As many of you know, various river gods were syncretized to Antinous. I mentioned this in a post in the syncretism series (which later became a chapter in The Syncretisms of Antinous, and I also marked this occasion last year in a rather poor and paltry manner here. Though I don’t have any better photos to share here at this point, nonetheless, I do have a poem to honor this day, which I would like to give below.
Antinous of the Rivers
A river made him into a god,
therefore let us celebrate the gods of the rivers.
Hapi brings the inundation, Anoukis its originator,
and the Apis Bull embodies the fertility of Neilos, the Nile;
O great river of Arcadia, primordial, flowing across seas,
the hunting god, favored of Zeus, Alpheios;
Two who were separate in Asia Minor, slammed together
by Typhon, the Tarsus and the Cydnos;
Son of Ianus and the nymph Camasene of Latium,
Tiberinus, drowned by Albula, the Tiber;
The nymph, daughter of Bendis, most beautiful,
who gave birth to the fair river god of Bithynia, Rhebas;
Son of Okeanos and Tethys, father of Nana
and Trojan Hekabe, lamenter of Dionysos’ Ampelos, Sangarios;
The Old Dark Man, Tameses, and the Egyptian Goddess
became one to give a river its name, the Thames;
Though the Boyne and the Shannon flow from Segais’ well,
the river of the south is a stream of poetry, An Laoi;
From its long lakes and flowing falls,
the people of the sun celebrate the Spokane;
Her great river, the goddess of this land
rejoices with doves from Aphrodite, the Columbia;
Between great peaks and glaciers, the people
rich in salmon live in the place of refuge, the Skagit;
May these waters, which have sustained his worshippers
flow long, clean, and pure, by the power of Antinous!
*****
Praise to all the gods, spirits, and nymphs of the rivers, and to Antinous!
Your timing for posting this was perfect. I had a meeting in downtown Portland today, and I had already known that I wanted to walk the couple miles home along the river. The Willamette River, of course, goes right through downtown Portland, and our Waterfront Park gives direct access to it. I thought a walk along the river with be a lovely way to honor the River Gods and Antinous. Just as I was approaching the river to meet my boyfriend, I checked my e-mail via cell phone and saw this post and the poem! My boyfriend and I paused for a moment at the edge of the river as I read the poem, and of course made sure to honor Portlandia (the goddess, *not* the TV show) and the Willamette! We then had a nice slow walk along river. It was perfect. Thank you!
By: Kurt Granzow on July 31, 2012
at 9:33 pm
Wonderful! Thanks so much!
Yes, the Willamette is a lovely river as well–but, as I’ve never lived alongside it, it isn’t included in the above. (And, a few rivers I have lived near, e.g. the Bronx and the Huron, also didn’t make it into this poem…but, a lot of rivers I haven’t lived alongside either are also in it, but for historical/thematic reasons…Never lived along the Nile, me!)
By: aediculaantinoi on August 1, 2012
at 4:29 am