Gay Emperor Hung At British Museum
Roman Emperor Hadrian gets new life at the British Museum – and so does his homosexuality:
“Hadrian was gay, and we can say it,” said Thorsten Opper, a British Museum curator of Greek and Roman sculpture, who is publishing a profile of Hadrian to coincide with the show.Hadrian’s lover Antinous, whose death caused the emperor tremendous grief, will feature throughout the exhibition. A head of Antinous, borrowed from Paris’s Louvre Museum, will be displayed, as will a bowl from Georgia with his effigy.
Hadrian’s perhaps most well known for the eponymous wall he built between England and Scotland. The military-minded man also crushed the Jewish revolt of 132 A.D.
The British Museum called the exhibit a “chance to write new history”. What a queer statement.
Hadrian was a philhellene too and a great patron of cultural pursuits. People today tend to admire his sound administration of the Roman Empire, while contemporaries had more respect for his uncle and predecessor, the manly Emperor Trajan, who was most famous for expanding the empire through military victories.
Hadrian was not the only gay Roman Emperor.
There are many sculptures, and bust of Hadrian’s lover Antinous.
He was a hot Roman!