The Death of Antinous || bxb ✔︎

OMNES UNA MANET NOX

They arrived in Athens at dawn, the sun peering over the Acropolis to greet them. The ship docked at the Port of Piraeus and from there they rode in a litter to the Greek forum.

Leonides extended his hand and helped lift Antinous inside. He averted his eyes and they both tried not to smile.

Merchants and artisans spoke in his mother tongue and the air was thick with the smell of sea water drifting in from the Aegean. Even the most careful steps of their litter bearers kicked up clouds of dust. Mules too carried bundles of wood on their backs, tails twitching like the end of a whip, while women carried water in clay jugs on their heads to and from a nearby well.

Antinous was first struck by how familiar everything looked. Not to his homeland of Bithynia but to Rome. Hadrian has done to Athens what he did to all the things he loved: He made it his.

There was a Roman agora, a Roman bath and even a Roman aqueduct. But the most imposing structure was a vast library commissioned by the Emperor with a hundred columns of Phrygian marble, pavilions with gilded roof work and alabaster, decorated with statues and paintings. His taste and influence was everywhere, his name etched into every block of marble.

The Athenians, or so Hadrian said, had erected a Roman triumphal arch in his honor. On the northwest side facing the Acropolis, it read: this is Athens, the ancient city of Theseus. And on the southeast side facing Hadrian's new structures it read: this is the city of Hadrian, and not of Theseus. Antinous felt a twinge of resentment at seeing the ancient city partitioned in the name of Roman glory.

Though everyone around him looked the same, and spoke his native language, he felt as foreign here as he did in Rome. This place didn't belong to him or his people anymore. Like a starling that steals a songbird's nest, the Romans had taken it.

The Emperor's retinue walked up the rocky eastern hillside of the Acropolis. Hadrian held his hand tightly and they ascended together. "Are you not excited?" Antinous could scarcely hide his disappointment.

Just when he thought the city was lost. He saw it. Up close. The Parthenon. Apollo's light shone between the columns, which even in ruins were tall and mighty as Athena's sword. The temple appeared to be part of the sky and not the earth. No Roman could touch this place. It belonged to the gods.

Faith restored, tears sprung to his eyes. He had seen so many copies but all paled next to the original. Hadrian was touched by the emotion in his young companion. For him, this ancient temple had inspired his life's work. For Antinous it was his ancestors calling him home.

Their first official visit would be to the Athenian court for the Heracleia festival but first they were taken to the Emperor's palace. Sabina was not far behind in her litter. Only Commodus was nowhere to be found.

They were greeted by Apollodorus, the architect who designed Hadrian's library and latest commission, The Temple of Olympian Zeus. His hair was thinning and his eyes were dark as squid ink. He had a slight hunchback from drafting his sketches every night by candlelight.

Antinous had never met him before, though the man seemed to know all about him.

"Ah, so this is the new favourite." He kissed Antinous' hand.

The Emperor was a prolific writer of not only poetry but letters too. He no doubt described his relationship with Antinous in intimate detail to his friend.

While Hadrian situated himself in his study, Apollodorus gave Antinous and Orodes a tour of the palace, never quite wiping the smirk on his face.

Unlike Hadrian's villa, which was almost a city and made up of various structures, the palace was one large maze-like compound, with different levels, hundreds of rooms, hidden chambers and twisting passageways. It was dizzying. He dragged his fingertips along the frescos—a bull leaping, partridges flying, a griffin at rest—until they reached a verdant and secluded pleasure garden.