fme_1046408 - ANTINOÜS Médaille, Reproduction d’une monnaie de bronze frappée à Chalcédoine, Antinoüs, n°390

ANTINOUS

(+130)

Antinous, a young man of Greek origin, was born in Claudiopolis of Bithynia between 108 and 110. During his trip to Bithynia in 128, Hadrian noticed the young man who was of great beauty. Antinous followed his friend on his second journey. In 130, he was accidentally drowned in the Nile and Hadrian was greatly saddened. To commemorate the memory of his friend, he founded the city of Antinopolis and authorized the Greek cities of Asia Minor to raise altars to him and to consecrate a temple to him, which put Sabina, Hadrian's wife, in great anger. The traditional circles of Rome did not forgive the Emperor for this love for this young man, nor for the cult that the Emperor devoted to him after his death. Hadrian never recovered from the loss of his friend and became a misanthrope. Marguerite Yourcenar, in her novel "The Memoirs of Hadrian", immortalized the affair of the two men.