<noinclude>{{distinguish|Antaeopolis}} </noinclude>{{Infobox settlement <!--See the Table at Infobox Settlement for all fields and descriptions of usage--> | name = Antinoöpolis | other_name = {{lang|ar|الشيخ عبادة}}<br>{{lang|ar|أنصنا}} | native_name = {{lang|cop|{{Script/Coptic|ⲁⲛⲧⲓⲛⲱⲟⲩ}}}} | nickname = | settlement_type = | motto = | image_skyline = File:Antinoë (Antinoöpolis). Vue de l'arc de triomphe.jpg | imagesize = 300px | image_caption = Antinoöpolis: 19th century AD view of the triumphal arch, from Description de l'Égypte. <ref name=NYPL>{{cite web |url=http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e0-106c-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99 |title=(still image) Antinoë [Antinoöpolis]. Vue de l'arc de triomphe., (1809 - 1828) |author=Digital Collections, The New York Public Library |access-date=January 19, 2020 |publisher=The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations}}</ref> | image_flag = | flag_size = | image_seal = | seal_size = | image_shield = | shield_size = | image_map = | mapsize = | map_caption = | pushpin_map = Egypt | pushpin_label_position = bottom | pushpin_mapsize = 300 | pushpin_map_caption = Location in Egypt | subdivision_type = Country | subdivision_name = {{flag|Egypt}} | subdivision_type1 = City | subdivision_name1 = Minya | subdivision_type2 = Town | subdivision_name2 = Mallawi | subdivision_type3 = | subdivision_name3 = | government_footnotes = | government_type = Minya Governorate | leader_title = | leader_name = | leader_title1 = | leader_name1 = | established_title = | established_date = | area_magnitude = | unit_pref = Imperial | area_footnotes = | area_total_km2 = | area_land_km2 = | population_as_of = | population_footnotes = | population_note = | population_total = | population_density_km2 = | population_density_sq_mi = | population_metro = | population_density_metro_km2 = | population_density_metro_sq_mi = | population_blank1_title = Ethnicities | population_blank1 = | population_density_blank1_km2 = | population_density_blank1_sq_mi = | timezone = EST | utc_offset = +2 | timezone_DST = | utc_offset_DST = | coordinates = {{coord|27|48|27|N|30|52|48|E|region:EG|display=inline,title}} | elevation_footnotes = | elevation_m = | elevation_ft = | postal_code_type = | postal_code = | area_code = }}

'''Antinoöpolis''' (also '''Antinoopolis''', '''Antinoë''', '''Antinopolis'''; {{langx|grc|Ἀντινόου πόλις}}; {{langx|cop|ⲁⲛⲧⲓⲛⲱⲟⲩ}} ''Antinow''; {{langx|ar|انصنا|translit=Ansinā}}, modern {{langx|ar|الشيخ عبادة}}, modern ''Sheikh 'Ibada'' or ''Sheik Abāda'') was a city founded at an older Egyptian village by the Roman emperor Hadrian to commemorate his deified young beloved, Antinoüs, on the east bank of the Nile, not far from the site in Upper Egypt where Antinoüs drowned in 130 AD.<ref name=":0">{{Citation |last=Cockle |first=Walter Eric Harold|editor1-first=Simon|editor1-last=Hornblower|editor2-first=Antony|editor2-last=Spawforth |title=Antinoöpolis |date=2005 |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198606413.001.0001/acref-9780198606413-e-496 |work=The Oxford Classical Dictionary |publisher=Oxford University Press |language=en |doi=10.1093/acref/9780198606413.001.0001 |isbn=978-0-19-860641-3 |access-date=2020-01-19|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Antinoöpolis was a little to the south of the Egyptian village of '''Besa''' ({{lang|grc|Βῆσσα}}), named after the god and oracle of Bes.<ref name=stillwell1976>{{Cite book |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0006%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DA%3Aentry+group%3D7%3Aentry%3Dantinoopolis |title=The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites |last1=Stillwell |first1=Richard |last2=MacDonald |first2=William L. |last3=McAlister |first3=Marian Holland |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1976 |isbn=9780691654201 |location=Princeton, N.J. |chapter=ANTINOÖPOLIS (Sheikh-'Ibada) Egypt}}</ref> 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. [[File:Antinous Osiris Louvre 2.jpg|alt=Bust of Antinoüs-Osiris|thumb|Bust of Antinoüs-Osiris from Hadrian's Villa at Tivoli (Louvre)]] [[File:Sabina's shawl Louvre E29302 n01.jpg|thumb|Fragment of a cloth from the tomb of Sabina, a 4–5th century woman in Antinoöpolis, showing Bellerophon and Pegasus trampling on the Chimera. (Louvre)]] [[File:Epoca copta, capitello dalla necropoli nord di antinoe, 313-640 dc.JPG|thumb|Late Roman column capital from the north necropolis (National Archaeological Museum, Florence)]]

== History == ===New Kingdom=== During the New Kingdom, the city, ''Hir-we'', was the location of Ramesses II's great temple, dedicated to the gods of Khmun and Heliopolis.

===Roman period=== During the Roman Empire, 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.<ref name=lambert>{{cite book |title=Beloved and God: The Story of Hadrian and Antinous |last=Lambert |first=Royston |year=1984 |publisher=George Weidenfeld & Nicolson}}{{rp|149}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> 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 allowed the main deity of Hir-we, Bes, to continue to be worshipped in Antinoöpolis alongside the new primary deity, Osiris-Antinoüs.<ref name=lambert/>{{rp|150}} He encouraged Greeks from elsewhere to settle in the new city, using various incentives to do so.<ref name=lambert/>{{rp|199}} 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.<ref name=lambert/>{{rp|200-2}}

The city of Antinoöpolis was the centre of the official cult of Antinoüs. The city exhibited the Graeco-Roman architecture of Hadrian'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.<ref name=lambert/>{{rp|149; 205}} 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 Hadrian's sorrow. (Dictionary of Antiquities, s. v. {{lang|grc|Ἀντινόεια}}.) 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.<ref name=lambert/>{{rp|199-200; 205-6}} 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.<ref>[http://web.upmf-grenoble.fr/Haiti/Cours/Ak/Francogallica/Divorce_fran.htm "Un acte de divorce par consentement mutuel"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929132944/http://web.upmf-grenoble.fr/Haiti/Cours/Ak/Francogallica/Divorce_fran.htm |date=September 29, 2007 }}</ref>

===Medieval period=== The city was abandoned around the 10th century. It continued to host a massive Graeco-Roman temple until the 19th century, when it was destroyed to feed a cement works.<ref>Louis Crompton, ''Homosexuality & Civilization'', Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2003. p. 108.</ref> Over the centuries, stone from the Hadrianic city was removed for the construction of homes and mosques.<ref name=lambert/>{{rp|206}} 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.<ref name=lambert/>{{rp|198}} 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.<ref name=lambert/>{{rp|207}}<gallery> File:SheikhAbadaTempleRamses3.jpg|Ruins of the Temple of Ramses File:SheikhAbadaTempleR3Cartouche.jpg|Cartouche from the Temple of Ramses File:SheikhAbadaTempleR3Columns.jpg|Columns from the Temple of Ramses File:SheikhAbadaTempleR3Censing.jpg|Carvings and hieroglyphs 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) </gallery>

==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 ({{lang|grc|φυλαί}}), of which we learn the name of one &ndash; {{lang|grc|Ἀθηναΐς}} &ndash; 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, but to that of the prefect ({{lang|grc|ἐπιστράτηγος}}) of the Thebaid. Antinoöpolis first belonged to the Heptanomis, but under Diocletian (286 AD) Antinoöpolis became the capital of the ''nome'' of the Thebaid.

Antinoë was the seat of a Christian bishop by the 4th century, originally a suffragan of the metropolitan see of Ptolemais in Thebaide, but it became a metropolitan see itself in the 5th century, having as suffragans Herrmopolis Parva, Cusae, Lycopolis, Hypselis, Apollonopolis Parva, Antaeopolis, Panopolis and Theodosiopolis.<ref>Michel Lequien, [https://books.google.com/books?id=86weAemI-e4C ''Oriens christianus in quatuor Patriarchatus digestus''], Paris 1740, Vol. II, coll. 593-594</ref><ref>Gaetano Moroni, ''Dizionario di erudizione storico-ecclesiastica'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=I7QAAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA168 Vol. 2], p.&nbsp;168</ref><ref>Klaas A. Worp, [https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/8214/5_039_223.pdf?sequence=1 ''A Checklist of Bishops in Byzantine Egypt (A.D. 325 - c. 750)''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303225927/https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/8214/5_039_223.pdf?sequence=1 |date=2016-03-03 }}, in ''Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik'' 100 (1994) 283-318</ref> No longer a Latin residential bishopric, Antinoë is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see.<ref>''Annuario Pontificio 2013'' (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 {{ISBN|978-88-209-9070-1}}), p. 834</ref>

==Archaeological finds==

The earliest finds at the site date to the New Kingdom, when Bes and Hathor were important deities.<ref name=stillwell1976/> A grotto, once inhabited by Christian anchorites, probably marks the seat of the shrine and oracle, and Grecian tombs with inscriptions point to the necropolis 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.<ref name=bell>Bell, H. I. (1940)."Antinoopolis: A Hadrianic Foundation in Egypt." The Journal of Roman Studies, 133-47. {{JSTOR|296979}}</ref> 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, 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.<ref name=bell/> Near the Hippodrome 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''.<ref>Wilkinson, ''Topography of Thebes'', p.&nbsp;382</ref> 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<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Livingstone |first=Rosanne J. |date=2023-09-01 |title="When sorted and cleaned may prove of great interest" |url=https://tuhinga.arphahub.com/article/107369/ |journal=Tuhinga |language=en |volume=34 |pages=87–104 |doi=10.3897/tuhinga.34.107369 |doi-access=free |issn=2253-5861}}</ref> are held in the collections of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.<ref>{{Cite web |first= |title=Coptic textiles |url=https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/search/FE001731/results |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240529032401/https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/search/FE001731/results |archive-date=29 May 2024 |access-date=29 May 2024 |website=Collections Online, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa}}</ref> {{Wide image|Antinoë (Antinoöpolis) Vue des ruines de la ville, prise du côté du sud-ouest.jpg|800|View of the Antinoöpolis ruin-field from the south-west in 1809, from the ''Description de l'Égypte''}}<gallery caption="Illustrations of Antinoöpolis from ''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 </gallery> [[File:Fayum-35.jpg|thumb|Funerary portrait of a man. Excavated by Albert Gayet (Egyptian Museum of Berlin)]]

=== Albert Gayet === [[File:Angel Antinopolis Louvre E12600.jpg|thumb|Painting of a winged female figure from late Roman or early Byzantine Antinoöpolis. Excavated by Albert Gayet (Louvre)]] [[File:Momie dite de la dame d'Antinoë, Musée des beaux-arts de Rennes.JPG|thumb|''La dame d'Antinoë'' ("lady of Antinoöpolis") mummy with painted shroud, discovered 1909, restored 2008. (''Musée des beaux-arts'' in Rennes)]] 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.<ref>Donadoni, Sergio, and Peter Grossmann (1991). [http://ccdl.libraries.claremont.edu/cdm/ref/collection/cce/id/150 "Antinoopolis"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150123232134/http://ccdl.libraries.claremont.edu/cdm/ref/collection/cce/id/150 |date=2015-01-23 }}. Claremont Coptic Encyclopedia. Retrieved 10/24/2012.</ref> 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.<ref>Hoskins, Nancy A. (2007). "The Coptic Tapestry Albums and the Archaeologist of Antinoé, Albert Gayet". Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 70–71. {{JSTOR|10.1086/512220}}</ref> 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.<ref>[http://www.iub.edu/~iuam/online_modules/coptic/cophome.html "Textiles from Coptic Egypt."] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181123055711/http://www.iub.edu/~iuam/online_modules/coptic/cophome.html |date=2018-11-23 }} (2003). Textiles from Coptic Egypt. Indian University Art Museum. Retrieved 10/24/2012</ref>

== 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.<ref name="stillwell1976" /> Some excavations were undertaken by the University of Rome, 1965–68, with Sergio Donadoni. Papyri from the site were edited and translated by J. W. B. Barns and H. Zilliacus. thumb|View of the Antinoöpolis ruin-field to the southeast in 2007 center|thumb|800x800px|Εὐψύχι, εὐδαιμόνι - "Farewell, be happy!"<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Pleket |first1=H.W. |last2=Stroud |first2=R.S. |title=Antinoe? Epitaph of Eudaimonis, 2nd cent. A.D. |journal=Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum |volume=32 |number=1576 |doi=10.1163/1874-6772_seg_a32_1576}}</ref> Mummy with valedictory inscription and attached funerary portrait, probably from Antinoöpolis. Hadrianic period. Louvre inv. No. AF 6882.<ref>{{cite web |title=Mummy of a woman with portrait |url=https://www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notices/mummy-woman-portrait |website=Louvre |access-date=2020-01-21}}</ref> <br />

==References== {{reflist|30em}}

==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.&nbsp;254, Paris edit; It. Anton. p.&nbsp;167; Hierocl. p.&nbsp;730; {{lang|grc|Ἀντινόεια}}, Steph. B. ''s. v.'', also '''Adrianopolis''', Steph. B. {{lang|grc|Ἁδριανούπολις}}) *[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01564a.htm Antinoe] - Catholic Encyclopedia article on the titular see *{{Citation |year=2007 |first=Simon |last=Corcoran |contribution=Two tales, two cities: Antinoopolis and Nottingham|editor-first=John|editor-last=Drinkwater|editor2-first=Benet|editor2-last=Salway |title=Wolf Liebeschuetz reflected: Essays presented by Colleagues, Friends, and Pupils BICS Supplement 91 |publisher=University of London, School of Advanced Study, Institute of Classical Studies |pages=193–209 |isbn=978-1-905670-04-8}} **{{SmithDGRG}} *"Antinoopolis." The Global Egyptian Museum. Retrieved 10/24/2012. <http://www.globalegyptianmuseum.org/glossary.aspx?id=66>.

*Smith, William. (1854). "Antinoopolis." [https://books.google.com/books?id=_sYPAAAAYAAJ&dq=antinoopolis+geology&pg=PA141 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. {{JSTOR|3704122}}

*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: *[https://web.archive.org/web/20150801045413/http://www.antinoupolis.org/ The Antinoupolis Foundation, Inc.] *[http://www.antinous.eu Antinoüs Homepage] (mainly in German)

Category:Archaeological sites in Egypt Category:Roman sites in Egypt Category:Ruins in Egypt Category:122 establishments Category:120s establishments in the Roman Empire Category:2nd-century establishments in Egypt Category:Populated places established in the 2nd century Category:Former populated places in Egypt Category:Cities in ancient Egypt Category:Roman towns and cities in Egypt Category:Hadrian Category:Populated places disestablished in the 10th century Category:10th-century disestablishments in Africa