Early in his political career, Hadrian marriedVibia Sabina,grandniece of the ruling emperor,Trajan, and his second cousin once removed. The marriage and Hadrian's later succession as emperor were probably promoted by Trajan's wifePompeia Plotina. Soon after his own succession, Hadrian had four leading senators unlawfully put to death, probably because they seemed to threaten the security of his reign; this earned him the senate's lifelong enmity. He earned further disapproval by abandoning Trajan's expansionist policies and territorial gains inMesopotamia,Assyria,Armenia, and parts ofDacia. Hadrian preferred to invest in the development of stable, defensible borders and the unification of the empire's disparate peoples as subjects of apanhellenic empire, led by Rome.
Hadrian energetically pursued his own Imperial ideals and personal interests. He visited almost every province of the Empire, and indulged a preference for direct intervention in imperial and provincial affairs, especially building projects. He is particularly known for buildingHadrian's Wall, which marked the northern limit ofBritannia. In Rome itself, he rebuilt thePantheon and constructed the vastTemple of Venus and Roma. In Egypt, he may have rebuilt theSerapeum of Alexandria. As an ardent admirer of Greek culture, he promoted Athens as the cultural capital of the Empire. His intense relationship with Greek youthAntinous and the latter's untimely death led Hadrian to establish a widespread, popular cult. Late in Hadrian's reign, he suppressed theBar Kokhba revolt, which he saw as a failure of his panhellenic ideal.
Hadrian's last years were marred by chronic illness. His marriage had been both unhappy and childless. In 138 he adoptedAntoninus Pius and nominated him as a successor, on condition that Antoninus adoptMarcus Aurelius andLucius Verus as his own heirs. Hadrian died the same year atBaiae, and Antoninus had him deified, despite opposition from the Senate. Later historians counted him as one of Rome's so-called "Five Good Emperors", and as a benevolent autocrat.[2] His own Senate found him remote and authoritarian. He has been described as enigmatic and contradictory, with a capacity for both great personal generosity and extreme cruelty and driven by insatiable curiosity, conceit, and ambition.[3]
Hadrian's Arch in centralAthens, Greece.[4] Hadrian's admiration for Greece materialised in such projects ordered during his reign
Publius Aelius Hadrianus was born on 24 January 76, inItalica (modernSantiponce, nearSeville), a Roman town founded by Italic settlers in the province ofHispania Baetica during theSecond Punic War at the initiative ofScipio Africanus; Hadrian's branch of theAelia gens came from Hadria (modernAtri), an ancient town in thePicenum region of Italia, the source of the nameHadrianus. One Roman biographer claims instead that Hadrian was born inRome, but this view is held by a minority of scholars.[5][6][7]
Hadrian's father wasPublius Aelius Hadrianus Afer, asenator ofpraetorian rank, born and raised in Italica. Hadrian's mother wasDomitia Paulina, daughter of a distinguished Roman senatorial family based in Gades (Cádiz).[8] His only sibling was an elder sister,Aelia Domitia Paulina. Hiswet nurse was the slave Germana, probably of Germanic origin, to whom he was devoted throughout his life. She was later freed by him and ultimately outlived him, as shown by her funerary inscription, which was found atHadrian's Villa atTivoli.[9][10][11] Hadrian's great-nephew,Gnaeus Pedanius Fuscus Salinator, fromBarcino (Barcelona) would become Hadrian's colleague as co-consul in 118. As a senator, Hadrian's father would have spent much of his time in Rome.[12] In terms of his later career, Hadrian's most significant family connection was toTrajan, his father'sfirst cousin, who was also of senatorial stock and a native of Italica. Although they were considered to be, in the words ofAurelius Victor,advenae ("aliens", people "from the outside"), both Trajan and Hadrian were of Italic lineage and belonged to the upper class of Roman society. One author has proposed to consider them part of the "Ulpio-Aelian dynasty".[13]
Hadrian's parents died in 86 when he was ten years old. He and his sister became wards of Trajan andPublius Acilius Attianus (who later became Trajan'sPraetorian prefect).[8] Hadrian was physically active and enjoyed hunting; when he was 14, Trajan called him to Rome and arranged his furthereducation in subjects appropriate to a young Romanaristocrat.[14] Hadrian's enthusiasm forGreek literature and culture earned him the nicknameGraeculus ("Greekling"), intended as a form of "mild mockery".[15]
Hadrian's first official post in Rome was as a member of thedecemviri stlitibus judicandis, one among manyvigintivirate offices at the lowest level of thecursus honorum ("course of honours") that could lead to higher office and a senatorial career. He then served as amilitary tribune, first with theLegioIIAdiutrix in 95, then with theLegio V Macedonica. During Hadrian's second stint as tribune, the frail and aged reigning emperorNerva adopted Trajan as his heir; Hadrian was dispatched to give Trajan the news – or most probably was one of many emissaries charged with this same commission.[16] Then Hadrian was transferred toLegio XXII Primigenia and a third tribunate.[17] Hadrian's three tribunates gave him some career advantage. Most scions of the older senatorial families might serve one, or at most two, military tribunates as a prerequisite to higher office.[18][19] When Nerva died in 98, Hadrian is said to have hastened to Trajan, to inform him ahead of the official envoy sent by the governor, Hadrian's brother-in-law and rival Lucius Julius Ursus Servianus.[20]
In 101, Hadrian was back in Rome; he was electedquaestor, thenquaestor imperatoris Traiani, liaison officer between Emperor and the assembled Senate, to whom he read the Emperor's communiqués and speeches – which he possibly composed on the emperor's behalf. In his role as imperialghostwriter, Hadrian took the place of the recently deceased Licinius Sura, Trajan's all-powerful friend and kingmaker.[21] His next post was asab actis senatus, keeping the Senate's records.[22] During theFirst Dacian War, Hadrian took the field as a member of Trajan's personal entourage, but was excused from his military post to take office in Rome astribune of the plebs, in 105. After the war, he was probably electedpraetor.[23] During theSecond Dacian War, Hadrian was in Trajan's personal service again. He was released to serve aslegate ofLegio I Minervia, then as governor ofLower Pannonia in 107, tasked with "holding back theSarmatians".[24][25] Between 107 and 108, Hadrian defeated an invasion of Roman-controlledBanat andOltenia by theIazyges.[26][27][28] The exact terms of the peace treaty are not known. It is believed the Romans kept Oltenia in exchange for some form of concession, likely involving a one-time tribute payment.[27] The Iazyges also took possession of Banat around this time, which may have been part of the treaty.[29]
Now in his mid-thirties, Hadrian travelled to Greece; he was granted Athenian citizenship and was appointedeponymous archon of Athens for a brief time (in 112).[30] The Athenians awarded him a statue with an inscription in theTheatre of Dionysus (IG II2 3286) offering a detailed account of hiscursus honorum thus far.[31][32] Thereafter, no more is heard of him untilTrajan's Parthian campaign. It is possible that he remained in Greece until his recall to the imperial retinue,[24] when he joined Trajan's expedition againstParthia as a legate.[33] When the governor ofSyria was sent to deal with renewed troubles in Dacia, Hadrian was appointed his replacement, with independent command.[34] Trajan became seriously ill, and took ship for Rome, while Hadrian remained in Syria,de facto general commander of the Eastern Roman army.[35] Trajan got as far as the coastal city ofSelinus, inCilicia, and died there on 8 August 117; he would be regarded as one of Rome's most admired, popular and best emperors.
Around the time of his quaestorship, in 100 or 101, Hadrian had married Trajan's seventeen- or eighteen-year-old grandniece,Vibia Sabina, his second cousin once removed. Trajan himself seems to have been less than enthusiastic about the marriage, and with good reason, as the couple's relationship would prove to be scandalously poor.[36] The marriage might have been arranged by Trajan's empress, Plotina. This highly cultured, influential woman shared many of Hadrian's values and interests, including the idea of the Roman Empire as a commonwealth with an underlying Hellenic culture.[37] If Hadrian were to be appointed Trajan's successor, Plotina and her extended family could retain their social profile and political influence after Trajan's death.[38] Hadrian could also count on the support of his mother-in-law,Salonia Matidia, who was the daughter of Trajan's beloved sisterUlpia Marciana.[39][40] When Ulpia Marciana died in 112, Trajan had herdeified, and made Salonia Matidia anAugusta.[41]
Hadrian's personal relationship withTrajan was complex and may have been difficult. Hadrian seems to have sought influence over Trajan, or Trajan's decisions, through cultivation of the latter's boy favourites; this gave rise to some unexplained quarrel, around the time of Hadrian's marriage to Sabina.[42][43] Late in Trajan's reign, Hadrian failed to achieve a senior consulship, being only suffect consul for 108;[44] this gave him parity of status with other members of the senatorial nobility,[45] but no particular distinction befitting an heir designate.[46] Had Trajan wished it, he could have promoted his protege topatrician rank and its privileges, which included opportunities for a fast track to consulship without prior experience as tribune; he chose not to.[47] While Hadrian seems to have been granted the office of tribune of the plebs a year or so younger than was customary, he had to leave Dacia, and Trajan, to take up the appointment; Trajan might simply have wanted him out of the way.[48] TheHistoria Augusta describes Trajan's gift to Hadrian of a diamond ring that Trajan himself had received fromNerva, which "encouraged [Hadrian's] hopes of succeeding to the throne".[49][50] While Trajan actively promoted Hadrian's advancement, he did so with caution.[51]
Failure to nominate an heir could invite chaotic, destructive wresting of power by a succession of competing claimants – a civil war. Too early a nomination could be seen as an abdication and reduce the chance for an orderly transmission of power.[52] As Trajan lay dying, nursed by his wife, Plotina, and closely watched by Prefect Attianus, he could have lawfully adopted Hadrian as heir by means of a simple deathbed wish, expressed before witnesses;[53] but when an adoption document was eventually presented, it was signed not by Trajan but by Plotina.[54] That Hadrian was still in Syria was a further irregularity, as Roman adoption law required the presence of both parties at the adoption ceremony. Rumours, doubts, and speculation attended Hadrian's adoption and succession. It has been suggested that Trajan's young manservant Phaedimus, who died very soon after Trajan, was killed (or killed himself) rather than face awkward questions.[55] Ancient sources are divided on the legitimacy of Hadrian's adoption:Cassius Dio saw it as bogus and theHistoria Augusta writer as genuine.[56] Anaureus minted early in Hadrian's reign represents the official position; it presents Hadrian as Trajan's "Caesar" (Trajan's heir designate).[57]
The Roman Empire in 125, under the rule of Hadrian
According to theHistoria Augusta, Hadrian informed the Senate of his accession in a letter as afait accompli, explaining that "the unseemly haste of the troops in acclaiming him emperor was due to the belief that the state could not be without an emperor".[58] The new emperor rewarded the legions' loyalty with the customarybonus, and the Senate endorsed the acclamation. Various public ceremonies were organised on Hadrian's behalf, celebrating his "divine election" by all the gods, whose community now included Trajan, deified at Hadrian's request.[59]
Hadrian remained in the east for a while, suppressingthe Jewish revolt that had broken out under Trajan. He relieved Judea's governor, the outstanding Moorish generalLusius Quietus, of his personal guard of Moorish auxiliaries;[60][61] then he moved on to quell disturbances along theDanube frontier. In Rome, Hadrian's former guardian and currentpraetorian prefect, Attianus, claimed to have uncovered a conspiracy involving Lusius Quietus and three other leading senators, Lucius Publilius Celsus, Aulus Cornelius Palma Frontonianus and Gaius Avidius Nigrinus.[62] There was no public trial for the four – they were triedin absentia, hunted down and killed.[62] Hadrian claimed that Attianus had acted on his own initiative, and rewarded him with senatorial status and consular rank; then pensioned him off, no later than 120.[63] Hadrian assured the senate that henceforth their ancient right to prosecute and judge their own would be respected.
The reasons for these four executions remain obscure. Official recognition of Hadrian as a legitimate heir may have come too late to dissuade other potential claimants.[64] Hadrian's greatest rivals were Trajan's closest friends, the most experienced and senior members of the imperial council;[65] any of them might have been a legitimate competitor for the imperial office (capaces imperii);[66] and any of them might have supported Trajan's expansionist policies, which Hadrian intended to change.[67] One of their number wasAulus Cornelius Palma who as a former conqueror ofArabia Nabatea would have retained a stake in the East.[68] TheHistoria Augusta describes Palma and a third executed senator, Lucius Publilius Celsus (consul for the second time in 113), as Hadrian's personal enemies, who had spoken in public against him.[69] The fourth wasGaius Avidius Nigrinus, an ex-consul, intellectual, friend ofPliny the Younger and (briefly) Governor of Dacia at the start of Hadrian's reign. He was probably Hadrian's chief rival for the throne; a senator of the highest rank, breeding, and connections; according to theHistoria Augusta, Hadrian had considered making Nigrinus his heir apparent before deciding to get rid of him.[70][71]
Adenarius of Hadrian issued in 119 AD for his thirdconsulship. The legends read as: HADRIANVS AVGVSTVS / LIBERALITAS AVG. CO[N]S III, P. P.
Soon after, in 125, Hadrian appointedQuintus Marcius Turbo as his Praetorian Prefect.[72] Turbo was his close friend, a leading figure of the equestrian order, a senior court judge and aprocurator.[73][74] As Hadrian also forbade equestrians to try cases against senators,[75] the Senate retained full legal authority over its members; it also remained the highest court of appeal, and formal appeals to the emperor regarding its decisions were forbidden.[76] If this was an attempt to repair the damage done by Attianus, with or without Hadrian's full knowledge, it was not enough; Hadrian's reputation and relationship with his Senate were irredeemably soured, for the rest of his reign.[77] Some sources describe Hadrian's occasional recourse to a network of informers, thefrumentarii,[78] to discreetly investigate persons of high social standing, including senators and his close friends.[79]
This statue of Hadrian in Greek dress was revealed in 2008 to have been forged in theVictorian era by cobbling together a head of Hadrian and an unknown body. For years, the statue had been used by historians as proof of Hadrian's love of Hellenic culture.[80] British Museum, London
Hadrian was to spend more than half his reign outside Italy. Whereas previous emperors had, for the most part, relied on the reports of their imperial representatives around the Empire, Hadrian wished to see things for himself. Previous emperors had often left Rome for long periods, but mostly to go to war, returning once the conflict was settled. Hadrian's near-incessant travels may represent a calculated break with traditions and attitudes in which the empire was a purely Roman hegemony. Hadrian sought to include provincials in a commonwealth of civilised peoples and a common Hellenic culture under Roman supervision.[81] He supported the creation of provincial towns (municipia), semi-autonomous urban communities with their own customs and laws, rather than the imposition of new Romancolonies with Roman constitutions.[82]
A cosmopolitan, ecumenical intent is evident in coin issues of Hadrian's later reign, showing the emperor "raising up" the personifications of various provinces.[83]Aelius Aristides would later write that Hadrian "extended over his subjects a protecting hand, raising them as one helps fallen men on their feet".[84] All this did not go well with Roman traditionalists. The self-indulgent emperorNero had enjoyed a prolonged and peaceful tour of Greece and had been criticised by the Roman elite for abandoning his fundamental responsibilities as emperor. In the eastern provinces, and to some extent in the west, Nero had enjoyed popular support; claims of his imminentreturn or rebirth emerged almost immediately after his death. Hadrian may have consciously exploited these positive, popular connections during his own travels.[85] In theHistoria Augusta, Hadrian is described as "a little too much Greek", too cosmopolitan for a Roman emperor.[86]
Hadrian's Wall, the Roman frontier fortification in northern England, looking east.Milecastle 39 is in the foreground. Scotland lies to the north, or left.
Prior to Hadrian's arrival inBritannia, the province had suffered a major rebellion from 118 to 119.[87] Inscriptions tell of anexpeditio Britannica that involved major troop movements, including the dispatch of a detachment (vexillatio), comprising some 3,000 soldiers. Fronto writes about military losses in Britannia at the time.[88] Coin legends of 119–120 attest thatQuintus Pompeius Falco was sent to restore order. In 122 Hadrian initiated the construction of a wall "to separate Romans from barbarians".[89] The idea that the wall was built in order to deal with an actual threat or its resurgence, however, is probable but nevertheless conjectural.[90] A general desire to cease the Empire's extension may have been the determining motive. Reduction of defence costs may also have played a role, as the Wall deterred attacks on Roman territory at a lower cost than a massed border army,[91] and controlled cross-border trade and immigration.[92] A shrine was erected in York to Britannia as the divinepersonification of Britain; coins were struck, bearing her image, identified as Britannia.[93] By the end of 122, Hadrian had concluded his visit to Britannia. He never saw the finishedwall that bears his name.
Hadrian appears to have continued through southern Gaul. AtNemausus, he may have overseen the building of abasilica dedicated to his patroness Plotina, who had recently died in Rome and had been deified at Hadrian's request.[94] At around this time, Hadrian dismissed his secretaryab epistulis,[95] the biographerSuetonius, for "excessive familiarity" towards the empress.[96] Marcius Turbo's colleague as praetorian prefect,Gaius Septicius Clarus, was dismissed for the same alleged reason, perhaps a pretext to remove him from office.[97] Hadrian spent the winter of 122/123 atTarraco, in Spain, where he restored the Temple ofAugustus.[98]
In 123, Hadrian crossed the Mediterranean toMauretania, where he personally led a minor campaign against local rebels.[99] The visit was cut short by reports of war preparations by Parthia; Hadrian quickly headed eastwards. At some point, he visitedCyrene, where he personally funded the training of young men from well-bred families for the Roman military. Cyrene had benefited earlier in Hadrian's reign (in 119) from his restoration of public buildings destroyed during the earlier, Trajanic Jewish revolt.[100] Birley describes this kind of investment as "characteristic of Hadrian".[101]
When Hadrian arrived on theEuphrates, he personally negotiated a settlement with the Parthian KingOsroes I, inspected the Roman defences, then set off westwards, along the Black Sea coast.[102] He probably wintered inNicomedia, the main city ofBithynia. Nicomedia had been hit by an earthquake only shortly before his stay; Hadrian provided funds for its rebuilding and was acclaimed as restorer of the province.[103]
It is possible that Hadrian visitedClaudiopolis and saw the beautifulAntinous, a young man of humble birth who became Hadrian's lover. Literary and epigraphic sources say nothing of when or where they met; depictions of Antinous show him aged 20 or so, shortly before his death in 130. In 123, he would most likely have been a youth of 13 or 14.[103] It is also possible that Antinous was sent to Rome to be trained as a page to serve the emperor and only gradually rose to the status of imperial favourite.[104] The actual historical detail of their relationship is mostly unknown.[105]
With or without Antinous, Hadrian travelled throughAnatolia. Various traditions suggest his presence at particular locations and allege his foundation of a city within Mysia,Hadrianutherae, after a successful boar hunt. At about this time, plans to complete the Temple of Zeus inCyzicus, begun by the kings ofPergamon, were put into practice. The temple received a colossal statue of Hadrian. Cyzicus,Pergamon,Smyrna,Ephesus andSardes were promoted as regional centres for theimperial cult (neocoros).[106]
Hadrian arrived in Greece during the autumn of 124 and participated in theEleusinian Mysteries. He had a particular commitment to Athens, which had previously granted him citizenship[107] and anarchonate;[108] at the Athenians' request, he revised their constitution – among other things, he added a newphyle (tribe), which was named after him.[109] Hadrian combined active, hands-on interventions with cautious restraint. He refused to intervene in a local dispute between producers ofolive oil and the AthenianAssembly andCouncil, who had imposed production quotas on oil producers;[110] yet he granted an imperial subsidy for the Athenian grain supply.[111] Hadrian created twofoundations to fund Athens' public games, festivals and competitions if no citizen proved wealthy or willing enough to sponsor them as aGymnasiarch orAgonothetes.[112] Generally Hadrian preferred that Greek notables, including priests of the imperial cult, focus on more essential and durable provisions, especiallymunera such as aqueducts and public fountains (nymphaea).[113] Athens was given twonymphaea; one brought water from Mount Parnes to theAthenia Agora via a complex, challenging and ambitious system of aqueduct tunnels and reservoirs, to be constructed over several years.[114] Several were given to Argos, to remedy a water-shortage so severe and so long-standing that "thirsty Argos" featured in Homeric epic.[115]
During that winter, Hadrian toured thePeloponnese. His exact route is uncertain, but it took inEpidaurus;Pausanias describes temples built there by Hadrian, and his statue – inheroic nudity – erected by its citizens[116] in thanks to their "restorer". Antinous and Hadrian may have already been lovers at this time; Hadrian showed particular generosity toMantinea, which shared ancient, mythic, politically useful links with Antinous' home at Bithynia. He restored Mantinea's Temple ofPoseidon Hippios,[117][118] and according to Pausanias, restored the city's original, classical name. It had been renamed Antigoneia since Hellenistic times, after the Macedonian KingAntigonus III Doson. Hadrian also rebuilt the ancient shrines ofAbae andMegara, and theHeraion of Argos.[119][120]
During his tour of the Peloponnese, Hadrian persuaded theSpartan grandee Eurycles Herculanus – leader of theEuryclid family that had ruled Sparta since Augustus' day – to enter the Senate, alongside the Athenian grandeeHerodes Atticus the Elder. The two aristocrats would be the first from "Old Greece" to enter the Roman Senate, as representatives of Sparta and Athens, traditional rivals and "great powers" of the Classical Age.[121] This was an important step in overcoming Greek notables' reluctance to take part in Roman political life.[122] In March 125, Hadrian presided at the Athenian festival ofDionysia, wearing Athenian dress. TheTemple of Olympian Zeus had been under construction for more than five centuries; Hadrian committed the vast resources at his command to ensure that the job would be finished.[114]
On his return to Italy, Hadrian made a detour toSicily. Coins celebrate him as the restorer of the island.[123] Back in Rome, he saw the rebuilt Pantheon and his completed villa at nearbyTibur, among theSabine Hills. In early March 127 Hadrian set off on a tour of Italy; his route has been reconstructed through the evidence of his gifts and donations.[123] He restored the shrine ofCupra inCupra Maritima and improved the drainage of theFucine lake. Less welcome than such largesse was his decision in 127 to divide Italy into four regions under imperial legates with consular rank, acting as governors. They were given jurisdiction over all of Italy, excluding Rome itself, therefore shifting Italian cases from the courts of Rome.[124] Having Italy effectively reduced to the status of a group of mere provinces did not go down well with the Roman Senate,[125] and the innovation did not long outlive Hadrian's reign.[123]
Hadrian fell ill around this time; whatever the nature of his illness, it did not stop him from setting off in the spring of 128 to visit Africa. His arrival coincided with the good omen of rain, which ended a drought. Along with his usual role as benefactor and restorer, he found time to inspect the troops; his speech to them survives.[126] Hadrian returned to Italy in the summer of 128, but his stay was brief, as he set off on another tour that would last three years.[127]
Greece, Asia, and Egypt (128–130); Antinous's death
In September 128, Hadrian attended theEleusinian Mysteries again. This time his visit to Greece seems to have concentrated on Athens andSparta – the two ancient rivals for dominance of Greece. Hadrian had played with the idea of focusing his Greek revival around theAmphictyonic League based in Delphi, but by now he had decided on something far grander. His newPanhellenion was going to be a council that would bring Greek cities together. Having set in motion the preparations – deciding whose claim to be a Greek city was genuine would take time – Hadrian set off for Ephesus.[128] From Greece, Hadrian proceeded by way of Asia to Egypt, probably conveyed across the Aegean with his entourage by an Ephesian merchant, Lucius Erastus. Hadrian later sent a letter to the Council of Ephesus, supporting Erastus as a worthy candidate for town councillor and offering to pay the requisite fee.[129]
Hadrian arrived in Egypt before the Egyptian New Year on 29 August 130.[130] He opened his stay in Egypt by restoringPompey the Great's tomb atPelusium,[131] offering sacrifice to him as ahero and composing anepigraph for the tomb. As Pompey was universally acknowledged as responsible for establishing Rome's power in the east, this restoration was probably linked to a need to reaffirm Roman Eastern hegemony following social unrest there during Trajan's late reign.[132] Hadrian and Antinous held a lion hunt in the Libyan desert; a poem on the subject by the Greek Pankrates is the earliest evidence that they travelled together.[133]
While Hadrian and his entourage were sailing on theNile, Antinous drowned. The exact circumstances surrounding his death are unknown, and accident, suicide, murder and religious sacrifice have all been postulated.Historia Augusta offers the following account:
During a journey on the Nile he lost Antinous, his favourite, and for this youth he wept like a woman. Concerning this incident there are varying rumours; for some claim that he had devoted himself to death for Hadrian, and others – what both his beauty and Hadrian's sensuality suggest. But however this may be, the Greeks deified him at Hadrian's request, and declared that oracles were given through his agency, but these, it is commonly asserted, were composed by Hadrian himself.[134]
Hadrian founded the city ofAntinoöpolis in Antinous' honour on 30 October 130. He then continued down the Nile toThebes, where his visit to theColossi of Memnon on 20 and 21 November was commemorated by four epigrams inscribed byJulia Balbilla. After that, he headed north, reaching theFayyum at the beginning of December.[135]
Hadrian's movements after his journey down the Nile are uncertain. Whether or not he returned to Rome, he travelled in the East during 130–131, to organise and inaugurate his newPanhellenion, which was to be focused on theAthenian Temple to Olympian Zeus. As local conflicts had led to the failure of the previous scheme for a Hellenic association centered on Delphi, Hadrian decided instead for a grand league of all Greek cities.[136] Successful applications for membership involved mythologised or fabricated claims to Greek origins, and affirmations of loyalty to imperial Rome, to satisfy Hadrian's personal, idealised notions of Hellenism.[137][138] Hadrian saw himself as protector of Greek culture and the "liberties" of Greece – in this case, urban self-government. It allowed Hadrian to appear as the fictive heir toPericles, who supposedly had convened a previous Panhellenic Congress – such a Congress is mentioned only in Pericles'biography byPlutarch, who respected Rome's imperial order.[139]
Epigraphical evidence suggests that the prospect of applying to the Panhellenion held little attraction to the wealthier, Hellenised cities of Asia Minor, which were jealous of Athenian and European Greek preeminence within Hadrian's scheme.[140] Hadrian's notion of Hellenism was narrow and deliberately archaising; he defined "Greekness" in terms of classical roots, rather than a broader, Hellenistic culture.[141] Some cities with a dubious claim to Greekness, however – such asSide – were acknowledged as fully Hellenic.[142] The German sociologistGeorg Simmel remarked that the Panhellenion was based on "games, commemorations, preservation of an ideal, an entirely non-political Hellenism".[143]
Hadrian bestowed honorific titles on many regional centres.[144]Palmyra received a state visit and was given the civic name Hadriana Palmyra.[145] Hadrian also bestowed honours on various Palmyrene magnates, among them one Soados, who had done much to protect Palmyrene trade between the Roman Empire and Parthia.[146]
Hadrian had spent the winter of 131–32 in Athens, where he dedicated the now-completedTemple of Olympian Zeus,[147] At some time in 132, he headed East, to Judaea.
InRoman Judaea, Hadrian visitedJerusalem, which was still in ruins after theFirst Jewish–Roman War of 66–73. He may have planned to rebuild Jerusalem as acolonia asVespasian had done withCaesarea Maritima – with various honorific and fiscal privileges. The non-Roman population had no obligation to participate in Roman religious rituals but was expected to support the Roman imperial order; this is attested in Caesarea, where some Jews served in the Roman army during both the 66 and 132 rebellions.[148] It has been speculated that Hadrian intended to assimilate theTemple in Jerusalem to the traditional civic-religiousRoman imperial cult; such assimilations had long been commonplace practice in Greece and in other provinces, and on the whole, had been successful.[149][150]
TheSamaritans had already integrated their religious rites with Hellenistic ones.[151] Strict Jewishmonotheism proved more resistant to imperial cajoling, and then to imperial demands.[152]
A tradition based on theHistoria Augusta suggests that the revolt was spurred by Hadrian's abolition ofcircumcision (brit milah);[153] which as aHellenist he viewed asmutilation.[154] The scholarPeter Schäfer maintains that there is no evidence for this claim, given the notoriously problematical nature of theHistoria Augusta as a source, the "tomfoolery" shown by the writer in the relevant passage, and the fact that contemporary Roman legislation on "genital mutilation" seems to address the general issue ofcastration of slaves by their masters.[155][156][157] Other issues could have contributed to the outbreak: a heavy-handed, culturally insensitive Roman administration; tensions between the landless poor and incoming Roman colonists privileged with land-grants; and a strong undercurrent of messianism, predicated onJeremiah's prophecy that the Temple would be rebuilt seventy years after its destruction, as theFirst Temple had been after theBabylonian exile.[158]
A massive anti-Hellenistic and anti-Roman Jewish uprising broke out, led bySimon bar Kokhba.[159] Given the fragmentary nature of the existing evidence, it is impossible to ascertain an exact date for the beginning of the uprising. It probably began between summer and fall of 132.[160]
The Roman governorTineius (Tynius) Rufus asked for an army to crush the resistance; bar Kokhba punished any Jew who refused to join his ranks.[159] According toJustin Martyr andEusebius, that had to do mostly with Christian converts, who opposed bar Kokhba's messianic claims.[161]
The Romans were overwhelmed by the organised ferocity of the uprising.[152] Hadrian called his generalSextus Julius Severus fromBritain and brought troops in from as far as the Danube. Roman losses were heavy; an entire legion or its numeric equivalent of around 4,000.[162] Hadrian's report on the war to theRoman Senate omitted the customary salutation, "If you and your children are in health, it is well; I and the legions are in health."[163]
The rebellion was quashed by 135. According toCassius Dio.[164]Beitar, a fortified city 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) southwest of Jerusalem, fell after a three-and-a-half-year siege.[165]
Relief from an honorary monument of Hadrian (detail), showing the emperor being greeted by thegoddess Roma and theGenii ofthe Senate and the Roman People; marble, Roman artwork, 2nd century AD,Capitoline Museums, Vatican City
Roman war operations in Judea left some 580,000 Jews dead and 50 fortified towns and 985 villages razed.[164]
An unknown proportion of the population was enslaved. The extent of punitive measures against the Jewish population remains a matter of debate.[165]
Hadrian renamed Judea provinceSyria Palaestina. He renamed JerusalemAelia Capitolina after himself andJupiter Capitolinus and had the city rebuilt in Greek style. According to Epiphanius, Hadrian appointedAquila from Sinope in Pontus as "overseer of the work of building the city", since he was related to him by marriage.[166] Hadrian is said to have placed the city's mainForum at the junction of the mainCardo andDecumanus Maximus, now the location for the (smaller)Muristan. After the suppression of the Jewish revolt, Hadrian provided the Samaritans with a temple dedicated to Zeus Hypsistos ("Highest Zeus")[167] onMount Gerizim.[168] The bloody repression of the revolt ended Jewish political independence from the Roman imperial order.[169]
Inscriptions make it clear that in 133, Hadrian took to the field with his armies against the rebels. He then returned to Rome, probably in that year and almost certainly – judging from inscriptions – viaIllyricum.[170]
Hadrian spent the final years of his life in Rome. In 134, he took an imperialsalutation for the end of the Third Jewish War (which was not actually concluded until the following year). Commemorations and achievement awards were kept to a minimum, as Hadrian came to see the war "as a cruel and sudden disappointment to his aspirations" towards a cosmopolitan empire.[171]
Empress Sabina died, probably in 136, after an unhappy marriage with which Hadrian had coped as a political necessity. TheHistoria Augusta biography states that Hadrian himself declared that his wife's "ill-temper and irritability" would be reason enough for a divorce, were he a private citizen.[172] That gave credence, after Sabina's death, to the common belief that Hadrian had her poisoned.[173] In keeping with well-established imperial propriety, Sabina – who had been made anAugusta sometime around 128[174] – was deified not long after her death.[175]
Posthumous portrait of Hadrian; bronze, Roman artwork, c. 140 AD, perhaps fromRoman Egypt,Louvre, Paris
Hadrian's marriage to Sabina had been childless. Suffering from poor health, Hadrian turned to the issue of succession. In 136, he adopted one of the ordinaryconsuls of that year, Lucius Ceionius Commodus, who, as an emperor-in-waiting, took the nameLucius Aelius Caesar. He was the son-in-law of Gaius Avidius Nigrinus, one of the "four consulars" executed in 118. His health was delicate, and his reputation apparently more that "of a voluptuous, well-educated great lord than that of a leader".[176] Various modern attempts have been made to explain Hadrian's choice:Jerome Carcopino proposes that Aelius was Hadrian's natural son.[177] It has also been speculated that his adoption was Hadrian's belated attempt to reconcile with one of the most important of the four senatorial families whose leading members had been executed soon after Hadrian's succession.[84] Aelius acquitted himself honourably as joint governor ofPannonia Superior andPannonia Inferior;[178] he held a further consulship in 137 but died on 1 January 138.[179]
Hadrian next adopted Titus Aurelius Fulvus Boionius Arrius Antoninus (the future emperorAntoninus Pius), who had served Hadrian as one of the five imperial legates of Italy, and asproconsul ofAsia. In the interests of dynastic stability, Hadrian required that Antoninus adopt both Lucius Ceionius Commodus (son of the deceased Aelius Caesar) and Marcus Annius Verus (grandson of an influential senatorof the same name who had been Hadrian's close friend); Annius was already betrothed to Aelius Caesar's daughterCeionia Fabia.[180][181] It may not have been Hadrian, but rather Antoninus Pius – Annius Verus's uncle – who supported Annius Verus' advancement; the latter's divorce of Ceionia Fabia and subsequent marriage to Antoninus' daughter Annia Faustina points in the same direction. When he eventually became Emperor, Marcus Aurelius would co-opt Ceionius Commodus as his co-Emperor, under the name ofLucius Verus, on his own initiative.[180]
Hadrian's last few years were marked by conflict and unhappiness. His adoption of Aelius Caesar proved unpopular, not least with Hadrian's brother-in-lawLucius Julius Ursus Servianus and Servianus's grandson Gnaeus Pedanius Fuscus Salinator. Servianus, though now far too old, had stood in the line of succession at the beginning of Hadrian's reign; Fuscus is said to have had designs on the imperial power for himself. In 137, he may have attempted acoup in which his grandfather was implicated; Hadrian ordered that both be put to death.[182] Servianus is reported to haveprayed before his execution that Hadrian would "long for death but be unable to die".[183] During his final, protracted illness, Hadrian was prevented from suicide on several occasions.[184]
He was buried atPuteoli, near Baiae, on an estate that had once belonged toCicero. Soon after, his remains were transferred to Rome and buried in theGardens of Domitia, close to the almost-complete mausoleum. Upon completion of theMausoleum of Hadrian in Rome in 139 by his successor Antoninus Pius, his body was cremated. His ashes were placed there together with those of his wifeVibia Sabina and his first adopted son,Lucius Aelius Caesar, who also died in 138. The Senate had been reluctant to grant Hadrian divine honours; but Antoninus persuaded them by threatening to refuse the position of Emperor.[187][188] Hadrian was given atemple on theCampus Martius, ornamented with reliefs representing the provinces.[189] The Senate awarded Antoninus the title of "Pius", in recognition of his filial piety in pressing for thedeification of Hadrian, his adoptive father.[187] At the same time, perhaps in reflection of the senate's ill will towards Hadrian, commemorative coinage honouring his deification was kept to a minimum.[190]
Most of Hadrian's military activities were consistent with his ideology of empire as a community of mutual interest and support. He focused on protection from external and internal threats; on "raising" existing provinces rather than the aggressive acquisition of wealth and territory through subjugation of "foreign" peoples that had characterised the early empire.[191] Hadrian's policy shift was part of a trend towards the slowing down of the empire's expansion, such expansion being not closed after him, but a significant step in that direction, given the empire's overstretching.[192] While the empire as a whole benefited from this, military careerists resented the loss of opportunities.
The 4th-century historian Aurelius Victor saw Hadrian's withdrawal from Trajan's territorial gains inMesopotamia as a jealous belittlement of Trajan's achievements (Traiani gloriae invidens).[193] More likely, an expansionist policy was no longer sustainable; the empire had lost two legions, theLegio XXII Deiotariana and the "lost legion"IX Hispania, possibly destroyed in a late Trajanic uprising by theBrigantes in Britain.[194] Trajan himself may have thought his gains in Mesopotamia indefensible and abandoned them shortly before his death.[195] Hadrian granted parts of Dacia to theRoxolani Sarmatians; their king, Rasparaganus, received Roman citizenship, client king status, and possibly an increased subsidy.[196] Hadrian's presence on the Dacian front is mere conjecture, but Dacia was included in his coin series with allegories of the provinces.[197] A controlled partial withdrawal of troops from the Dacian plains would have been less costly than maintaining several Roman cavalry units and a supporting network of fortifications.[198]
Hadrian retained control overOsroene through the client kingParthamaspates, who had once served as Trajan's client king of Parthia;[199] and around 123, Hadrian negotiated a peace treaty with the now-independent Parthia (according to theHistoria Augusta, disputed).[200] Late in his reign (135), theAlani attacked RomanCappadocia with the covert support ofPharasmanes, the king of CaucasianIberia. The attack was repulsed by Hadrian's governor, the historianArrian,[201] who subsequently installed a Roman "adviser" in Iberia.[202] Arrian kept Hadrian well-informed on matters related to the Black Sea and the Caucasus. Between 131 and 132, he sent Hadrian a lengthy letter (Periplus of the Euxine) on a maritime trip around the Black Sea that was intended to offer relevant information in case a Roman intervention was needed.[203]
Sardonyx cameo depicting Hadrian being crowned by Roma in a chariot pulled by eagles asruler of the world. Possibly made forClaudius around 50 CE with the head being reworked into a portrait of Hadrian,Altes Museum
Hadrian also developed permanent fortifications and military posts along the empire's borders (limites,sl.limes) to support his policy of stability, peace and preparedness. That helped keep the military usefully occupied in times of peace; his wall across Britannia was built by ordinary troops. A series of mostly woodenfortifications, forts,outposts andwatchtowers strengthened the Danube andRhine borders. Troops practised intensive, regulardrill routines. Although his coins showed military images almost as often as peaceful ones, Hadrian's policy waspeace through strength, even threat,[204] with an emphasis ondisciplina (discipline), which was the subject of two monetary series. Cassius Dio praised Hadrian's emphasis on "spit and polish" as cause for the generally peaceful character of his reign.[205] Fronto, by contrast, claimed that Hadrian preferred war games to actual war and enjoyed "giving eloquent speeches to the armies" – like the inscribed series of addresses he made while on an inspection tour, during 128, at the new headquarters ofLegio III Augusta inLambaesis.[206]
Faced with a shortage of legionary recruits from Italy and other Romanised provinces, Hadrian systematised the use of less costlynumeri – ethnic non-citizen troops with special weapons, such as Eastern mounted archers, in low-intensity, mobile defensive tasks such as dealing with border infiltrators and skirmishers.[207][208] Hadrian is also credited with introducing units of heavy cavalry (cataphracts) into the Roman army.[209] Fronto later blamed Hadrian for declining standards in the Roman army of his own time.[210]
Hadrian enacted, through the juristSalvius Julianus, the first attempt to codify Roman law. This was thePerpetual Edict, according to which the legal actions ofpraetors became fixed statutes and, as such, could no longer be subjected to personal interpretation or change by any magistrate other than the Emperor.[211][212] At the same time, following a procedure initiated byDomitian, Hadrian made the Emperor's legal advisory board, theconsilia principis ("council of theprinceps") into a permanent body, staffed by salaried legal aides.[213] Its members were mostly drawn from the equestrian class, replacing the earlier freedmen of the imperial household.[214][215] This innovation marked the superseding of surviving Republican institutions by an openly autocratic political system.[216] The reformed bureaucracy was supposed to exercise administrative functions independently of traditional magistracies; objectively it did not detract from the Senate's position. The new civil servants were free men and as such supposed to act on behalf of the interests of the "Crown", not of the Emperor as an individual.[214] However, the Senate never accepted the loss of its prestige caused by the emergence of a new aristocracy alongside it, placing more strain on the already troubled relationship between the Senate and the Emperor.[217]
Hadrian codified the customary legal privileges of the wealthiest, most influential, highest-status citizens (described assplendidiores personae orhonestiores), who held a traditional right to pay fines when found guilty of relatively minor, non-treasonous offences. Low-ranking persons –alii ("the others"), including low-ranking citizens – werehumiliores who for the same offences could be subject to extreme physical punishments, including forced labour in the mines or in public works, as a form of fixed-term servitude. While Republican citizenship had carried at least notional equality under law, and the right to justice, offences in imperial courts were judged and punished according to the relative prestige, rank, reputation and moral worth of both parties; senatorial courts were apt to be lenient when trying one of their peers, and to deal very harshly with offences committed against one of their number by low-ranking citizens or non-citizens. For treason (maiestas), beheading was the worst punishment that the law could inflict onhonestiores; thehumiliores might suffer crucifixion, burning, orcondemnation to the beasts in the arena.[218]
A great number of Roman citizens maintained a precarious social and economic advantage at the lower end of the hierarchy. Hadrian found it necessary to clarify thatdecurions, the usually middle-class, elected local officials responsible for running the ordinary, everyday official business of the provinces, counted ashonestiores; so did soldiers, veterans and their families, as far as civil law was concerned; by implication, almost all citizens below those ranks – the vast majority of the Empire's population – counted ashumiliores, with low citizen status, high tax obligations and limited rights. Like most Romans, Hadrian seems to have accepted slavery as morally correct, an expression of the same natural order that rewarded "the best men" with wealth, power and respect. When confronted by a crowd demanding the freeing of a popular slave charioteer, Hadrian replied that he could not free a slave belonging to another person.[219] However, he limited the punishments that slaves could suffer; they could be lawfully tortured to provide evidence, but they could not be lawfully killed unless guilty of a capital offence.[220] Masters were forbidden to sell slaves to a gladiator trainer (lanista) or to aprocurer, except as legally justified punishment.[221] Hadrian also forbade torture of free defendants and witnesses.[222][223] He abolishedergastula, private prisons for slaves in which kidnapped free men had sometimes been illegally detained.[224]
Hadrian issued a generalrescript, imposing a ban on castration, performed on freedman or slave, voluntarily or not, on pain of death for both the performer and the patient.[225] Under theLex Cornelia de sicariis et veneficis, castration was placed on a par with conspiracy to murder and punished accordingly.[226] Notwithstanding his philhellenism, Hadrian was also a traditionalist. He enforced dress-standards among thehonestiores; senators and knights were expected to wear thetoga when in public. He imposed strict separation between the sexes in theatres and public baths; to discourage idleness, the latter were not allowed to open until 2:00 in the afternoon, "except for medical reasons."[227]
One of Hadrian's immediate duties on accession was to seek senatorial consent for thedeification of his predecessor, Trajan, and any members of Trajan's family to whom he owed a debt of gratitude. Matidia Augusta, Hadrian's mother-in-law, died in December 119 and was duly deified.[228] Hadrian may have stopped atNemausus during his return fromBritannia to oversee the completion or foundation of abasilica dedicated to his patroness Plotina. She had recently died in Rome and had been deified at Hadrian's request.[94]
As Emperor, Hadrian was also Rome'spontifex maximus, responsible for all religious affairs and the proper functioning of official religious institutions throughout the empire. His Hispano-Roman origins and marked pro-Hellenism shifted the focus of the official imperial cult from Rome to the Provinces. While his standard coin issues identified him with the traditionalgenius populi Romani, other issues stressed his personal identification withHercules Gaditanus (Hercules ofGades), and Rome's imperial protection of Greek civilisation.[229] He promotedSagalassos in GreekPisidia as the Empire's leading imperial cult centre; his exclusively GreekPanhellenion extolled Athens as the spiritual centre of Greek culture.[230]
Hadrian added several imperial cult centres to the existing roster, particularly in Greece, where traditional intercity rivalries were commonplace. Cities promoted as imperial cult centres drew imperial sponsorship of festivals and sacred games, and attracted tourism, trade and private investment. Local worthies and sponsors were encouraged to seek self-publicity as cult officials under the aegis of Roman rule and to foster reverence for imperial authority.[231] Hadrian's rebuilding of long-established religious centres would have further underlined his respect for the glories of classical Greece – something well in line with contemporary antiquarian tastes.[119][232] During Hadrian's third and last trip to the Greek East, there seems to have been an upwelling of religious fervour, focused on Hadrian himself. He was given personal cult as a deity, monuments and civic homage, according to the religioussyncretism of the time.[233] He may have had the greatSerapeum of Alexandria rebuilt, following damage sustained in 116, during theDiaspora revolt.[234]
In 136, just two years before his death, Hadrian dedicated his Temple of Venus and Roma. It was built on land he had set aside for the purpose in 121, formerly the site of Nero'sGolden House. The temple was the largest in Rome and was built in a Hellenising style, more Greek than Roman. Its dedication and statuary associated thecultus of the traditional Roman goddessVenus, divine ancestress and protector of the Roman people, with thecultus of the goddessRoma – herself a Greek invention, hitherto worshipped only in the provinces – to emphasise the universal nature of the empire.[235]
Hadrian hadAntinous deified asOsiris-Antinous by an Egyptian priest at the ancient Temple of Ramesses II, very near the place of his death. Hadrian dedicated a new temple-city complex there, built in a Graeco-Roman style, and named itAntinoöpolis.[236] It was a proper Greekpolis; it was granted an imperially subsidised alimentary scheme similar to Trajan'salimenta,[237] and its citizens were allowed intermarriage with members of the native population without loss of citizen status. Hadrian thus identified an existing native cult (to Osiris) with Roman rule.[238] The cult of Antinous was to become very popular in the Greek-speaking world and also found support in the West. In Hadrian's villa, statues of theTyrannicides, with a bearded Aristogeiton and a clean-shaven Harmodios, linked his favourite to the classical tradition ofGreek love.[239] In the west, Antinous was identified with the Celtic sun godBelenos.[240]
Hadrian was criticised for the open intensity of his grief at Antinous's death, particularly as he had delayed the apotheosis of his own sisterPaulina after her death.[241] Nevertheless, his recreation of the deceased youth as a cult figure found little opposition.[242] Though not a subject of the state-sponsored, official Roman imperial cult, Antinous offered a common focus for the emperor and his subjects, emphasising their sense of community.[243] Medals were struck with his effigy, and statues were erected to him in all parts of the empire, in all kinds of garb, including Egyptian dress.[244] Temples were built for his worship in Bithynia and Mantineia in Arcadia. In Athens, festivals were celebrated in his honour and oracles delivered in his name. As an "international" cult figure, Antinous had enduring fame, far outlasting Hadrian's reign.[245] Local coins with his effigy were still being struck duringCaracalla's reign, and he was invoked in a poem to celebrate the accession ofDiocletian.[246]
Hadrian continued Trajan's policy on Christians; they should not be sought out and should only be prosecuted for specific offences, such as refusal to swear oaths.[247] In arescript addressed to the proconsul of Asia,Gaius Minicius Fundanus, and preserved byJustin Martyr, Hadrian laid down that accusers of Christians had to bear the burden of proof for their denunciations[248] or be punished forcalumnia (defamation).[249]
Hadrian had an abiding and enthusiastic interest in art, architecture and public works. As part of his imperial restoration program, he founded, re-founded or rebuilt many towns and cities throughout the Empire, supplying them with temples, stadiums and other public buildings. Examples in the Roman Province ofThrace include monumental developments to theStadium andOdeon ofPhilippopolis (present-dayPlovdiv), the provincial capital,[250] and his rebuilding and enlargement of the city of Orestias, which he renamed Hadrianopolis (modernEdirne).[251] Several other towns and cities – includingRoman Carthage – were named or renamedHadrianopolis.[252] Rome'sPantheon (temple "to all the gods"), originally built byAgrippa and destroyed by fire in 80, was partly restored under Trajan and completed under Hadrian in its familiar domed form.Hadrian's Villa at Tibur (Tivoli) provides the greatest Roman equivalent of anAlexandrian garden, complete with domedSerapeum, recreating a sacred landscape.[253]
An anecdote fromCassius Dio's history suggests Hadrian had a high opinion of his own architectural tastes and talents and took their rejection as a personal offence: at some time before his reign, his predecessor Trajan was discussing an architectural problem withApollodorus of Damascus – architect and designer ofTrajan's Forum,the Column commemorating his Dacian conquest, andhis bridge across the Danube – when Hadrian interrupted to offer his advice. Apollodorus gave him a scathing response: "Be off, and draw your gourds [a sarcastic reference to the domes which Hadrian apparently liked to draw]. You don't understand any of these matters." Dio claims that once Hadrian became emperor, he showed Apollodorus drawings of the giganticTemple of Venus and Roma, implying that great buildings could be created without his help. When Apollodorus pointed out the building's various insoluble problems and faults, Hadrian was enraged, sent him into exile and later put him to death on trumped-up charges.[254][255]
Hadrian was a passionate hunter from a young age.[256] In northwest Asia, he founded and dedicated a city to commemorate a she-bear he killed.[257] In Egypt he and his belovedAntinous killed a lion. In Rome, eight reliefs featuring Hadrian in different stages of hunting decorate a building that began as a monument celebrating a kill.[257]
Hadrian'sphilhellenism may have been one reason for his adoption, likeNero before him, of thebeard as suited to Roman imperial dignity;Dio of Prusa had equated the growth of the beard with the Hellenic ethos.[258] Hadrian's beard may also have served to conceal his natural facial blemishes.[259] Before Hadrian, all emperors except Nero (who occasionally wore sideburns) had been clean-shaven, according to the fashion introduced among the Romans byScipio Africanus (236–183 BCE). After Hadrian until the reign ofConstantine the Great (r. 306–337) all adult emperors were bearded. The wearing of the beard as an imperial fashion was subsequently revived byPhocas (r. 602–610) at the beginning of the 7th century and this fashion lasted until the end of the Byzantine Empire.[260][261]
Hadrian was familiar with the rival philosophersEpictetus andFavorinus, and with their works, and held an interest inRoman philosophy. During his first stay in Greece, before he became emperor, he attended lectures by Epictetus atNicopolis.[262] Shortly before the death of Plotina, Hadrian had granted her wish that the leadership of theEpicurean School in Athens be open to a non-Roman candidate.[263]
Anaureus of Hadrian minted in 123 AD. Thereverse bears a personification ofAequitas Augusti orJuno Moneta. The legends read as: IMP. CAESAR TRAIA-N. HADRIANVS AVG. / P. M., TR. P., CO[N]S. III
During Hadrian's time as tribune of the plebs, omens and portents supposedly announced his future imperial condition.[264] According to theHistoria Augusta, Hadrian had a great interest inastrology anddivination and had been told of his future accession to the Empire by a granduncle who was himself a skilled astrologer.[265]
Hadrian wrote poetry in both Latin and Greek; one of the few surviving examples is a Latin poem he reportedly composed on his deathbed (seebelow). Some of his Greek productions found their way into thePalatine Anthology.[266][267] He also wrote an autobiography, whichHistoria Augusta says was published under the name of Hadrian's freedmanPhlegon of Tralles. It was not a work of great length or revelation but designed to scotch various rumours or explain Hadrian's most controversial actions.[268] It is possible that this autobiography had the form of a series of open letters toAntoninus Pius.[269]
The poem has enjoyed remarkable popularity,[271][272] but uneven critical acclaim.[273] According to Aelius Spartianus, the alleged author of Hadrian's biography in theHistoria Augusta, Hadrian "wrote also similar poems in Greek, not much better than this one".[274]T. S. Eliot's poem "Animula" may have been inspired by Hadrian's, though the relationship is not unambiguous.[275]
Hadrian has been described as the most versatile of all Roman emperors, who "adroitly concealed a mind envious, melancholy, hedonistic, and excessive with respect to his own ostentation; he simulated restraint, affability, clemency, and conversely disguised the ardor for fame with which he burned."[276][277] His successorMarcus Aurelius, in hisMeditations, lists those to whom he owes a debt of gratitude; Hadrian is conspicuously absent.[278] Hadrian's tense, authoritarian relationship with his Senate was acknowledged a generation after his death by Fronto, himself a senator, who wrote in one of his letters to Marcus Aurelius that "I praised the deified Hadrian, your grandfather, in the senate on a number of occasions with great enthusiasm, and I did this willingly, too [...] But, if it can be said – respectfully acknowledging your devotion towards your grandfather – I wanted to appease and assuage Hadrian as I wouldMars Gradivus orDis Pater, rather than to love him."[279] Fronto adds, in another letter, that he kept some friendships, during Hadrian's reign, "under the risk of my life" (cum periculo capitis).[280] Hadrian underscored the autocratic character of his reign by counting hisdies imperii from the day of his acclamation by the armies rather than the senate and legislating by frequent use ofimperial decrees to bypass the need for the Senate's approval.[281] The veiled antagonism between Hadrian and the Senate never grew to overt confrontation as had happened during the reigns of overtly "bad" emperors because Hadrian knew how to remain aloof and avoid an open clash.[282] That Hadrian spent half of his reign away from Rome in constant travel probably helped to mitigate the worst of this permanently strained relationship.[283]
Bust of Hadrian with an Antinous-shaped gorgoneion, 2nd century AD, Museum of Astros,Greece
In 1503,Niccolò Machiavelli, though an avowedrepublican, esteemed Hadrian as an idealprinceps, one of Rome'sFive Good Emperors.Friedrich Schiller called Hadrian "the Empire's first servant".Edward Gibbon admired his "vast and active genius" and his "equity and moderation", and considered Hadrian's era as part of the "happiest era of human history". InRonald Syme's view, Hadrian "was aFührer, aDuce, aCaudillo".[284] According to Syme,Tacitus' description of the rise and accession ofTiberius is a disguised account of Hadrian's authoritarian Principate.[285] According, again, to Syme, Tacitus'Annals would be a work of contemporary history, written "during Hadrian's reign and hating it".[286]
While the balance of ancient literary opinion almost invariably compares Hadrian unfavourably to his predecessor, modern historians have sought to examine his motives, purposes and the consequences of his actions and policies.[287] For M.A. Levi, a summing-up of Hadrian's policies should stress theecumenical character of the Empire, his development of an alternate bureaucracy disconnected from the Senate and adapted to the needs of an "enlightened"autocracy, and his overall defensive strategy; this would qualify him as a grand Roman political reformer, creator of an openlyabsolute monarchy to replace a sham senatorial republic.[288]Robin Lane Fox credits Hadrian as creator of a unified Greco-Roman cultural tradition, and as the end of this same tradition; Hadrian's attempted "restoration" of Classical culture within a non-democratic Empire drained it of substantive meaning, or, in Fox's words, "kill[ed] it with kindness".[289]
Hadrian Aureus with the portrait type Delta-Omikron, Rome, 129–130 AD. The legend reads as: HADRIANVS AVGVSTVS
Hadrian's portraiture shows him as the first Roman emperor with a beard. Most emperors after him followed his lead. 10 different portrait types are known of Hadrian. A juvenile type with curly hair, broad side burns and a light moustache (but a free chin) was shown on coins later in his life on rare aurei, but likely reflects an early portrait before he became emperor.[290] His first portrait type as Caesar and Augustus used on coins in Mid 117AD shows again broad sideburns merging into a strong moustache and still a free chin. The beard thus resembles beard styles popular in the 19th century like emperorFranz Josef of Austria.[291]
In Hadrian's time, there was already a well-established convention that one could not write a contemporary Roman imperial history for fear of contradicting what the emperors wanted to say, read or hear about themselves.[292][293] As an earlier Latin source,Fronto's correspondence and works attest to Hadrian's character and the internal politics of his rule.[294] Greek authors such asPhilostratus andPausanias wrote shortly after Hadrian's reign, but confined their scope to the general historical framework that shaped Hadrian's decisions, especially those relating the Greek-speaking world, Greek cities and notables.[295] Pausanias especially wrote a lot in praise of Hadrian's benefactions to Greece in general and Athens in particular.[296] Political histories of Hadrian's reign come mostly from later sources, some of them written centuries after the reign itself. The early 3rd-centuryRoman History byCassius Dio, written in Greek, gave a general account of Hadrian's reign, but the original is lost, and what survives, aside from some fragments, is a brief, Byzantine-era abridgment by the 11th-century monk Xiphilinius, who focused on Hadrian's religious interests, the Bar Kokhba war, and little else – mostly on Hadrian's moral qualities and his fraught relationship with the Senate.[297] There are various other sources referred to by later commentators, such as theencomium ofAspasius of Byblos, that are now completely lost. The principal source for Hadrian's life and reign is, therefore, in Latin: one of several late 4th-century imperial biographies, collectively known as theHistoria Augusta. The collection as a whole is notorious for its unreliability ("a mish mash of actual fact,cloak and dagger,sword and sandal, with a sprinkling ofUbu Roi"),[298] but most modern historians consider its account of Hadrian to be relatively free of outright fictions, and probably based on sound historical sources,[299] principally one of a lost series of imperial biographies by the prominent 3rd-century senatorMarius Maximus, who covered the reigns ofNerva through toElagabalus.[300]
The first modern historian to produce a chronological account of Hadrian's life, supplementing the written sources with other epigraphical, numismatic, and archaeological evidence, was the German 19th-century medievalistFerdinand Gregorovius.[301] A 1907 biography by Wilhelm Weber,[301] a German nationalist and laterNazi Party supporter, incorporates the same archaeological evidence to produce an account of Hadrian, and especially hisBar Kokhba war, that has been described as ideologically loaded.[302][303][304] Epigraphical studies in thepost-war period help support alternate views of Hadrian.Anthony Birley's 1997 biography of Hadrian sums up and reflects these developments in Hadrian historiography. The French novelistMarguerite Yourcenar wrote a historical novel entitled "Memoirs of Hadrian" first published in French in 1951.
^The epitomator of Cassius Dio (72.22) gives the story that Faustina the Elder promised to marry Avidius Cassius. This is also echoed inHA"Marcus Aurelius" 24.
Giacosa, Giorgio (1977).Women of the Caesars: Their Lives and Portraits on Coins. Translated by R. Ross Holloway. Milan: Edizioni Arte e Moneta.ISBN0-8390-0193-2.
Lambert, Royston (1984).Beloved and God: The Story of Hadrian and Antinous. New York: Viking.ISBN0-670-15708-2.
Phallos, a 2004 novella in which the narrator encounters Hadrian and Antinous just before Antinous's murder and then, once more, minutes afterward, which changes the narrator's life, written bySamuel R. Delany.
Hadrian, a 2018 opera based on Hadrian's life and death and his relationship with Antinous, composed byRufus Wainwright.
^Ronald Syme, "Hadrian and Italica" (Journal of Roman Studies, LIV, 1964; pp.142–149) supports the position that Rome was Hadrian's birthplace. Canto argues that among the ancient sources, only theHistoria Augusta,Vita Hadriani 2,4, claims this. 25 other sources, including Hadrian's horoscope, state that he was born in Italica. See Stephan Heiler, "The Emperor Hadrian in the Horoscopes of Antigonus of Nicaea", in Günther Oestmann, H. Darrel Rutkin,Kocku von Stuckrad, eds.,Horoscopes and Public Spheres: Essays on the History of Astrology, Walter de Gruyter, 2005, p. 49ISBN978-3-11-018545-4: Cramer, FH.,Astrology in Roman Law and Politics, Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society, 37, Philadelphia, 1954 (reprinted 1996), 162–178, footnotes 121b, 122et al.,Googlebooks preview O.Neugebauer and H.B. Van Hoesen, "Greek Horoscopes"Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society, 48, 76, Philadelphia, 1959, pp. 80–90, 91, and footnote 19,googlebooks preview of 1987 edition
^On the numerous senatorial families from Spain residing at Rome and its vicinity around the time of Hadrian's birth see R. Syme, 'Spaniards at Tivoli', inRoman Papers IV (Oxford, 1988), pp.96–114. Hadrian went on to build an Imperial villa at Tivoli (Tibur)
^Alicia M. Canto, "La dinastía Ulpio-Aelia (96–192 d.C.): ni tan Buenos, ni tan Adoptivos ni tan Antoninos".Gerión (21.1): 263–305. 2003
^John D. Grainger,Nerva and the Roman Succession Crisis of AD 96–99. Abingdon: Routledge, 2004,ISBN0-415-34958-3, p. 109
^Thorsten Opper,The Emperor Hadrian. British Museum Press, 2008, p. – 39
^Jörg Fündling,Kommentar zur Vita Hadriani der Historia Augusta (= Antiquitas. Reihe 4: Beiträge zur Historia-Augusta-Forschung, Serie 3: Kommentare, Bände 4.1 und 4.2). Habelt, Bonn 2006,ISBN3-7749-3390-1, p. 351.
^John D. Grainger,Nerva and the Roman Succession Crisis, p. 109; Alan K. Bowman, Peter Garnsey, Dominic Rathbone, eds.The Cambridge Ancient History – XI. Cambridge U. P.: 2000,ISBN0-521-26335-2, p. 133.
^The text ofHistoria Augusta (Vita Hadriani, 3.8) is garbled, stating that Hadrian's election to the praetorship was contemporary "to the second consulate of Suburanus and Servianus" – two characters that had non-simultaneous second consulships – so Hadrian's election could be dated to 102 or 104, the later date being the most accepted
^The Athenian inscription confirms and expands the one inHistoria Augusta; see John Bodel, ed.,Epigraphic Evidence: Ancient History From Inscriptions. Abingdon: Routledge, 2006,ISBN0-415-11623-6, p. 89
^His career in office up to 112/113 is attested by the Athens inscription, 112 AD: CIL III, 550 = InscrAtt 3 = IG II, 3286 = Dessau 308 = IDRE 2, 365:decemvir stlitibus iudicandis/ sevirturmae equitum Romanorum/praefectus Urbi feriarum Latinarum/tribunus militum legionis II Adiutricis Piae Fidelis (95, in Pannonia Inferior)/ tribunus militum legionis V Macedonicae (96, in Moesia Inferior)/ tribunus militum legionis XXII Primigeniae Piae Fidelis (97, in Germania Superior)/quaestor (101)/ ab actis senatus/tribunus plebis (105)/praetor (106)/legatus legionis I Minerviae Piae Fidelis (106, in Germania Inferior)/legatus Augusti pro praetore Pannoniae Inferioris (107)/consul suffectus (108)/septemvir epulonum (before 112)/sodalis Augustalis (before 112)/ archon Athenis (112/13).He also held office aslegatusSyriae (117): see H.W. Benario inRoman-emperors.orgArchived 8 April 2011 at theWayback Machine
^Anthony Birley,Hadrian the Restless Emperor, p.68
^Karl Strobel:Kaiser Traian. Eine Epoche der Weltgeschichte. Regensburg: 2010, p. 401.
^Robert H. Allen,The Classical Origins of Modern Homophobia, Jefferson: Mcfarland, 2006,ISBN978-0-7864-2349-1, p.120
^Hidalgo de la Vega, Maria José: "Plotina, Sabina y Las Dos Faustinas: La Función de Las Augustas en La Politica Imperial".Studia historica, Historia antigua, 18, 2000, pp. 191–224. Available at[1]. Retrieved 11 January 2017
^Plotina may have sought to avoid the fate of her contemporary, former empressDomitia Longina, who had fallen into social and political oblivion: see François Chausson, "Variétés Généalogiques IV:Cohésion, Collusions, Collisions: Une Autre Dynastie Antonine", in Giorgio Bonamente, Hartwin Brandt, eds.,Historiae Augustae Colloquium Bambergense. Bari: Edipuglia, 2007,ISBN978-88-7228-492-6, p. 143
^Tracy Jennings, "A Man Among Gods: Evaluating the Significance of Hadrian's Acts of Deification."Journal of Undergraduate Research: 54. Available at[2]Archived 16 April 2017 at theWayback Machine. Accessed 15 April 2017
^This made Hadrian the first senator in history to have anAugusta as his mother-in-law, something that his contemporaries could not fail to notice: see Christer Brun, "Matidia die Jüngere", IN Anne Kolb, ed.,Augustae. Machtbewusste Frauen am römischen Kaiserhof?: Herrschaftsstrukturen und Herrschaftspraxis II. Akten der Tagung in Zürich 18–20. 9. 2008. Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 2010,ISBN978-3-05-004898-7, p.230
^Thorsten Opper,Hadrian: Empire and Conflict. Harvard University Press, 2008, p. 170
^David L. Balch, Carolyn Osiek, eds.,Early Christian Families in Context: An Interdisciplinary Dialogue. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2003,ISBN0-8028-3986-X, p.301
^Anthony R Birley,Hadrian: The Restless Emperor, p.54
^Alan K. Bowman, Peter Garnsey, Dominic Rathbone, eds.,The Cambridge Ancient History, XI, p. 133
^Mackay, Christopher.Ancient Rome: a Military and Political History. Cambridge U. Press: 2007,ISBN0-521-80918-5, p.229
^In 23 BCAugustus handed a similar ring to his heir apparent,Agrippa: see Judith Lynn Sebesta,Larissa Bonfante, eds.,The World of Roman Costume. University of Wisconsin Press, 1994, p. 78
^John Richardson, "The Roman Mind and the power of fiction" IN Lewis Ayres, Ian Gray Kidd, eds.The Passionate Intellect: Essays on the Transformation of Classical Traditions : Presented to Professor I.G. Kidd. New Brunswick: Transaction Books, 1995,ISBN1-56000-210-7, p. 128
^Birley, Anthony, Hadrian, the restless emperor, London / New York 1997, pp 77f, based on Dio and the Historia Augusta; Elizabeth Speller, p. 25
^Stephan Brassloff, "Die Rechtsfrage bei der Adoption Hadrians".Hermes 49. Bd., H. 4 (Sep. 1914), pp. 590–601
^The coin legend runs HADRIANO TRAIANO CAESARI; see Burnett, Andrew, The early coinage of Hadrian and the deified Trajan at Rome and Alexandria, American Journal of Numismatics 20, 2008, pp 459–477; see also Roman, Yves, Rémy, Bernard & Riccardi, Laurent:" Les intrigues de Plotine et la succession de Trajan. À propos d'un aureus au nom d'Hadrien César".Révue des études anciennes, T. 111, 2009, no. 2, pp. 508–517; For the portrait type of Hadrian on his early coins of 117AD with a partial beard showing his chin free of a beard see Pangerl, Andreas, Hadrian’s First and Second Imperial Portrait Types of 117–118 AD; Jahrbuch für Numismatik und Geldgeschichte 71, 2021, pp. 171–184
^Egyptian papyri tell of one such ceremony between 117 and 118; see Michael Peppard,The Son of God in the Roman World: Divine Sonship in Its Social and Political Context. Oxford U. Press, 2011,ISBN978-0-19-975370-3, pp. 72f
^Cizek, Eugen. L'éloge de Caius Avidius Nigrinus chez Tacite et le " complot " des consulaires. In:Bulletin de l'Association Guillaume Budé, no. 3, octobre 1980. pp. 276–294. Retrieved 10 June 2015. Available at[3]
^It is likely that Hadrian found Attianus' ambition suspect. Attianus was likely dead, or executed, by the end of Hadrian's reign; see Françoise Des Boscs-Plateaux, Un parti hispanique à Rome?: ascension des élites hispaniques et pouvoir politique d'Auguste à Hadrien, 27 av. J.-C.-138 ap. J.-C. Madrid: Casa de Velázquez, 2005,ISBN84-95555-80-8, p. 611
^Hadrien Bru,Le pouvoir impérial dans les provinces syriennes: Représentations et célébrations d'Auguste à Constantin. Leiden: Brill, 2011,ISBN978-90-04-20363-1, pp. 46f
^Carcopino Jérôme. "L'hérédité dynastique chez les Antonins".Revue des Études Anciennes. Tome 51, 1949, no.3–4. pp. 262–321.
^Nigrinus' ambiguous relationship with Hadrian would have consequences late in Hadrian's reign, when he had to plan his own succession; see Anthony Everitt,Hadrian and the triumph of Rome. New York: Random House, 2009,ISBN978-1-4000-6662-9.
^Richard P. Saller,Personal Patronage Under the Early Empire. Cambridge University Press: 2002,ISBN0-521-23300-3, p. 140
^Richard A. Bauman,Crime and Punishment in Ancient Rome. London: Routledge, 2002,ISBN0-203-42858-7, p. 83
^Digest, 49 2, I,2, quoted by P.E. Corbett, "The Legislation of Hadrian".University of Pennsylvania Law Review and American Law Register, Vol. 74, No. 8 (June 1926), pp. 753–766
^Christopher J. Fuhrmann,Policing the Roman Empire: Soldiers, Administration, and Public Order. Oxford University Press, 2012,ISBN978-0-19-973784-0, p. 153
^Rose Mary Sheldon,Intelligence Activities in Ancient Rome: Trust in the Gods But Verify. London: Routledge, 2004,ISBN0-7146-5480-9, p. 253
^Larry Joseph Kreitzer,Striking New Images: Roman Imperial Coinage and the New Testament World. Sheffield: A & C Black, 1996,ISBN1-85075-623-6, pp. 194ff
^Simon Goldhill,Being Greek Under Rome: Cultural Identity, the Second Sophistic and the Development of Empire. Cambridge University Press, 2006, p. 12ISBN0-521-66317-2
^William E. Mierse,Temples and Towns in Roman Iberia: The Social and Architectural Dynamics of Sanctuary Designs from the Third Century B.C. to the Third Century A.D.. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2009,ISBN0-520-20377-1, p. 141
^The rebuilding continued until late in Hadrian's reign; in 138 a statue ofZeus was erected there, dedicated to Hadrian as Cyrene's "saviour and founder". See E. Mary Smallwood,The Jews Under Roman Rule from Pompey to Diocletian : a Study in Political Relations. Leiden, Brill, 2001,ISBN0-391-04155-X, p. 410
^Kaja Harter-Uibopuu, "Hadrian and the Athenian Oil Law", in O.M. Van Nijf – R. Alston (ed.),Feeding the Ancient Greek city. Groningen – Royal Holloway Studies on the Greek City after the Classical Age, vol. 1, Louvain 2008, pp. 127–141
^Brenda Longfellow,Roman Imperialism and Civic Patronage: Form, Meaning and Ideology in Monumental Fountain Complexes. Cambridge U. Press: 2011,ISBN978-0-521-19493-8, p. 120
^Verhoogen Violette. Review of Graindor (Paul).Athènes sous Hadrien,Revue belge de philologie et d'histoire, 1935, vol. 14, no. 3, pp. 926–931. Available at[4]. Retrieved 20 June 2015
^Mark Golden,Greek Sport and Social Status, University of Texas Press, 2009,ISBN978-0-292-71869-2, p. 88
^Cynthia Kosso, Anne Scott, eds.,The Nature and Function of Water, Baths, Bathing, and Hygiene from Antiquity Through the Renaissance. Leiden: Brill, 2009,ISBN978-90-04-17357-6, pp. 216f
^Cortes Copete Juan Manuel. "El fracaso del primer proyecto panhelénico de Adriano".Dialogues d'histoire ancienne, vol. 25, n°2, 1999. pp. 91–112. Available at[5]Archived 3 June 2018 at theWayback Machine. Retrieved 3 January 2019
^Anthony Kaldellis,Hellenism in Byzantium: The Transformations of Greek Identity and the Reception of the Classical Tradition. Cambridge University Press, 2008,ISBN978-0-521-87688-9, p. 38
^Fernando A. Marín Valdés,Plutarco y el arte de la Atenas hegemónica. Universidad de Oviedo: 2008,ISBN978-84-8317-659-7, p. 76
^A. J. S. Spawforth,Greece and the Augustan Cultural Revolution. Cambridge University Press: 2011,ISBN978-1-107-01211-0, p. 262
^Nathanael J. Andrade,Syrian Identity in the Greco-Roman World. Cambridge University Press, 2013,ISBN978-1-107-01205-9, p. 176
^Giovanni Battista Bazzana, "The Bar Kokhba Revolt and Hadrian's religious policy", IN Marco Rizzi, ed., Hadrian and the Christians. Berlim: De Gruyter, 2010,ISBN978-3-11-022470-2, pp. 89–91
^Cf a project devised earlier by Hellenized Jewish intellectuals such asPhilo: see Rizzi,Hadrian and the Christians, 4
^Emmanuel Friedheim, "Some notes about the Samaritans and the Rabbinic Class at Crossroads". In Menachem Mor, Friedrich V. Reiterer, eds., Samaritans – Past and Present: Current Studies. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2010,ISBN978-3-11-019497-5, p. 197.
^abPeter Schäfer (1981),Der Bar Kokhba-Aufstand (in German), Tübingen, pp. 29–50.
^Schäfer, Peter (1998).Judeophobia: Attitudes Toward the Jews in the Ancient World. Harvard University Press. pp. 103–105.ISBN978-0-674-04321-3. Retrieved1 February 2014.[...] Hadrian's ban on circumcision, allegedly imposed sometime between 128 and 132 CE [...]. The only proof for Hadrian's ban on circumcision is the short note in theHistoria Augusta: 'At this time also the Jews began war because they were forbidden to mutilate their genitals (quot vetabantur mutilare genitalia). [...] The historical credibility of this remark is controversial [...] The earliest evidence for circumcision in Roman legislation is an edict by Antoninus Pius (138–161 CE), Hadrian's successor [...] [I]t is not utterly impossible that Hadrian [...] indeed considered circumcision as a 'barbarous mutilation' and tried to prohibit it. [...] However, this proposal cannot be more than a conjecture, and, of course, it does not solve the questions of when Hadrian issued the decree (before or during/after the Bar Kokhba war) and whether it was directed solely against Jews or also against other peoples.
^Mackay, Christopher.Ancient Rome a Military and Political History: 230
^Peter Schäfer (2003),The Bar Kokhba War Reconsidered: New Perspectives on the Second Jewish Revolt Against Rome, Mohr Siebeck, p. 68.
^Peter Schäfer (2003),The History of the Jews in the Greco-Roman World: The Jews of Palestine from Alexander the Great to the Arab Conquest. Routledge, p. 146.
^Shaye Cohen (2013),From the Maccabees to the Mishnah, 3rd edition. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, pp. 25–26,ISBN978-0-664-23904-6.
^abChronicle of Jerome, s.v. Hadrian. See:[6] See alsoYigael Yadin (1971),Bar-Kokhba, New York: Random House, pp. 22, 258.
^Steven T. Katz, ed (1984).The Cambridge History of Judaism: Volume 4, The Late Roman-Rabbinic Period. Cambridge University Press, pp. 11–112,ISBN978-0-521-77248-8.
^Alexander Zephyr (2013),Rabbi Akiva, Bar Kokhba Revolt, and the Ten Tribes of Israel. Bloomington: iUniverse,ISBN978-1-4917-1256-6.
^Possibly theXXII Deiotariana, which according to epigraphy did not outlast Hadrian's reign; seelivius.org accountArchived 17 March 2015 at theWayback Machine; however, Peter Schäfer, following Bowersock, finds no traces in the written sources of the purported annihilation of Legio XXII. A loss of such magnitude would have surely been mentioned (Der Bar Kokhba-Aufstand, 14).
^Cassius Dio 69, 14.3Roman History.Many Romans, moreover, perished in this war. Therefore Hadrian in writing to the Senate, did not employ the opening phrase commonly affected by the emperors[...]
^abDaniel R. Schwartz, Zeev Weiss, eds. (2011),Was 70 CE a Watershed in Jewish History?: On Jews and Judaism before and after the Destruction of the Second Temple. Leiden: Brill,ISBN978-90-04-21534-4, p. 529, footnote 42.
^Epiphanius, "On Weights and Measures" §14: Hadrian's Journey to the East and the Rebuilding of Jerusalem, Renan Baker,Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, Bd. 182 (2012), pp. 157–167. Published by: Rudolf Habelt GmbH, available through JSTOR (subscription required, accessed 25 March 2012).
^Anne Kolb,Augustae. Machtbewusste Frauen am römischen Kaiserhof?: Herrschaftsstrukturen und Herrschaftspraxis II. Akten der Tagung in Zürich 18–20. 9. 2008. Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 2010,ISBN978-3-05-004898-7, pp. 26-27
^Olivier Hekster,Emperors and Ancestors: Roman Rulers and the Constraints of Tradition. Oxford U. Press: 2015,ISBN978-0-19-873682-0, pp. 140–142
^Merlin Alfred. Passion et politique chez les Césars (review of Jérôme Carcopino,Passion et politique chez les Césars). In:Journal des savants. Jan.-Mar. 1958. pp. 5–18. Available at[8]. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
^Albino Garzetti,From Tiberius to the Antonines : A History of the Roman Empire AD 14–192. London: Routledge, 2014, p. 699
^András Mócsy,Pannonia and Upper Moesia (Routledge Revivals): A History of the Middle Danube Provinces of the Roman Empire. London: Routledge, 2014,ISBN978-0-415-74582-6, p. 102
^abThe adoptions: Anthony Birley, pp. 294–295; T.D. Barnes, 'Hadrian and Lucius Verus',Journal of Roman Studies (1967), Ronald Syme,Tacitus, p. 601. Antoninus as a legate of Italy: Anthony Birley, p. 199
^Annius Verus was alsothe step-grandson of the Prefect of Rome,Lucius Catilius Severus, one of the remnants of the all-powerful group of Spanish senators from Trajan's reign. Hadrian would likely have shown some favour to the grandson in order to count on the grandfather's support; for an account of the various familial and marital alliances involved, see Des Boscs-Plateaux, pp. 241, 311, 477, 577; see also Frank McLynn,Marcus Aurelius: A Life. New York: Da Capo, 2010,ISBN978-0-306-81916-2, p. 84
^Samuel Ball Platner,A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome. Cambridge University Press: 2015,ISBN978-1-108-08324-9, p. 250
^Christian Bechtold,Gott und Gestirn als Präsenzformen des toten Kaisers: Apotheose und Katasterismos in der politischen Kommunikation der römischen Kaiserzeit und ihre Anknüpfungspunkte im Hellenismus.V&R unipress GmbH: 2011,ISBN978-3-89971-685-6, p. 259
^Clifford Ando,Imperial Ideology and Provincial Loyalty in the Roman Empire. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000,ISBN0-520-22067-6, p. 330
^Patrick Le Roux,Le Haut Empire Romain en Occident, d'Auguste aux Sévères. Paris: Seuil, 1998,ISBN2-02-025932-X, p. 56
^W. Den Boer,Some Minor Roman Historians, Leiden: Brill, 1972,ISBN90-04-03545-1, p. 41
^Albino Garzetti,From Tiberius to the Antonines (Routledge Revivals): A History of the Roman Empire AD 14–192. London: Routledge, 2014,ISBN978-1-138-01920-1, p. 381
^The partial withdrawal was probably supervised by the governor of MoesiaQuintus Pompeius Falco; see Birley,Restless Emperor, pp. 84, 86.
^Eutropius's notion that Hadrian contemplated withdrawing from Dacia altogether appears to be unfounded; see Jocelyn M. C. Toynbee,The Hadrianic School: A Chapter in the History of Greek Art. CUP Archive, 1934, 79
^Julian Bennett,Trajan-Optimus Priceps. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2001,ISBN0-253-21435-1, p. 165
^N. J. E. Austin & N. B. Rankov,Exploratio: Military & Political Intelligence in the Roman World from the Second Punic War to the Battle of Adrianople. London: Routledge, 2002, p. 4
^Fergus Millar,Rome, the Greek World, and the East: Volume 2: Government, Society, and Culture in the Roman Empire. The University of North Carolina Press, 2005,ISBN0-8078-2852-1, p. 183
^Luttvak, Edward N.The Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire: From the First Century A.D. to the Third, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1979,ISBN0-8018-2158-4, p. 123
^Fronto: Selected Letters. Edited by Caillan Davenport & Jenifer Manley, London: AC & Black, 2014,ISBN978-1-78093-442-6, pp. 184f
^Laura Jansen,The Roman Paratext: Frame, Texts, Readers, Cambridge University Press, 2014,ISBN978-1-107-02436-6 p. 66
^Kathleen Kuiper (Editor),Ancient Rome: From Romulus and Remus to the Visigoth Invasion, New York: Britannica Educational Publishing, 2010,ISBN978-1-61530-207-9 p. 133
^A. Arthur Schiller,Roman Law: Mechanisms of Development, Walter de Gruyter: 1978,ISBN90-279-7744-5 p. 471
^Garnsey, Peter, "Legal Privilege in the Roman Empire", Past & Present, No. 41 (Dec. 1968), pp. 9, 13 (note 35), 16, published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Past and Present Society,JSTOR650001
^Marcel Morabito,Les Réalités de l'esclavage d'après Le Digeste. Paris: Presses Univ. Franche-C omté, 1981,ISBN978-2-251-60254-7, p. 230
^Donald G. Kyle,Spectacles of Death in Ancient Rome. London: Routledge, 2012,ISBN0-415-09678-2; William Linn Westermann,The Slave Systems of Greek and Roman Antiquity. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1955, p. 115
^Digest 48.18.21; quoted by Q.F. Robinson,Penal Practice and Penal Policy in Ancient Rome. Abingdon: Routledge, 2007ISBN978-0-415-41651-1, p. 107
^Christopher J. Fuhrmann,Policing the Roman Empire: Soldiers, Administration, and Public Order. Oxford University Press, 2012,ISBN978-0-19-973784-0, p. 102
^Digest, 48.8.4.2, quoted by Paul Du Plessis,Borkowski's Textbook on Roman Law. Oxford University Press, 2015,ISBN978-0-19-957488-9, p. 95
^Gradel, Ittai,Emperor Worship and Roman Religion, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2002.ISBN0-19-815275-2, pp. 194–195.
^Howgego, in Howgego, C., Heuchert, V., Burnett, A., (eds), Coinage and Identity in the Roman Provinces, Oxford University Press, 2005.ISBN978-0-19-926526-8, pp. 6, 10.
^K. W. Arafat,Pausanias' Greece: Ancient Artists and Roman Rulers. Cambridge U. Press, 2004,ISBN0-521-55340-7, p. 162
^Marcel Le Glay. "Hadrien et l'Asklépieion de Pergame". In:Bulletin de correspondance hellénique. Volume 100, livraison 1, 1976. pp. 347–372. Available at[9]. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
^Mellor, R., "The Goddess Roma" in Haase, W., Temporini, H., (eds),Aufstieg und Niedergang der romischen Welt, de Gruyter, 1991,ISBN3-11-010389-3, pp. 960–964
^Tim Cornell, Kathryn Lomas, eds.,Bread and Circuses: Euergetism and Municipal Patronage in Roman Italy. London: Routledge, 2003,ISBN0-415-14689-5, p. 97
^Carl F. Petry, ed.The Cambridge History of Egypt, Volume 1. Cambridge University Press, 2008,ISBN978-0-521-47137-4, p. 15
^Elsner, Jás,Imperial Rome and Christian Triumph,Oxford History of Art, Oxford U.P., 1998,ISBN0-19-284201-3, p. 176f.
^Hadrian's "Hellenic" emotionalism finds a culturally sympathetic echo in the Homeric Achilles' mourning for his friend Patroclus: see discussion inVout, Caroline,Power and eroticism in Imperial Rome, illustrated, Cambridge University Press, 2007.ISBN0-521-86739-8, pp. 52–135.
^Craig A. Williams,Roman Homosexuality : Ideologies of Masculinity in Classical Antiquity. Oxford University Press: 1999,ISBN978-0-19-511300-6, pp. 60f
^Alessandro Galimberti, "Hadrian, Eleusis, and the beginnings of Christian apologetics" in Marco Rizzi, ed.,Hadrian and the Christians. Berlim: De Gruyter, 2010,ISBN978-3-11-022470-2, pp. 77f
^Robert M. Haddad,The Case for Christianity: St. Justin Martyr's Arguments for Religious Liberty and Judicial Justice. Plymouth: Rowman & Littlefield, 2010,ISBN978-1-58979-575-4, p. 16
^Martinova-Kjutova, Maya, Project BG0041, "The Ancient Stadium of Philippopolis – Preservation,Rehabilitation and Urban Renewal", Regional Administration Plovdiv, 2011–2023, accessed 14 December 2023[10]
^It was lost in large part to despoliation by theCardinal d'Este, who had much of the marble removed to build theVilla d'Este in the 16th century.
^Brickstamps withconsular dates show that the Pantheon's dome was late in Trajan's reign (115), probably under Apollodorus's supervision: see Ilan Vit-Suzan,Architectural Heritage Revisited: A Holistic Engagement of its Tangible and Intangible Constituents, Farnham: Ashgate, 2014,ISBN978-1-4724-2062-6, p. 20
^For instance, a probably bogus anecdote inHistoria Augusta relates that as tribune he had lost a cloak that emperors never wore: Michael Reiche, ed.,Antike Autobiographien: Werke, Epochen, Gattungen. Köln: Böhlau, 2005,ISBN3-412-10505-8, p.225
^A.A. Barb,"Animula, Vagula, Blandula", Folklore, 61, 1950 : "... sinceCasaubon almost three and a half centuries of classical scholars have admired this poem"
^see Note 2 in Emanuela Andreoni Fontecedro'sJSTOR20547373 "Animula vagula blandula: Adriano debitore di Plutarco", Quaderni Urbinati di Cultura Classica, 1997
^"tales autem nec multo meliores fecit et Graecos", Historia Augusta, ibidem
^"Wytse Keulen, Eloquence rules: the ambiguous image of Hadrian in Fronto's correspondence".[11] Retrieved 20 February 2015
^James Uden (2010). "The Contest of Homer and Hesiod and the ambitions of Hadrian".Journal of Hellenic Studies, 130 (2010), pp. 121–135.[12]. Accessed 16 October 2017
^Edward Togo Salmon,A History of the Roman World from 30 B.C. to A.D. 138. London: Routledge, 2004,ISBN0-415-04504-5, pp. 314f
^Victoria Emma Pagán,A Companion to Tacitus. Malden, MA: John Wiley & Sons, 2012,ISBN978-1-4051-9032-9, p. 1
^Marache, R.: R. Syme, Tacitus, 1958. In:Revue des Études Anciennes. Tome 61, 1959, n°1–2. pp. 202–206. Available at[13]. Accessed 30 April 2017
^Susanne Mortensen:Hadrian. Eine Deutungsgeschichte. Habelt, Bonn 2004,ISBN3-7749-3229-8
^Franco Sartori, "L'oecuménisme d'un empereur souvent méconnu : [review of] M.A. Levi,Adriano, un ventennio di cambiamento". In:Dialogues d'histoire ancienne, vol. 21, no. 1, 1995. pp. 290–297. Available at[14]. Retrieved 19 January 2017
^The Classical World: An Epic History from Homer to Hadrian. New York: Basic Books, 2006,ISBN978-0-465-02497-1, p. 4
^Strack, PL, Untersuchungen zur Römischen Reichsprägung des zweiten Jahrhunderts – Teil 2 Die Reichsprägung zur Zeit des Hadrian, Stuttgart 1933, also Abdy RA and Mittag PF, Roman Imperial Coinage (RIC), Volume II, Part 3: From AD 117 to AD 138 – Hadrian, London 2019
^Pangerl, Andreas, Hadrian’s First and Second Imperial Portrait Types of 117–118 AD; Jahrbuch für Numismatik und Geldgeschichte 71, 2021, pp 171–184
^Steven H. Rutledge, "Writing Imperial Politics: The Social and Political Background" INWilliam J. Dominik, ed;,Writing Politics in Imperial Rome Brill, 2009,ISBN978-90-04-15671-5, p. 60
^Adam M. Kemezis, "Lucian, Fronto, and the absence of contemporary historiography under the Antonines".The American Journal of Philology Vol. 131, No. 2 (Summer 2010), pp. 285–325
^Mary Taliaferro Boatwright,Hadrian and the Cities of the Roman Empire. Princeton University Press, 2002, pp. 20–26
^Danèel den Hengst,Emperors and Historiography: Collected Essays on the Literature of the Roman Empire. Leiden: Brill, 2010,ISBN978-90-04-17438-2, p. 93.
^Alan K. Bowman, Peter Garnsey, Dominic Rathbone, eds.,The Cambridge Ancient History', XI: the High Empire, 70–192 A.D.Cambridge University Press, 2000,ISBN978-0521263351, p. 132.
^abAnthony R Birley,Hadrian: The Restless Emperor. Abingdon: Routledge, 2013,ISBN0-415-16544-X, p.7.
^Thomas E. Jenkins,Antiquity Now: The Classical World in the Contemporary American Imagination. Cambridge University Press: 2015,ISBN978-0-521-19626-0, p. 121.
^A'haron Oppenheimer,Between Rome and Babylon: Studies in Jewish Leadership and Society.Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2005,ISBN3-16-148514-9, p. 199.
^Birley,Hadrian: the Restless Emperor, 7: Birley describes the results ofErnst Kornemann's attempt to sift theHistoria Augusta biography's facts from its fictions (through textual analysis alone) as doubtful. B.W. Henderson's 1923 English language biography of Hadrian focuses on ancient written sources, and largely ignores or overlooks the published archaeological, epigraphic and non-literary evidence used by Weber.
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