ABSTRACT
The breadth and intensity of the travels of Roman Emperor Hadrian brought about imperial patronage and favor influenced by Eastern traditions, culture, and individuals. Hadrian fervently explored the vast territories under Roman ascendancy. Hadrian's history and his motivations for visiting personally selected locations in the Greek world and beyond are compelling. According to most accounts, Hadrian's interest in Greece was sincere, but could be self-serving at times. Antinous was "by birth from Bithynium beyond the river Sangarius, and the Bithynians are by descent Arcadians of Mantinea." Tivoli was to be Hadrian's refuge from Rome, and a reminder in its art and architecture of all of the places that he had seen and experienced in his travels. Hadrian favored contemporary Greece for many reasons, not the least of which was the continuation of a classical Greek tradition that saw relationships between older men—erastes—and younger boys—eromenos—as being common, that is to say, just a part of life.
