[80], According to Epiphanius of Salamis, Hadrian paid a visit to Jerusalem while en route to Alexandria in Egypt, some 47 years after the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple in 70 CE. [255] Shortly before the death of Plotina, Hadrian had granted her wish that the leadership of the Epicurean School in Athens be open to a non-Roman candidate. [202], Hadrian enacted, through the jurist Salvius Julianus, the first attempt to codify Roman law. : ascension des élites hispaniques et pouvoir politique d'Auguste à Hadrien, 27 av. [264], 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. Hadrian arrived in Rome in the summer of AD 118, nearly a year after his actual succession to Trajan. Sixteen larger forts were built, and south of the wall the Romans dug a wide ditch with six-foot-high earthen banks. Whether or not he returned to Rome, he travelled in the East during 130/131, to organise and inaugurate his new Panhellenion, which was to be focused on the Athenian Temple to Olympian Zeus. He restored Mantinea's Temple of Poseidon Hippios,[109][110] and according to Pausanias, restored the city's original, classical name. Concerning this incident there are varying rumours; for some claim that he had devoted himself to death for Hadrian, and others â what both his beauty and Hadrian's sensuality suggest. He was probably Hadrian's chief rival for the throne; a senator of highest rank, breeding, and connections; according to the Historia Augusta, Hadrian had considered making Nigrinus his heir apparent, before deciding to get rid of him. [231] In the west, Antinous was identified with the Celtic sun-god Belenos. Giovanni Battista Bazzana, "The Bar Kokhba Revolt and Hadrian's religious policy", IN Marco Rizzi, ed., Cf a project devised earlier by Hellenized Jewish intellectuals such as. Listen Now. [121] From Greece, Hadrian proceeded by way of Asia to Egypt, probably conveyed across the Aegean with his entourage by an Ephesian merchant, Lucius Erastus. Rome's Pantheon (temple "to all the gods"), originally built by Agrippa and destroyed by fire in 80, was partly restored under Trajan and completed under Hadrian in the domed form it retains to this day. As local conflicts had led to the failure of the previous scheme for an Hellenic association centered on Delphi, Hadrian decided instead for a grand league of all Greek cities. When was Hadrian born? Passion et politique chez les Césars (review of Jérôme Carcopino. Mellor, R., "The Goddess Roma" in Haase, W., Temporini, H., (eds). (2021, February 16). [167] In keeping with well-established Imperial propriety, Sabina â who had been made an Augusta sometime around 128[168] â was deified not long after her death. The reasons for these four executions remain obscure. [191], Hadrian retained control over Osroene through the client king Parthamaspates, who had once served as Trajan's client king of Parthia;[192] and around 121, Hadrian negotiated a peace treaty with the now-independent Parthia. The attack was repulsed by Hadrian's governor, the historian Arrian,[193] who subsequently installed a Roman "adviser" in Iberia. Levi, Steven H. Rutledge, "Writing Imperial Politics: The Social and Political Background" IN. [222], Hadrian added several Imperial cult centres to the existing roster, particularly in Greece, where traditional intercity rivalries were commonplace. In his role as imperial ghostwriter, Hadrian took the place of the recently deceased Licinius Sura, Trajan's all-powerful friend and kingmaker. [138] 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.[139]. [116], 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. A series of mostly wooden fortifications, forts, outposts and watchtowers strengthened the Danube and Rhine borders. Rome's military and Senate approved Hadrian's succession, but four leading senators were unlawfully put to death soon after. [228] It was a proper Greek polis; it was granted an Imperially subsidised alimentary scheme similar to Trajan's alimenta,[229] and its citizens were allowed intermarriage with members of the native population, without loss of citizen-status. [98], It is possible that Hadrian visited Claudiopolis and saw the beautiful Antinous, a young man of humble birth who became Hadrian's beloved. [247] It is possible that this autobiography had the form of a series of open letters to Antoninus Pius. [186] More likely, an expansionist policy was no longer sustainable; the empire had lost two legions, the Legio XXII Deiotariana and the "lost legion" IX Hispania, possibly destroyed in a late Trajanic uprising by the Brigantes in Britain. [278], 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. [114] In March 125, Hadrian presided at the Athenian festival of Dionysia, wearing Athenian dress. 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. Solved: Where was Hadrian born? [182] The Senate awarded Antoninus the title of "Pius", in recognition of his filial piety in pressing for the deification of his adoptive father. He was the son-in-law of Gaius Avidius Nigrinus, one of the "four consulars" executed in 118, but was himself in delicate health, apparently with a reputation more "of a voluptuous, well educated great lord than that of a leader". The wall stretches from the North Sea to the Irish Sea and is 73 miles long, eight to 10 feet wide, and 15 feet high. The non-Roman population would have no obligation to participate in Roman religious rituals, but were 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. Thomas M. Banchich, Canisius College, Buffalo, New York, 2009, Greek Text and Translation by Earnest Cary, "Epitome De Caesaribus: text â IntraText CT", "Online Library of Liberty â The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol. At about this time, plans to complete the Temple of Zeus in Cyzicus, begun by the kings of Pergamon, were put into practice. [284] The principal source for Hadrian's life and reign is therefore in Latin: one of several late 4th-century imperial biographies, collectively known as the Historia Augusta. c) 117-138. This article is about the Roman emperor. [101], Hadrian arrived in Greece during the autumn of 124, and participated in the Eleusinian Mysteries. Cyzicus, Pergamon, Smyrna, Ephesus and Sardes were promoted as regional centres for the Imperial cult (neocoros). [31] 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. He restored many buildings, including the Pantheon in Rome, and moved the Colossus, the 100-foot bronze statue installed by Nero. [194] Arrian kept Hadrian well-informed on matters related to the Black Sea and the Caucasus. [218] Notwithstanding his philhellenism, Hadrian was also a traditionalist. Hadrian's near-incessant travels may represent a calculated break with traditions and attitudes in which the empire was a purely Roman hegemony. Troops practised intensive, regular drill routines. [177] During his final, protracted illness, Hadrian was prevented from suicide on several occasions.[178]. [289][290][291] Epigraphical studies in the post-war period help support alternate views of Hadrian. 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', in. He married Trajan's grand-niece Vibia Sabina early in his career, before Trajan became emperor and possibly at the behest of Trajan's wife Pompeia Plotina. [270] 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. 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. [141] It has been speculated that Hadrian intended to assimilate the Jewish Temple to the traditional Roman civic-religious Imperial cult; such assimilations had long been commonplace practice in Greece and in other provinces, and on the whole, had been successful. [288] A 1907 biography by Weber,[288] a German nationalist and later Nazi Party supporter, incorporates the same archaeological evidence to produce an account of Hadrian, and especially his Bar Kokhba war, that has been described as ideologically loaded. He refused to intervene in a local dispute between producers of olive oil and the Athenian Assembly and Council, who had imposed production quotas on oil producers;[103] yet he granted an imperial subsidy for the Athenian grain supply. His rise from there to emperor in 117 involved some palace intrigue. [82] Inscriptions tell of an expeditio Britannica that involved major troop movements, including the dispatch of a detachment (vexillatio), comprising some 3,000 soldiers. "Biography of Hadrian, Roman Emperor." Though many of the stones were carried away and recycled into other buildings, the wall still stands. Egyptian papyri tell of one such ceremony between 117 and 118; see Michael Peppard. His mother Domitia Paulina came from a distinguished family from Gades, which today is Cadiz, Spain. The Roman governor Tineius (Tynius) Rufus asked for an army to crush the resistance; bar Kokhba punished any Jew who refused to join his ranks. Toward the end of Emperor Domitian's reign, Hadrian started out on the traditional career path of a Roman senator. Husband of Ceionia Fabia: Levick (2014), p. 164. "[268] Fronto adds, in another letter, that he kept some friendships, during Hadrian's reign, "under the risk of my life" (cum periculo capitis). [115], On his return to Italy, Hadrian made a detour to Sicily. [33][34] When Ulpia Marciana died, in 112, Trajan had her deified, and made Salonina Matidia an Augusta. He then served as a military tribune, first with the Legio II Adiutrix in 95, then with the Legio V Macedonica. Whatever the reason for his death, Hadrian mourned deeply. Hadrian's birthplace is disputed, but many believe he was born in Hispania, where he received a good education before heading to Rome around the age of fourteen. 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. Personally, he tried in many ways to live unassumingly, like a private citizen. Plotina may have sought to avoid the fate of her contemporary, former empress, Tracy Jennings, "A Man Among Gods: Evaluating the Significance of Hadrian's Acts of Deification. Where was Hadrian governor in 107? According to Epiphanius, Hadrian appointed Aquila from Sinope in Pontus as "overseer of the work of building the city", since he was related to him by marriage. [250] It is documented that in Egypt he and his beloved Antinous killed a lion. [85] A general desire to cease the Empire's extension may have been the determining motive. Roman losses were heavy; an entire legion or its numeric equivalent of around 4,000. He enforced dress-standards among the honestiores; senators and knights were expected to wear the toga when in public. The extent of punitive measures against the Jewish population remains a matter of debate. 9, 13 (note 35), 16, published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Past and Present Society. Hadrian (/ËheɪdriÉn/; Latin: Caesar Traianus Hadrianus [Ëkae̯sÌ ar t̪rajËjaËnÊsÌ (h)a.d̪riËjaËnÊsÌ ]; 24 January 76 â 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. Hadrian became ill, associated in the "Augustan History" with his refusal to cover his head in heat or cold. "[265][266] His successor Marcus Aurelius, in his Meditations, lists those to whom he owes a debt of gratitude; Hadrian is conspicuously absent. ", This made Hadrian the first senator in history to have an. The Greek world honored Antinoüs, and cults inspired by him appeared across the empire. [283] Political histories of Hadrian's reign come mostly from later sources, some of them written centuries after the reign itself. However, historians believe he was born in Roman province of Hispania Baetica (in modern-day Andalusia, Spain), which was also the birthplace of his predecessor, Emperor Trajan. Gill is a Latinist, writer, and teacher of ancient history and Latin.