Editing Antinous (section)

===Death===
[[File:Antinoos,_AM_of_Delphi,_201431_(edited).jpg|thumb|[[Statue of Antinous (Delphi)]], polychrome [[Parian marble]], made during the reign of [[Hadrian]] ({{reign|117|138}} AD)]]
In late September or early October 130, Hadrian and his entourage, among them Antinous, assembled at [[Heliopolis (Ancient Egypt)|Heliopolis]] to set sail upstream as part of a flotilla along the [[River Nile]]. The retinue included officials, the Prefect, army and naval commanders, as well as literary and scholarly figures. Possibly also joining them was [[Lucius Aelius|Lucius Ceionius Commodus]], a young aristocrat whom Antinous might have deemed a rival to Hadrian's affections.{{Sfn|Lambert|1984|pp=121, 126}} On their journey up the Nile, they stopped at [[Hermopolis Magna]],{{sfn|Boatwright|2000|p=190}} the primary shrine to the god [[Thoth]].{{Sfn|Lambert|1984|p=126}} It was shortly after this, in October 130{{sfn|Gregorovius|1898|p=132}}{{sfn|Speller|2003|p=146}} &ndash; around the time of the festival of [[Osiris]]{{sfn|Everitt|2010|p=292}} &ndash; that Antinous fell into the river and died,{{sfn|Aelius Spartianus|p=44}}{{Sfn|Syme|1988|p=164}} probably from drowning.{{sfn|Lambert|1984|pp=127&ndash;128}} Hadrian publicly announced his death, with gossip soon spreading throughout the Empire that Antinous had been intentionally killed.{{sfn|Lambert|1984|p=128}}{{sfn|Aldrich|Wotherspoon|2000|p=26}} The nature of Antinous's death remains a mystery to this day;{{sfn|Everitt|2010|p=287}}{{sfn|Gregorovius|1898|p=131}} however, various speculations have been put forward:{{sfnm|1a1=Lambert|1y=1984|1p=142|2a1=Vout|2y=2007|2p=57}}

# One possibility is that he was murdered by a conspiracy at court.{{sfn|Speller|2003|p=289}} However, Lambert asserted that this was unlikely because it lacked any supporting historical evidence, and because Antinous himself seemingly exerted little influence over Hadrian, thus meaning that an assassination served little purpose.{{sfn|Lambert|1984|p=129}} However, a faction looking to replace Hadrian's attention or affection can't be ruled out.
# Some scholars suggest that Antinous may have been killed by Hadrian himself, either in an attempt by the latter to regain his health, or during an argument between the two. Elizabeth Speller, one of Hadrian's biographers, notes that the second idea aligns with the emperor's well-documented fits of anger and violence.{{sfn|Speller|2003|pp=291-292}} However, most scholars reject the notion that Hadrian murdered his own lover, judging by his overwhelming grief at Antinous's death.
# Another suggestion is that Antinous had died during a voluntary [[castration]] as part of an attempt to retain his youth and thus his sexual appeal to Hadrian. However, this is improbable because Hadrian deemed both castration and [[circumcision]] to be abominations and, as Antinous was aged between 18 and 20 at the time of death, any such operation would have been ineffective.{{sfn|Lambert|1984|p=130}}
# A fourth possibility is that the death was accidental,{{sfn|Boatwright|2000|p=190}} perhaps because Antinous was intoxicated.{{sfn|Vassilika|1998|p=114}} According to his now-lost memoirs, Hadrian himself believed this to be the case.{{sfn|Speller|2003|p=183}}
# Another possibility is that Antinous represented a [[Altruistic suicide|voluntary human sacrifice]].{{sfn|Cassius Dio|p=447}} The earliest surviving suggestion of this comes from the writings of [[Dio Cassius]], 80 years after the event, although it was subsequently repeated in many later sources.<ref>{{cite web |title=Hadrian |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hadrian |website=Britannica |date=6 July 2023 |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.}}</ref> In the 2nd-century Roman Empire, a belief that the death of one could rejuvenate the health of another was widespread, and Hadrian had been ill for many years; in this scenario, Antinous could have sacrificed himself in the belief that Hadrian would have recovered.{{sfn|Lambert|1984|pp=130&ndash;141}} If this last situation were true, Hadrian might not have revealed the cause of Antinous's death because he did not wish to appear either physically or politically weak. Conversely, opposing this possibility is the fact that Hadrian disliked human sacrifice and had strengthened laws against it in the Empire.{{sfn|Lambert|1984|pp=130&ndash;141}}