Antinous

Antinous was born around 111 in Claudiopolis, Bithynia, and likely met Hadrian in 123 before being brought to Italy for education. By 128 he had become the emperor's favourite, traveling in Hadrian's retinue through the empire - attending the Eleusinian Mysteries in Athens, present when Hadrian killed the Marousian lion in Libya. In October 130, while sailing the Nile, Antinous died under circumstances never clarified: accident, sacrifice, or suicide, no one could say. Hadrian's response was immediate and vast. He deified the youth, founded the city of Antinoöpolis at the death site as a center for Osiris-Antinous worship, and established games in his honor in both Antinoöpolis and Athens. The cult spread through the Greek East and Latin West, becoming one of the most enduring in the empire, outlasting Hadrian himself. Centuries later, Antinous surfaced as a symbol of male desire in the work of Wilde, Pessoa, and Yourcenar.