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.
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. He supported the creation of provincial towns (
municipia), semi-autonomous urban communities with their own customs and laws, rather than the imposition of new Roman
colonies with Roman constitutions. A cosmopolitan, ecumenical intent is evident in coin issues of Hadrian's later reign, showing the emperor "raising up" the personifications of various provinces.
Aelius Aristides would later write that Hadrian "extended over his subjects a protecting hand, raising them as one helps fallen men on their feet". All this did not go well with Roman traditionalists. The self-indulgent emperor
Nero 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 imminent
return or rebirth emerged almost immediately after his death. Hadrian may have consciously exploited these positive, popular connections during his own travels. In the
Historia Augusta, Hadrian is described as "a little too much Greek", too cosmopolitan for a Roman emperor.
Britannia and the West (122) , 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 in
Britannia, the province had suffered a major rebellion from 118 to 119. Inscriptions tell of an
expeditio 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. Coin legends of 119–120 attest that
Quintus Pompeius Falco was sent to restore order. In 122 Hadrian initiated the construction of a wall "to separate Romans from barbarians". The idea that the wall was built in order to deal with an actual threat or its resurgence, however, is probable but nevertheless conjectural. 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, and controlled cross-border trade and immigration. A shrine was erected in York to Britannia as the divine
personification of Britain; coins were struck, bearing her image, identified as Britannia. By the end of 122, Hadrian had concluded his visit to Britannia. He never saw the finished
wall that bears his name. Hadrian appears to have continued through southern Gaul. At
Nemausus, he may have overseen the building of a
basilica dedicated to his patroness Plotina, who had recently died in Rome and had been deified at Hadrian's request. At around this time, Hadrian dismissed his secretary
ab epistulis, the biographer
Suetonius, for "excessive familiarity" towards the empress. 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. Hadrian spent the winter of 122/123 at
Tarraco, in Spain, where he restored the Temple of
Augustus.
Africa, Parthia (123) In 123, Hadrian crossed the Mediterranean to
Mauretania, where he personally led a minor campaign against local rebels. The visit was cut short by reports of war preparations by Parthia; Hadrian quickly headed eastwards. At some point, he visited
Cyrene, 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. Birley describes this kind of investment as "characteristic of Hadrian".
Anatolia; Antinous (123–124) When Hadrian arrived on the
Euphrates, he personally negotiated a settlement with the Parthian King
Osroes I, inspected the Roman defences, then set off westwards, along the Black Sea coast. He probably wintered in
Nicomedia, the main city of
Bithynia. 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. from
Patras,
National Archaeological Museum, Athens It is possible that Hadrian visited
Claudiopolis and saw the beautiful
Antinous, 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. The actual historical detail of their relationship is mostly unknown. With or without Antinous, Hadrian travelled through
Anatolia. 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 in
Cyzicus, begun by the kings of
Pergamon, were put into practice. The temple received a colossal statue of Hadrian. Cyzicus,
Pergamon,
Smyrna,
Ephesus and
Sardes were promoted as regional centres for the
imperial cult (
neocoros).
Greece (124–125) Hadrian arrived in Greece during the autumn of 124 and participated in the
Eleusinian Mysteries. He had a particular commitment to Athens, which had previously granted him citizenship and an ; at the Athenians' request, he revised their constitution – among other things, he added a new
phyle (tribe), which was named after him. Hadrian combined active, hands-on interventions with cautious restraint. 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; yet he granted an imperial subsidy for the Athenian grain supply. Hadrian created two
foundations to fund Athens' public games, festivals and competitions if no citizen proved wealthy or willing enough to sponsor them as a
Gymnasiarch or
Agonothetes. Generally Hadrian preferred that Greek notables, including priests of the imperial cult, focus on more essential and durable provisions, especially
munera such as aqueducts and public fountains (
nymphaea). Athens was given two
nymphaea; one brought water from Mount Parnes to the
Athenia Agora via a complex, challenging and ambitious system of aqueduct tunnels and reservoirs, to be constructed over several years. Several were given to Argos, to remedy a water-shortage so severe and so long-standing that "thirsty Argos" featured in Homeric epic. , completed under Emperor Hadrian in 131 During that winter, Hadrian toured the
Peloponnese. His exact route is uncertain, but it took in
Epidaurus;
Pausanias describes temples built there by Hadrian, and his statue – in
heroic nudity – erected by its citizens in thanks to their "restorer". Antinous and Hadrian may have already been lovers at this time; Hadrian showed particular generosity to
Mantinea, which shared ancient, mythic, politically useful links with Antinous' home at Bithynia. He restored Mantinea's Temple of
Poseidon Hippios, and according to Pausanias, restored the city's original, classical name. It had been renamed Antigoneia since Hellenistic times, after the Macedonian King
Antigonus III Doson. Hadrian also rebuilt the ancient shrines of
Abae and
Megara, and the
Heraion of Argos. During his tour of the Peloponnese, Hadrian persuaded the
Spartan grandee Eurycles Herculanus – leader of the
Euryclid family that had ruled Sparta since Augustus' day – to enter the Senate, alongside the Athenian grandee
Herodes 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. This was an important step in overcoming Greek notables' reluctance to take part in Roman political life. In March 125, Hadrian presided at the Athenian festival of
Dionysia, wearing Athenian dress. The
Temple 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. Back in Rome, he saw the rebuilt Pantheon and his completed villa at nearby
Tibur, among the
Sabine 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. Having Italy effectively reduced to the status of a group of mere provinces did not go down well with the Roman Senate, and the innovation did not long outlive Hadrian's reign. 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.
Greece, Asia, and Egypt (128–130); Antinous's death In September 128, Hadrian attended the
Eleusinian Mysteries again. This time his visit to Greece seems to have concentrated on Athens and
Sparta – the two ancient rivals for dominance of Greece. Hadrian had played with the idea of focusing his Greek revival around the
Amphictyonic League based in Delphi, but by now he had decided on something far grander. His new
Panhellenion 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. 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. Hadrian arrived in Egypt before the Egyptian New Year on 29 August 130. He opened his stay in Egypt by restoring
Pompey the Great's tomb at
Pelusium, offering sacrifice to him as a
hero and composing an
epigraph 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. 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. While Hadrian and his entourage were sailing on the
Nile, 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: Hadrian founded the city of
Antinoöpolis in Antinous' honour on 30 October 130. He then continued down the Nile to
Thebes, where his visit to the
Colossi of Memnon on 20 and 21 November was commemorated by four epigrams inscribed by
Julia Balbilla. After that, he headed north, reaching the
Fayyum at the beginning of December.
Greece and the East (130–132) in
Jerash,
Transjordan, built to honour Hadrian's visit in 130 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 new
Panhellenion, which was to be focused on the
Athenian 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. 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. 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 to
Pericles, who supposedly had convened a previous Panhellenic Congress – such a Congress is mentioned only in Pericles'
biography by
Plutarch, who respected Rome's imperial order. 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. Hadrian's notion of Hellenism was narrow and deliberately archaising; he defined "Greekness" in terms of classical roots, rather than a broader, Hellenistic culture. Some cities with a dubious claim to Greekness, however – such as
Side – were acknowledged as fully Hellenic. The German sociologist
Georg Simmel remarked that the Panhellenion was based on "games, commemorations, preservation of an ideal, an entirely non-political Hellenism". Hadrian bestowed honorific titles on many regional centres.
Palmyra received a state visit and was given the civic name Hadriana Palmyra. 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. Hadrian had spent the winter of 131–32 in Athens, where he dedicated the now-completed
Temple of Olympian Zeus, At some time in 132, he headed East, to Judaea.
Third Roman–Jewish War (132–136) File:Hadrian visit to Judea.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|Coinage minted to mark Hadrian's visit to Judea. The legends read as: HADRIANVS AVG. CO[N]S. III, P. P. / ADVENTVI (arrival) AVG. IVDAEAE – S. C.
Background, causes In
Roman Judaea, Hadrian visited
Jerusalem, which was still in ruins after the
First Jewish–Roman War of 66–73. He may have planned to rebuild Jerusalem as a
colonia as
Vespasian had done with
Caesarea 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. It has been speculated that Hadrian intended to assimilate the
Temple in Jerusalem to the traditional civic-religious
Roman imperial cult; such assimilations had long been commonplace practice in Greece and in other provinces, and on the whole, had been successful. The
Samaritans had already integrated their religious rites with Hellenistic ones. Strict Jewish
monotheism proved more resistant to imperial cajoling, and then to imperial demands. A tradition based on the
Historia Augusta suggests that the revolt was spurred by Hadrian's abolition of
circumcision (
brit milah); which as a
Hellenist he viewed as
mutilation. The scholar
Peter Schäfer maintains that there is no evidence for this claim, given the notoriously problematical nature of the
Historia 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 of
castration of slaves by their masters. 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 on
Jeremiah's prophecy that the Temple would be rebuilt seventy years after its destruction, as the
First Temple had been after the
Babylonian exile.
Revolt A massive anti-Hellenistic and anti-Roman Jewish uprising broke out, led by
Simon bar Kokhba. 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. 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. The Romans were overwhelmed by the organised ferocity of the uprising. Hadrian's report on the war to the
Roman Senate omitted the customary salutation, "If you and your children are in health, it is well; I and the legions are in health." The rebellion was quashed by 135. According to
Cassius Dio.
Beitar, a fortified city southwest of Jerusalem, fell after a three-and-a-half-year siege.
Aftermath; persecutions and the
Genii of
the 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. Hadrian is said to have placed the city's main
Forum at the junction of the main
Cardo and
Decumanus 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") on
Mount Gerizim. The bloody repression of the revolt ended Jewish political independence from the Roman imperial order.
Hadrian's itinerary 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 – via
Illyricum. ==Final years==