Word spread that the boy-lover of the Emperor had drowned in the Nile. Egypt and the Empire were saved. Antinous had been embraced by Osiris and had overcome death, rising up from the waters to take his place among the immortals.

The Greek philosophers hearing that Antinous had become a local demigod brought the News to Hadrian, assuring him that as the living God-King, Pharoah and Divine Emperor of Rome, the years that had been taken away from Antinous were now added to his own life. Hadrian responded by issuing a declaration that was spread around the world that a new god had arisen from the Nile. Temples were to be built, sacred games inaugurated, and a new cult was to be ordained. The center of this cult was the new city of Antinopolis, and priests were appointed to begin delineating the ceremonies that would perpetuate the memory of the New God Antinous for all eternity.

He was compared to the boy gods who had given their lives for the benefit of mankind. Among them the Egyptian Osiris, Hermes the messenger, and Dionysus god of the vine whose homosexuality had always been celebrated for a thousand years in Greece. Also Ganymede, the beautiful boy whom the great god Jupiter had taken to be his lover, and the cup bearer of heaven, the young deity who served the cup of immortality to the gods. Jupiter had swept down upon Ganymede in the form of an eagle and carried him to Olympus, just as Hadrian whose symbol as Emperor was the eagle, had swept down upon Antinous and carried him to world-wide fame.

Under Hadrian's direction, statues of Antinous were fashioned, using models that had been carved while Antinous was still alive. These statues for the most part portrayed Antinous in the costume and symbols of the famous boy-gods, but many show Antinous without divine attributes, suggesting that Antinous was a new unprecedented God. These statues were set up in temples everywhere in the Empire. Hundreds remain and can be found in the great museums of the world. Looking upon them, one is struck by their beauty and by their astonishing similarity. They are so perfect that they are like photographs, revealing the true, unmistakable image of what Antinous looked like in life. There is no god in the world whose face is so well captured. We are reminded that Antinous, although he is a God, was once a living human being, as real and as beautiful as any of us. Like Antinous, we are all immortal beings capable of becoming gods.