In London, the British Museum's exhibit Hadrian: Empire and Conflict opens today. The show may be a first in that it accurately downplays the Roman emperor's empty marriage and shows the central and abiding love of his life to be Antinous. On October 2, Paul Roberts will give a lecture called "Sex and the Emperor," described online:
Hadrian’s loveless marriage and his passion for a young man were perhaps nothing unusual for an emperor, but his unprecedented grief after his lover Antinous died, and his exceptional commemoration of him, suggest a relationship far from the imperial ‘norm’.
The show is expected to be a blockbuster, especially popular with families, which makes the museum's focus on Hadrian's gay life all the more impressive to those of us living in a country of cowardly curators. In addition to the museum's interactive fare, the Guardian offers this tour of the exhibit, which runs through October 26.
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