Two Inscriptions On the Worship of Antinous

Remembered Among the Stars: Hadrian Honors His Dead Lover by Deifying Antinous

Name: Marcus Oulpius Apollonius Date:  2nd century CE Region:  Rome [modern Italy] Citation:    Cagnat, R., ed. Inscriptiones Graecae ad Res Romanas Pertinentes, Vol 1.31-32 (1911) 32

To Antinous, equal-throned among the Egyptian gods, Marcus Oulpius Apollonius Sacerdos Dedicates This...

ANTINOΣ ΣΥΝΘΡΟΝΩ ΤΩΝ ΕΝ ΑΙΓΥΠΤΩ ΘΕΩΝ Μ ΟΥΛΠΙOC AΠΟΛΛΩNIOΣ ПРОФТНС

Antinoi, pariter-regnans apud Aegyptios deos, M. Oulpios Apollonius Sacerdos Translated into Latin by Kris Masters

 

Name: Unknown Date:  2nd century CE Region:  Inscription found in the Campus Martius, Rome [modern Italy] Citation:    31

To Antinous, equal-throned among the Egy...

ANTINOΣ ΣΥΝΘΡΟΝΩ ΤΩΝ ΕΝ ΑΙΓΥ...

Antinoi, pariter-regnans apud Aegy... Translated into Latin by Kris Masters

 

 

A Christian View Against the Deification of Antinous: Tatian, Against the Greeks 10

NOTE: Tatian's argument here is not against Antinous being Hadrian's lover, but only that his worship was idolatry against God.

Others have their own choice: but I refuse to worship constellations. What is it they say about the Lock of Berenice? Or, rather, where were those stars, before Berenice died? How did the marvelous youth Antinous wind up on the moon? Who brought him there? Unless, instead, it was someone who scoffs at the gods, who lied under the prospect of financial reward and said Antinous ascended to heaven, just like they made kings into gods in ancient times? Why are you being so wicked against God? Why do you slander His works? You kill a sheep, but worship another [in the sky]. There’s a bull in the sky, but you kill another one like him [in sacrifice].

--Tatian, Oratio Contra Graecos 10, (1700) ed. Wilhelmus Worth

Habent illi fatum suum: ego stellas erraticas adorare nolo. Quid est quod de crine Berenices traditur? Aut ubi stellae illius erant, antequam ipsa moreretur? Quomodo item Antinous speciosus adolescens in Luna collatus est? Aut quis eum eo levavit? Aliquis scilicet Deos irridens, hunc etiam in caelum ascendisse fingendo, sicut Reges olim quosdam mercede nimiurum conductus & pejerans, homines qui id crederent invenit, & Homericam Theologiam imitatus, honore muneribusque affectus est. Cur estis in Deum sacrilegi? Cur eiusdem opus ignominiose tractatis? Tu mactas ovem & eandem adoras. Taurus in caelo est, tu simile ei animal obtruncas.

Ἐχέτωσαν οὗτοι τὴν εἱμαρμένην· τοὺς πλανήτας προσκυνεῖν οὐ βούλομαι. Τίς ἐστιν ὁ Βερενίκης πλόκαμος; Ποῦ δὲ οἱ ἀστέρες αὐτῆς πρὶν τὴν προειρημένηνἀποθανεῖν; Πῶς δὲ ὁ τεθνεὼς Ἀντίνοος μειράκιον ἐν τῇ σελήνῃ ὡραῖον καθίδρυται; Τίς ὁ ἀναβιβάσας αὐτόν, εἰ μή τις καὶ τοῦτον, ὡς τοὺς βασιλέας μισθοῦ δι ἐπιορκίας τις, τοὺς θεοὺς καταγελῶν, εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν ἀνεληλυθέναι φήσας πεπίστευται, κατὰ τὸ ὅμοιον θεολογήσας τιμῆς καὶ δωρεᾶς ἠξίωται; Τί μοι τὸν θεον σεσυλήκατε; Τί δὲ αὐτοῦ τὴν ποίησιν ἀτιμάζετε; Θύεις πρόβατον, τὸ δ αὐτὸ προσκυνεῖς· ταῦρός ἐστιν ἐν οὐρανῷ, καὶ τὴν εἰκόνα σφάττεις αὐτοῦ. 

Redacted: Manipulating the Texts to Minimize Queer Elements in Latin Manuscripts I

In 1846, the editor of Jerome's Chronicle intentionally edited the text to downplay Hadrian's relationship with Antinous. Below is the text as the editor emended it, as well as the footnote admitting the change:

13 (anno 131). Antinous puer regius egregius eximiae pulchritudinis, in Egypto moritur, quem Hadrianus vehementer deperiens diligenter sepeliens (nam in deliciis* habuerat) in deos refert, ex cuius nomine etiam urbs appellata est.

Footnote: Parmensis ms. cum Scaligero et plerisque libris aliis "puer regius" pro egregius, et mox "vehementer deperiens" pro "diligenter sepeliens" legit. Hadrianus urbem, quam tunc voluit nominari Antinoopolin, sine Antinoon, ante aliquot annos in Aegypto condiderat.  

* Note the Christian author's use of "in deliciis," which normally refers to a master-slave relationship 

--Jerome, Interpretatio Chronicae Eusebii Pamphili 1.2.13, edited by Jacques-Paul Migne (1846) 

Text: [The year 131 CE]. Antinous, a royal excellent youth of exceptional beauty died in Egypt. Hadrian was emotionally devastated over dutifully buried him (for he was dear to his heart) and enrolled him among the gods, then named a city after him.

[Editor’s Footnote: MS P, as well as MS S and very many other versions of this manuscript state “royal youth” instead of “excellent youth,” and “emotionally devastated” instead of “dutifully buried” him. Hadrian wanted to name the city he’d created earlier in Egypt “Antinous’ city” or “Antinous.”] 

JEROME	MAP:
Name:  Jerome, Sanctus Hieronymus Date:  342 – 420 CE Works:  Sacra Biblia [Translation of the Bible] Letters	REGION  5
BIO:	Timeline:
Jerome was a Christian author born in Pannonia (modern Slovenia). He was one of the most influential and prolific Christian authors of his time, and is best known for his Latin translation of the Bible. The most famous anecdote about Jerome’s life is  a vision in which he feels guilt over being more "Ciceronian" than "Christian".	AGE OF CONFLICT

 

 

 

The Worship of Antinous, Inscriptiones Latinae Orelli 823

 

Antinoo et Beleno par aetas formaque par est;

Cur non Antinous sit quoque qui Belenus.  [Inscr. Orell.823]

 

Antinous and Belenus* are equal in age and beauty,

So why can’t Antinous also be like Belenus [i.e., a god?]

 

*Belenus was the name of an Italian god of light and healing, usually associated with Apollo  

Antinous Listens To Your Prayers: Prudentius, Contra Symmachum 1.271-277

Name: Prudentius Date:  4th century CE Region:  Tarraconensis [modern Spain] Citation:  Against Symmachus 1.271-277

 In this poem, the Christian author Prudentius refers to Antinous as a "deliciae," which is usually used to refer to slaves / human trafficking victims. His disdain for same sex relationships is evident, as he equates the relationship as negating Antinous' masculinity. 

What can I say about Antinous,

The man turned into a constellation,

The boyfriend of our divine Emperor [Hadrian]

The man denied a man’s role

       as he lies in the emperor’s arms

The Divine Hadrian’s Ganymede,

Who doesn’t pour drinks for the gods

but instead reclines on the couch with his Jupiter

drinking the sacred drink of ambrosia & nectar

and listens to prayers offered to his imperial husband?

quid loquar Antinoum caelesti in sede locatum,

illum delicias nunc divi principis, illum

purpureo in gremio spoliatum sorte virili,

Hadrianique dei Ganymedem, non cyathos dis

porgere sed medio recubantem cum Iove fulcro

nectaris ambrosii sacrum potare Lyaeum,

dumque suo in templis vota exaudire marito?

 

Prudentius [Aurelius Prudentius Clemens; 348 – 413 CE, modern Spain] was a Christian author from Roman Hispania who had great influence in the court of Emperor Theodosius I. Most of his works deal with using his Christian beliefs to counter Roman polytheism and mythology. 

Remembered in the Stars: Antinous, Caelum Astronomico-poeticum, 179-180

ANTINOUS:

Hadrian’s Boyfriend / Hadrian’s Lover / Bythinian Lad / New Egyptian God / (Others think it’s Ganymede, the Trojan Lad, The Trojan, The Trojan, The Phrygian, Jupiter’s Lover (according to Catullus), The Lover, The Eagle’s Boyfriend, Jupiter’s Cupbearer, The Cupbearer.

This constellation passes through the south in the middle of the night, during the middle of July. It is comprised of seven stars in a cluster, as we saw in the previous sign [Aquila].

Antinous was an extremely beautiful youth born in Claudiopolis, Bithynia. After he drowned in the Nile, his lover, the Emperor Hadrian, ordered him to be worshipped by the Egyptians, and had a constellation named after him. The constellation is near the Milky Way under the constellation Aquila, between the Zodiac signs and the Equator (which is also part of the constellation Ara). It was taken away from the Egyptian Pharoah Cleopatra by Augustus, and then rededicated by Hadrian as a new god for the Egyptians, (of course—he named it in honor of Antinous).

In Goltzius’ Thesaurus of Antiquities, there was an ancient inscription found in the Campus Martius in Rome, in a shrine to Isis, which reads: “Dedicated to Antinoos, sharing the same throne as the Egyptian Gods.”  Hadrian also named a town after Antinous in Egypt, which is also called Hadrianopolis. He not only dedicated statues for Antinous there, but he also established temples and priests for him as well. He also created coins in his honor, or rather, had them minted. One of these is a bronze coin in Bavaria. On one side is the head of Antinous, with the inscription “Hostilius Marcellus, the Priest of Antinous.” On the other side is Mercury with Pegasus, with the inscription “dedicated to the Achaeans.”

--Phillippi Caesi a Zesen. Caelum Astronomico-poeticum, sive Mythologicum Stellarum Fixarum, 1662.p. 179-180

ANTINOUS:

Puer Adrianeus, Adriani Amasius, Puer Bithynicus, Novus Aegypti Deus; aliis Ganymedes, Puer Troius, Troianus, Iliacus, Phrygius, Catullo Iovis Cinaedus, catamitus, Puer Aquilae, Iovis Pincerna, sive Pocillator. Meridianum media nocte transit medio Iulii: et septem in globo nosro continet stellas, de quibus in praecedenti egimus Signo.

[Antinous admirandae pulchritudinis puer Claudiopoli Bithyniae natus, postquam Nilo submersus erat, Ariani Caesaris iussu, cuius amasius fuit, ab Aegyptiis cultus, ac in coelum locatus, prope Viam lacteam, sub Aquila, inter Zodiacum, et Aequatorem, Arae quasi insistitit. Devicta enim ab Augusto Cleopatra Aegypti regina,ac Adriano postea imperium consecuto, novum hic Aegyptiis Duem, nempe hunc Antinoum dedit. Unde apud Goltzium in Thesauro rei antiquariae, vetus inscriptio Romae reperta in Campo Martio ad Isidis fanum, haec habet: ANTINOΩI SYNΘΡONΩI TΩN EN AIGYPTΩI ΘEΩN, hoc est, Antinoo eundem cum Diis Aegyptiis thronum occupanti. Quin et idem Adrianus in eiusdem Antinoi honorem urbem Antinoiam, quae et Adrianopolis dicta, in Aegypto condidit: imo non solum statuas erexit, templa & sacerdotes constituit; sed etiam numismata procudit, aut procudi fecit. Quod praeter alios, testatur nummus Bayeri aeneus, in cuius altera facie Caput Antinoi expressum, cum hac inscriptione: OCTILIOS MAΡKELLOS O IEΡEΥS TOΥ ANTINOOΥ, hoc est, Hostilius Marcellus Sacerdos Antinoi: in altera conspicitur Mercurius cum Pegaso, circumque haec legitur epigraphe: TOIC AΧAIOC ANEΘEKE , hoc est, Achaeis consecravit.

M/M: A Flower for Antinous (continued). Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae xv.21

Now that I mention Alexandria, I recall that in that beautiful city there is a certain type of garland called the “Antinous,” made from a type of lotus flower. It grows in the marshlands in the middle of the summer. It comes in two colors, one similar to a rose (this is the kind they use for the Antinous garland), the other color called a lotus garland, and those flowers are bluish. Pancrates, a poet from there (an acquaintance of mine), presented this garland to Emperor Hadrian when he was sightseeing in Alexandria, and claimed it was a marvel.  He told the emperor that this ought to be called the “Antinous garland,” since it sprung from the ground where the blood of the Mauritanian lion that Hadrian [and Antinous] had killed when they were hunting in nearby Libya. The lion was a mighty beast which was menacing Africa so much that made a large portion of the land uninhabitable. Hadrian was delighted by the suggestion and the novelty of the idea, and granted that the poet live in the Museum at public expense.

Quoniam vero mentionem feci Alexandriae, memini etiam in pulchra hac urbe Antinoeam nominari coronam quamdam; quae fit ex loto qui ibi vocatur. Nascitur autem hic in paludibus, media aestate. Floris duplex color: alter rosae similis, e quo nexa corona proprie Antinoea vocatur: altera corona lotina nominatur, caeruleum (sive, ut corrigunt nonnulli, niveum) habens colorem. Et Pancrates quidem, indigena poeta, quem etiam nos cognitum habuimus, Adriano Imperatori, Alexandriae versanti, roseum lotum veluti miraculum quoddam ostentavit; dicens debere illum Antinoeam nominari, editum tunc e terra, cum sanguinem illa accepisset Mauri leonis, quem Adrianus in Libya Alexandriae finitima, cum venaretur, prostraverat; ingentem belvam, quae diu Libyam ita vastaverat, ut magnam eius partem desertam reddidisset hic leo. Delectatus igitur Adrianus commenti inventione ac novitate, concessit poetae ut publico sumptu in Museo aleretur.

ἐπεὶ δὲ Ἀλεξανδρείας ἐμνημόνευσα, οἶδά τινα ἐν τῇ καλῇ ταύτῃ πόλει καλούμενον στέφανον ΑΝΤΙΝΟΕΙΟΝ γινόμενον ἐκ τοῦ αὐτόθι καλουμένου λωτοῦ. φύεται δ᾽ οὗτος ἐν λίμναις θέρους ὥρᾳ, καὶ εἰσὶν αὐτοῦ χροιαὶ δύο, ἣ μὲν τῷ ῥόδῳ ἐοικυῖα: ἐκ τούτου δὲ ὁ πλεκόμενος στέφανος κυρίως Ἀντινόειος καλεῖται: ὁ δὲ ἕτερος λώτινος ὀνομάζεται, κυανέαν ἔχων τὴν χροιάν. καὶ Παγκράτης τις τῶν ἐπιχωρίων ποιητής, ὃν καὶ ἡμεῖς ἔγνωμεν, Ἀδριανῷ τῷ αὐτοκράτορι ἐπιδημήσαντι τῇ Ἀλεξανδρείᾳ μετὰ πολλῆς τερατείας ἐπέδειξεν τὸν ῥοδίζοντα λωτόν, φάσκων αὐτὸν δεῖν καλεῖν Ἀντινόειον, ἀναπεμφθέντα ὑπὸ τῆς γῆς ὅτε τὸ αἷμα ἐδέξατο τοῦ Μαυρουσίου λέοντος, ὃν κατὰ τὴν πλησίον τῇ Ἀλεξανδρείᾳ Λιβύην ἐν κυνηγίῳ καταβεβλήκει ὁ Ἀδριανός, μέγα χρῆμα ὄντα καὶ πολλῷ χρόνῳ κατανεμηθέντα πᾶσαν τὴν Λιβύην, ἧς καὶ πολλὰ ἀοίκητα ἐπεποιήκει οὗτος ὁ λέων. ἡσθεὶς οὖν ἐπὶ τῇ τῆς ἐννοίας εὑρέσει καὶ καινότητι τὴν ἐν Μουσῶν αὐτῷ σίτησιν ἔχειν ἐχαρίσατο. 

--Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae XV.xxi; Translated into Latin by Iohannes Schweighaeuser (1805)

 

 Athenaeus was a scholar who lived in Naucratis (modern Egypt) during the reign of the Antonines. His fifteen volume work, the Deipnosophists, are invaluable for the amount of quotations they preserve of otherwise lost authors, including the poetry of Sappho.

 

 

M/M: A Flower for Antinous, Athenaeus Deipnosophist. 15.21

In his very charming poem, Pancrates states:

"...The thyme, white lily, and scarlet hyacinth,

the white leaves of celandine,

the roses Zephyr-kissed in springtime,

for the earth hadn't yet created a flower for Antinous."

Pancrates vero in illo carmine haud invenuste dixerat: 

Crispum serpillum, candidum lilium, & hyacinthum

purpureum, albi vero [sive, glauci] chelidonii folia,

& rosam vernis hiscentem Zephyris:

nec dum enim Antinoi florem ediderat tellus. 

οὔλην ἕρπυλλον, λευκὸν κρίνον ἠδ᾽ ὑάκινθον

πορφυρέην γλαυκοῦ τε χελιδονίοιο πέτηλα

καὶ ῥόδον εἰαρινοῖσιν ἀνοιγόμενον ζεφύροισιν

οὔπω γὰρ φύεν ἄνθος ἐπώνυμον Ἀντινόοιο.

--Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae XV.xxi; Translated into Latin by Iohannes Schweighaeuser (1805)

 Athenaeus was a scholar who lived in Naucratis (modern Egypt) during the reign of the Antonines. His fifteen volume work, the Deipnosophists, are invaluable for the amount of quotations they preserve of otherwise lost authors, including the poetry of Sappho. 

Challenging Gender Roles: the Roman Emperor Hadrian, Epit. de. Caes. 14.1-12

Name:  Unknown Date: 4th century CE Region:   Unknown Citation:  Epitome of the Caesars 14.1-12

The Emperor Hadrian, the son of Aelius Adrianus, a member of an Italian family and the cousin of the Emperor Trajan, was born in a town Adria (in the Picenum region, a town that gives the Adriatic Sea its name). He ruled for twenty-two years.
Hadrian was called "the Little Greek" because he was very passionate about Greek literature and culture. He was quite enamoured with Athenian culture; not only their language, but also their other disciplines as well: he excelled in singing, playing the lyre, the art of medicine, music, geometry, painting, and even sculpting in marble and bronze! His artistic style resembled Polycletus' and Euphranoras'. He was also very refined, to such an extent that it seems that the human race could scarcely find one more elegant. He had a photographic memory, and could remember the names of locations, transactions, and soldiers, even those that were absent. He was incredibly energetic, travelling throughout the provinces on foot, surpassing them in his speedy gait. He renovated each town he visited, and increased their social classes.  For example, on the military legions, he recruited carpenters, stone masons, architects of all kinds, to build and amplify the city walls. He was diverse, complicated, and deep; born with an almost innate balance of virtue and vice; he cleverly covered his own pride with a rare sense of self-awareness; he presented himself as having mercy, and downplayed his own desire for fame that burned in his breast. He was very witty in both banter and insults, he could reply "tit for tat" whether in spoken word or verse, to the extent that you would think he had prepared them ahead of time. His wife Sabina was driven to suicide by servile taunts. She often boasted that, since she was the best judge of his character, she had seen to it that being pregnant by him would bring disaster to the human race. After enduring a subcutaneous disease for a long time, he could no longer put on a brave face and, being overcome by pain, he took it out on many senators by killing them.
Having obtained peace from many kings through gifts and tributes, he often boasted that he had accomplished more for the empire with leisure than others had done with warfare. With the exception of a handful of changes made by Constantine, Hadrian's organization of infrastructure, both imperial and public [not including military infrastructure], remain untouched even to this day. He lived sixty-two years, then, consumed by a utterly pitiful end, being overcome by pain in all of his limbs to the point that he begged his friends for death, lest in his pain he order those around him to be killed. 

Aelius Adrianus, stirpis Italae, Aelio Adriano, Traiani principis consobrino, Adriae orto genitus, quod oppidum agri Piceni etiam mari Adriatico nomen dedit, imperavit annis viginti duobus. Hic Graecis litteris impensius eruditus a plerisque Graeculus appellatus est. Atheniensium studia moresque hausit potitus non sermone tantum, sed et ceteris disciplinis, canendi psallendi medendique scientia, musicus geometra pictor fictorque ex aere vel marmore proxime Polycletus et Euphranoras.Proinde omnino ad ista et facetus, ut elegantius umquam raro quicquam humanae res expertae videantur. Memor supra quam cuiquam credibile est, locos negotia milites, absentes quoque, nominibus recensare. Immnesi laboris, quippe qui provincias omnes passibus circumierit agmen comitantium praevertens, cum oppida universa restitueret, auget ordinibus. Namque ad specimen legionum militarium fabros perpendiculatores architectos genusque cunctum exsturendorum moenium seu decorandorum in cohortes centuriaverat. Varius multiplex multiformis; ad vitia atque virtutes quasi arbiter genitus, impetum mentis quodam artificio regens, ingenium invidum triste lascivum et ad ostentationem sui insolens calide tegebat; continentiam facilitatem clementiam simulans contraque dissimulans ardorem gloriae, quo flagrabat. Acer nimis ad lacessendum pariter et respondendum seriis ioco maledictis; referre carmen carmini, dictum dictui, prorsus ut meditatum crederes adversus omnia. Huius uxor Sabina, dum prope servilibus iniuriis afficitur, ad mortem voluntaria compulsa. Quae palam iactabat se, quod immane ingenium probavisse,t elaborasse, ne ex eo ad humani generis perniciem gravidaretur. Hic morbo subcutaneo, quem diu placide pertulerat, victus, dolore ardens impatiensque plures e senatu exstinxit. A regibus multis pace occultius muneribus impetrata, iactabat palam plus se otio adeptum quam armis ceteros. Officia sane publica et palatina nec non militae in eam formam statuit, quae paucis per Constantinum immutatis hodie perseverat. Vixit annos sexaginta duos; dehinc miserabili exitu consumptus est, cruciatu membrorum fere omnium confectus, in tantum, ut crebro sese interficiendum ministrorum fidissimis precans offeret, ac ne in semetipsum saeviret, custodia carissimorum servaretur.



Epitome of Caesars: Sometimes falsely attributed to Sextus Aurelius Victor, the Epitome de Caesaribus is a concise history of later Roman history from the 4th century CE that covers the reigns of the emperors Augustus through Theodosius.

M/M: The Death of Antinous, Beloved of Hadrian, Cassius Dio Epit. LXIX.11

Hadrian and Antinous

Name:  Cassius Dio Date:     155 – 235 CE  Region:   Nicaea [modern Turkey] Citation:      Roman History 69.11.3-4

Hadrian honored Antinous by creating a city in the place where he died, and bringing settlers to live there. He also placed statues (or rather, cult statues) of him in nearly every corner of the Empire. Finally, he even claimed to see a comet which was Antinous reborn, and listened desperately to his cronies who made up stories claiming that the heavenly object was Antinous' soul rising into the heavens, and that the comet had never previously appeared.

καὶ οὕτω γε τὸν Ἀντίνοον... ἐτίμησεν ὡς καὶ πόλιν ἐν τῷ χωρίῳ, ἐν ᾧ τοῦτ᾽ ἔπαθε, καὶ συνοικίσαι καὶ ὀνομάσαι ἀπ᾽ αὐτοῦ. καὶ ἐκείνου ἀνδριάντας ἐν πάσῃ ὡς εἰπεῖν τῇ οἰκουμένῃ, μᾶλλον δὲ ἀγάλματα, ἀνέθηκε. καὶ τέλος ἀστέρα τινὰ αὐτός τε ὁρᾶν ὡς καὶ τοῦ Ἀντινόου ὄντα ἔλεγε καὶ τῶν συνόντων οἱ μυθολογούντων ἡδέως ἤκουεν ἔκ τε τῆς ψυχῆς τοῦ Ἀντινόου ὄντως τὸν ἀστέρα γεγενῆσθαι καὶ τότε πρῶτον ἀναπεφηνέναι.

Itaque Antinoum, ... tanto honore affecit; ut urbem in eo loco, in quo ille obiisset, colonis adductis conditam, ex eo nominari voluerit; statuasque ei, el potius simulacra, in omni fere orbe terrarum dedicaverit. Denique tum ipse quoddam se videre sidus aiebat, quod esset Antinoi; tum familiares idem fabulose fingentes libenter audiebat, quasi scilicet ex Antinoi anima vere sidus istud exortum esset, ac tunc primum adparuisset.  Translated into Latin by Hermann Samuel Reimarus

Cassius Dio [Lucius Cassius Dio; 165 – 235 CE, modern Turkey] was a Roman statesman born in Nicaea, Bithynia [modern Turkey] who wrote an 80 volume work on Roman history that spanned from Aeneas’ flight from Troy to the rise of the emperor Severus Alexander. Although much of his history is lost, the fragments that we do have show rare insight into the Roman world.

M/M: The Emperor's Beloved: Antinous, SHA Vit. Hadr. 14.5-7

Name: Scriptores Historia Augusta Date:   Unknown Region:    Unknown Citation:    Life of Hadrian 14.5-7

While traveling down the Nile, [The Emperor Hadrian] lost his lover Antinous and mourned him excessively. There are several rumors about how it happened. Some say that Antinous was ritually sacrificed to preserve the Emperor’s life, while others consider the youth’s beauty and the Emperor’s passion for him and think it was the result of a lover’s quarrel. The Greeks even deified the youth at the Emperor’s behest, and claim that his spirit gave oracles, but many dismiss these as being written not by Antinous but the Emperor himself. 

Antinoum suum, dum per Nilum navigat, perdidit, quem muliebriter flevit. de quo varia fama est, aliis eum devotum pro Hadriano adserentibus, aliis quod et forma eius ostetat et nimia voluptas Hadriani. et Graeci quidem volente Hadriano eum consecraverunt, oracula per eum dari adserentes, quae Hadrianus ipse composuisse iactatur.

Scriptores Historiae Augustae Little is known about the author(s) of the Historia Augusta; even internal evidence within the text is either falsified, skewed or utterly fictitious. Although attributed to six different authors, the text was likely written by a single author living during the 4th century CE. It is a series of imperial biographies modeled after the works of Suetonius; these biographies cover the reigns of the emperors Hadrian through Carus.