Antinous

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This is a marble statue of Antinous, a Bithynian Greek youth and a favourite, or lover, of the Roman emperor Hadrian. He was deified after his death, being worshipped in both the Greek East and Latin West, sometimes as a god and sometimes merely as a hero Little is known of Antinous' life, although it is known that he was born in Claudiopolis in the Roman province of Bithynia. He was probably introduced to Hadrian in 123, before being taken to Italy for a higher education. He had become the favourite of Hadrian by 128, when he was taken on a tour of the Empire as part of Hadrian's personal retinue.