The dedication to Antinous from Socanica In the course of ...

180 MARJETA ŠAŠEL KOS
the Empire a sanctuary of Antinous has to date been unquestionably
attested only in Lanuvium (7). Statues and sanctuaries were
erected to Antinous after his death in AD 130, when he was
immediately deified (8). Instead of iussu in the missing part of the
first line, Cerškov proposed et pro salute, which is not plausible in
the context of this inscription.
Sanctuaries dedicated to Antinous outside Egypt are very
rare; in addition to the sanctuary in Lanuvium in Latium, a stoa
with exedrae is mentioned in an inscription from Mantinea (9),
and a sanctuary by Pausanias. This becomes understandable since
Pausanias tells us that Antinous was worshipped in Mantinea
because he was by birth from Bithynion, and the Bithynians would
have allegedly originated from the Arcadians from Mantinea.
Pausanias added that honours were decreed to Antinous on Hadrian’s
instigation (8. 9. 7). A sanctuary is mentioned in Lanuvium in
an inscription erected in AD 136 by the college of the elsewhere
unattested worshippers of Diana and Antinous ([Lanuvii in] templo
Antinoi...), who, among other activities, also provided burial
for their deceased members (10). A college magistrate with priestly
functions, a quinquennalis, offered to the divinities frankincense
and wine; Diana’s birthday on August 13 and Antinous’ birthday
on November 27 were major holidays of the college, one of which
was also the birthday of the patron of the city. No doubt these
holidays were celebrated publicly and the cult of Antinous, favoured
by the imperial house, must have been popular among the
inhabitants of Lanuvium, and must have also represented a means
of winning prestige in their city for the college (11). However, it
has generally been considered that the cult of Antinous had not
been popular in the western part of the Empire (12).
(7) CIL XIV 2112; H. MEYER, Antinoos. Die archäologischen Denkmäler unter Einbeziehung
des numismatischen und epigraphischen Materials sowie der literarischen Nachrichten. Ein Beitrag
zur Kunst- und Kulturgeschichte der hadrianisch-frühantoninischen Zeit, München 1991, pp. 207-
208; M. BEARD, J. NORTH, S. PRICE, Religions of Rome, I-II, Cambridge, New York, Melbourne
1998: vol. 1, pp. 272-273; vol. 2, pp. 292-294.
(8) CH. W. CLAIRMONT, Die Bildnisse des Antinous. Ein Beitrag zur Portraetplastik unter
Kaiser Hadrian (Bibl. Helvetica Romana VI), Rom 1966, p. 15 ff.; STEIN, PIR 2 A 737.
(9) IG V, 2. 281 = SIG 3 841 = E. M. SMALLWOOD, Documents illustrating the principates of
Nerva, Trajan, and Hadrian, Cambridge 1966, no. 164.
(10) ILS 7212 = FIRA 3. 35 = SMALLWOOD 1966 (cit.), no. 165.
(11) F. M. AUSBÜTTEL, Untersuchungen zu den Vereinen im Westen des römischen
Reiches (Frankfurter Althist. Stud. 11), Kallmünz 1982, pp. 22 ff.; 53; MEYER 1991 (cit. in n. 7),
pp. 207-208.
(12) E.g. J. BEAUJEU, La religion romaine à l’apogée de l’empire, I: La politique religieuse des
Antonins, Paris 1955, p. 253 ff.