Antinous was the "favorite" of the Roman Emperor Hadrian. Yes "favorite" in that way. The sexual way. In our adventures from museum to museum statues of Antinous were a common site. This bust sits in the poorly organized collection of the Vatican museum. It's a pretty cool statue to see and it's redundancy was a pleasure. Antinous died (drowned in the nile, could have been suicide or an accident, though fowl play hasn't been ruled out yet). The Emporer was pretty upset and pretty much turned the boy into a god having endless statues built of him and even buliding a city (Antinoopolis) upon the site where he drowned. Not actually in the water, but probably on a bank or shore.
This is another piece from the Vatican collection. It's a statue depicting the chief priest of Troy (Laocoon) and his two sons being attacked by two serpents. Word on the street is that Laocoon had the inside scoop on the that shifty horse the Greeks gave Troy. Yeah the one the Greeks secretly hid in so that they could sneak inside Troy. Well in a tale of scandals all around, the gods, in a clear handicap move to the Greeks, sent these two serpents to shut Laocoon up. Though I don't know this story well seeing an amazing statue like this definately makes me want to brush up on my Greek History. It was my favorite statue of the trip.
posted by Rob and Lauren @ 12:27 AM
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