Such a bittersweet story. Emperor Hadrian apparently was openly gay and had a gorgeous commoner boyfriend, Antinous. They were a happy couple for many years till one night Antinous, still just in his 20’s, was murdered. A grieving Hadrian commissioned statues of Antinous and had them placed all over the empire as a tribute to his love. OK, so that’s the abbreviated version. You’ll see and read more about this ancient love story in future posts.
MATTHEW'S ISLAND
MATTHEW'S ISLAND 
I read one account that Antinous was drowned in the Nile on a trip to Egypt with Hadrian. Is this a load of hokum?
My understanding is that Antinous was Hadrian’s long-term boyfriend in an age when homosexuality was starting to not be acceptable anymore. And that Antinous was murdered on the banks of the Nile. I think stabbed. Hadrian then had statues made of Antinous and placed around his empire in honour of his lover and a slap in the face to homophobes.
In Hadrian’s own words: He fell into the Nile.”
I don’t know where you got the part that he was stabbed.
Some of the statues I’ve seen of him clearly show a stab wound. Wikipedia says the cause of his death is unclear – he was found in the river but it was unknown if he drowned or died and then was tossed in the river. Since his death has always been a mystery it stands to reason there was no stab wound in reality or else it would’ve obvious what the cause of death was & would’ve been described as a stabbing death.