Visit to Egypt in 130 AD

Emperor Hadrian’s Visit to Egypt in 130 AD

Emperor Hadrian, his wife Sabina, and his favorite young man, Antinous, visited Egypt in the summer of 130 AD. They took a boat trip up the Nile River to see the famous ancient Egyptian monuments. Sadly, during this trip, Antinous drowned. Hadrian was very sad and built a new city called Antinoopolis (near modern-day Minya) where Antinous died. This town in front of the place where Antinous drowned in Hermopolis Magna. The main reason for the Nile River trip was to see the two giant statues called the Colossi of Memnon in Thebes (modern-day Luxor). These statues had been damaged in an earthquake and made strange sounds at dawn. The Greeks and Romans had a story about a man named Agamemnon who died a long time ago. His mother heard a sad sound every morning where he died. So, the Greeks and Romans thought the sounds from the statues were like the sounds Agamemnon’s mother heard. That’s why they called the statues of Memnon. Emperor Hadrian sat and listened to the sounds at dawn. The statues were so famous that a Roman woman named Julia Balbilla, who was traveling with the emperor, even wrote a poem on the statue for her brother back in Rome. The statues kept making these sounds until they were repaired by Emperor Septimius Severus around 200 AD.

Statue of Emperor Hadrian