Hadrian is the only emperor to have traveled throughout the whole of Roman Empire, having visited every province from Brittania to Israel, and from the Danube to North Africa, several times. He enjoyed personally overseeing the administration of his government, and he was deeply interested in improving the lives of his subjects by tangible means. Hadrian was in love with the Greek ideal of civilization, and was devoted to carrying his vision of a perfect world to every corner of the Empire.

So it was that in the late summer of the year 128, the Imperial Court embarked on a grand tour of the East. The Empress Sabina, Hadrian's wife, and her attendants were members of the entourage, but on this particular voyage, Antinous was the most favored of Hadrian's companions. There love afair was openly, and gracefully displayed before the eyes of the world. This journey through the East, what we call the Sacred Peregrination, is the only part of the short life of Antinous that history has conveyed to us. For this reason it takes on the importance of a sacred epic. Antinous was in the very flower of his beauty and vigor, he was a shinning star held in the wings of the Imperial Eagle, and it is no coincidence that this court of demigods should travel through the lands of Ganymede, Attis, Adonis, Jesus and Osiris, who were all beautiful souls taken from life before their time.

The court stayed in Athens for five or even six months, they arrived in time for the celebration of the Mysteries of Eleusis, which symbolically portrayed the rape of Proserpina by Hades, the mourning of her mother Demeter, and the return of Spring. Hadrian maintained a deep interest in religion, theology and spiritual mysteries. It is believed that Antinous underwent the secret initiations provided by the priests of Eleusis. Through them he received the consecration of the dark goddess of the underworld Proserpina, which prepared him for his own death and resurrection.

After Greece the entourage passed through Asia Minor and visited Bithynia the homeland of Antinous. They proceeded south to Antioch, and then East as far as Armenia, making their way south through Arabia, where they crossed the Jordan and entered Jerusalem. Here Hadrian met with the Rabbis and engaged them in theological debate. He enacted sweeping reforms upon the Jewish faith, not understanding the consequences that would later haunt him when the Jews, led by Bar Kochba, rebelled.

In the summer of 130, the Imperial Court left Israel for Egypt, where Hadrian was not only Emperor, but Pharaoh...a living God. The great city of Alexandria with its learned scholars did not however receive Hadrian as a divine being. Filled with religious controversy, they were opposed to many of his reforms. The large Christian faction was especially disturbed by the presence of Antinous and his obvious relationship to the Emperor.

After several difficult weeks, the close companions of Hadrian, a group of young men, poets and philosophers, escaped to Libya where a great man-eating lion had been disturbing the countryside. They hunted the beast and Hadrian and Antinous moved forward, positioning themselves for the kill. Antinous charged ahead and attacked, but lost his weapon in the fight. The wounded lion attacked Antinous and would have killed him had Hadrian not intervened at the crucial moment and brought down the ferocious animal. A poet named Pancrates wrote of the event and said that red lotus flowers miraculously sprang from the blood of the lion. These flowers were presented to Antinous, and soon became his emblem.

When they returned to Alexandria, the entourage swelled to many hundreds, including the High Priests of the many cults of Egyptian gods. As the waters anual innundation subsided, Hadrian with religious solemnity gave the comand to board the fleet of elegant, gilded barges and thus Antinous on his sacred ship began the slow journey up the Nile, a holy journey against the current from which he would not return.

The Temple of Antinous