Hadrian

Publius Aelius Traianus Hadrianus (January 24, 76 - July 10, 138), known as Hadrian in English, was a Roman emperor from 117 - 138.

One of the so-called Five Good Emperors, Hadrian stabilized the borders of the Empire (e.g. Hadrian's Wall across the north of Roman Britain), and established peace, partly by crushing a second nationalistic anti-Hellenist uprising of Jews in Judea (132 CE), declaring Jerusalem a Roman city and prohibiting Jews to worship there.

Above all Hadrian patronized the arts: Hadrian's Villa at Tivoli was the greatest Roman example of an Alexandrian garden, recreating a sacred landscape. In Rome, the Pantheon built by Agrippa was enriched and took on the form in which it has survived.

Hadrian was a humanist, deeply Hellenophile in all his tastes. Hadrian was especially famous for his love affair with a young Greek, Antinous. While touring Egypt, Antinous mysteriously drowned in the Nile (130 CE). 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 hundred (thousands) of sculptures of Antinous in the manner of a Greek youth. The passion and depth of Hadrian's love for the boy was shown in busts and statues to be found all over Europe, featuring the boy's full lips and round cheeks.

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

"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."

Hadrian's lost authentic autobiography was reimagined in the form of a fictional autobiography, based on a careful study of the authentic sources, by Marguerite Yourcenar, Mémoires d'Hadrien (1951); English translation Memoirs of Hadrian (New York 1954). Another fictionalized account of Hadrian and his court, isclassics scholar Elizabeth Speller's Following Hardian:a second-century journey (2003, Mixing travelogue, fictionalized memoir and authentic biography,seen through the eyes of the historical Hadrianic poet and epigram-writer Julia Balbilla.

Preceded by: Trajan (98 - 117)

Roman emperors

Followed by: Antoninus Pius (138 - 161)