The Temple of Antinous, or Antinoeion, is a place of worship in Hadrian's Villa, the imperial residence near Tivoli, dedicated to Antinous, the young man loved by the emperor Hadrian and deified by him after his early death. The remains came to light in 2003, along the access road to the Great Vestibule and in front of the Cento Camerelle.
What to see
The structure preserves the base of two facing temples inside a sacred enclosure closed at the back by an exedra. At the centre, between the two temples, is the base of an obelisk, identified with the obelisk that now stands on the Pincian Hill in Rome. The complex is dated to AD 134 and is thought to have been also the burial place of Antinous.
Inside, fragments of black marble statues were found, depicting Egyptian gods or priests, which would confirm the cult of the god Osiris-Antinous. Different versions of the young man's death, drowned in the Nile, circulated: according to some sources he drowned himself to perform a magic rite that would add the years he lost to the emperor's life; another version, considered unlikely, has him thrown into the river to stop him from becoming a possible successor to Hadrian.
Visiting
The Antinoeion is part of the area of Hadrian's Villa, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1999. Opening hours, tickets and access to the individual areas should be checked before visiting.
Our editors' tip
Anyone passing through Rome can look for the obelisk on the Pincian Hill which, according to the sources, stood at the very centre of this sacred enclosure, between the two temples of Hadrian's Villa.
