Why read Beloved and God?

Book cover of Beloved and God: Story of Hadrian and Antinous

Book description

Who was Antonius? Why did he become a God? in Beloved and God, Royston Lambert tackles all the mysteries the story presents. With many illustations of the people and places concerned in the affair and of the splendid and fascinating artefacts which it produced, this account, based on thorough research,…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Beloved and God as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Andrew Chugg

Author

This book is about the sublimation of an erotic relationship between a teenage boy and the emperor Hadrian that led to the creation of the last classical religious movement of Antiquity. The murky sacrificial drowning of Antinous in the River Nile prompted the emperor in his role as chief priest of Rome to deify the youth, setting up temples in his name and going so far as to define a celestial constellation in his image. Lambert’s posthumously published investigation rigorously rakes through the still glowing embers of this affair to define how it was ignited.

From Andrew's list on sexual relationships in Greek and Roman antiquity.