To Bakahenzie and not to Birnier he owed his escape from the dreaded Godhood.
"Witch-Doctors"
Charles Beadle
But they cannot be answered, for antiquity is altogether silent about him; only here and there, in the indignant utterance of a Christian Father, stung to the quick by Pagan parallels between Antinous and Christ, do we catch a perverted echo of the popular emotion upon which his cult reposed, which recognised his Godhood or his vicarious self-sacrifice, and which paid enduring tribute to the sublimity of his young life untimely quenched.
"Sketches and Studies in Italy and Greece, Vol III."
John Symonds
Could this thought have penetrated the imagination of his worshippers: that since Antinous had given his life for his friend, since he had faced death and triumphed over it, winning immortality and Godhood for himself by sacrifice, the souls of his votaries might be committed to his charge and guidance on their journey through the darkness of the tomb?
"Sketches and Studies in Italy and Greece, Vol III."
John Symonds