Top 10 Amazing Facts about Antinous

Antinoos (Antinous). Parian marble, 117-138 AD, height 180 cm. Found in the temple of Apollo at Delphi, 1893. Archaeological Museum of Delphi. Photo by: Zde- Wikimedia.

Top 10 Amazing Facts about Antinous

Antinous’ life is unknown, but he was born in Claudiopolis (modern-day Bolu, Turkey), in the Roman province of Bithynia et Pontus. He was most likely introduced to Hadrian in 123 before being transported to Italy for further education.

By 128, he had become Hadrian’s favorite and was taken on a tour of the Roman Empire as part of Hadrian’s personal retinue. Antinous accompanied Hadrian to the annual Eleusinian Mysteries in Athens, as well as when he killed the Marousian lion in Libya.

1. Brief history of Antinous upbringing

A son of Eupeithes of Ithaca and one of Penelope’s suitors, who attempted to seize control of the kingdom during Odysseus’ absence and threatened Telemachus’ life. When Odysseus appeared in the disguise of a beggar after his return, Antinous insulted him and threw a footstool at him. As a result, he was the first of the suitors to perish at the hands of Odysseus.

2. Antinous sculpture in the museum

Colossal statue of Antinous as Dionysos-Osiris (ivy crown, head band, cistus and pine cone). Marble, Roman artwork. Photo by: Ajwm8103- Wikimedia.

The Antinous sculpture is a plaster cast of an ancient marble sculpture. Antinous was a real person who lived in the first century CE and had a tragic life. Examining the statue’s history takes us to the dark side of humanity, the world of archaeology, and achievements in art and art conservation.

The statue is part of the University’s plaster sculpture collection, which is on display in the Main Building and other locations. The Senate Square side of the Main Building, also known as the old side, was recently renovated, and the artwork on display there was conserved and restored.

Please visit the University’s blog Päärakennuksen peruskorjaus for more information on the renovation and conservation project in Finnish. The sculptures were conserved by the Helsinki University Museum, and some of its specialists were also involved in the remodel.

3. Antinous meeting with Hadrian

Antinous was born in the Bithynian city of Claudiopolis in Asia Minor (modern-day northwest Turkey). It is assumed that he was born into an upper-class family because, while no ancient sources record his first meeting with Hadrian, he must have been a member of some socially respectable group welcoming the emperor.

Hadrian was in Bithynia in 123 CE as part of a province tour, and one of his stops was Nicomedia, which had recently suffered significant damage from an earthquake, and Hadrian had sent funds for relief and restoration.

In keeping with his usual practice of personally overseeing projects, he wanted to see how the work had been completed. This supports Nicomedia as the location of his first meeting with Antinous. Whether he was on a welcoming committee or taking part in celebratory games, the young man drew the emperor’s attention.

4. Antinous’ biography: Historical & celebrity profiles

Caroline Vout, a Classicist, observed that most texts dealing with Antinous’ biography dealt with him briefly and were post-Hadrianic in date, implying that “reconstructing a detailed biography is impossible.”

“Hardly anything is known of Antinous’ life,” historian Thorsten Opper observed, “and the fact that our sources get more detailed the later they are does not inspire confidence.” Royston Lambert, Antinous’ biographer, agreed, saying that information about him was “always tainted by distance, sometimes by prejudice, and by the alarming and bizarre ways in which the principal sources have been transmitted to us.”

5. Hadrian and Antinous fell in love with each other

Antinous, marble relief from Palazzo Massimo, Rome. Photo by: Tomk2ski- Wikimedia.

During his reign, the Emperor Hadrian spent a lot of time touring his Empire, and he probably met Antinous for the first time in Claudiopolis in June 123. Given Hadrian’s personality, Lambert thought it unlikely that they had become lovers at this point, instead speculating that Antinous had been chosen to be sent to Italy, where he was most likely educated at the imperial paedagogium on the Caelian Hill.

All whilst, Hadrian continued to tour the Empire, returning to Italy in September 125 and settling into his villa at Tibur.

Antinous became his personal favorite sometime during the next three years, because by the time he left for Greece three years later, he had brought Antinous with him in his personal retinue.

“The way Hadrian took the boy on his travels, kept close to him at moments of spiritual, moral, or physical exaltation, and surrounded himself with his images after his death, demonstrates an obsessive craving for his presence, a mystical-religious need for his companionship.”

6. Antinous’ mysterious death

Hadrian and his entourage, including Antinous, gathered at Heliopolis in late September or early October 130 to set sail upstream as part of a flotilla along the Nile. Officials, the Prefect, army and naval commanders, as well as literary and scholarly figures, were among those in the retinue.

Lucius Ceionius Commodus, a young aristocrat whom Antinous may have considered a rival for Hadrian’s affections, may also have joined them. They stopped at Hermopolis Magna, the primary shrine to the god Thoth, on their journey up the Nile.

Soon after, in October 130, around the time of the Osiris festival, Antinous fell into the river and drowned, most likely from drowning. Hadrian publicly announced his death, and rumors quickly spread throughout the Empire that Antinous had been murdered on purpose.

The cause of Antinous’ death is unknown to this day, and it is possible that Hadrian never knew; nevertheless, alternative strategies have been advanced.

7. One of the conspiracies of how he died

One theory is that he was murdered as part of a courtroom conspiracy. Lambert, on the other hand, claimed that this was unlikely because there was no supporting historical evidence, and because Antinous himself appeared to have little influence over Hadrian, implying that an execution served little purpose. 

8. The second conspiracy of his death is

Another theory is that Antinous died during a consensual castration in order to maintain his youth and thus his sexual appeal to Hadrian. Regrettably, this is unlikely because Hadrian considered both castration and circumcision to be monstrosities, and because Antinous was between the ages of 18 and 20 when he died, any such operation would have been useless.

9. Another conspiracy about Antinous death is

A third possibility is that Antinous died by accident, which could happen if he was intoxicated. Although, Hadrian does not describe the death as an accident in the surviving evidence, which Lambert thought was odd. 

10. The very last conspiracy of his death

Antinous. Photo by: Giuseppe Pinto- Wikimedia.

Another potential outcome is that Antinous was a willing human sacrifice. The earliest surviving evidence for this comes from Dio Cassius’ writings, 80 years after the event, though it was later repeated in many later sources.

In the 2nd century Roman Empire, there was a general belief that the death of one could revive the health of another, and Hadrian had been ill for many years; in this scenario, Antinous could have sacrificed himself in the hope that Hadrian would recover.

If this was the case, Hadrian might not have disclosed the cause of Antinous’ death because he did not want to seem physically or politically weak. On the other hand, Hadrian despised human sacrifice and reinforced laws prohibiting it throughout the Empire, which militates against this possibility.