Statue of Antinous
Of the beautiful Antinous, young lover of Adriano, I already talked about in this post: https://www.pilloledistoria.it/2274/storia-antica/antinoo-bellissimo-amante-dellimperatore; the sudden and tragic death of the boy, who drowned in mysterious circumstances, threw the Emperor into a state of profound despair and caused him a serious depression well documented by the sources.
The Historia Augusta informs us that after hearing the terrible news, Adriano wept "like a sissy" (clearly ironic expression on the part of the author) and ordered the deceased to be worshiped as a god.
For this reason we have an impressive number of statues depicting Antinous, as well as jewels, busts and heads that infinitely reproduce his idealized face; usually he is represented as Dionysus or Apollo, traditional Roman gods, but also with the features of Hermes, Asclepius, Ganymede and Attis.
Images of Antinous were sown in every corner of the Empire, and on the site of the drowning, which took place in the waters of the Nile , Adriano even ordered the construction of a city in honor of him, which therefore took the name of Antinoupolis (Photo from:Notizie.it).