Una maschera funeraria da Ermopoli Magna. Note sul culto di Antinoo

A fine funerary mask from Hermopolis Magna, kept in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, has physiognomic features and a distinctive hair style that refer to the iconography of Antinous. The object raises the question of why a young man from Hermopolis, in the 2nd century AD, was buried with a mask whose features recall those of Antinous and, at the same time, it allows for a renewed reflection on the figure of Antinous and its acquisition and interpretation in the Roman world, particularly in funerary contexts in Egypt. Small objects that conveyed the image of Antinous in the private sphere are taken into consideration, paying attention to those that popularised his identification with Egyptian or Greek- Egyptian deities, such as Osiris or Thot-Hermes. In particular, the Egyptian environment and two important cities such as Antinoupolis and Hermopolis Magna are taken into account.