14:30 pm - 16:00 pm Tickets £7.50

A talk by Mr Stewart White, Chairman of the Oglander Roman Trust.

The Osborne House Osir-Antinous – Antinous, Hadrian, Antinoupolis and Empire

A copy of a statue of the Egyptian god of resurrection, Osiris, merged with Hadrian’s favourite Antinous is in the Grand Gallery of Osborne House.

It has significance at several levels. Rulers are not unaccustomed to raise up those whom they love, founding cities in their honour, commissioning commemorative art and even apotheosis.

Hadrian founded Antinoupolis to commemorate his favourite Antinous, the last god of Rome, Greece and Egypt, and enabled a cult that spread across the empire that exercised the Early Christian Fathers for its popularity for over 200 years. It spawned an effusion of art that still speaks and influences us today.

Queen Victoria’s grief and commemoration of Prince Albert was not dissimilar. They have their ‘temples’ for their loved ones, like Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli and Queen Victoria’s at Osborne House.