Reset Password
Reset Link Sent
Blogs > OnDaFence > Bret's Blogisphere |
Christmas Present for JD I found just the perfect old frame for a copper coin display while out rummaging for like 50 cents! I kept it back in my junk box up in the attic. First thing I did was refinish the wood with a red hickory stain we had tucked back. The red mahogany just didn't have the right tones for it. Then I cleaned up the raised floral pattern around the glassed area carefully re-gilding it with a small stiff brush. I found the perfect picture and composed the coins description within the photo boundaries. This became one hell of a trail and error to get printed out to do justice to the coin. I experimented with a red that looked too lipsticky, The "neon" blue just vanished into the greyed background. I finally took a tawny grey from the photo and that turned out the very best colored font. The coin I won on EBay was issued in 129 -130 AD by The Emperor Hadrian to commemorate his trip to Egypt. It features the river God Nilus reclining and Hadrian on the other. The significant of this particular coin is Antinous accompanied Hadrian to exotic Egypt. Antinous was born in a town called Claudiopolis, also known as Bithynion, in the northwest corner of the country that we now call Turkey, in the year 111 A.D. He was very likely not from a wealthy family, and is even said to have been a slave...Antinous came from nothing, and from nowhere, but by the end of his short life, he was a Prince, known all over the Empire. His name has overcome the trials of history because of the mysterious love that occurred between this strange, exotic boy, and the ruler of the Roman world at its height. The details of Antinous's life are mostly unknown. The exact year of his birth is unknown but the date is recorded as November 27th. Statue of Antinous discovered at Delphi His image however is certain, based on so many surviving sculptures. He was extraordinarily beautiful, a living angel, a visible manifestation of divine perfection. He has been compared to Ganymede, Adonis, or one of many beautiful boys whose beauty attracted the attention of the Gods. So it was that a living God found Antinous and swept him up to the heavens. The Emperor Hadrian passed through Bithynia in the year 123 A.D. and it is believed that on this trip he encountered Antinous for the first time and fell completely in love. Antinous was admitted into the Imperial court and either he was sent to Rome to be educated at the finest schools for boys, where he learned Latin, poetry, history and the arts, or he remained close to Hadrian and was educated in private. He also began to train his body in the gymnasium, and over time sculpted it, under the guidance of Hadrian's trainers, into what would become the finest example of Classical male beauty. After the festival of Osiris, the fleet proceeded up the River Nile until it reached a place called Hir-wer, where a small, ancient Temple of Rameses II stood. Here on October 28th in the year 130 AD, Antinous fell into the Nile. There is no way to know if he was pushed, if he committed suicide, if he gave himself as a human sacrifice, or if he slipped and drowned by accident. No explanation was given, perhaps even then it was a mystery. Hadrian wept like a woman, we are told, in front of the entire court. This shameless display of emotion became a scandal that for so many centuries discredited the achievements of Hadrian. It made plain that their relationship had transcended what was usual and what tradition held to be manly and appropriate for an Emperor of the warrior Rome nation. On October 30th of the year 130 AD, Hadrian founded the Holy City of Antinoopolis on the bank of the river where Antinous had drowned, tracing out the major streets with his own rod in the sand. He then proceeded to do the unthinkable, as Pontifex Maximus, High Priest of the Roman Religion, he declared that Antinous was a God, that he had conquered death, and risen up to dwell among the never-ending stars. Proclamations were sent out to ever corner of the world, inaugurating the religion of the New God Antinous. This is how it turned out. I hung it up on the wall to get the picture but have had to sneak around the house working on this project when JD was outside or asleep. I will get it wrapped up and hidden away until Christmas. |
|||
12/8/2016 4:54 pm |
44444444444444
| ||
12/8/2016 4:54 pm |
33333333333333333
| ||
12/8/2016 4:54 pm |
2222222222222222222
| ||
12/8/2016 4:56 pm |
This one is for BiBBzie... she probably remembers when it was done!
| ||
|
Great job on the Christmas gift, Bret. I'm sure JD will cherish it. That is quite the story you dug up regarding the history of the coin.
| ||
12/8/2016 5:49 pm |
He has not peeked in for a long time.... I hope he doesn't decide to start snooping now!
| ||
12/8/2016 5:51 pm |
Great job on the Christmas gift, Bret. I'm sure JD will cherish it. That is quite the story you dug up regarding the history of the coin.
| ||
|
Did you notice that in the picture of the "first high five", the two dudes have their thumbs on the wrong side of their hands? Ask BiBBzie if she knows anything about dudes' thumbs way back when.
| ||
12/8/2016 9:53 pm |
Did you notice that in the picture of the "first high five", the two dudes have their thumbs on the wrong side of their hands? Ask BiBBzie if she knows anything about dudes' thumbs way back when.
| ||
|
nice job on the prez bret, guess im to late to jump in and save Antinous!
| ||
12/8/2016 11:25 pm |
nice job on the prez bret, guess im to late to jump in and save Antinous!
| ||
12/9/2016 5:44 pm |
The coin says a lot about us. MANY Years ago JD took me to Egypt for my 25th birthday.... I am glad I didn't go swimming in the Nile to celebrate.
| ||
12/9/2016 5:48 pm |
Am sure he'll be happy with the thoughtful gift. I'd toss a dill-doe in his Christmas stocking too, just in case.
| ||
|
Quite a captivating story behind your cool Christmas gift for JD.... It also seems the doedill dilldoe thing will become a permanent part of my vocabulary, Bret --thanks!
| ||
12/9/2016 9:05 pm |
Quite a captivating story behind your cool Christmas gift for JD.... It also seems the doedill dilldoe thing will become a permanent part of my vocabulary, Bret --thanks!
| ||
|
Looks Good
| ||
12/9/2016 11:10 pm |
Looks Good
| ||
12/12/2016 7:06 am |
nice pic flane
|
×
×