Fundamentalist Christians are already saying the Russian meteor shower is a sign of the "Rapture" and "End Days" ... but Antinous the Gay God sees it as a sign it is time to break out of ages-old restrictions .... Hadrian certainly believed in heavenly omens ... he would know that exaggeration-prone Jupiter and liberation-minded Uranus are in a rare trine aspect today ... as are Mars and Pluto ... this break-loose, break-free mood will be at the critical point for the rest of this month, and it will recur later in the year ... Hadrian would have seen the meteors coming ... just as he saw the coming of the STAR OF ANTINOUS ....
Marcus Aurelius was about 9 years old when Antinous died in 130 AD, but he was already a brilliant boy. When Aelius Ceasar died shortly after being chosen Emperor in 138, it is believed that Marcus was Hadrian's next choice. However, the ailing and grieving emperor felt that the 17-year-old Marcus was too young.
So Hadrian decided to elect Antoninus Pius instead, requiring Antoninus to choose Marcus and the son of Lucius, called Lucius Verus, to be Antoninus's successors in turn. This became known as the Dynasty of the Antonines, the last flowering of the glory that was Imperial Rome.
When he became emperor at age 40, Marcus Aurelius was one of the wisest rulers in history ... demonstrating the qualities Hadrian had seen in him as a boy ... hand-picked by the Divine Hadrian personally to become Emperor of Rome.
Ancient Roman sculpture showing the young Marcus Aurelius. 139-144 AD, Capitoline Museum.
And swifter than the horse of Adrastus Which once saved the king as he fled...in battle-throng. Such was the steed whereon Antinous sat in wait for the deadly lion, Holding in his left hand the bridle-rein And in his right a spear shod with adamant. First Hadrian his brass fitted spear wounded the beast But slew him not, for of purpose he missed the mark, Wishing to test to the full the sureness of aim Of his beauteous Antinous, son of the Argus-slayer. Stricken, the beast was yet more aroused, And tore up in his wrath the rough ground with his paws, And dust rising in a cloud dimmed the light of the sun. He raged even as the wave of the surging sea When Zephyrus is stirred forth after the wind of Strumon. Straight he rushed upon them both, Scourging with his tail, his haunches and sides While his eyes, beneath his brows, flashed dreadful fire; And from his ravening jaws the foam showered to the earth As his teeth gnashed within. On his mighty head and shaggy neck the hair stood bristling. On his limbs it was bushy as trees, And on his back...it was like whetted spear points. In such wise he came against the glorious god, upon Antinous Like Typhoeus of old against Zeus, slayer of giants...
One of the events that turns up in many papyrus texts from late antiquity in relation to Antinous is the famed lion hunt he engaged in with Hadrian, to the west of Alexandria, in the year before his death. The lion was Mauretanian in origin (so it was said), and was known to be particularly fierce and man-eating. The symbolism of hunting a lion was particularly potent symbolically, and so Hadrian most likely couldn’t resist doing so upon hearing of it. Antinous attacked the lion, but was a bit too overconfident in doing so, and was able to wound but not kill it, and he was counter-attacked afterwards. Hadrian then swooped in and finished it off. It was then said that the blood of the lion became the Red Nile Lotus named for Antinous. The Ekklesía Antínoou’s festivals of the Lion Hunt and the Red Lotus in August both celebrate these actions. They are commemorated in a poem that Pancrates wrote about the event, as well as an account given of it in Athenaeus’ Deipnosophistae, a short account in the prose miscellany from the Tebtynis Papyrus, and a further P. Oxy. 63 text from the 280s CE commemorating the event in a much different manner. The hunt is also commemorated on one of the tondi from the now lost Hadrianic hunting monument which was re-used on the Arch of Constantine.
The lion hunt, quite simply, was the hunt to conquer death.
Lions were often used as symbols of the all-devouring maw of death, and statues of lions were put on tombs quite often. Leontocephalic figures also played a prominent role in Egyptian religion, like Sekhmet and Maahes, and in late Graeco-Egyptian syncretistic and magical traditions, Chnoubis was also frequently featured. The Mithraic figure Aion was also depicted as leontocephalic, and with a serpent wrapped around its body, further linking it to Chnoubis. While we will deal with serpentine imagery eventually in this series, I’d meanwhile recommend Atilio Mastrocinque’s From Jewish Magic to Gnosticism for much good exposition of how late antique religion and magic often displayed a close interrelationship between leonine and serpentine imagery.
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Inspired by the Dodge Ram Super Bowl commercial "God Made a Farmer," gay magazine Crew has produced a touching tribute to the strength of gay men, appropriately titled "So God Made a Gay Man."
Inspired by the Dodge Ram Super Bowl commercial "God Made a Farmer," gay magazine Crewhas produced a touching tribute to the strength of gay men, appropriately titled "So God Made a Gay Man."
Opening with a phrase reminiscent of the book of Genesis, the video declares that on the eighth day, God made a gay man, and said "I need someone with a will strong enough to rustle rejection from those who love him, to repel the abuse from those who condemn him, wish him ill, call him 'fairy,' and 'flamer, and 'freak,' and 'faggot.' And yet, someone forgiving enough to open his arms when they finally understand his heart and soul are no different from their own. So God made a gay man."
during our recent visit to Puerto Rico for the Christmas/New Year holiday, my wife's family roasted a whole pork! - I had never seen this done and what was most impressing was the device they used to cook it! - Check it out...
PUERTO RICO NEWS: 2.14.13 - News Review: Mike Nova's starred items Roasting a Pork in Puerto Rico! - Lechón Asado en Caja China! via Videos matching: puerto r...
PUERTO RICO NEWS: 2.14.13 - News Review
prnewslinks.blogspot.com
Comprehensive collection of newslinks to Puerto Rico, The Caribbean and The Latino Culture - Amplia colección de newslinks a Puerto Rico, el Caribe y la Cultura Latina
during our recent visit to Puerto Rico for the Christmas/New Year holiday, my wife's family roasted a whole pork! - I had never seen this done and what was most impressing was the device they used to cook it! - Check it out...
Roasting a Pork in Puerto Rico! - Lechón Asado en Caja China!
Published on Feb 13, 2013
during our recent visit to Puerto Rico for the Christmas/New Year holiday, my wife's family roasted a whole pork! - I had never seen this done and what was most impressing was the device they used to cook it! - Check it out...
Just returned last week from our Tripfilms BeachVlogger assignment in beautiful Puerto Rico, and thought we'd quickly share some of the highlights (and lowlights) of our experience. Enjoy! And look for our series of full videos from our Puerto Rico adventure here on Tripfilms in coming weeks...
“Los legisladores del Partido Popular Democrático son gente de palabra y gente íntegra que va a cumplir y a honrar el compromiso que hicimos con el país”, afirmó hoy el gobernador Alejandro García Padilla, también ...
Hundreds of millions of dollars in narcotics seized in Puerto Rico, Virgin ... Government Security News Almost 22 tons of illegal narcotics with an estimated street value of $400 million was seized in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands in fiscal 2012, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). ... In processing approximately 4.9 million ...
SAN JUAN – A man and a woman were murdered and a 1-year-old baby was seriously wounded in a new criminal incident in the central Puerto Rican town of Cayey bringing to 63 the island's homicide total so far in 2013. Police said that the ...
FBI investigating public corruption in Puerto Rico La prensa What I can say is that we are investigating public corruption at all levels," he told reporters. He added, however, that the focus on corruption will not detract from the FBI's efforts to address street crime in Puerto Rico, where 100 people have been ...
