Antinoöpolis (also Antinoopolis, Antinoë, Antinopolis; ; ''Antinow''; , modern , modern ''Sheikh 'Ibada'' or ''Sheik Abāda'') was a city founded at an older Egyptian village by the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

emperor

Hadrian Hadrian ( ; ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. Hadrian was born in Italica, close to modern Seville in Spain, an Italic peoples, Italic settlement in Hispania Baetica; his branch of the Aelia gens, Aelia '' ...

to commemorate his deified young beloved, Antinoüs, on the east bank of the

Nile The Nile (also known as the Nile River or River Nile) is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa. It has historically been considered the List of river sy ...

, not far from the site in

Upper Egypt Upper Egypt ( ', shortened to , , locally: ) is the southern portion of Egypt and is composed of the Nile River valley south of the delta and the 30th parallel North. It thus consists of the entire Nile River valley from Cairo south to Lake N ...

where Antinoüs drowned in 130 AD. Antinoöpolis was a little to the south of the

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

ian village of Besa (), named after the god and oracle of Bes. Antinoöpolis was built at the foot of the hill upon which Besa was seated. The city is located nearly opposite Hermopolis Magna and was connected to Berenice Troglodytica by the

Via Hadriana The Via Hadriana was an ancient Roman road established by the emperor Hadrian, which stretched from Antinopolis, Antinoöpolis on the River Nile to the Red Sea at Berenice Troglodytica (Berenike). Hadrian had founded Antinoöpolis in memory of his ...

History

New Kingdom

During the New Kingdom, the city, ''Hir-we'', was the location of

Ramesses II Ramesses II (sometimes written Ramses or Rameses) (; , , ; ), commonly known as Ramesses the Great, was an Pharaoh, Egyptian pharaoh. He was the third ruler of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt, Nineteenth Dynasty. Along with Thutmose III of th ...

's great temple, dedicated to the gods of Khmun and Heliopolis.

Roman period

During the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

, the city of Antinoöpolis was erected in AD 130 by the emperor Hadrian on the site of Hir-we as the cult centre of the deified Antinoüs. All previous buildings, including a necropolis, were razed and replaced, with the exception of the Temple of

Ramses II Ramesses II (sometimes written Ramses or Rameses) (; , , ; ), commonly known as Ramesses the Great, was an Pharaoh, Egyptian pharaoh. He was the third ruler of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt, Nineteenth Dynasty. Along with Thutmose III of th ...

. Hadrian also had political motives for the creation of Antinoöpolis, which was to be the first Hellenic city in the Middle Nile region, thus serving as a bastion of Greek culture within the Egyptian area. To encourage Egyptians to integrate with this imported Greek culture, he permitted Greeks and Egyptians in the city to marry and allowed the main deity of Hir-we, Bes, to continue to be worshipped in Antinoöpolis alongside the new primary deity, Osiris-Antinoüs. He encouraged Greeks from elsewhere to settle in the new city, using various incentives to do so. The city was designed on a gridiron plan that was typical of Hellenic cities, and embellished with columns and many statues of Antinoüs, as well as a temple devoted to the deity. The city of Antinoöpolis was the centre of the official cult of Antinoüs. The city exhibited the

Graeco-Roman The Greco-Roman world , also Greco-Roman civilization, Greco-Roman culture or Greco-Latin culture (spelled Græco-Roman or Graeco-Roman in British English), as understood by modern scholars and writers, includes the geographical regions and co ...

architecture of

's age in immediate contrast with the Egyptian style. Hadrian proclaimed that games would be held at the city in Spring 131 in commemoration of Antinoüs. Known as the ''Antinoeia'', they would be held annually for several centuries, being noted as the most important in Egypt. Events included athletic competitions, chariot and equestrian races, and artistic and musical festivals, with prizes including citizenship, money, tokens, and free lifetime maintenance. Divine honours were paid in the ''Antinoeion'' to Antinoüs as a local deity, and games and chariot-races were annually exhibited in commemoration of his death and of

's sorrow. (Dictionary of Antiquities, s. v. .) According to the Greek '' Menaea'', it was at Antinoë that Saint Julian underwent martyrdom during the Persecutions of Diocletian. Numerous other Christian martyrs are known to have died here under the orders of the governor Arianus.

Byzantine period

Antinoöpolis continued to grow into the Byzantine era, being Christianized with the conversion of the Empire, but retaining an association with magic for centuries to come. As a cultural centre, it was the native city of the 4th-century mathematician Serenus of Antinoöpolis. Antinoöpolis in the 6th century was still a "most illustrious' city in a surviving divorce decree of 569 AD.

Medieval period

The city was abandoned around the 10th century. It continued to host a massive

temple until the 19th century, when it was destroyed to feed a cement works. Over the centuries, stone from the Hadrianic city was removed for the construction of homes and mosques. By the 18th century, the ruins of Antinopolis were still visible, being recorded by such European travellers as Jesuit missionary Claude Sicard in 1715 and Edme-François Jomard the surveyor circa 1800. However, in the 19th century, Antinopolis was almost completely destroyed by local industrial production, as the chalk and limestone was burned for powder while stone was used in the construction of a nearby dam and sugar factory. File:SheikhAbadaTempleRamses3.jpg, Ruins of the Temple of Ramses File:SheikhAbadaTempleR3Cartouche.jpg,

Cartouche upalt=A stone face carved with coloured hieroglyphics. Two cartouches - ovoid shapes with hieroglyphics inside - are visible at the bottom., Birth and throne cartouches of Pharaoh KV17.html" ;"title="Seti I, from KV17">Seti I, from KV17 at the ...

from the Temple of Ramses File:SheikhAbadaTempleR3Columns.jpg, Columns from the Temple of Ramses File:SheikhAbadaTempleR3Censing.jpg, Carvings and

hieroglyphs Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs ( ) were the formal writing system used in Ancient Egypt for writing the Egyptian language. Hieroglyphs combined ideographic, logographic, syllabic and alphabetic elements, with more than 1,000 distinct characters.I ...

from the Temple of Ramses File:Antinoé, ritratto di ragazzo, 190-210 ca..JPG, Funerary portrait of a boy, AD c. 190–230 File:Antinoé, ritratto d'uomo di colore, 190-230 dc ca..JPG, Funerary portrait of a man, AD c. 190–230 File:Portrait du Fayoum 03b.JPG, Encaustic funerary portrait of a woman File:Woman, Antinoopolis, AD 250-300 (Houston, TX, Menil Collection).jpg, Funerary portrait of a woman. Probably from Antinoöpolis, c. 250–300 AD ( Menil Collection)

Structure and organization

The city of Antinoöpolis was governed by its own senate and ''prytaneus'' or president. The senate was chosen from the members of the wards (), of which we learn the name of one – – from inscriptions (Orelli, No. 4705); and its decrees, as well as those of the ''prytaneus'', were not, as usual, subject to the revision of the

nomarch A nomarch (, Great Chief) was a provincial governor in ancient Egypt; the country was divided into 42 provinces, called Nome (Egypt), nomes (singular , plural ). A nomarch was the government official responsible for a nome. Etymology The te ...

, but to that of the prefect () of the

Thebaid The Thebaid or Thebais (, ''Thēbaïs'') was a region in ancient Egypt, comprising the 13 southernmost nome (Egypt), nomes of Upper Egypt, from Abydos, Egypt, Abydos to Aswan. Pharaonic history The Thebaid acquired its name from its proximit ...

. Antinoöpolis first belonged to the Heptanomis, but under

Diocletian Diocletian ( ; ; ; 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed Jovius, was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Diocles to a family of low status in the Roman province of Dalmatia (Roman province), Dalmatia. As with other Illyri ...

(286 AD) Antinoöpolis became the capital of the ''nome'' of the

. Antinoë was the seat of a Christian bishop by the 4th century, originally a

suffragan A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Catholic Church, a suffragan bishop leads a diocese within an ecclesiastical province other than the principal diocese, the metropolitan archdiocese; the diocese led ...

of the

metropolitan see Metropolitan may refer to: Areas and governance (secular and ecclesiastical) * Metropolitan archdiocese, the jurisdiction of a metropolitan archbishop ** Metropolitan bishop or archbishop, leader of an ecclesiastical "mother see" * Metropolitan ...

Ptolemais in Thebaide Ptolemais Hermiou, or Ptolemais in the Thebaid, was a city and metropolitan archbishopric in Greco-Roman Egypt and remains a Catholic titular see. Today, the city of El Mansha ()-Bsoi () in the Sohag Governorate is located where the ancient cit ...

, but it became a metropolitan see itself in the 5th century, having as suffragans Herrmopolis Parva,

Cusae Cusae (; ) was a city in Upper Egypt. Its Ancient Egyptian name was ''qjs'' (variant ''qsy''), conventionally rendered Qis or Kis, with many further transliterations such as Qosia. Today, the town is known as El Quseyya, and is located on the w ...

, Lycopolis, Hypselis, Apollonopolis Parva, Antaeopolis, Panopolis and Theodosiopolis. No longer a Latin residential bishopric, Antinoë is today listed by the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

as a

titular see A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbi ...

Archaeological finds

The earliest finds at the site date to the New Kingdom, when Bes and

Hathor Hathor (, , , Meroitic language, Meroitic: ') was a major ancient Egyptian deities, goddess in ancient Egyptian religion who played a wide variety of roles. As a sky deity, she was the mother or consort of the sky god Horus and the sun god R ...

were important deities. A grotto, once inhabited by

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

anchorite In Christianity, an anchorite or anchoret (female: anchoress); () is someone who, for religious reasons, withdraws from secular society to be able to lead an intensely prayer-oriented, Asceticism , ascetic, or Eucharist-focused life. Anchorit ...

s, probably marks the seat of the shrine and oracle, and Grecian tombs with inscriptions point to the

necropolis A necropolis (: necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'' (). The term usually implies a separate burial site at a distan ...

of Antinoöpolis. The ruins of Antinoöpolis attest, by the area which they fill, the ancient grandeur of the city. The direction of the principal streets may still be traced. The streets were built on a grid plan with roads intersecting at right angles, like the majority of Roman cities at this time, and Jomard, a member of Napoleon's ''Commission d’Egypte'' found that the streets were divided into quarters and blocks, with each building being conveniently numbered.Bell, H. I. (1940)."Antinoopolis: A Hadrianic Foundation in Egypt." The Journal of Roman Studies, 133-47. One at least of them, which ran from north to south, had on either side of it a corridor supported by columns for the convenience of foot-passengers. The walls of the theatre near the southern gate, and those of the hippodrome without the walls to the east, are still extant. At the north-western extremity of the city was a portico, of which four columns remain, inscribed to Good Fortune, and bearing the date of the 14th and last year of the reign of

Alexander Severus Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexander (1 October 208 – March 235), also known as Alexander Severus, was Roman emperor from 222 until 235. He was the last emperor from the Severan dynasty. Alexander took power in 222, when he succeeded his slain co ...

, 235 AD. As far as can be ascertained from the space covered with mounds of masonry, Antinoöpolis was about a mile and a half in length, and nearly half a mile broad. The remains of the city, having a three and a half mile circumference, suggests Roman and Hellenistic foundations and was surrounded by a brick wall on three sides, leaving the fourth side open to the Nile. Near the

Hippodrome Hippodrome is a term sometimes used for public entertainment venues of various types. A modern example is the Hippodrome which opened in London in 1900 "combining circus, hippodrome, and stage performances". The term hippodroming refers to fr ...

are a well and tanks appertaining to an ancient road, which leads from the eastern gate to a valley behind the town, ascends the mountains, and, passing through the desert by the Wádee Tarfa, joins the roads to the quarries of the '' Mons Porphyrites''. At the beginning of the 19th century, when Napoleonic surveys were made, a theatre, many temples, a triumphal arch, two streets with double colonnades (illustrated in '' Description de l'Egypte''), a circus, and a hippodrome nearby, were still to be seen. A small collection of textiles excavated 1913–1914 by John de Monins Johnson are held in the collections of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. Description de l'Égypte''"> File:Antinoë (Antinoöpolis). 1. Plan général des environs; 2. Vue des ruines de la ville, prise du côté du sud-ouest (NYPL b14212718-1268149).jpg, Ruin-field from the south-west & topography File:Antinoë (Antinoöpolis). Plan topographique des ruines et de l'enceinte de la ville (NYPL b14212718-1268148).jpg, Topographical map of the city File:Antinoë (Antinoöpolis). Vue du portique du Théatre (NYPL b14212718-1268150).jpg, Portico of the Roman theatre File:Antinoë (Antinoöpolis). Plan, élévation, coupes et détails de l'arc de triumphe (NYPL b14212718-1268153).jpg, Plan, elevation, and section of the triumphal arch File:Antinoë (Antinoöpolis). 1-20. Plans, élévations et détails de divers portiques; 21-24. Plan et détail d'un bâtiment de bains; 25-28. Colonnade de la rue principale (NYPL b14212718-1268156).jpg, Various porticoes, a bathhouse, and the main colonnaded street File:Antinoë (Antinoöpolis). 1-9. Élévation et détails de la colonne d'Alexandre Sévère; 10-15. Détails d'architecture de divers monumens; 16.17. Plan et coupe de l'hippodrome; 18. Plan d'une (NYPL b14212718-1268155).jpg, Column of Alexander Severus and the hippodrome File:Antinoë (Antinoöpolis). Plan, élévation, coupes et détails du portique du Théatre (NYPL b14212718-1268151).jpg, Plan and elevation of the portico of the Roman theatre File:Antinoë (Antinoöpolis). 1.2. Vue et détails de la colonne d'Alexandre Sévère; 3.4. Fragment d'une statue d'Antinoüs (NYPL b14212718-1268154).jpg, Column of Alexander Severus and a statue of Antinoüs Fayum-35

Albert Gayet

Albert Gayet (1856–1916) was known as the "archaeologist of Antinoöpolis" and, without his extensive research and documentation of the site, very little would be known about this Greco-Roman city. Though there is much data of Antinoöpolis recorded from the Napoleonic ''Commission'', Gayet's report sheds a greater light on the ancient city. As Christianity began to spread through the Roman Empire, Antinoöpolis became a place of worship. Centuries after the city of Antinoüs was established by the Roman emperor, Christianity became the way of life. The city was home to many nuns and monks and Christian sanctuaries were built. Many came to venerate saints, such as Claudius and Colluthus, and monasteries were abundant. Gayet's findings confirm the wide spread of Christianity. Gayet's excavations have revealed mummies, grave goods, and thousands of fabrics at the site of Antinoöpolis. Gayet uncovered a large cemetery, the burial place of numerous Coptic Christians. Mummification was prohibited by law in the fourth century A.D., and so the remains of deceased Christians were dressed in tunics and swaddled with other textiles before being buried. Gayet's findings give researchers a better understanding of early Christian burial practices and his preservation of artistic textiles found at the site show the evolving Coptic style. The transformation of style was the canonical art of ancient Egypt infused with Classical and then Christian art."Textiles from Coptic Egypt."
(2003). Textiles from Coptic Egypt. Indian University Art Museum. Retrieved 10/24/2012

Antinoöpolis today

Today, Antinoöpolis is the site of El Sheikh Ibada, a small village. Many of the original buildings have been broken down for materials to build newer structures, such as sugar factories for El-Rodah, but visitors can still see the remains of the Roman Circus and ruins of a few temples. Some excavations were undertaken by the University of Rome, 1965–68, with Sergio Donadoni.

Papyri Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, ''Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'' or ''papyruses'') can ...

from the site were edited and translated by J. W. B. Barns and H. Zilliacus. SheikhAbadaSettlement2

References

Bibliography

* Ptol. iv. 5. § 61; Paus. viii. 9; Dion Cass. lxix. 11; Amm. Marc. xix. 12, xxii. 16; Aur. Vict. Caesar, 14; Spartian. Hadrian. 14; Chron. Pasch. p. 254, Paris edit; It. Anton. p. 167; Hierocl. p. 730; , Steph. B. ''s. v.'', also Adrianopolis, Steph. B. )
Antinoe
-

Catholic Encyclopedia ''The'' ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church'', also referred to as the ''Old Catholic Encyclopedia'' and the ''Original Catholic Encyclopedi ...

article on the

* ** *"Antinoopolis." The Global Egyptian Museum. Retrieved 10/24/2012. . *Smith, William. (1854). "Antinoopolis.
Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. 141.
Retrieved 10/24/2012. *Waters, Sarah. (1995). "The Most Famous Fairy in History": Antinous and Homosexual Fantasy." Journal of the History of Sexuality, 194-230. * O'Connell, Elisabeth R. (2014) 'Catalogue of British Museum objects from The Egypt Exploration Fund’s 1913/14 excavation at Antinoupolis (Antinoë),' in Antinoupolis II: Scavi e materiali III, ed. R. Pintaudi, 467–504 (Florence: Istituto papirologico “G. Vitelli,”)

External links

{{Commonscat The City Antinoöpolis:
The Antinoupolis Foundation, Inc.Antinoüs Homepage
(mainly in German) Archaeological sites in Egypt Roman sites in Egypt Ruins in Egypt 122 establishments 120s establishments in the Roman Empire 2nd-century establishments in Egypt Populated places established in the 2nd century Former populated places in Egypt Cities in ancient Egypt Roman towns and cities in Egypt Hadrian Populated places disestablished in the 10th century 10th-century disestablishments in Africa