Hadrian's Lover
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Hadrian's Lover
Emperor Hadrian ruled the Roman Empire from 117 AD to 138 AD and is deemed to be one of the best Roman emperors of all time. As well as building the famous Hadrian’s Wall in Britain, he rebuilt the Pantheon and ordered the construction of the Temple of Venus and Roma. While the Empire reached its peak in term of expansion under Trajan, Hadrian withdrew from several of his predecessor’s conquests including Assyria, Armenia, and Mesopotamia.
Hadrian is also known for his favoritism towards a young Bithynian Greek named Antinous who became the emperor’s lover. Little is known about Antinous’ early life although he was probably born in modern-day Bolu in Turkey. It is likely that he was introduced to Hadrian in 123 before traveling to Italy to receive further education.
Over the next few years, the two became lovers, and Antinous became Hadrian’s favorite sometime in 125. According to historian Royston Lambert, Antinous was “the one person who seems to have connected most profoundly with Hadrian.” The two traveled together on a tour of the Empire with Antinous part of the emperor’s personal retinue. When the young man died in 130, the emperor was heartbroken and deified his young lover. This cult was devoted to the worship of Antinous and spread throughout the Empire.
In the modern era, a sexual relationship between a grown man and a boy is obviously illegal, but at the time of Hadrian, sexual relations between adult males and boys had been deemed socially acceptable for centuries in Greece. Older men (known as erastes ) were aged between 20 and 40, and they would engage in a sexual relationship with boys (known as eromenos ) who were usually between 12 and 18 years old. The adult would care for the boy and play an important role in their education.
In the Roman Empire, bisexuality was common by the second century AD so there wouldn’t have been any open objection to the relationship between Hadrian and Antinous. The emperor met Antinous in 123 or 124 in the young man’s hometown of Claudiopolis (Bolu) and was probably attracted to him due to the boy’s perceived wisdom. The duo both enjoyed hunting, and it is known that the emperor wrote erotic poetry and an autobiography about his young favorites; it is likely that Antinous was the subject of these writings.
The duo traveled together through Italy’s Sabine region in March 127, but for the next two years, Hadrian was struck down by an unexplained illness. Nonetheless, he embarked on another tour, this time to North Africa, and once again, his young lover was in tow. They settled in Antioch in June 129 and set up a base there. Then the duo went to Syria, Arabia, and Judea.
In 130, they went to Alexandria and visited Alexander the Great ‘s sarcophagus. While the emperor was welcomed, the Hellenic elite, angered with some of Hadrian’s actions, began to gossip about his sexual activities. While in Libya, it is claimed that the emperor saved Antinous’ life as they encountered a Marousian lion that was causing problems. If Hadrian thought his actions would prolong their relationship for many years, he was sorely mistaken.
In either late September or early October 130, Hadrian, Antinous, and a number of members of the royal entourage set sail upstream from Heliopolis along the River Nile. Shortly after stopping at Hermopolis Magna, Antinous apparently fell into the Nile and drowned . The emperor publically announced his death but soon, rumors started to spread throughout the Empire. There are various theories as to how the young man was killed, and it is suggested that Hadrian may have been unaware of the cause of death.
One theory is that he was the victim of a court conspiracy. However, although the emperor was enamored with Antinous, there is no evidence that the young man had any real political influence. Another theory is that Antinous agreed to castration to retain his youth and sexual appeal to Hadrian. This is far-fetched since Hadrian believed castration and circumcision were abominations.
According to Cassius Dio, Antinous agreed to sacrifice his life to ensure the emperor recovered from his illness. If the young man was indeed sacrificed, it is more likely that it wasn’t voluntary. In the ancient Egyptian tradition, sacrifices of boys in the Nile during the October Osiris festival were commonplace. The goal was to ensure the Nile flooded to its maximum capacity and fertilized the valley. At the time of Hadrian’s visit, the Nile wasn’t providing enough water for the usual level of agricultural production.
Hadrian is said to have broken down in full view of his court and wept openly. The emperor was inconsolable for several days afterward, and his emotional display caused scandal throughout the Empire. It’s clear that his grief was genuine which makes it unlikely, but not impossible, that he was complicit in the young man’s death.
One of Hadrian’s first acts after the death of his lover was to name a star in the sky after Antinous as he believed the young man had risen to the heavens. The emperor also had various institutions and monuments named after Antinous. Ultimately, there were approximately 2,000 likenesses of Hadrian’s lover across the Empire. There were even gymnasiums, schools and temples dedicated to Antinous who soon became worshipped as a deity.
Egyptian priests came to Hadrian after Antinous’ death and outlined the symbolic importance of the manner of his death and perhaps his sacrifice to help the River Nile. After the high priests suggested that the young man had been taken by a river god and became one himself, Antinous became seen as a deity in the eyes of many Egyptians.
In October 130, Hadrian announced that Antinous was a god and proclaimed his intention to create a city in honor of his lover; it was called Antinoopolis. It’s unlikely that Hadrian believed his deceased love was a god, but it made sense to create a cult as it ensured a group of people was personally and politically loyal to him. Whether he expected it to last for over 200 years is another story.
The spread of the cult of Antinous was mainly down to a desire to show reverence to Emperor Hadrian. For example, the citizens of Lepcis Magna in Roman North Africa rapidly set up images of Antinous with the expectation that Hadrian would visit the city. The cult quickly spread throughout Egypt, and within a few years of Antinous’ death, there were altars and temples dedicated to him in several major cities including Luxor, Alexandria, and Hermopolis.
While the cult was smaller than the cults of Hadrian, Serapis, and Isis, traces of Antinous have been found in at least 70 cities although it was significantly more prevalent in specific regions. Although the growth was down to a desire to please the emperor, some people liked the fact that Antinous was once human which made him more relatable than other gods. Overall, there were at least 28 temples, possibly thousands of sculptures, and 31 cities in the Empire issued coins depicting the ‘deity.’ Most of them were minted in 134 & 135.
If there were any doubt about the reverence Hadrian had for Antinous, a quick look around his Villa Adriana would have dispelled those notions. There were over 20 statues of his lover there, about half of the total found in Italy. Furthermore, at least nine cities held games in Antinous’ honor and the festivities at Athens and Eleusis continued until the 260s.
Naturally, the cult of Antinous had plenty of critics, especially people in other pagan cults. Important Christian figures such as Jerome and Origen viewed the cult as blasphemous and said that Antinous was a mere mortal who participated in ‘immoral’ sexual activity with Hadrian. The fourth-century involved a bitter struggle between the pagans and Christians with the former championing the cult of Antinous.
Towards the end of the fourth century, Christians and barbarian tribes destroyed statues of the deity, but they were rebuilt elsewhere. Finally, Emperor Theodosius outlawed non-pagan religions in 391 which spelled the end of the cult of Antinous. Nonetheless, a significant number of statues and other tributes to the young lover of Hadrian survive today, almost 1,900 years after his death.
In fact, it is believed that he has more sculptures depicting him than any other figure in classical antiquity which is astonishing. Although the cult ended in the late fourth century, Antinous remained a relevant figure for several centuries. Caroline Vout referred to him as “arguably the most notorious pretty boy from the annals of classical history.”
There was something of a revival in interest in the second half of the nineteenth century as Antinous featured in the work of several writers and scholars; including Karl Heinrich Ulrichs and Oscar Wilde. Although he endured a tragic, and unsolved, death, Antonius lives on through the arts.
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Preview — Hadrian's Lover
by Patricia Marie Budd
Patricia Marie Budd (Goodreads Author)
"Hadrian's Lover is a stunning novel about a dystopian society disguised as a utopian one...it raises difficult questions about right and wrong, government control, and an individual's right to express himself freely and be accepted for his sexual preference, regardless of what it is." - Tyler R. Tichelaar, PH.D. and author of the award-winning Narrow Lives What if you liv
"Hadrian's Lover is a stunning novel about a dystopian society disguised as a utopian one...it raises difficult questions about right and wrong, government control, and an individual's right to express himself freely and be accepted for his sexual preference, regardless of what it is." - Tyler R. Tichelaar, PH.D. and author of the award-winning Narrow Lives What if you lived in a world where homosexuality was the norm and all forms of heterosexual behavior were illegal? In the near future the human population has grown to such excess that the earth is no longer able to sustain humanity's astronomical numbers. Poverty, starvation, and disease are rampant. Only the country of Hadrian seems able to defend itself against the ravages of overpopulation by restricting its growth and encasing its country behind a defensive wall. Procreation does not happen by chance in Hadrian. There are no unwanted pregnancies. No accidents. All pregnancies occur through in vitro fertilization, and every citizen is responsible for rearing one of Hadrian's children. Heterosexuality is deemed the ill that has led humanity to the brink. In Hadrian, no one dares to express interest in the opposite sex; to do so would result in exile or reeducation. Hadrian's Lover tells the story of Todd Middleton, a teenage boy struggling to keep the secret of his heterosexuality. Read on, and feel with him as he suffers the indignities of a society determined to "cure" him of his plight. Patricia Marie Budd is a high school English teacher living in northern Alberta, Canada. She has been a safe zone for her LGBT* students throughout her twenty year career. Hadrian's Lover is her third novel.
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Published
August 22nd 2013
by New Generation Publishing
1909878472
(ISBN13: 9781909878471 )
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Apr 15, 2014
Ingrid Hall
rated it
really liked it
Wow, I don't quite know where to start because Hadrian's Lover is perhaps one of the heaviest and most disturbing books that I have ever read. Set in Hadrian, a fictional futuristic country in what used to be Canada, Hadrian is a seemingly Utopian country created purely for homosexuals. Heterosexuality has been outlawed, the population is tightly controlled, all embryos are screened and any showing heterosexual chromosomes are destroyed. Perhaps most disturbingly anyone caught engaging in hetero
Wow, I don't quite know where to start because Hadrian's Lover is perhaps one of the heaviest and most disturbing books that I have ever read. Set in Hadrian, a fictional futuristic country in what used to be Canada, Hadrian is a seemingly Utopian country created purely for homosexuals. Heterosexuality has been outlawed, the population is tightly controlled, all embryos are screened and any showing heterosexual chromosomes are destroyed. Perhaps most disturbingly anyone caught engaging in heterosexual relations are sent to government correctional facilities to make them see the error of their ways... The book is centered around a young man, Todd Middleton a closet "straight" and the struggles that he faces in what is in essence a very chilling and seriously fucked up world. Living within a stones throw from the real Hadrian's Wall, I was intrigued by her portrayal of life on the wall in the fictional world that she has created. The parallels between the real life ancient Scottish barbarians and her portrayals of the heterosexual barbarians attempting to breach the perimeters and defile their Utopian world was incredibly clever and well thought out. I also get that the author was on a rather bold mission to create and bring to life the polar opposite of the heterosexual, Utopian ideal so often preached by right wing extremists, and in this mission she was undoubtedly successful in showing how both end of the intolerance spectrum are as vile as each other. The book is written in the present tense which jarred with me at times. I also found her style a little blunt and contrived in places and I think the book which is undoubtedly thought provoking and a must read would have been even stronger if the author had attempted to blur the lines and muddy the waters as in it's current form it lacks nuance.
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Jan 07, 2014
Christopher Moss
rated it
it was ok
In a posited future a section of present day Canada has become a refuge for gay and lesbian persons. Christened Hadrian, after the Roman Emperor, it is a utopian project, not only providing sanctuary for sexual minorities but endeavoring to govern justly and to provide social and economic equality. In Hadrian it is illegal to be heterosexual. What happens then if you are born heterosexual? The central narrative of this novel is just that, if homosexuality can't be "cured" could it be any differ
In a posited future a section of present day Canada has become a refuge for gay and lesbian persons. Christened Hadrian, after the Roman Emperor, it is a utopian project, not only providing sanctuary for sexual minorities but endeavoring to govern justly and to provide social and economic equality. In Hadrian it is illegal to be heterosexual. What happens then if you are born heterosexual? The central narrative of this novel is just that, if homosexuality can't be "cured" could it be any different for heterosexuality? The novel attempts to show a country where heterosexual kids must go to reorientation prisons where they are in danger of sexual abuse by teachers and administrators. Couples who are not both gay wind up having the sort of fractured marriages today's couples face when one partner is not straight. Career and social opportunities are out of the question for those individuals who reveal or have revealed for them their membership in the scorned population of heterosexuals. Telling the story of one young boy trying to live successfully in the closet the author is able to show just how similar homosexual intolerance would be to heterosexual intolerance we know now. That's the first problem I had with this book. It's an entertaining if often disturbing novel, well written and thoughtful. I guess where I get uneasy is that I think it is arguable what the point of it is. One assumes the author wanted to show heterosexuals how awful life must be like for gays and lesbians, but it does not seem to me that this would be the conclusion such folks would come to from reading this book. They don't see everyone as equally valid nor deserving of social justice. This isn't the Star-bellied Sneetches vs. the ones with None Upon Thars, after all. It's about those perverts who go against God's law and who deserve punishment or reeducation. If anything I wonder if readers of this ilk would feel more justified in oppressing gays because they would be as depraved as ever in their own country. There are a lot of assumptions in the book, that heterosexism would eventually drive the world's populations into scarcity and war, but that gay people are naturally more just and peaceful. The social and environmental problems Hadrian is striving to solve were all caused by heterosexual injustice and habits. The only way to create a utopia like Adrian is to outlaw heterosexuality and kill everyone including homosexuals who try to cross the border. As a transgender person I could not help but notice that biological gender trumps sexual preference in the book. One character is punished because she dated a cross dresser whom she at first believed was really a woman. I beg your pardon? The writing implies that the cross dresser does this intentionally to trip up closeted straights. I took offense at that, feeling relegated to the whole "but you aren't really a man" notion same as it is in binary gender and sexual culture. I read this novel some time ago, a couple months perhaps, and I am glad I waited to put my thoughts about it together. With some distance I see less of the storyline and more of the agenda. I am confident the author meant well, but unfortunately she runs into the same problems as Superman's Bizarro World: you can't just turn a whole concept on its head and have it work. In this case you run into the danger of accomplishing worse than nothing, but actually stepping on your own feet politically. In the author's message she reveals her wish to provide a document that supports gays and lesbians. False assumptions make it a flawed crusade.
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Shelves:
jolly-gay ,
hey-yo-doomsday ,
restricted-freedom ,
military-warfare ,
use-abuse ,
angst ,
darky-dark ,
outcasts ,
science-fiction
3.5 stars! Note, this book is not for the faint-hearted. Though not explicitly written, some things may disturb you. In the year 21--, the planet is finally breaking under overpopulation, humans reaching a stunning twenty billion in numbers. In the midst of chaos and starvation, the newly founded country Hadrian invites homosexuals from all over the world to join their sustainable and ecological haven, since extremists threaten their lives. Here you need not worry about starvation, lack of resour
3.5 stars! Note, this book is not for the f
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