Antinous: What did Hadrian’s Lover really look like?
A modern interpretation of Antinous.
Following up on Emperor Hadrian, I created a few images of his deified lover, Antinous. Their stories are completely intertwined, so check out the post on Hadrian as well as the full YouTube video about them.
Unfortunately, we don’t know much about Antinous’ life until he pops up in the history of Hadrian’s. We know that he was raised in Bithynia (modern-day Turkey). He probably met Hadrian at a young age, around 12 or 13, when Hadrian sent him to become a page and educate him in Rome. However, their romantic relationship probably didn’t begin until Antinous was 17 or 18 - there is still a huge age gap between them, though. Antinous was considered Hadrian’s “favorite” by 128 AD, and was taken on a tour of the Roman Empire as a member of Hadrians’ personal party. Hadrian was very, very attached to Antinous - sadly we know nothing about Antinous’ true feelings for the Emperor. In October of 130 AD, the couple was taking part in the Festival of the Nile on a boat in Egypt. After the festivities, Antinous’ body was found floating in the Nile. Hadrian himself stated that Antinous drowned, and was absolutely devastated by the news. This is, of course, a mysterious way for a 20-year-old to die. Historians suggest various theories such as accidental drowning, suicide, or even intentional human sacrifice.
Like Hadrian, surprisingly little exists about Antinous’ appearance. One source described his hair as “near-purple” which means either reddish or very dark black to me - I went with dark with a reddish tint for my depiction. He was ethnically Greek, so I’m inferring skin and eye color from that.
Left image: Portrait bust of Antinous, found at Patras. Photo by George E. Koronaios.