Antinous, the Real Man

Antinous was not a mythological figure as many pther statues might depict, and his image resembles what was once a real person, not a figment of people's imagination. In different Antinooi, the man still looks the same because many works were created using his actual image. A mythological figure such as Hercules, of whom there are many statues, could never be truly accurate (or inaccurate) to what Hercules looked like, because he never existed. Antinous, on the other hand, was real, and some sculptures and coins may portray him more realistically than others, though it is impossible for us to judge this now. 

Antinous lived from about A.D. 111 to A.D. 130, in which time he moved from Bithynia to Rome, likely on account of his attractive face and body. His beauty intrigued the emperor, and he became his beloved. In Greek and Roman times, it was normal for older men to have young male lovers under the age of 16 (women took men as husbands when they were older than 16). 

As Hadrian's lover, Antinous received special privileges and traveled with him around the eastern portion of the empire. While on a pleasure boat on the Nile, he tragically fell out of the boat and drowned. Hadrian had loved him dearly, and in his grief, he renamed the nearest city Antinoopolis after him, and many temples were consecrated in Antinous' name and statues made of his likeness. His cult began soon after his death, and it gained esteem during Hadrian's rule over the Roman Empire. The portrait head of Antinous at the Metropolitan Museum of Art was created between A.D. 130 and 138, within a decade after Antinous' death.