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Temple To Gay Love Discovered
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: November 15, 2002
12:03 a.m. ET/+5GMT/-3PT
(Rome) The romance between the Emperor Hadrian and former slave boy Antinous is one of the world's greatest love stories but it also contains one of the ancient world's greatest mysteries.
Hadrian, who lived from 76-138 AD, is considered one of Rome's greatest emperors. Antinous by all accounts was beautiful and said to have had great intelligence and a sharp wit. He was also considered a great hunter and athlete.
Precisely what happened to Antinous in October of 130 is unknown. The Historia Augusta reports, "[Hadrian] lost his Antinous along the Nile." Hadrian simply wrote, "He fell into the Nile." That this is all the extant written comment from the Emperor on the subject is made all the more frustrating by the fact that the word he used for "fell" can imply either an accident fall or a deliberate one.
Whether the Greek beauty fell into the water, committed suicide or was pushed in has been hotly debated for centuries. He was despised by the emperor's jealous aides, but it could never be proven that he was murdered. Other scholars claim Antinous committed suicide before old age destroyed his looks. He was 21.
Nevertheless Hadrian was grief stricken and went into a deep depression from which he never emerged. He immediately declared Antinous a god and founded the city of Antinopolis in Egypt on the spot where the youth's body was found. He commissioned statues of Antinous to be erected throughout the empire. But, no major memorial has ever been found in Italy, a fact that has mystified scholars.
Now, a massive temple to the youth has been uncovered during new excavations at Hadrian's sprawling villa, about 30 km east of Rome.
Zaccaria Mari, the head archaeologist on the site said archaeologists now have dug up parts of the walls of the monumental temple that dates to 134 AD, shortly after Antinous' death, and made a couple of exploratory excavations.
"We found a series of fountains and planters for interior gardens, niches for statues and very important marble fragments, some with Egyptian hieroglyphics," Mari said.
"I'm sure this discovery will cause a lot of controversy, because it flies in the face of previously accepted theories, but only further excavations will give all of the answers."
©365Gay.com Ltd® 2002
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Just thought you'll find it interesting 
Gil
Searching for the light at the end of the bed...
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