*Gatekeepers, Way-Clearers, Mediators: Wepwawet (or Anubis and Hermanubis), Hekate, and Ianus in the Practices of the Ekklesía Antínoou*
by P. Sufenas Virius Lupus
The Ekklesía Antínoou is a queer, Graeco-Roman-Egyptian syncretist reconstructionist polytheist group dedicated to Antinous, the deified lover of the Roman Emperor Hadrian. Historically, the cultus’ origin dates to late 130 C.E., and the specific location which it first began was the site of the future city of Antinoöpolis in Egypt (which was then called Hir-Wer, which had a small settlement called Besa beforehand), because of the drowning of Antinous in the Nile near that location, which granted immortality to its victims in Egyptian belief. However, Antinous himself was of Arcadian Greek descent, having been born in Bithynion-Claudiopo lis (near Bolu in modern Turkey), a colony of Mantineia, in the Roman province of Pontus-Bithynia on the coast of the Black Sea in Asia Minor. And, of course, despite being a philhellene, the Emperor himself was Roman, with a family originating in Spain. The cultus ended up spreading quite widely across the Empire, into Italy and the city of Rome itself, but it was particularly popular in the Greek East, and Antinoöpolis remained a vital and interesting city religiously for many centuries.
Thus, the historical heritage of the modern Ekklesía Antínoou is Egyptian, Greek, and Roman, and this heritage is recognized at the beginning of every major public ritual of the group, no matter what the occasion or the content of the ritual happens to be.[1] Before the opening acclamations and procession of the image of Antinous in any ritual, invocations are said to the deities Wepwawet, Hekate, and Ianus (in that order) to recognize the seniority of the religious traditions standing behind the emergence of the cultus of Antinous. While Egyptian culture did flourish long before the other two, and Greek culture also had its centuries in the sun before being eclipsed by Rome, the specific order here also refers to the circumstances surrounding Antinous’ death and its particular link to deification from Egypt, the boy’s birth in Bithynia and his upbringing and heritage in Greek culture, and finally his association to the Roman Emperor and the imperial cultus, which was the reason for the success and spread of his cultus (at least initially). It is almost as if the idea of past-present- future in this construction equates to death being in the past (for the past is, indeed, dead), birth in the present (for the present is always being born), and life and love in the future (for what do both life and love yearn for other than their continuation into infinity?). Further, the male (animal-headed) form of Wepwawet, the female form of Hekate, and the often bisexual[2] form of two-headed Ianus[3] encompasses a great deal (though by no means all) of the gender diversity of the modern membership of the Ekklesía Antínoou. Much more could be said about this formulation symbolically and theologically, but the present discussion is concerned with other particularities.
One difficulty that might arise in people’s minds over this practice is that Wepwawet, Hekate, and Ianus are not attested in any known archaeological artifacts, inscriptions, or literary texts in close association with Antinous. Therefore, it might be asked: how did these associations emerge, and what is the purpose of maintaining them? In honor of the present anthology’s dedication, the majority of this discussion will focus on Hekate, but a brief treatment of Wepwawet and Ianus before proceeding to our goddess honorand would be useful for the sake of thoroughness.
Wepwawet is a very ancient Egyptian deity whose name means “Opener of the Ways,” who is portrayed as jackal-headed. While there are other deities in Egypt that are likewise portrayed, the most commonly recognized one is Anubis, the son of Osiris and Nephthys, who was subsequently the god most associated with embalming, and as time went on, the psychopomp function of the latter blended with the “way-opening” of the former.[4] Plutarch’s On Isis and Osiris 14 gives a curious story as to why the canine association attended the deity: because his mother had exposed him in fear of Set/Typhon, and when Isis sought him out to assist in her search for Osiris with the help of dogs, Anubis subsequently became her guardian just as dogs guard men.[5] Anubis was subsequently often grouped with Serapis, Isis, and Harpocrates in the later Graeco-Roman-Egyptian cultus to Serapis and Isis, and syncretized forms of Anubis emerged in combination with Hermes Psychopompos, becoming Hermanubis.[6] The later Christian saint Christopher was also portrayed as cynocephalic, was celebrated on July 25th (the festival of Hermanubis), and in fact it is possible that his name etymologizes as Christ oupherou, “Christ’s way-opener,” hearkening back to the roots of this figure in Wepwawet.[7] There is one Egyptian tomb painting, the so-called “Tondo of the Two Brothers,” which was found in Antinoöpolis, which depicts two men, each of whom has a deity (possibly their patron?) over one of his shoulders. The younger man has Osirantinous over his shoulder, while the older has Hermanubis.[8] As a way-opener and psychopomp, the figures of Wepwawet, Anubis, and Hermanubis (conceived as one cynocephalic being or as separate individual deities) make excellent deities to invoke initially in any Ekklesía Antínoou rituals.
Ianus is fairly well recognized amongst modern people as the two-headed or two-faced deity of ancient Rome under the name “Janus,” and his name contains the root of the word janitor (i.e. a door-keeper) , and the month-name January. Ovid’s Fasti 1.63-288 explains a number of ancient Roman associations with the deity, including why the new year begins during his month, why he has multiple faces, and why offerings are made to him first of all in rituals.[9] In Ekklesía Antínoou reckoning, three important holidays fall within the month of January. On January 1st, the death of Aelius Caesar, the first adopted heir of the Emperor Hadrian, is observed, despite Hadrian’s wishes not to mark the occasion or offer him deification[10] (which does not seem to have stopped many people later in history from reckoning him deified). On January 24th, Hadrian’s dies natalis (birthdate) is celebrated.[11] Finally, late in the month, on January 29th, the first appearance of the star of Antinous in 131 C.E. (about three months after his death) is celebrated, as this date has been revealed by examination of Chinese astronomical records.[12] The order of these dates, interestingly, supports the idea of “past, present, future” mentioned previously, as represented by the death festival of Divus Aelius Caesar, the birth of Divus Hadrianus, and then the continuing presence and hope offered by the star of Antinous. As all of these take place within the month in which Ianus is most honored, giving him a share of ongoing honors by the Ekklesía Antínoou also makes logical sense, apart from the Roman customs which would give him this privilege in any case.
Now, at last, to the great goddess Hekate. Interestingly, Hekate has relations to the other two deities mentioned previously, and thus acts as an excellent intermediate or bridging figure in the order in which the three deities are invoked in ritual. Hekate is related to Anubis by Plutarch in On Isis and Osiris 44 in an intriguing passage, which I give here in full:
When Nephthys gave birth to Anubis, Isis treated the child as if it were her own; for Nephthys is that which is beneath the Earth and invisible, Isis that which is above the Earth and visible; and the circle which touches these, called the horizon, being common to both, has received the name Anubis, and is represented in form like a dog; for the dog can see with his eyes both by night and by day alike. And among the Egyptians Anubis is thought to possess this faculty, which is similar to that which Hekate is thought to possess among the Greeks, for Anubis is a deity of the lower world as well as a god of Olympus. Some are of the opinion that Anubis is Kronos. For this reason, inasmuch as he generates all things out of himself and conceives all things within himself, he has gained the appellation of “Dog.” There is, therefore, a certain mystery observed by those who revere Anubis; in ancient times the dog obtained the highest honors in Egypt; but, when Cambyses had slain the Apis and cast him forth, nothing came near the body or ate of it save only the dog; and thereby the dog lost his primacy and place of honor above that of all the other animals.[13]
Hekate is connected to dogs from a very early period in Greek culture,[14] and thus this connection between Anubis and Hekate makes sense in other manners as well as those outlined here. The idea that Hekate, like Anubis, has a share in chthonic as well as celestial realms is found as early as Hesiod’s passage from the Theogony 411-452, in which Hekate is said to have been honored by Zeus above all others, and to have been given a share of the land, the sea, and the sky, and that she had a share due to her from all who came forth from earth and sky.[15] Thus, it would be sensible for any deity who has both chthonic and celestial natures—as Antinous does—to also acknowledge these other deities who likewise share such spheres of influence!
Hekate is further related to Ianus in a number of instances from classical literature. Ovid’s Fasti 1.89-144 mentions the two together at one point toward the end of this section, particularly in Hekate’s aspect as three-faced and the appearance of Ianus Bifrons (“two-faced,” called here biformis),[16] in his explanation for the reasons for the deity’s double-faced aspect. Further, the fifth century neoplatonist Proclus has a hymn in which he honors Hekate and Ianus together, praising the former as the mother of the gods and guardian of the gates, and the latter as Zeus and the forefather of all.[17] These two multiple-aspected deities, both of whom are connected with or syncretized to the titanic generation of immortals, and for whom beginnings and safe passages are particularly important, could only be expected to become more elevated in status and perceived power as time went on. As a grouping, therefore, Wepwawet, Hekate, and Ianus are very apt for any Graeco-Roman- Egyptian practitioner to consider in their preliminary rites.
Hekate occurs on a number of occasions in a particular text from the corpus of the Greek Magical Papyri, specifically PGM IV, which has a number of noteworthy Antinoan connections. PGM IV was formerly known as the “Great Magical Papyrus of Paris,” and is probably a fourth-century C.E. copy of a second-century C.E. original.[18] The two things which most closely connect this composition to an Antinoan context are as follows: a version of one of the spells found therein, lines 296-466,[19] is found with a figurine like the one described in the recipe with a specific invocation of Antinous, probably from the vicinity of Antinoöpolis;[20] and, one of the spells in the papyrus is ascribed to Pachrates, an Egyptian mage who gave the spell to Hadrian.[21] More will be said about this figure in the discussion to follow below. However, it does remain to see what role Hekate plays in PGM IV. On three occasions, the voces magicae in a spell read “AKTIOPHIS ERESCHIGAL NEBOUTOSOUALETH,”[22] and Betz notes that Aktiophis is an epithet of Selene, but as Selene, Artemis, and Hekate were syncretized and considered forms of the moon by this stage, it is possible that Hekate gives some of her more fierce associations to the spells concerned; indeed, Betz remarks that this particular formula might specifically refer to Hekate.[23] The formula “ERESCHIGAL NEBOUTOSOUALETH” occurs once in a spell that refers to Hekate specifically.[24] In two further spells, a three-headed figure of Hekate must be created as an ingredient of the spell concerned.[25] While it is impossible to be certain where this papyrus originated, or who the compiler and intended users happened to be, the specific occurrence of the AKTIOPHI ERESCHIGAL NEBOUTOSOUALETH formula in Pachrates’ spell, plus the occurrence of Hekate in general, and Hekate as an equivalent/syncreti sm of Selene, is of particular interest for Antinoan purposes.
In an interesting fragmentary Antinoan text from c. 285 C.E., from the Oxyrynchus Papyri, and discovered in about 1993, comes a section discussing the lion hunt of Hadrian and Antinous (on which more in a moment), and also Antinous’ deification. This fragment includes the idea that Antinous’ deification took place in a manner parallel to that of Endymion, when it says that Selene, “upon more brilliant hopes bade him shine as a star-like bridegroom and garlanding the night like with a circle she took him for her husband.”[26] There is some evidence to indicate that other deified imperial figures associated with the Hadrianic regime—specifically, his sister Aelia Domitia Paulina—was syncretized to Selene in certain instances.[27] The remembrance of other members of the Hadrianic and Traianic imperial families in the demoi-names of Antinoöpolis was established from the earliest times of the city’s founding,[28] Hadrian’s foundation of which being noted immediately after the passage above.[29] J. R. Rea’s notes on this passage even suggest that chthonic Hekate’s role in deification of mortals may be alluded to in this syncretism with Selene.[30] Antinous’ connection to Diana (the Roman goddess often syncretized with Artemis, likewise syncretized to Luna, the functional equivalent of Selene) at a particular cult at Lanuvium near Rome is also known,[31] and is highly suggestive in the present case.[32]
But this is only the tail end, as it were, of that particular narrative section of the poem concerned. The previous portion of the poem discusses the lion hunt of Hadrian and Antinous, culminating in its various mythological allusions and discussion of the lotus-miracle emerging from the event with the words “into the Nile he hurried for purification of the blood of the lion….”[33] The lotus miracle is mentioned in a prose piece from a papyrus found at Tebtynis,[34] and the lion hunt is treated in a number of other locations, including a further papyrus fragment from Oxyrynchus, giving more details on the actual hunt,[35] as well as sculpturally on the hunting tondo now on the arch of Constantine in Rome,[36] but most importantly for present purposes, in a passage from Athenaeus’ Deipnosophistae (“The Learned Banqueters”) 15.677, in which the origin of the poetic tradition on these matters is credited to one Pancrates, an Egyptian poet.[37] This Pancrates is conjectured to be the same person as the Pachrates referred to in the PGM IV text as having given the particular spell there to Hadrian, and he may likewise be the same figure as the Egyptian priest Pancrates referred to in Lukian of Samosata’s Philopseudes (“Lover of Lies”), a satirical text which is the earliest occurrence of the “sorcerer’s apprentice” motif.[38] In other writings, Lukian alludes to the Antinoan cultus in a less-than-flatterin g light,[39] and thus this particular appearance of Pancrates in a text showing how supposed magicians and those with esoteric knowledge prey upon the witless would be a further commentary on the perception of the Antinoan cultus, with its miracles involving lions and lotuses, the star which was said to be Antinous’ katasterism, and the overabundant inundation of the Nile in 131 which was attributed to Antinous’ death.[40] Hekate and her epiphany plays a large role elsewhere in Lukian’s Philopseudes, and the narration of her epiphany is likewise attributed to Eucrates, the character in the frame-tale who also interacted with Pancrates.[41] The connection of PGM IV to Hekate generally, and particularly in Pachrates’ spell therein, and likewise the connection between Pancrates as the final (and epitomizing) tale in the Philopseudes and Hekate’s appearances therein as well, is nothing if not suggestive.
But, even more interesting in relation to Hekate is a lost text (or texts) dating from some decades after the origins of the Antinoan cultus, namely, the Chaldean Oracles, a late second-century C.E. corpus which survive in fragments from various commentaries on the corpus from the mid-third century onwards, and well into the Christian period.[42] In fragment 147, found in the commentary of the eleventh-century C.E. Michael Psellus’ work, the epiphany of Hekate is said to come with a darkening of the heavens (both the lights of stars and moon), earthquakes and lightning, and that “you will observe all things in the form of a lion” (athréseis pánta léonta).[43] The other characteristics of this epiphany are echoed in the epiphany of Hekate in Lukian’s Philopseudes mentioned earlier.[44] In the manner via which Antinous is said to have slain the lion, purified its blood in the Nile (which became the red Nile lotus thereafter named for Antinous), and then gone on to his deification through Selene in the Oxyrynchus papyrus from c. 285 C.E. discussed above, the fact that Pancrates/Pachrates is probably the source of this particular bit of theological mythology, and that Hekate is intimately connected with what can be reconstructed of Pancrates/Pachrates’ overall magical and religious milieu, I cannot help but think that it is possible that Hekate’s epiphany as a lion might also play into the overall construction of this mytheme.[45]
Of the three gatekeeper, way-clearer and mediator deities reckoned in Ekklesía Antínoou ritual practice and devotion, connections of them to Antinous’ ancient cultus are difficult to reconstruct with any certainty; but of these, the most intriguing and compelling case can be made for Hekate, for all of the reasons previously explained. However, as we are reconstructionists, and actual practices on the ground are also impossible to know with any certainty, it is just as well to claim modern interest and appeal for these deities to be included in rituals, and to honor them in preliminary rites on festival occasions. It should be the task of everyone involved in reconstructed traditions to not only research attested ancient practices with diligence and discernment, but also to create new practices which will infuse the old traditions with new life, relevant for people in the modern world, because it is in the modern world—and always in the present (whether the eternal present of myth or the temporal present of our daily lives and experiences)— that ritual and devotion takes place. Even if Pancrates/Pachrates were to be called up from the dead and interviewed on these matters, and if his answers to the specific points of this discussion all happened to be met with negatives, ridicule, and derision, the theological formulations and mythic constructions of the early twenty-first century are no more nor less authentic and useful than the users of them find them to be. And how appropriate, therefore, that of the three deities, perhaps representing the past, the present, and the future, that the mediating term of the three, Hekate, is the one also representing the temporal present, and the one who, even in absence, seems to be the most present in the mythos of Antinous.
[1] Some holidays, feasts, and celebrations in the group are specifically Antinoan in nature; others are versions of historically- attested festivals from ancient Mediterranean cultures, like the Lupercalia, Serapeia, or other such occasions.
[2] “Bisexual” is here understood in the gender rather than sexual orientation sense; while this is a more antiquated usage, “hermaphroditic” or “intersexed” are also not quite appropriate terms for description of this form and understanding of the deity.
[3] Macrobius, Saturnalia 1.9.8; see Percival Vaughan Davies (trans.), Macrobius, The Saturnalia, Records of Civilization, Sources and Studies 79 (London and New York: Columbia University Press, 1969), p. 67.
[4] For some information on this, see Terence DuQuesne, Anubis, Upwawet, and Other Deities: Personal Worship and Official Religion in Ancient Egypt (Cairo: The Egyptian Museum Cairo/Supreme Council of Antiquities Press, 2007).
[5] Frank Cole Babbitt (trans.), Plutarch, Moralia, Volume V (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1936, reprint 2003), pp. 38-39.
[6] Jean-Claude Grenier, Anubis Alexandrin et Romain (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1977), particularly pp. 53-59 on Hermes-Anubis/ Hermanubis.
[7] David Gordon White, Myths of the Dog-Man (Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1991), pp. 43-44.
[8] Ann E. Haeckl, “Brothers or Lovers? A New Reading of the ‘Tondo of the Two Brothers’,” Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists 38 (2001), pp. 63-78 and Plate 6.
[9] Sir James George Frazer (trans.), Ovid, Fasti (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1931), pp. 6-23.
[10] Anthony R. Birley, Hadrian the Restless Emperor (London and New York: Routledge, 2000), pp. 292-294.
[11] Mary Beard, John North, and Simon Price (eds./trans. ), Religions of Rome, Volume 2: A Sourcebook (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998, reprint 2001), p. 72, which is an early third century military calendar from Dura Europus recording the dies natalis of Aelius Caesar on January 13 and that of Hadrian on the 24th; see also an Egyptian calendar fragment from Tebtynis, in S. Eitrem and Leiv Amundsen (eds.), Papyri Osloenses, Vol. 3 (Oslo: The Academy of Science and Letters at Oslo, 1936), pp. 54-55, which records both dates as well.
[12] J. R. Rea (ed./trans.) , The Oxyrynchus Papyri, Vol. 63 (London: Egypt Exploration Society, 1996), pp. 14-15.
[13] Babbitt, pp. 106-107.
[14] On this, see Phillip A. Bernhardt-House’ s essay elsewhere in the present volume.
[15] Glenn W. Most (trans.), Hesiod, Theogony, Works and Days, Testimonia (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2006), pp. 36-39.
[16] Frazer, pp. 8-13.
[17] Frederick C. Grant, Hellenistic Religions: The Age of Syncretism, Library of Liberal Arts 134 (Indianapolis and New York: The Liberal Arts Press/The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc., 1953), p. 172.
[18] Daniel Ogden, Night’s Black Agents: Witches, Wizards and the Dead in the Ancient World (London and New York: Hambledon Continuum, 2008), p. 116.
[19] Hans Dieter Betz (ed./trans.) , The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation including the Demotic Spells, Volume One: Texts, Second Edition, with an updated bibliography (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992; paperback edition 1996). Further references to this work in the present article are hereafter indicated by PGM followed by papyrus number, lines, and pages of Betz’ edition. An alternate translation, with commentary, of this spell is found in Daniel Ogden, Magic, Witchcraft, and Ghosts in the Greek and Roman Worlds: A Sourcebook (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), pp. 247-250 §239.
[20] John G. Gager, Curse Tablets and Binding Spells from the Ancient World (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), pp. 97-100 §28; Beard, North, and Price, pp. 266-267 §11.5a; Ogden, Magic, Witchcraft, pp. 250-251 §240.
[21] PGM IV, 2441-2621, pp. 82-86.
[22] PGM IV, 2441-2621, p. 83, lines 2483-2486; 2708-2784, pp. 89-90, lines 2745-2753; 2891-2942, p. 93, lines 2912-2915.
[23] Betz, p. 337 s.v. NEBOUTOSOUALETH.
[24] PGM IV, 1390-1495, p. 65, lines 1417-1420.
[25] PGM IV, 2006-2125, p. 75, lines 2119-2123; 2785-2890, p. 92, lines 2880-2884.
[26] Rea, p. 10.
[27] Günter Grimm, “Paulina und Antinous. Zure Vergöttlichung der Hadriansschwester in Äegypten,” in Christoph Börker and Michael Donderer (eds.), Das antike Rom und der Osten: Festschrift für Klaus Parlasca zum 65. Geburtstag (Erlangen: Universitätsbund Erlanden-Nürnberg e. V.,1990), pp. 33-44.
[28] Mary Taliaferro Boatwright, Hadrian and the Cities of the Roman Empire (Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2000), p. 194 note 124.
[29] Rea, p. 10.
[30] Rea, p. 13 note 11.
[31] Beard, North, and Price, pp. 292-294 §12.2.
[32] I have treated this topic more extensively elsewhere; see “Artemis and the Cult of Antinous,” in Thista Minai et al. (eds.), Unbound: A Devotional Anthology for Artemis (Eugene: Bibliotheca Alexandrina, 2009), pp. 106-112.
[33] Rea, p. 10.
[34] Achille Vogliano (ed.), Papiri della R. Universita di Milano, Volume 1 (Milan: Ulrico Hoepli, 1937), pp. 175-183 at 176-179. See also the “poetic” translation of this text in my book, The Phillupic Hymns (Eugene: Bibliotheca Alexandrina, 2008), pp. 54-55 and 260 (notes).
[35] Arthur S. Hunt (ed./trans.) , The Oxyrynchus Papyri, Vol. 8 (London: Egypt Exploration Society, 1911), pp. 73-77, which is conjectured to be a fragment of Pancrates’ actual poem. See also D. L. Page (ed./trans.) , Select Papyri III: Literary Papyri, Poetry (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1957), pp. 516-519.
[36] Mary Taliaferro Boatwright, Hadrian and the City of Rome (Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 1987), p. 190-202.
[37] Charles Burton Gulick (ed./trans.) , Athenaeus, Depinosophistae, Volume 7 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1941), pp. 126-129.
[38] Ogden, Magic, Witchcraft, pp. 54-55 §54; In Search of the Sorcerer’s Apprentice: The Traditional Tales of Lucian’s Lover of Lies (Swansea: The Classical Press of Wales, 2007), pp. 60-61, 231-270; Night’s Black Agents, pp. 95, 98, 122-123.
[39] Royston Lambert, Beloved and God: The Story of Hadrian and Antinous (New York: Viking, 1984), pp. 94, 96, 192; A. M. Harmon (ed./trans.) , Lucian, Volume V (Cambrdige: Harvard University Press, 1962), pp. 426-433 (“The Parliament of the Gods”); M. D. MacLeod (ed./trans.) , Lucian, Volume VII (Cambrdige: Harvard University Press, 1962), pp. 268-281 (“Dialogues of the Gods: Zeus and Hera”), and 281-291 (“Dialogues of the Gods: Zeus and Ganymede”), the latter of which has never been discussed as a possibility of further Antinoan allusion.
[40] I hope to treat this topic further in the future, but I would note that the near-flood caused by the misuse of the spell learned by the character taught by Pancrates in this narrative might mirror the excessive, and even destructive, flooding of the Nile that followed Antinous’ death. For evidence of this flooding, see Bernard P. Grenfell and Arthur S. Hunt (ed./trans.) , The Oxyrynchus Papyri, Vol. 3 (London: Egypt Exploration Society, 1903), pp. 180-183; Eitrem and Amundsen, pp. 55-61.
[41] Ogden, Magic, Witchcraft, pp. 272-273 §275; In Search of the Sorcerer’s Apprentice, pp. 54-56, 161-170.
[42] See Sarah Iles Johnston, Hekate Soteira: A Study of Hekate’s Roles in the Chaldean Oracles and Related Literature (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1990), pp. 1-12.
[43] Johnston, pp. 111-112. Johnston does not accept the text as it stands in Psellus, and instead insists on a textual emendation, because she does not understand how this line could make sense. As should be obvious, I opine that greater credence should be given to the text as it exists, and to the adept commentary on it given by Psellus.
[44] Johnston, p. 116.
[45] While I do not wish to insist upon the point, I’m also reminded of another passage from Plutarch’s On Isis and Osiris (38), which concerns the connection between the dog-star Sirius and lions observed by the Egyptians, and the rising of the former during the Zodiac month of the latter, which heralds the inundation of the Nile; see Babbitt, pp. 90-93. As Anubis and Hekate seem to share some connection, and Anubis (as well as Hekate) are both said to be cynocephalic, and cynocephali are connected very much to the dog-star, there is the possibility of some synchronism of tradition in that regard. However, more compelling for present purposes is the fact that the inundation of the Nile is attributed to Antinous’ miraculous intervention, and therefore its further connection to the lion-month might have been a further factor in Pancrates/Pachrates’ theological formulations.
