Happy calendrical New Year, everyone!
As today is first and foremost the festival for Ianus, I wanted that type of cultic marker to be the first thing I did on the blog this year. The Neos Alexandria page on Ianus is (still!) not up, and while I gave that in full two years ago, I thought I’d select one particular bit of it for this year: Proclus’ Hymn to Ianus and Hekate, since both of them are important to the Ekklesía Antínoou. And, since I mentioned Proclus, look at what Pagan Reveries wrote about him not too long ago (well, actually more than two months ago), too!
Proclus, “Hymn to Hecate and Janus” (trans. Frederick Grant)
Hail, Mother of the Gods, the many-named, the nobly born!
Hail, Hecate, guardian of the gates, the Mighty one! And thou too,
Hail, O Janus, the Forefather, Zeus the immortal! Hail, Zeus supreme!
Be it mine to enjoy a life radiant on its journey, weighed down with good things!
Keep far from my body the sickness that destroys,
And upward lead my soul, from wandering in error here below,
After it has cleansed itself in soul-awakening mysteries!
Reach out to me your hands, I pray you, and show to my yearning heart
The path divine, that I may behold [its] glorious light
And find an escape from the bane of gloomy Becoming!
Reach out to me your hands, I pray, and with favoring winds
Bring me at last, and weary, to safe anchor in the harbor of devotion!
Hail, Mother of the Gods, the many-named, the nobly born!
Hail, Hecate, guardian of the gates, the Mighty one! And thou too,
Hail, O Janus, the Forefather, Zeus the immortal! Hail, Zeus supreme!
*****
And, today is also the syncretism festival of Antinous and Asklepios, based on the Roman festival of the latter celebrated on this day. As I noted the other day, this can now be a “co-syncretism” festival for both Hadrian and Antinous, since Hadrian was called the Neos Asklepios as well–and all the more appropriately, since I wrote in Hadrian’s voice yesterday, and Hadrian’s dies natalis comes later this month. Hurrah for that!
Hadrian favored the shrine of Asklepios at Epidaurus, and was said to have dedicated a bust of Epictetus in the shrine, as well as favoring it in other ways. And, apparently (of incidental interest), there was a colonnade of Kotys at that temple, too! (But, it could be a king named that, rather than the Thracian goddess…but, given that Pausanias’ mention of it occurs amongst various other shrines and honorings of other deities at Epidaurus, it seems likely the goddess rather than a king of that name is indicated, at least to me…please correct me if I’m wrong, anyone!)
Ave Iane! Ave Aesculapie! Khaire Kotys! Ave Hadriane! Ave Ave Antinoe!
An interesting hymn demonstrating Proclus’s willingness to invoke Roman deities without “translation”. Of course, we know from his biographer that he wrote hymns to other non-Hellenic deities, but none of those survive.
By: henadology on January 1, 2013
at 7:41 pm
Indeed…and, as Ianus would be notoriously difficult to translate into something Greek (other than, perhaps, Hekate, but even that is a stretch), it makes sense…
It would have been very interesting if some of his non-Hellenic ones had survived, or to even have a list of titles of them in absence of the actual hymns.
By: aediculaantinoi on January 2, 2013
at 10:10 pm
His biographer Marinus specifically mentions hymns of Proclus to Marnas of Gaza, the Arabian God Theandrites, and Isis. He mentions as well a hymn to “Asclepius Leontuchos of Ascalon”; perhaps this hymn, then, was in the manner of interpretatio graeca. It is clear that the others were not, however. What is also quite significant about this list is that it seems these were all cults that were notable for the degree they were stubbornly holding on in the 5th century; Marinus even characterizes Isis here as “still honored in Philae”. So Proclus is particularly acknowledging these sites of pagan resistance by his hymns.
By: henadology on January 3, 2013
at 9:00 am
Fascinating…
I just thought “It’d be cool if there were a list,” and it turns out there was–of sorts!
I’ve tried to follow up on Asklepios Leontouchos in the big Edelstein and Edelstein book, and I’ve come up against a systematic referencing error internal to the text–something that might have relevance to this passage is not in the catalogue where it is listed consistently. I may have to see if either Amazon or Google Books has a copy where I can do a word search…
But, of course, being that Asklepios is rather famed for being super-syncretistic, and Leontouchos seems to suggest (perhaps?) a leonine form, I’m curious, if nothing else…
Crikey…I’m going to have to explore Proclus more, and sooner rather than later, now, I suspect…
Of course, there’s no way to know, but I’d wonder what he’d have to say about Antinous.
By: aediculaantinoi on January 3, 2013
at 7:48 pm
Mark Edwards, in Neoplatonic Saints, translates the epithet as “lion-headed”, though Liddell & Scott read “holding a lion”. Edwards sees Eshmoun here. His note (p. 87f) will be of interest to you: “Since Ascalon is in Phoenicia, this may be the same Asclepius whom Damascius, Isid. 302 [i.e., his Life of Isidore, aka the "Philosophical History"] identifies with the god Eshmoun. He is said to have been a handsome youth, beloved by the Great Mother, but killed like Adonis in the course of a hunt. He was made a god by the insufflation of “divine heat”, which is allegedly the meaning of his Phoenician name.”
By: henadology on January 4, 2013
at 8:42 am
Interestingly, the reference in Edelstein and Edelstein is to, if I am not mistaken, the passage from Damascius and the story of Eshmoun…which was highly confusing to me, since it was supposed to have been Marinus and to have the Leontouchos epithet in it…
If it does mean “holding a lion,” then that makes me wonder if it’s not Eshmoun/Echmoun at all, but instead perhaps Melquart, given that the latter is pretty consistently syncretized to Herakles (“Herakles of Tyre” and “Hercules Gaditanus” both being Melquart, and the latter having a connection to Hadrian’s birthplace, thus making it all the more relevant to my work here!)…though E & M are also sometimes paired, and I’ve heard (but have not seen the direct evidence for this) that they were homoerotically linked as well. Hmm…
Well, in any case, it’s interesting stuff, and I’ll have to see what else I can scare up about this. Thanks so much for pointing this out!
By: aediculaantinoi on January 4, 2013
at 9:01 am
Edwards also has an interesting note on Theandrites (n.b. sometimes also spelled Thyandrites): “Damascius, Isid. 198 asserts that this was ‘a god of masculine aspect who inspired in his devotees a life that was not effeminate’. [?!] Saffrey (1966) [a short article from Studia Patristica 9] notes that John of Scythopolis (c. 532) alludes to this deity in a scholium on Ps.-Dionysius Areopagita, Letter 4.”
By: henadology on January 4, 2013
at 9:13 am
In one of those strange coincidences that just flood my life these days, I happened to choose, yesterday, amongst the pile of novels I have waiting to be read, a young adult fantasy that prominently featured a guard called a Janus (and had no idea of this when I began reading). Happy Ianuaria!
By: Dver on January 2, 2013
at 7:25 am
Very nice! I hope the day was filled with other wonders like that!
By: aediculaantinoi on January 2, 2013
at 10:11 pm
[...] we saw the above image a few weeks ago due to its frequent confusion with Asklepios, today we celebrate it as the image was intended: as an image of Antinous syncretized to the [...]
By: The Antinous In Me Greets The Antinous In You… « Aedicula Antinoi: A Small Shrine of Antinous on January 23, 2013
at 12:16 pm