I have indeed heard of it, as you might have guessed. Antinous is all over the place in the classical world (in sculpture especially).
I'm not sure if this means that my attitude is more or less understandable or offensive to modern pagans, but this doesn't strike me as any different than reviving any other ancient form of worship.
But I suspect things look very different inside Classics than out. Outside Classics, homosexuality will get downplayed (if the intent is to raise Rome up as an example) or played up in nasty ways (Christian narratives of Roman corruption, Gibbons-esque theories of homosexuality bringing down Rome).
A beautiful love story between men has no place in either version.
Multiply that times the apotheosis. Mortals becoming gods is a part of religious experience the world over. But not the Christian West. Even those of us who aren't Christian have generally seen the concept of deifying the dead with a certain amount of cynicism.
And these are the first Neo-Pagans I've encountered who do worship a deified mortal.
Right, it could have been offensive because one could take it as saying: "Deifying a mortal is patently ridiculous. Therefore she must think that all pagan traditions are as ridiculous as that."
Which is, of course, not what I think. But I am a little surprised that someone coming out of our culture could be free enough of that cynicism to worship Antinous.
(So very many good reasons to use my Alexander icon here!)
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I'm not sure if this means that my attitude is more or less understandable or offensive to modern pagans, but this doesn't strike me as any different than reviving any other ancient form of worship.
Reply
But I suspect things look very different inside Classics than out. Outside Classics, homosexuality will get downplayed (if the intent is to raise Rome up as an example) or played up in nasty ways (Christian narratives of Roman corruption, Gibbons-esque theories of homosexuality bringing down Rome).
A beautiful love story between men has no place in either version.
Multiply that times the apotheosis. Mortals becoming gods is a part of religious experience the world over. But not the Christian West. Even those of us who aren't Christian have generally seen the concept of deifying the dead with a certain amount of cynicism.
And these are the first Neo-Pagans I've encountered who do worship a deified mortal.
Reply
Which is, of course, not what I think. But I am a little surprised that someone coming out of our culture could be free enough of that cynicism to worship Antinous.
(So very many good reasons to use my Alexander icon here!)
Reply
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