Antinous: Boy Made God Through February 24, 2019 at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, England.

Antinous: Boy Made God - September 25, 2018 - February 24, 2019 at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, England.

Antinous as Dionysos Roman 2nd century CE at the Archaeological Museum in Naples, Italy.

 Antinous was a boy-favorite of the Emperor Hadrian. He drowned in the Nile in A.D. 130, and the emperor founded a city in middle Egypt in his honor called Antinoopolis or ‘Antinous City’. A striking portrait of the boy was created by a great court sculptor, and this image was widely reproduced around the empire. More than eighty busts and statues survive. This exhibition explores the spread of Antinous’ image and his empire-wide cult as a hero and god.

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