Hadrian travels to Bithynia in Asia Minor and stays with the procurator of the province, Proculus, in the palace that once belonged to King Nicodemus. One day, as a group is reading poetry in the gardens, Hadrian notices a young man named Antinous. He becomes attached to the adolescent, who travels with him as “the fabulous years began” (154).

Antinous becomes deeply devoted to Hadrian, who feels like an absolute master over the younger man. Antinous is gentle and perceptive, and has boundless, youthful energy. He is also very beautiful. Their years together are an Age of Gold, full of delight. The world seems so beautiful, and Hadrian is often content. He notes details of the landscape as they cross the Bosphorus and enter Thrace, where the city of Hadrianopolis is to be built. As he shares amusements with Antinous, Hadrian enriches cities. In Greece he revives the Games, and in Athens feels like he has returned home. He orders several rebuilding projects there, recalling the days of Pericles. In Athens he indulges in his love for music. He meets with his friend, Arrian of Nicomedia, whom Hadrian praises for his sense of moderation and moral discipline. Arrian models himself on the good sense of Xenophon, writing a history of his country, Bithynia. Hadrian also visits the Athenian philosopher Demonax and the actor Aristomenes. He hires Chabrias as a tutor for Antinous, and the man becomes devoted to them both. The Stoic philosopher Euphrates asks Hadrian for permission to die by suicide, which Hadrian grants, though he cannot envision why someone would want to leave the world and all its possibilities.

Hadrian’s memories of this time merge into a single fresco. As he travels, he takes in what wonders he can, including the challenge to watch the sunrise from the top of Aetna and to watch the dawn colors on the Ionian Sea. He thinks of that as an Olympian-level joy in his life. The years with Antinous are halcyon, due to the calm of satisfied love and passion. He wonders why the wise think of passion as a tyranny over the senses when he experiences it as a greater discipline of mind. In Phrygia, they camp near the tomb of Alcibiades, whom Hadrian honors with a statue and to whom he compares himself favorably:

I had governed a world infinitely larger than that of his time, and had kept peace therein; I had rigged it like a fair ship made ready for a voyage which might last for centuries; I had striven my utmost to encourage in man the sense of the divine but without at the same time sacrificing to it what is essentially human. My bliss was my reward (165).

Back in Rome, Hadrian accepts the title of “Father of the Country.” Plotina has passed away; he thinks of her as a sort of Venus, a wise counselor. He has ordered the rebuilding of the Colosseum and the Temple of Venus and Rome. He thinks of these projects as symbols of the cosmic and sacred character he wants to give Rome. He conceives of a Pantheon, or a temple to all the gods, and chooses the site. He likes to think of himself as continuing the empire begun by Augustus; his job, as Hadrian sees it, is to uphold the accomplishments of Tiberius, Claudius, and Titus while not falling into their vices. Hadrian quarrels with Apollodorus, the architect designing the Pantheon, which is modeled on the Etruscan dome.

Hadrian feels solemn pride on the day he dedicates the temple. He again compares himself to Jupiter: Both have the role of supporting the world, incarnating justice, and giving order to the universe; both are also husbands with bitter wives and lovers of many. Sabina is like Hera, a bitter and unloved representation of matronly virtue, but it would be an insult to divorce her; moreover, she doesn’t trouble Hadrian as they live apart. As he surveys the bonfires of celebration that night, he recalls the fires of Nero and thinks of Rome as a place of living history. He thinks also of the burning of Troy and the escape of Aeneas with his father and young son. It delights him to see Antinous in a cloak of imperial purple. He sees the outline of his own tomb under construction; the sight inspires no regret, terror, or melancholy meditation on the brevity of life.

Hadrian marks time by the maturing of Antinous, who is like a young shepherd turning into a prince. Hadrian has been accused of excess and blame for what will befall Antinous, but Hadrian fails to see where his error lies. He wonders if, given time, the affair might have run its course, and the two of them might have grown apart.

In the meantime, Hadrian feels like a god. In Carthage, a drought ends on the day Hadrian arrives; in Athens, he dedicates the Olympieion, imagining he has collaborated with the Greek ages past. Slowly, Hadrian tries to loosen the complete devotion Antinous demonstrates toward him; he does not want to become completely dependent on one being, or be accused of folly by his fellow Romans. On the plain of Troy they visit the tomb of Hector; looking back, Hadrian says he didn’t realize the meaning of Antinous’s interest in the grave of Patroclus, Achilles’s doomed younger lover. In Palmyra, their host suggests initiating Antinous into the cult of Mithras; Hadrian is so disgusted by the ceremony that he outlaws the cult.

Hadrian continues his interest in magic, however, consulting a Phoenician magician. He is interested in where the soul resides in the body and is struck when Phlegon tells him the story of the Bride of Corinth. One night Hadrian climbs Mount Casius to make a sacrifice, and in a sudden storm, a bolt of lightning kills the victim. The priest says the death will prolong Hadrian’s life. Only later will Hadrian understand how this idea strikes Antinous. The young man has a horror of growing old and decides that death could be a form of service, a final gift.

At Jerusalem, Hadrian orders rebuilding along Roman lines, which the Jewish people oppose. At Pelusium, he orders the restoration of the tomb of Pompey. In Alexandria, he waits for Sabina’s arrival to make a triumphal entry and assembles a fleet for a voyage down the Nile. Hunting, Hadrian kills a lion that attacks Antinous. He imagines them returning to a heroic age where lovers die for one another, but the next morning, the lion’s carcass is nothing but a mass of flies.

Sabina arrives; she has grown frail but remains hard. She surrounds herself with women writers and Lucius, who is 26, still beautiful, but also absurd in his whims.

Hadrian tries to negotiate with the Jewish community in Alexandria but their delegate, Akiba, says the Jewish people do not wish to assimilate to Roman ways. Hadrian sees the man’s rejection as a kind of bigotry.

When Phlegon takes them to visit a magician at Canopus, Hadrian is annoyed by the oracle’s dour predictions. The seer offers to make a sacrifice that will right Hadrian’s destiny, so Antinous volunteers his pet falcon. As the ritual is performed, Hadrian is told that the bird’s years will be added to his, and the Genius of the slain bird will serve him. He learns later that Antinous goes back to visit this magician.

Hadrian reflects that the anniversary of the death of Osiris is the day Antinous dies. The morning after dining with Lucius, Hadrian wakes to find Antinous crying. He spends the day in correspondence and then wonders where Antinous is. At a small temple on the riverbank, they find the ashes of an offering and Antinous’s clothing. His body is at the bottom of a reservoir. Hadrian realizes that Antinous offered his death as a kind of sacrifice to honor him, but losing Antinous is the greatest ill that could have befallen him.

Hadrian decides to make this place a shrine to Antinous. He orders the building of a tomb and a city around it that he will name Antinoöpolis. He has Antinous embalmed and orders a monument for him at Rome, thinking to bring the body there. He tries to discharge affairs of state and realizes that others are embarrassed and concerned by his deep grief. To distract himself, he travels with the empress and her entourage to visit the statue of Memnon in the harbor at Alexandria. He views a succession of monuments to kings now forgotten and is weary to think of himself as only one in an obscure procession of names and rulers. On an impulse, Hadrian carves his name into the Colossus alongside other graffiti. He remembers it is Antinous’s birthday and withdraws to his room to weep. He struggles to emerge from grief and grapples with memories. Chabrias shows him a new star in the constellation of the eagle, which Hadrian names after Antinous. As everything around him seems to go awry, he returns to Antinoöpolis for the funeral, orders rites for Antinous’s deification, buries the sarcophagus in a hidden tomb, and returns to Alexandria.