I'm absolutely smitten by this bust of Antinous, the Emperor Hadrian's beautiful Greek lover, and I realized he would make a great Page of Wands for my imaginary Classical Tarot. The wands represent a very active, masculine energy, and are also associated with fire; given the intense, passionate nature of Hadrian's and Antinous' love affair, this suit seems appropriate.

After his mysterious drowning death in the Nile River at the age of 20, an inconsolable Hadrian had Antinous deified, and in no time an enthusiastic, devoted cult sprang up to worship the young man. The love and adoration this man insipired, coupled with his untimely death, reverberates through the ages, giving him an archetypal quality well suited to the Tarot.