SACRED GAMES OF ANTINOUS
MEGALA ANTINOEIA
August 30th, 2026
Temple of Antinous
Will celebrate the 6th Antinous Games
On the Day of the Sacred Lion Hunt
3 Days before the Kalends of September
On the 30th of August, Year of Antinous 1895
The VI Sacred Games of Antinous
The Sacred Games are open to anyone who wishes to participate
Participation in the Games is an act of celebration and blessing
Email Submissions to:
Flamen Antonius N. Subia
Convenor of the VI Sacred Games of Antinous
SUBMISSIONS:
All submissions must be about Antinous, or include Antinous as their theme
or subject matter, or in some discernible way reference Antinous. Performance
submissions may be about Homotheosis, Gay Spirituality, Paganism, LGBTQ
experiences, or Abstract but must either demonstrate a connection to Antinous
or must begin or end with the submitter stating that their performance
is dedicated to Antinous. Athletic submissions must also begin, or end
with a stated dedication to Antinous.
The following are acceptable categories:
ART
MUSIC
DANCE
THEATER
PERFORMANCE ART
POETRY
LITERATURE
ATHLETICS
REQUIREMENTS:
-ART & PHOTOGRAPHY must be submitted as photographs and emailed to the Convener of the Games, all works must be the original work of the submitter.
-MUSIC can be submitted as an audio-only file, or as a recorded video performance
-DANCE, THEATER and PERFORMANCE ART must be submitted as videos and must not exceed standard Youtube time-length requirements.
-ATHLETICS can include any form of athletic demonstration such as weight-lifting, exercise, running, track and field, wrestling, yoga, gymnastics, or any form imaginable that can be captured in short video form, the submitter will state that their submission is in honor of Antinous.
All videos must be submitted directly to the Convenor of the Games for upload to the designated Youtube page of the Sacred Games. Only videos posted on the Games Youtube page will be eligible for the competition
POETRY must be emailed to the Convener of the Games
LITERATURE can be fiction, nonfiction, essays, academic research papers, or autobiographical works. It is recommended that Literary submissions be reasonably short in form, although there is no official limitation to the length or form of a submission. If submitting a novel or book, a short treatment or synopsis is recommended and a link to where the full work can be purchased or downloaded. Blog entry submissions or articles will also be accepted, a link to the blog page or article must be provided
Additional submissions that do not fall into the above categories will be considered at the discretion of the Convener of the Games.
RULES
1) All Submission must be about Antinous or concern Antinous spirituality
in a recognizable way. Performance pieces and Athletics must be verbally
dedicated to Antinous. Non-Antinous related Submissions will not be accepted.
The decision as to whether a submission conforms to this requirement will
be made by the Convener of the Games.
2) Only One Entry can be submitted per Competitor. Multiple pieces can be submitted but they will all be considered One entry and will be presented together as a single Submission.
3) All submissions must be the original work of the Competitor. Additional participants in the entry are allowed, but only the submitter will be considered to be the Competitor and only the submitter will be eligible to receive an award.
4) No submissions made during a previous Sacred Games will be allowed.
5) All Competitors must be over the age of 18 to participate.
6) Submissions must conform to the rules of usage of Facebook and Youtube
7) Submissions must not violate copyright laws or any other federal, state or local laws
8) A panel chosen by the Convener of the Games will decide the winners.
THE ANCIENT GAMES
The Sacred Games of Antinous, called Megala Antinoeia, were held every four years by the ancient cult of Antinous in various cities where his cult was strong, the greatest of these was held in the holy city of Antinoopolis. The games were solemnly celebrated for 300 years until they were finally abolished by the Christian rulers.
The first games are believed to have been held in the year 131 C.E. only one year after the death and deification of Antinous in Egypt, at the site of his holy city Antinoopolis, which was still under construction. By the time of the 2nd Antinoeiad, four years later, in 134, the city was adequately finished to accommodate large crowds and many important Roman officials came from distant parts of the Empire to observe, and many of the finest young athletes, artists and musicians came from every corner of the world to compete.
Ancient competitors were primarily young teenage men called Ephebes. In Antinoopolis the games included swimming, rowing, footraces, boxing, wrestling, and horse & chariot races held in the magnificent hypodrome of the city. But the Antinous games were unique in that they included competition in the arts and music, with theater and poetry and visual arts...it was a magnificent spectacle meant to glorify the beautiful gay god!
The over-all winner was consecrated as the living embodiment of Antinous and given citizenship in Antinoopolis, with an all-expense-paid life of luxury and adoration. The victor was crowned with a wreath of the pink lotus flowers, the sacred emblem of Antinous and was worshiped in the temple as the representative of Antinous, and emblem of youth and perfect masculinity. Thus the winner was the Divine Ephebe Antinous reincarnated!
THE MODERN GAMES
We the current-day believers and worshipers of Antinous have re-inaugurated the Sacred Gay Games, hoping to bring back the spirit of the ancient games as a way to glorify the name of the beautiful god in the manner of his ancient Greek ancestors, and also as a way to glorify and celebrate the talents and prowess of our gay brothers and sisters, and of all those who honor Antinous and wish to take part in his Sacred Games. While the Antinous games were never officially celebrated as "gay games" it is quite obvious that a level of homosexuality was always present as an underlying sacred basis to the celebration. It is this spirit that we wish to recapture, that the Sacred Antinous Games are a celebration of the Homosexual sacred state of blessedness, beauty, glory, talent and profound depth of feeling and spirituality. In keeping with the ancient tradition that was upheld for so long even through the difficult times that preceded the collapse of the classical world, we hold out the hope that these Gay Games will in some small measure restore to the world a piece of the Golden Age, when Hadrian was the great enlightened ruler, and a beatiful, graceful, athletic, young gay man was held up as an emblem of the glory and the peace of the civilized world.
This marks the 5th time modern worshipers in the Religion of Antinous have celebrated the Megala Antinoeia together since the first re-inauguration of the games in 2006. It is our great dream and aspiration to continue with these Gay Antinous Games every four years for as long as we have Courage, Devotion, and Hope for the Future!
The Next Games
VI MEGALA ANTINOEIA
Will be held on August 30th, 2026!
AVE ANTINOUS!
PAST ANTINOEIAD CHAMPIONS
We Honor and bless all
those who compete in the Sacred Games of Antinous
And we glorify the Champions that their
heroic names may live in Trimph for all eternity!
V ANTINOEIAD
2022
The First Place Winner: Ramón Martínez
Poem
ANTINOÉIOS
Te hablaré sobre Antínoo una noche de agosto,
cuando caiga el león a la fuerza de un hombre
y una flor se abra paso en la sangre vertida
con el nombre del Dios dibujado en su estilo.
Contaré las hazañas de un amor invencible
más allá de la muerte, del espacio y del tiempo;
y otra vez el perfil del muchacho bitinio
nacerá entre las aguas más oscuras del Nilo.
Abrazados los dos, repitiendo su historia,
de su imagen eterna tomaremos la estrella
del deseo inmortal de tu cuerpo y el mío.
En el nombre de Antínoo besaré tu sonrisa
una noche de agosto, cuando ya todos duerman,
cuando nadie sospeche nuestro encuentro prohibido.
Translation:
ANTINOÉIOS
I will tell you about Antinous one night in August,
when the lion falls by the force of a man
and a flower breaks through the spilled blood
with the name of The God drawn in his style.
I will count the feats of an invincible love
beyond death, space and time;
and again the profile of the Bithynian boy
will be born among the darkest waters of the Nile.
The two embraced, repeating His story,
from his eternal image we will take the star
of the immortal desire of your body and mine.
In the name of Antinous I will kiss your smile
One night in August, when everyone is asleep,
when no one suspects our forbidden meeting.
~~~
2nd Place: Dorian Rex, Antinous Poem
3rd Place: Robert Sekulovich, Visual Art and Jewelry
~~~
IV ANTINOEIAD
2018
LINDA
LARSON
Of New Mexico and Chicago
Who painted three magnificent
images of Antinous which were universally hailed as a great achievement
and advancement in the modern corpus of Antinous artwork. We hail Linda
Larson who has been a devoted member of the Temple of Antinous for many
years and is currently working towards establishing a new “School
of Antinous” which she envisions to be a society of artists dedicated
to the creation of Antinous art and imagery in a manner similar to the
ancient “school of Antinous” artists who created the vast
number of Antinous images found all over the world.
May Antinous Bless the Champion of the IV ANTINOEIAD sacred games.
~ ~ ~
2nd Place went to Keith Lance of California, who recreated an Antinous
devotional ceremony using dolls
3rd Place went to Michel Valim of Rio de Janeiro Brazil, for his Bacchus inspired photographs
III ANTINOEIAD
2014
Held on August 20th, 2014
THE GAMES OF ANTINOUS
WINNING VIDEO
SEEN BY 80,000 ON FACEBOOK
"THESE have been the most glorious Games of Antinous since they were held in ancient times," Antonius Subia said after announcing winners of the III Antinoeiad ... the modern Games which drew submissions from artists from around the world.
"The Ancient Games were held for 300 years, and their main function was to enhance the glory of Antinous," Antonius added. "And that is what our goal was, and these games have attracted the attention of thousands of people, many of whom had never heard of Antinous the Gay God before!"
The Games were a huge success! Everyone who participated felt that they were taking part in a very special event, and that the spirit Antinous was felt to be very active and influential in the proceedings, a high level of competitive spirit was reached, with the three winners each at one point taking the position of front runners, until at last, by a great margin, a final victor emerged!
FIRST
PLACE CHAMPION
of the Sacred Antinous Games, with a winning song and video, seen by over
80,000 Facebook followers, is:
Pietro Adjano from Brazil!
Pietro attended the Sacred Games ceremonies via Skype, held at the Hollywood Temple of Antinous on the night of his triumph and graciously said:
"It was a great joy and honor to participate in third Sacred Games, and I want to take this opportunity to say how grateful I am to all the people on Facebook who clicked 'Like' on my entry."
See Pietro's Adjano's Winning Video on Youtube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YP3ewuqx1Pk
~~~
Second-Place
went to Frater Aser Nox of Romania for his artwork depiction of Saint
Sebastian as an icon for gay oppression .
Click to view Frater's Sebastian
~~~
Third-Place honors go Dallan Chantal of Brazil for a prose "Hymn to Pan" which received the third-highest number of Likes at the ANTINOUS THE GAY GOD FACEBOOK page.
"I am very honored to have taken part in these Games and to have helped spread the love of Antinous," Dallan said during the Skype ceremonies which drew in a dozen people from Hollywood to Christchurch New Zealand and from Brazil to Germany.
Click to read Dallan's Hymn to Pan
~~~
These three winners were among 15 artists who submitted entries. Winners were chosen on the basis of "Likes" clicked by visitors to the Antinous the Gay God Facebook page. All of the contestant's entries were excellent and in the spirit of the games, including several art works and poems on the subject of Antinous and of the gods.
The awards ceremony was a great event, but they were only the culmination of the Skype proceedings, which included ritual ceremonies in honor of the Sacred Lion Hunt during which Hadrian and Antinous slew a man-eating lion in August of the year 130 AD in Egypt.
Also, homage was paid to the Rosy Lotus of Antinous ... the fabled pink waterlily which was said to have spring forth spontaneously from the lion's blood which splattered the banks of the Nile.
An additional high point of the evening was when Antonius unveiled the colossal bust of Antinous. It is a plaster copy obtained from a California bronze works atelier which was cast from a mold taken from the famous Townley Antinous in the British Museum. This plaster bust has in the past been loaned out by the atelier to Hollywood studios for use as props in movie productions.
Now this exact copy of the Townley Bust, an actual image of Antinous from the ancient religion has found its permanent home on the Sacred Altar of the Hollywood Temple of Antinous!
The Games were a great triumph for the modern cult of Antinous, his name and image were made known to nearly 100,000 people around the world, many of whom had probably never heard of him before. It was a great success on all levels, and raised a a heightened level of love and enthusiasm between all those who participated. The power of Homotheosis was raised to new heights by all those who participated. And we would like to extend our deepest thanks to all those who participated, and we give our warmest blessings to all those who contributed to the games by submitting entries and taking part in the competition. With great joy and love, we ask that Antinous shower his blessing upon them.
And now with such successful
and wonderful games behind us,
We look forward to the IV Antinoeiad in 2018!
2nd ANTINOEIAD
2010
Kevin Kihn
(Visionary Artist, SF Bay Area)
"The subject is Helios as the Beautiful Boy. As you may recall, the image is based on the Hermetic writings of Giordano Bruno, who was burned at the stake in 1600 because the Church didn't like his ideas - always a good recommendation in my book. I think Hadrian would have recognized this figure as the type of Helios, such as one might have seen depicted in the temples of Mithras. The second is the Sun, the third is Mercury, and the fourth is Mars. The same principle applies to all the others, including Mars. The ultimate goal (or one of them) is to create a pantheon featuring all the classical deities"
1st ANTINOEIAD
2006
Warren Lee Williamson
(The Wizard Warren)
JUNE 2, 1939 - MARCH 13, 2012
Warren once saw a beautiful young man at an Easter choral performance with long dark hair... the boy was a radiant glimpse of Antinous wearing Roman sandals and a T-shirt that said "OSIRIS RISING" across his chest ... He turned and smiled at Warren ... and then vanished into the crowd. Warren wrote this Haiku verse in honor of that beautiful apparition ...
"Antinous Epiphanios"
Maundy Thursday's King,
Brazen, Antinous smiling,
Osiris Rising!
ccc
(1st Champion of the Modern Antinous Games)
