Antinous And Hadrian

Antinous And Hadrian
Antinous and Hadrian are the most famous homosexual couple in Roman history.
Although Hadrian was married, ancient sources reveal that he also had several homosexual relationships. Homosexual relationships were not considered unusual in ancient Rome. A Roman man was free to choose sexual partners of either gender so long as he remained the active partner in any sexual encounter. It was therefore common for Roman men to enter into sexual relationships with younger men.
Hadrian became enamoured with Antinous, a younger man renowned for his beauty and invited him to join his tours of his Empire. In AD 130 Antinous drowned in the river Nile and Hadrian was devastated. Reports said that Hadrian wept for him ‘like a woman’. Hadrian mourned Antinous’ death intensely and publically rather than in private as was custom.
Statues of Antinous were built throughout Hadrian’s Empire, he was deified (worshipped as a God), and a new city named Antinopolis was founded near the site of his death.
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What is the male equivalent of girl?
The love affair of the Roman emperor Hadrian [1] (24 January AD 76 – 10 July 138) and the Bithynian boy Antinous (27 November ca. 111 – August/September [2] 130) was easily the highest profile Greek love affair ever: as ruler of the Roman Empire at its greatest, Hadrian was the most powerful man in the world, while Antinous, dying mysteriously after years in the public eye as his beloved, was made a god, an honour not even accorded by Zeus to his Ganymede and never given to any other Roman not of the imperial family.
Though, however, temples to Antinous were once to be found throughout the Roman Empire, and his face is still familiar today from the numerous statues of him that have survived, surprisingly little is now known about him. A considerable portion of the surviving writings about him were by Christians more interested in using him as invective against Roman paganism than in illuminating him.
The ancient texts about both Antinous’s life and Hadrian’s interest in boys are assembled below in the chronological order they were written in, together with three early inscriptions shedding important information on Antinous. [3] Unfortunately, all that survives resembles some pieces of a jigsaw puzzle rather than a coherent narrative. In view of this, the most important questions concerning the boy’s life and death are addressed forthwith.
Antinous’s age can only be guessed. The various descriptions of him as meirakion and ephebe imply he was not more than twenty at the time of his death. The sculptures then made likewise show a youth in his late teens. About 111 thus seems his likely date of birth, which, since his birthday was 27 November, would make him about eighteen at death.
When Hadrian and Antinous became lovers is far less clear. It is often surmised that they met and Hadrian had Antinous sent to Rome in June 123, when he was about eleven, as this was the later of the two occasions on which Hadrian passed through or near Antinous’s birthplace. [4] Reliefs often thought to illustrate the life of Antinous on the Arch of Constantine in Rome suggest he was a page there, presumably in the imperial paedagogium , which Royston Lambert, author of one of the two detailed studies of the lovers, says “was not just another of those seraglios of seductive and willing boys collected by the wealthy debauchees of the day, though, … It may have functioned partly as such. It was a formidable institution … for the training of pages for the court.” [5] If so, then since Hadrian himself did not return to Rome until around the summer of 125, Antinous is unlikely to have been in his household or his lover until then, when he was about thirteen, or even a little later.
As will be seen, Hadrian himself recorded that Antinous died by falling into the Nile. Apartianus adds that it happened during a journey on the Nile. Both he and Cassius Dio mention rumours that Antinous voluntarily sacrificed his life for Hadrian’s benefit, without saying whether rumour made the latter privy to the suicide or not. They and others report Hadrian’s extreme grief. None of the many ancient sources contradicts any of this, so there is no reason to doubt it, as various moderns have done in proposing lurid alternatives.
What remains mysterious is whether Antinous drowned by accident or deliberately. Both are credible: accidentally drowning in the dangerous currents of the Nile was common (for example, Alexander the Great lost a loved boy the same way ), but there was also then widespread belief in the efficacy of sacrificing oneself for a loved one, and several recorded instances of others doing so. This was discussed in great detail by Lambert, [6] who concluded that, while it could have been an accident, it was probably an act of self-sacrifice done without Hadrian’s knowledge. Amongst Antinous’s possible motives, Lambert mentions saving his lover’s life from a serious illness or ensuring there would not be a third year running in which the Nile failed to inundate the land (which would have caused famine as far away as Rome) and repaying the debt of Hadrian having just saved his life from a lion (see the first excerpt) combined with likely anxiety that he was become a man and could not remain Hadrian’s paidika . Finally, though it should be pointed out that Hadrian himself may not have known if the drowning was an accident, the extremity of his reaction strengthens the likelihood he believed Antinous had sacrificed himself for him.
All the statues shown here are from the reign of Hadrian (117-38) and most of them from the years after Antinous's death, with the sole exception of the ephebe-god of Antinoopolis.
The following excerpt is all that survives of an epic poem by Pankrates, an Alexandrian, describing a hunt by Hadrian and Antinous for an enormous lion that had been causing terror in Egypt. The context is provided by Athenaios in The Learned Banqueters 667d-f , who briefly quotes another section of what is evidently the same poem. This can only have happened in the summer of 130, shortly before Antinous’s death. Evidently, Pankrates was in Egypt at the time, and is the only person to have written something about Antinous that has survived from his lifetime.
The papyrus fragment on which this was written was published in The Oxyrhynchus Papyri Part VIII (London, 1911) no. 1085 column ii, lines 1-25 with the Greek text and the translation here given. The Romanised names have been replaced with transliterated ones.
… and swifter than the horse of Adrastos which once saved the king as he fled ... in the battle-throng. Such was the steed whereon Antinous sat in wait for the deadly lion, holding in his left hand the bridle-rein and in his right a spear shod with adamant. First Hadrian hurling his brass-fitted spear wounded the beast but slew him not, for of purpose he missed the mark, wishing to test to the full the sureness of aim of beauteous Antinous, son of the Argos-slayer. Stricken, the beast was yet more aroused, and tore up in his wrath the rough ground with his paws, and the dust rising in a cloud dimmed the light of the sun ; he raged even as the wave of the surging sea when Zephyros is stirred forth after the wind of Strymon. [Straight] he rushed upon them both, scourging with his tail his haunches and sides . . . while his eyes, beneath his brows, flashed dreadful fire ; and from his ravening jaws the foam showered to the earth as his teeth gnashed within. On his mighty head and shaggy neck the hair stood bristling ; on his other limbs it was bushy as trees, and on his back ... it was like whetted spear-points. In such wise he came against the glorious god and upon Antinous, like Typhoios of old against Zeus, slayer of giants. [7]
This fragment apparently written by someone in Hadrian’s immediate circle and perhaps a witness to Antinous’s death, was published in 1937.
νύ̣μ[φ]αι Κρ[όκον ἀπέκτειναν, Ὕλαν ἥρ̣π̣α[σαν Νύμφαι, Κυπάρισσος κατ[ὰ πε|τρῶν ἔρειψε ἑ[αυ]τόν, Δ[άφνην φεύγουσαν ὐπεδέξατο γῆ· Ν[άρ|κισσος ὑπερηφανείαι ἐρ[. . . ..] ἑαυτὸν ὡς ἄλλον ἀπώλεσ[εν· ἓν δὲ μόνον τὸ τοῦ Ἀντινόου [ἄνθος, πάντων ἥδ[ι]ον διαφέρον . . .
Originally erected for the tomb of Antinous at Hadrian’s villa at Tibur (now Tivoli), Latium, it was moved into Rome by the emperor Elagabalus and finally re-erected there in a park on Monte Pincio in 1822. The hieroglyphic inscriptions are hard to read and elusive in their meaning, but nevertheless richly informative.
The translation is this website’s from the French of Jean-Claude Grenier in his “L’Osiris Antinoos” in Cahiers Égypte Nilotique et Méditerranéenne , Montpellier, 2008, pp. 1-33, where will be found the hieroglyphics and copious scholarly footnotes.
Words spoken by Osiris Antinous, [the Just]: “Come to the master of life”.
A – The Blessed One who is in the After-life and who rests in this consecrated place inside the Gardens of the domain of the Prince in Rome.
B – He is known to have become god in the shrines of Osiris in Egypt and shrines (there) have been built for him (where) he is worshipped as a god by the prophets and the priests of Upper and Lower Egypt and equally (by) the inhabitants of Egypt.
C – A city is called after his name; to it belongs a population of Greeks and offspring of Horus and children of Seth, living in the cities of Egypt; they have come from their cities and valuable fields have been given to them in order to embellish their life there greatly.
D – There is a temple there of this god – his name is “Osiris Antinous, the Just” – built of beautiful white stone; sphinxes are on its periphery and statues, numerous columns like those once made by the Ancients and equally like those made by the Greeks; all the gods and all the goddesses give him (there) the breath of life and he inhales it, having rejuvenated.
Words spoken by Thoth, twice great lord of Khemenou (Hermopolis): “I make your heart alive for you every day”.
A – The Blessed One, Osiris Antinous the Just! He had become an ephebe of beautiful face who rejoiced the eyes, to strength […] and intrepid at heart like a man with strong arms.
B – He received the order of the gods for the moment of his death. [9]
C – All the rites of the “Hours of Osiris” have been renewed and all the operations of his mummification in secret, (then) his bandages were put on and the whole Earth was then in just distress nourished by disputes.
D – Nothing similar was done for those from the old days to the present as (has been done for) his altars, his temples and his titles and, because he inhales the breath of life, his glory grows in men’s hearts. He who is the Lord of Hermopolis, the master of divine words, Thoth, regenerated his ba like […] in their time. By night and day, at each and every moment, the love he provokes is in the heart of his faithful, the respect which he inspires [is in …] of all […] and the praise which he excites is widespread amongst the humans who venerate him.
E – His rightful place is in the Court of the Justified and the Perfect Lights which are in the following of Osiris within the Sacred World of the Master of eternity and the Triumph which has been accorded him; they (= the Justified, etc.) establish his renown on Earth and their hearts take pleasure in him. (When) he goes everywhere he wishes, the doorkeepers of the After-life say to him: “Praise be to you!” They draw back their bolts and open their doors before him (and this) every day for millions of millions of years (for) [this will be] the duration of his existence […] ? […].
Words spoken by Osiris Atinous [… ? … pronounces?] every oracle.
Words spoken by Amon, master (of the power) to pronounce oracles: I give you [(the power) to pronounce] every oracle.
A – The Blessed One, Osiris Antinous the Just, who is in the After-life! A stadium has been set up inside the place consecrated to him which is in Egypt and is called by his name, for the athletes of this country and the associations of itinerant (athletes) and thus (for) the athletes of the entire Earth. All the Egyptians, in the manner of those who are in the movement of Thoth (= the Hermopolitans), give them prizes and crowns for their heads and they are rewarded with every sort of fine thing.
B – Offerings are placed on his altars and to him are allotted the sacrifices due to the gods before him, every day […] … […] acts of adoration are lavished on him by those who are versed in the arts of Thoth in proportion to his power.
C – He goes from the place consecrated to him to numerous sanctuaries of the entire Earth because he hears the prayer of he who calls him, he lavishes his care on the sick and the needy in sending dreams (for it is thus that) he manifests his action amongst (human) beings. He performs every transformation according to that which creates his will because he is the seed of a god who really manifests himself in his body […] ? [… from the] intact stomach of his mother and he has been marked on the bricks of birth by […].
Words spoken by the son of Rê, the Crowned Hadrian Caesar, who lives forever!: “[Take] for yourself your daughter whom your heart loves”.
Words spoken by Rê-Hor-akhty: “I give you the power […] … […] forever”.
A – How enviable is the good done to Osiris Antinous the Just! His heart is happy to the highest point since he knows his true nature after (his) return to Life and he sees his father Rê-Hor-akhty.
B – [He or His heart exults?] in saying: “O! Rê-Hor-akhty (you) who are above the other gods and who hears the call of gods, men, the blessed and the dead, you will hear the call of he who implores you! Give in return for that which has been done for me your son whom you love … the king of Upper and Lower Egypt, founder of the doctrine (concerning me) in the temples of all men and in which the hearts of the gods delight [The Beloved of] Hâpy and all the gods, the Crowned [Hadrian Caesar] that he live, be prosperous and happy (for) he is the Prince, the sovereign of all the Earth, the Great One of the Great Ones of Egypt, the Nine Bows are reunited every day under his two sandals like (they were under those) of the sovereigns of Egypt come about before his (own) generation(?) and his power reaches to the limits of the whole orb of this Earth in its four (directions) …
C – (and make) the bulls and their cows unite in joy and multiply their progeny for him, in order to delight his heart and (that of) the royal Great Wife, his beloved, the Sovereign of Egypt and of (her) towns(?), Sabina – that she live, be prosperous and in good health! – Augusta – that she live forever! – (and that) Hâpy, father of the gods, make the cultivable lands fruitful for them and produce for them the Rising (coming) in its time to flood Egypt!”
The following inscription was found in the ruins of Lanuvium in Latium, Italy. Dated 9 June 136, less than six years after Antinous’s death, it was erected in the temple of Antinous there by the collegium (association) dedicated to revering him and the goddess Diana. It was published in Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum : vol. XIV Inscriptiones Latii veteris Latina , edited by Hermann Dessau (Berlin, 1887) no. 2112.
The following inscription was found in Tibur (now Tivoli) in Latium, Italy. It is undated, but thought to be from within a few years of the deification of Antinous, since, by comparing Antinous to the foreign god Belenus, Quintus Siculus, the dedicator, appears to be defending it. It may originally have accompanied a statue of Antinous. It was published in Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum : vol. XIV Inscriptiones Latii veteris Latina , edited by Hermann Dessau (Berlin, 1887) no. 3545.
Pausanias, Description of Greece VIII 9 vii-viii & 10 i
The following passage comes from the Greek geographer Pausanias’s description of Mantineia in Arkadia, written in roughly 150, when Antinous was easily within living memory.
The translation is by W. H. S. Jones in the Loeb Classical Library volume CCLXXII (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1933). The only changes made here are to replace the then conventional Latinisation of Greek names with literal transliteration.
Antinoüs too was deified by them [the Mantineians]; his temple is the newest in Mantineia. He was a great favourite of the Emperor Hadrian. I never saw him in the flesh, but I have seen images and pictures of him. He has honours in other places also, and on the Nile is an Egyptian city named after Antinoüs. He has won worship in Mantineia for the following reason. Antinous was by birth from Bithynion beyond the river Sangarios, and the Bithynians are by descent Arcadians of Mantineia.
For this reason the Emperor established his worship in Mantineia also; mystic rites are celebrated in his honour each year, and games every four years. There is a building in the gymnasium of Mantineia containing statues of Antinoüs, and remarkable for the stones with which it is adorned, and especially so for its pictures. Most of them are portraits of Antinoüs, who is made to look just like Dionysos.
… There are roads leading from Mantineia into the rest of Arkadia, and I will go on to describe the most noteworthy objects on each of them. On the left of the highway leading to Tegea there is, beside the walls of Mantineia, a place where horses race, and not far from it is a race-course, where they celebrate the games in honour of Antinoüs.
[9.7] ἐνομίσθη δὲ καὶ Ἀντίνους σφίσιν εἶναι θεός· ναῶν δὲ ἐν Μαντινείᾳ νεώτατός ἐστιν ὁ τοῦ Ἀντίνου ναός. οὗτος ἐσπουδάσθη περισσῶς δή τι ὑπὸ βασιλέως Ἀδριανοῦ· ἐγὼ δὲ μετ᾿ ἀνθρώπων μὲν ἔτι αὐτὸν ὄντα οὐκ εἶδον, ἐν δὲ ἀγάλμασιν εἶδον καὶ ἐν γραφαῖς. ἔχει μὲν δὴ γέρα καὶ ἑτέρωθι, καὶ ἐπὶ τῷ Νείλῳ πόλις Αἰγυπτίων ἐστὶν ἐπώνυμος Ἀντίνου· τιμὰς δὲ ἐν Μαντινείᾳ κατὰ τοιόνδε ἔσχηκε. γένος ἦν ὁ Ἀντίνους ἐκ Βιθυνίου τῆς ὑπὲρ Σαγγαρίου ποταμοῦ· οἱ δὲ Βιθυνιεῖς Ἀρκάδες τέ εἰσι καὶ Μαντινεῖς τὰ ἄνωθεν.
[8] τούτων ἕνεκα ὁ βασιλεὺς κατεστήσατο αὐτῷ καὶ ἐν Μαντινείᾳ τιμάς, καὶ τελετή τε κατὰ ἔτος ἕκαστον καὶ ἀγών ἐστιν αὐτῷ διὰ ἔτους πέμπτου. οἶκος δέ ἐστιν ἐν τῷ γυμνασίῳ Μαντινεῦσιν ἀγάλματα ἔχων Ἀντίνου καὶ ἐς τἄλλα θέας ἄξιος λίθων ἕνεκα οἷς κεκόσμηται καὶ ἀπιδόντι ἐς τὰς γραφάς· αἱ δὲ Ἀντίνου εἰσὶν αἱ πολλαί, Διονύσῳ μάλιστα εἰκασμέναι.
[10.1] Ἐς Ἀρκαδίαν δὲ τὴν ἄλλην εἰσὶν ἐκ Μαντινείας ὁδοί· ὁπόσα δὲ ἐφ᾿ ἑκάστης αὐτῶν μάλιστα ἦν θέας ἄξια, ἐπέξειμι καὶ ταῦτα. ἰόντι ἐς Τεγέαν ἐστὶν ἐν ἀριστερᾷ τῆς λεωφόρου παρὰ τοῖς Μαντινέων τείχεσι χωρίον ἐς τῶν ἵππων τὸν δρόμον καὶ οὐ πόρρω τούτου στάδιον, ἔνθα ἐπὶ τῷ Ἀντίνῳ τὸν ἀγῶνα τιθέασιν.
L. Apuleius Madaurensis, Apologia XI 3-4
The following passage, written by a pagan philosopher and rhetorician in 158-9, is part of the author’s defence of his character in having written love poems about boys, citing well-known precedents.
The translation is by Christopher Jones in the Loeb Classical Library volume DXXXIV (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2017).
When the deified Hadrian adorned his friend Voconius’ tomb with a poem, here is what he wrote: Playful in verse, but pure in heart were you Yet he never would have said so if witty poetry had to be thought proof of immorality.
I remember having read many such poems by the deified Hadrian himself. I challenge you, Aemilianus, to say that it is wrong to do something that Hadrian, an emperor and a censor, both did and told posterity that he had done?
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Antinous And Hadrian

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