Feb
24
The story of Hadrian and Antinous, seen by some as a real life version of the myth of Zeus and Ganymede, is a romance and a tragedy. That the young Antinous was the lover of the Emperor, who is known for his Hellenistic ways, is of little true amazement and in itself would not have caused a scandalous cry to echo through the centuries. However, when the boy who is thought to have been the only true love of Hadrian’s life was found drowned in the Nile, it sent the Emperor into a swell of grief so mighty that it altered the Roman world.
(via on-melancholy)
