the dies mortis of my stepfather in 2004. (Out of respect for some of his surviving family and friends, who might not want his name associated with the “infamy” of a blog project like mine, I will refrain from mentioning it here.) I have just been to the cemetery where he is buried to pay my respects and help tend to the upkeep of his grave marker. While we didn’t always get along very well, and in fact had some extremely difficult moments over the years, I’m happy to say that the last time I saw him alive, just a few weeks before his death, we parted on very good terms, and had some of the nicest moments I’d ever had with him in the days leading up to that parting. I was the family representative that spoke at his funeral service (which was Catholic…and from the clerical/liturgical/”official” viewpoint, was disastrously bad). He was a Vietnam veteran (as an A-6 bombardier/navigator), a photographer, an extremely skilled woodworker, a craftsman in many other ways, and a computer enthusiast; he also liked Bill Cosby, Barbara Streisand, Celine Dion, Abba, and Antonio Banderas films. (And no he wasn’t, if that’s what you’re thinking!) I suspect he had undiagnosed PTSD from his Vietnam experiences, even though the “air war” was supposed to not have that effect on people. Therefore, today I also honor his genius, and the role he played in over twenty years of my life. Ignis Corporis Infirmat; Ignis sed Animae Perstat.

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