Let me start with a disclaimer. This is not a book
review though I’m relying on Royston Lambert’s book, Beloved and
God (1984) for most of the information contained in this post.
The eponymous hero of the book is Antinous who died in his early 20s. Soon after his death
he became a God in the Roman Empire because he was the beloved of
Emperor Hadrian. What I wish to highlight is how
a god can be created pretty easily and how the religion founded in his name can
become popular too as easily. I think my country’s present leaders can take
some lessons from here.
Hadrian was quite a good emperor. A
benevolent dictator, in the judgment of many historians. He did very many good
things for the benefit of his people instead of going around conquering more
territories. [China too can learn something.] One of those many things was
giving the people a new god and religion. He did much better things earlier, of
course.
Antinous was an adolescent boy when
Hadrian’s eyes fell on him first. A handsome young boy of Greek origin. Hadrian
who loved to travel extensively met him in Turkey and fell in love with him
instantly. Love at first sight. Our ancient kings were good at that sort of
love. Hadrian took Antinous to Rome with him.
Most of the kings fell in love with
women, even other men’s women. Hadrian was a gay, apparently. Homosexuality,
even pederasty, was not a sin or a crime until Christianity became the official
religion of Rome. When Julius Caesar (100-44 BCE) was accused of plotting with
an older conspirator against Domitian, the young Julius acquitted himself
easily with the excuse that the old man was making love to him. Marcus Aurelius
(r 161-180 CE), philosopher-king, had an erotic relationship with Fronto who
wrote such lines to the emperor as: “What is sweeter to me than your kiss? That
sweet fragrance, that delight which dwells for me on your neck and on your lips…”
Marcus replied asserting his passionate love for Fronto.
Diogenes Laertius wrote of
Alcibiades, the Athenian general and politician of the 5th century
BCE, that “in his adolescence he drew away the husbands from their wives, and
as a young man the wives from their husbands.” Alexander the Great was
interested in boys in ways that would be frowned upon today. This bust of Antinous is in the Vatican Museum now
In the fourth century, when
Christianity became the official religion of Rome, sexual morality underwent a
revolution. The great temples and statues that Hadrian had put up for his
beloved Antinous were all torn down promptly.
Hadrian was in his fifties when the
young Antinous died apparently in a boat accident on the Nile. The death
brought the emperor’s seven-year long passionate relationship to a tragic end. Antinous
had become an inseparable companion of the emperor. The boy was Hadrian’s travelling
companion. Sabina, the queen, stayed in the palace without even the consolation
of having her own children. When the accident happened on the Nile, Antinous
was with Hadrian. What exactly happened? Nobody knows.
Some said it was an accident, the
young man fell into the river. Some said he was killed by men who did not like
the emperor’s obsession with him. A few said that his death was a case of human
sacrifice. Some of this last group even went to the extent of saying that the
young man sacrificed himself in order to bring good health to the emperor who
was beginning to show signs of senility.
Soon after his death, Antinous became
a god. Hadrian proclaimed him a god. Temples were built for him. A colossal
statue of his was erected in bronze in Antinoopolis, a place named after him.
Interestingly, the Romans accepted this new god gladly. He was different from
the old gods who had become rather antiquated and wearisome. Royston Lambert
says that this new god “represented a moment of balance between the forces of
old and new, past and future, between Roman organisation and Greek culture,
classical religion and eastern faiths, traditional society and provincial
blood.” A new god with new and relevant promises.
In a matter of a couple of centuries,
however, he would be replaced by another new god, Jesus. The rest is known
history and hence requires no telling here.
PS.
Royston Lambert’s book is free to read at Internet Archive.
Hari OM
ReplyDeleteJust as many have been put on pedestals through each century... only to later be torn down... again we find history proves nothing is learned, yet holds constant warning. YAM xx
Shelley's Ozymandias puts it best.
Delete"Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”
Interesting read, thanks.
ReplyDeleteMy pleasure.
DeleteThe larger context of this story will be relevant always, till then i guess i'll just enjoy reading the "love" story~
ReplyDeleteYour choice. Love is always charming 😊
Delete