The Ashmolean is a place full of unknown stories. It houses pottery from prehistoric Crete, somewhat odd Middle Age religious iconography, and coins from the earliest memories of the western world itself. However, there is one story that, to me, reigns supreme. It involves Roman Caesars, mysterious suicides along the Nile, the romance of Latin love, and an Egyptian cult of personality. Even though our protagonist can now be found just down the street from a Tesco Express, his story starts back in the 2nd Century CE.
A Boy and a Caesar
In a sleepy Roman province of Asia Minor, Antinous found himself born into a world of violence, tragedy, and brutality. Growing up, he led a mundane life filled with the horrors of the Roman world. However, as Antinous grew into his own, one gift of his became clear: he had quite possibly the most desirable body in all of the Roman Empire. Just like a modern-day football prodigy, at age 14, Antinous was plucked from his modest life in Anatolia and placed into the prized schools of Rome upon the orders of Emperor Hadrian himself.
I think it is important to stop for a moment and talk about sexuality in the Roman world. Lists of famous queer historical characters are plastered around the internet, and most contain some Roman representative (usually Julius Caesar, I’ve found). However, no Roman would have thought in these terms. Instead, preferring men was similar to someone today saying that they preferred blondes. It may be an interesting quirk, but not a defining feature of one’s identity. So, when you read that Trajan was a great icon of the Roman LGBTQ scene, do think again.
Even so, as Hadrian returned to Rome in 125 CE, he was looking for change. His marriage to his cousin, Vibia Sabina, was unhappy and Antinous had quickly developed into a young man of intense Roman beauty. He became one of Hadrian’s most trusted confidants and lovers. Their relationship emulated the Greek “pederasty”, a relationship between an older, powerful man and a younger, weaker boy. It was a kind of apprenticeship programme, where the older man, known as the “erastes”, would sponsor the boy’s education in return for serving as the “eromenos”, a passive or receptive sexual role. While we would abhor this kind of affair today, it was an accepted masculine relationship, one which many of the most powerful men enjoyed. The pair toured around the empire, making an important visit to Greece where Antinous was used as a tool of Hadrian’s foreign policy in the region.
Tragedy Upon the Nile
Arriving in Egypt in October of 130 CE, they worked their way up the Nile. Like most Roman emperors, Hadrian paid his respects to the Egyptian Gods, visiting temples and honouring holy festivals while in the region. However, on the day of the festival of Osiris, tragedy struck. Antinous’ body, just starting to show the signs of manhood, was found washed ashore the banks of the Nile. The events leading to Antinous’ death are a mystery to this day, though it is said that Hadrian was to have “wept like a woman” upon hearing the news.
There are multiple hypotheses about how Antinous died that night. The most probable (and most interesting, in my eyes) is that Antinous started to recognise his body turning into that of a man. Roman views of sexuality were almost entirely based on power dynamics and exclusivity. The most expensive sex slave in Rome was a boy who, by virtue of his body’s youthful state, looked like a young girl. Eunuchs, even though they were banned by Domitian, were the exemplars of this concept: womanlike, rare, and quite powerless. Antinous, we can only imagine, represented similar traits. His desirability also made him powerful, his value at court resting primarily on his youth. So, as Antinous reached the age of 19 and his body lost its innocence, he understood his usefulness was coming to an end. Rather than suffer the humiliation of being sent away by Hadrian for the next pretty young thing, Antinous took matters into his own hands.
That night, Antinous presented himself to Hadrian in a dream, revealing that he had been resurrected from the dead. The court astronomers confirmed this, documenting a new star in the night sky. This was more than enough for Hadrian, who quickly named Antinous a god without the traditional consent of the senate. Antinous was the first mortal to be elevated to the realm of the gods who was not a Caesar or a family member of a Caesar. He was to be venerated as Antinous-Osiris, quite poignantly combining a young Greek beauty with the Egyptian deity of fertility and resurrection.
The city of Antinoöpolis was founded upon the Nile with a temple to Antinous-Osiris at its core. Hadrian sponsored a festival dubbed the Antinoeia which became a mainstay of the Roman mythological calendar. Relics of Antinous’ cult of worship have appeared at over 70 different archeological cites, a testament to his popularity. To be a Greco-Roman was to be involved in the myth of Antinous, the most famous Greek of his era. He became tied up in the Roman imagination of the region, one that saw Greece both as a realm of ancient beauty and appeal but also tragedy and disaster.
The Legacy of Antinous
While the raw story of Antinous’ death is interesting, what he tells us about the Roman world is even more fascinating. When you first look at the bust of Antinous found at the end of the 1st Room of the Ashmolean, it doesn’t look particularly unique. But that’s entirely the point! Antinous looks like the perfect Greek man: young, muscular, broad chested with curly hair and a forward, defined face. Our perception of a beautiful young Roman or Greek man is totally in sync with Antinous. Even though we don’t think of it this way, the Roman idealism of Antinous has informed our perception of Greece. As Hadrian consciously acknowledged, it was Greek fashion to wear a curly beard like Pericles or Aristotle, not to be clean shaved as Antinous was. And yet, it’s Antinous’ figure that we involuntarily respond to, having invaded the popular imagination.
This is a common theme of our Roman cultural inheritance. An empire of such size adopted certain cultures, destroyed others, and changed them all. Our modern world is shaded in a light Roman hue, with most of European culture looking back towards a world of Caesars and legions roaming the Mediterranean. Antinous is just an example of this, but a particularly resonant one. Like all great tales, the story of Antinous is thrilling and frightening, humorous and tragic, all wrapped into one.
So the next time you stop inside the walls of that beautiful museum of mysterious wares and unrecorded stories, stop by and say hello to Antinous: the lover, the god, the myth, and the Platonic ideal of beauty.