Antinous, and a new-old religion based on him
Antinous was the young man beloved by the emperor Hadrian. In my humble opinion, His name should be related to the two Greek words αντί (against) and νοῦς (mind, reason, understanding), and should mean “the nonconformist, the one who was born to oppose banality and conventions”. According to the history, He died falling into the Nile river, amid mysterious circumstances; in the version welcomed and purposed by Marguerite de Yourcenar, He is reported as a voluntary suicide in a ritual that was supposed to lengthen the life of the Emperor Hadrian.
Deified by Hadrian after His death, Antinous was sometimes identified with Bacchus or other Gods, and (altro…)