Antinoos and Hadrian

In the early morning hours on a day in October of the year 130 AD, the body of a nineteen year-old boy was found on the muddy banks of the Nile. The site was a little settlement of mud huts caller Hir-Wer. On that site rose the splendid city of Antinoopolis, erected by Emperor Hadrian in memory of his beloved companion, Antinoos. History records that the boy met his death by drowning, possibly as a suicide. Many believe that the boy had offered his life as a sacrifice in order to extend the life of his friend and lover, Hadrian, the Emperor. The location of Antinoos' grave has been a mystery, thought to have been lost to antiquity. But recent discoveries made at Hadrian's Villa Hadriana, at Tivoli outside Rome, have led historians to believe the mystery solved. The story is told in Antinoos’ own words and follows from the beginning encounter in Bithynia to his final day. All the major events and personages are historically accurate.