Ancients: EGYPT. Alexandria. Antinoüs. (died AD 130). AE hemidrachm (28mm, 14.76 gm, 12h). NGC VF★ 4/5 - 4/5....

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EGYPT. Alexandria. Antinoüs. (died AD 130). AE hemidrachm (28mm, 14.76 gm, 12h). NGC VF★ 4/5 - 4/5. Dated Regnal Year 19 of Hadrian (AD 134/135). ANTINOOY-HPΩOC, draped bust of Antinoüs right, seen from front, wearing hem-hem crown / Antinoüs on horseback right, caduceus in right hand; L / I-Θ (date) to right and below. Emmett 1347.

Ex 'AK Collection' (Triton XVIII, 6 January 2015), lot 908; Dr. Hans Steger Collection (Münzhandlung Basel 6, 18 March 1936), lot 585

Antinoüs was a handsome Bithynian youth whom Hadrian probably noticed on his visit to Bithynium-Claudiopolis in AD 123/4. According to Hadrian's recent biographer Anthony Birley, Antinoüs likely found a "discreet place" in Hadrian's entourage and accompanied the peripatetic emperor on his various journeys. Their relationship came to a mysterious end during Hadrian's visit to Egypt in AD 130. During a barge trip up the Nile, Antinoüs drowned, probably on 24 October. In his memoirs, Hadrian insisted the youth's death was an accident, but other historians implied either that Hadrian had killed him in some sacrificial rite, or that Antinoüs had committed ritual suicide to preserve Hadrian's health. Whatever the true story, Hadrian's grief was such that he deified the youth and founded the city of Antinoopolis near the spot of his drowning. The cult of Antinoüs spread rapidly throughout the Greek east, making him the last of the truly popular pagan gods. His sculpted image also became ubiquitous as the very personification of male beauty. Antinoüs is extensively honored on the Roman provincial coinage of the East, particularly in Bithynia and Egypt, but is totally absent from the official Roman coinage.

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