A city for the emperor's beloved
An emperor, a dead lover and a city on the Nile: how Hadrian built a monument of stone to his grief.
On 30 October 130, Emperor Hadrian founded a city on the east bank of the Nile in memory of a young man: Antinous. The Greek youth from Bithynia, barely twenty years old, had drowned nearby shortly before. He had accompanied Hadrian on his journey through Egypt and had been his favourite and lover.
The circumstances of his death remain unclear to this day. Even in antiquity there was talk of an accident, a suicide or a ritual sacrifice. What has come down to us, however, is the emperor's reaction: Hadrian had Antinous deified and temples built to him throughout the empire. Numerous statues, gems and coins preserve his likeness. His face became a symbol of youthful beauty.
The new city of Antinoöpolis was built on the remains of an older Egyptian settlement. Laid out on the Greek model, it was given colonnades, magnificent temples, a triumphal arch and a circus. Greeks from other Egyptian cities and army veterans were settled there and granted special privileges. Antinous himself may also have found his final resting place in a monumental tomb in the city. Festival games kept his memory alive, and a new road created a link to the Red Sea.
Scholars also see strategic motives behind Hadrian's foundation. Personal grief and political interests may have gone hand in hand. Even so, Antinoöpolis remains an extraordinary testimony: a Roman emperor gave a city the name of the man he had loved.
Antinoöpolis later became a provincial capital and survived at least into the eighth century. As late as the early nineteenth century, its theatre, temples and triumphal arch were still visible. Today almost nothing of them remains. The story of Hadrian and Antinous has outlasted the decay of the city.