funeral-wreaths:Emperor Hadrian (AD 76-138) Sexual relationships between men in the Classical worl
funeral-wreaths: Emperor Hadrian (AD 76-138) Sexual relationships between men in the Classical world are widely documented: Hadrian’s love for Antinous in particular has achieved mythical status. Although Hadrian was married to Vibia Sabina, when he met Antinous he fell deeply in love with the youth’s incredible physical beauty (a beauty that survives in numerous statues and busts). Not much else is known about Antinous’s life, but it’s a definite fact that when he tragically drowned in the Nile in 130 Hadrian was plunged into grief that knew no bounds. His mourning was so intense that he commemorated Antinous in extravagant ways: he founded a city in Egypt named Antinoopolis; his country villa at Tivoli contained a monumental temple to the dead youth; most incredible of all, he had Antinous deified into the pantheon as an equivalent of Bacchus and Osiris, and named a constellation after him. -- source link
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