Hadrian

Publius Aelius Traianus Hadrianus (January 24 76-July 10 138), known as Hadrian in English, was Roman emperor from 117-138, and a member of the gens Aelia. Hadrian was the third of the "Five Good Emperors". However, he was, according to Elizabeth Speller, the first Emperor whose assessment moved beyond the stereotype of good and bad emperors. His reign has a faltering beginning, a glorious middle but a tragic conclusion{{ref|3phase}}.

Cultural pursuits and patronage

Above all Hadrian patronized the arts: Hadrian's Villa at Tibur (Tivoli) was the greatest Roman example of an Alexandrian garden, recreating a sacred landscape, lost now in large part to the despoliation of the ruins by the Cardinal d'Este who had much of the marble removed to build his gardens. In Rome, the Pantheon, Rome built by Agrippa was enriched under Hadrian and took the form in which it remains to this day.

Related Topics:
Hadrian's Villa - Tivoli - Alexandrian - Cardinal d'Este - His gardens - Rome - Pantheon, Rome - Agrippa

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Hadrian was a humanist and deeply Hellenophile in all his tastes. While visiting Greece in 125 he attempted to create a kind of provincial parliament to bind all the semi-autonomous former city states across all Greece and Ionia (in Asia Minor). This parliament, known as the Panhellenion, failed despite spirited efforts to instill cooperation among the Hellenes. Hadrian was especially famous for his love affair with a young Greek boy, Antinous. While touring Egypt, Antinous mysteriously drowned in the Nile in 130. Stricken with grief, Hadrian founded the Egyptian city of Antinopolis. Hadrian drew the whole Empire into his mourning, making Antinous the last new god of antiquity. For the rest of his life, Hadrian commissioned many hundreds (or thousands) of sculptures of Antinous in the manner of a Greek youth.

Related Topics:
Hellenophile - 125 - Parliament - Ionia - Asia Minor - Panhellenion - Antinous - Egypt - Nile - 130 - Antinopolis - God - Antiquity

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Hadrian died at his villa in Baiae. He was buried in a mausoleum on the western bank of the Tiber, in Rome, a building later transformed into a fortress, Castel Sant'Angelo.

Related Topics:
Baiae - Mausoleum - Tiber - Rome - Castel Sant'Angelo

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A fragment from the Roman History of Dio Cassius as translated by Earnest Cary in 1925:

Related Topics:
Dio Cassius - Earnest Cary - 1925

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:"After Hadrian's death there was erected to him a huge equestrian statue representing him with a four-horse chariot. It was so large that the bulkiest man could walk through the eye of each horse, yet because of the extreme height of the foundation persons passing along on the ground below believe that the horses themselves as well as Hadrian are very small."

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