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HADRIAN (PUBLICS AELIUS HADRIANUS)
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See also:HADRIAN (PUBLICS AELIUS HADRIANUS) , See also:Roman See also:emperor A.D. 117-138, was See also:born on the 24th of See also:January A.D. 76, at Italica in Hispania Baetica (according to others, at See also:Rome), where his ancestors, originally from See also:Hadria in See also:Picenum, had been settled since the See also:time of the Scipios. On his See also:father's See also:death in 85 or 86 he was placed under the guardianship of two See also:fellow-countrymen, his kinsman Ulpius Trajanus (afterwards the emperor See also:Trajan), and Caelius Attianus (afterwards See also:prefect of the praetorian guard). He spent the next five years at Rome, but at the See also:age of fifteen he returned to his native See also:place and entered upon a military career. He was soon, however, recalled to Rome by Trajan, and appointed to the offices of decemvir stlitibus judicandis, praefectus feriarum Latinarum, and sevir turmae equitum Romanorum. About 95 he was military See also:tribune in See also:lower See also:Moesia. In 97 he was sent to upper See also:Germany to convey the congratulations of the See also:army to Trajan on his See also:adoption by See also:Nerva; and, in January of the following See also:year, he hastened to announce the death of Nerva to Trajan at See also:Cologne. Trajan, who had been set against Hadrian by reports of his extravagance, soon took him into favour again, chiefly owing to the See also:goodwill of the empress Plotina, who brought about the See also:marriage of Hadrian with (Vibia) Sabina, Trajan's See also:great-niece. In See also:lot Hadrian was See also:quaestor, in 105 tribune of the See also:people, in rob See also:praetor. He served with distinction in both Dacian See also:campaigns: in the second Trajan presented him with a valuable See also:ring which he himself had received from Nerva, a token of regard which seemed to designate Hadrian as his successor. In ro7 Hadrian was legatus See also:praetorius of lower See also:Pannonia, in ro8 See also:consul suffectus, in 112 See also:archon at See also:Athens, legatus in the See also:Parthian See also:campaign (113–117), in 117 consul designatus for the following year, in 119 consul for the third and last time only for four months. When Trajan, owing to a severe illness, decided to return See also:home from the See also:East, he See also:left Hadrian in command of the army and See also:governor of See also:Syria. On the 9th of See also:August 117, Hadrian, at See also:Antioch, was informed
(T. As.)
of his adoption by Trajan, and, on the rlth, of the death of the latter at See also:Selinus in See also:Cilicia. According to Dio See also:Cassius (lxix. 1) the adoption was entirely fictitious, the See also:work of Plotina and Attianus, by whom Trajan's death was concealed for a few days in See also:order to facilitate the See also:elevation of Hadrian. Whichever may have been the truth, his See also:succession was confirmed by the army and the See also:senate. He hastened to propitiate the former by a donative of twice the usual amount, and excused his hasty See also:acceptance of the See also:throne to the senate by alleging the impatient zeal of the soldiers and the See also:necessity of an imperator for the welfare of the See also:state.
Hadrian's first important See also:act was to abandon as untenable the conquests of Trajan beyond the See also:Euphrates (See also:Assyria, See also:Mesopotamia and See also:Armenia), a recurrence to the traditional policy of See also:Augustus. The provinces were unsettled, the barbarians on the See also:borders restless and menacing, and Hadrian wisely judged that the old limits of Augustus afforded the most defensible frontier. Mesopotamia and Assyria were given back to the Parthians, and the Armenians were allowed a See also: Four citizens of consular See also:rank were accused of being concerned in it, and were put to death by order of the senate before he could interfere. Hurrying back to Rome, Hadrian endeavoured to remove the unfavourable impression produced by the whole affair and to gain the goodwill of senate and people. He threw the responsibility for the executions upon the prefect of the praetorian guard, and swore that he would never punish a senator without the assent of the entire See also:body, to which he expressed the utmost deference and See also:consideration. Large sums of See also:money and See also:games and shows were provided for the people, and, in addition, all the arrears of See also:taxation for the last fifteen years (about £ro,000,000) were cancelled and the bonds burnt in the See also:Forum of Trajan. Trajan's See also:scheme for the " alimentation " of poor See also:children was carried out upon a larger See also:scale under the superintendence of a See also:special See also:official called praefectus alimentorum. The See also:record of Hadrian's journeysl through all parts of the See also:empire forms the See also:chief authority for the events of his life down to his final See also:settlement in the See also:capital during his last years. They can only be briefly touched upon here. His first great See also:journey probably lasted from 121 to 126. After traversing See also:Gaul he visited the Germanic provinces on the See also:Rhine, and crossed over to See also:Britain (See also:spring, 122), where he built the great rampart from the See also:Tyne to the Solway, which bears his name (see BRITAIN: Roman). He returned through Gaul into See also:Spain, and then proceeded to See also:Mauretania, where he suppressed an insurrection. A See also:war with the Parthians was averted by a See also:personal interview with their king (123). From the Parthian frontier he travelled through See also:Asia See also:Minor and the islands of the See also:Aegean to Athens (autumn, 125), where he introduced various See also:political and commercial changes, was initiated at the Eleusinia, and presided at the celebration of the greater See also:Dionysia. After visiting Central See also:Greece and See also:Peloponnesus, he returned by way of See also:Sicily to Rome (end of 126). The next year was spent at Rome, and, after a visit to See also:Africa, he set out on his second great journey (See also:September 128). He travelled by way of Athens, where he completed and dedicated the buildings (see ATHENS) begun during his first visit, chief of which was the Olympieum or See also:temple of Olympian See also:Zeus, on which occasion Hadrian himself assumed the name of Olympius. In the spring of 129 he visited Asia Minor and Syria, where he invited the See also:kings and princes of the East to a See also:meeting (probably at See also:Samosata). Having passed the See also:winter at ,tioch, he set out for the See also:south (spring, 130). He ordered See also:Jerusalem to be rebuilt (see JERUSALEM) under the name of Aelia Capitolina, and made his way through See also:Arabia to See also:Egypt, where he restored 1 The See also:chronology of Hadrian's journeys—indeed, of the whole reign—is confused and obscure. In the above the See also:article by von Rohden in Pauly-Wissowa's Realencyclopadie has been followed. See also:Weber's (see See also:Bibliog.) is the most important discussion. He was without doubt one of the most capable emperors who ever occupied the throne, and devoted his great and varied talents to the interests of the state. One of his chief See also:objects was the abolition of distinctions between the provinces and the See also:mother See also:country, finally carried out by See also:Caracalla, while at the same time he did not neglect reforms that were urgently called for in See also:Italy. Provincial See also:governors were kept under strict super-See also:vision; See also:extortion was practically unheard of; the See also:jus Latii was bestowed upon several communities; special officials were instituted for the See also:control of the finances; and the emperor's See also:interest in provincial affairs was shown by his personal See also:assumption of various municipal offices. New towns were founded and old ones restored; new streets were laid out, and aqueducts, temples and magnificent buildings constructed. In Italy itself the ad-ministration of See also:justice and the finances required special See also:attention. Four legati juridici (or simply juridici) of consular rank were appointed for Italy, who took over certain important judicial functions formerly exercised by See also:local magistrates (cases of fideicommissa, the nomination of guardians). The judicial See also:council (consiliarii See also:Augusti, later called consistorium), composed of persons of the highest rank (especially jurists), became a permanent body of advisers, although merely consultative. Roman See also:law owes much to Hadrian, who instructed Salvius Julianus to draw up an edictum perpetuum, to a great extent the basis of Justinian's Corpus See also:juris (see M. Schanz, Geschichle der romischen Literalur, iii. p. 167). In the See also:administration of See also:finance, in addition to the remission of arrears already mentioned, a revision of claims was ordered to be made every fifteen years, thereby anticipating the " indictions " (see See also:CALENDAR; CHRONOLOGY). See also:Direct collection of taxes by imperial procurators was substituted for the See also:system of farming, and a special official (advocatus fisci) was instituted to look after the interests of the imperial See also:treasury. The See also:gift of " coronary See also:gold " (aurum coronarium), presented to the emperor on certain occasions, was entirely remitted in the See also:case of Italy, and partly in the case of the provinces. The administration of the postal service throughout the empire was taken over by the state, and municipal officials were relieved from the See also:burden of maintaining the imperial posts. Humane regulations as to the treatment of slaves were strictly II enforced; the See also:master was forbidden to put his slave to death, but was obliged to bring him before a See also:court of justice; if he See also:ill-treated him it was a penal offence. The See also:sale of slaves (male and See also:female) for immoral and gladiatorial purposes was forbidden; the See also:custom of putting all the See also:household to death when their master was murdered was modified. The public See also:baths were kept under strict supervision; the toga was ordered to be worn in public by senators and See also:equites on See also:solemn occasions; extravagant banquets were prohibited; rules were made to prevent the congestion of See also:traffic in the streets. In military matters Hadrian was a strict disciplinarian, but his generosity and readiness to See also:share their hardships endeared him to the soldiers. He effected a material and moral improvement in the conditions of service and mode of life, but in other respects he does not appear to have introduced any important military reforms. During his reign an advance was made in the direction of creating an organized body of servants at the disposal of the emperor by the See also:appointment of equites to important administrative posts, without their having performed the militiae equestres (see EQUITES). Among these posts were various procuratorships (chief of which was that of the imperial fisc), and the offices ab epistulis, a rationibus and a libellis (secretary, accountant, See also:receiver of petitions). The prefect of the praetorian guard was now the most important See also:person in the state next to the emperor, and subsequently became a supreme See also:judge of See also:appeal. Among the magnificent buildings erected by Hadrian mention may be made of the following: In the capital, the temple of See also:Venus and See also:Roma; his splendid See also:mausoleum, which formed the groundwork of the See also:castle of St Angelo; the See also:pantheon of See also:Agrippa; the See also:Basilica Neptuni; at See also:Tibur the great See also:villa 8 m. in extent, a See also:kind of See also:epitome of the See also:world, with miniatures of the most celebrated places in the provinces. Athens, however, was the favourite site of his architectural labours; here he built the temple of Olympian Zeus, the Panhellenion, the Pantheon, the library, a gymnasium and a temple of See also:Hera. Hadrian was fond of the society of learned men—poets, scholars, rhetoricians and philosophers—whom he alternately humoured and ridiculed. In See also:painting, See also:sculpture and See also:music he considered himself the equal of specialists. The architect See also:Apollodorus of See also:Damascus owed his banishment and death to his outspoken See also:criticism of the emperor's plans. The sophist See also:Favorinus was more politic; when reproached for yielding too readily to the emperor in some grammatical discussion, he replied that it was unwise to contradict the master of See also:thirty legions. The See also:Athenaeum (q.v.) owed its See also:foundation to Hadrian. He was a See also:man of considerable intellectual attainments, of prodigious memory, master of both Latin and See also:Greek, and wrote See also:prose and See also:verse with equal facility. His See also:taste, however, was curious; he preferred See also:Cato the See also:elder, See also:Ennius and Caelius See also:Antipater to See also:Cicero, See also:Virgil and See also:Sallust, the obscure poet See also:Antimachus to See also:Homer and See also:Plato. As a-writer he displayed great versatility. He composed an autobiography, published under the name of his freedman See also:Phlegon; wrote speeches, fragments of two of which are preserved in See also:inscriptions (a See also:panegyric on his mother-in-law Matidia, and an address to the soldiers at Lambaesis in Africa). In See also:imitation of Antimachus he wrote a work called Catachannae, probably a kind of miscellanea. The Latin and Greek anthologies contain about a dozen epigrams under his name. The See also:letter of Hadrian to the consul Servianus (in Vopiscus, Vita Saturnini, 8) is no longer considered genuine. Hadrian's celebrated dying address to his soul may here be quoted: " Animula vagula, blandula, Hospes comesque corporis, Quae nunc abibis in loca Pallidula,-rigida, nudula; Nec, ut soles, dabis jocos?" The See also:character of Hadrian exhibits a See also:mass of contradictions, well summed up by Spartianus (14. 1 r). He was See also:grave and See also:gay, affable and dignified, cruel and See also:gentle, mean and generous, eager for fame yet not vain, impulsive and cautious, secretive and open. He hated eminent qualities in others, but gathered See also:round him the most distinguished men of the state; at one time affectionatetowards his See also:friends, at another he mistrusted and put them to death. In fact, he was only consistent in his inconsistency (See also:semper in See also:omnibus varius). Although he endeavoured to win the popular favour, he was more feared than loved. A man of unnatural passions and grossly superstitious, he was an ardent See also:lover of nature. But, with all his faults, he devoted himself so indefatigably to the service of the state, that the See also:period of his reign could be characterized as a " See also:golden age." The chief See also:ancient authorities for the reign of Hadrian are: the life by Aelius Spartianus in the Scriptores historiae Augustae (see AUGUSTAN See also:HISTORY and bibliography) ; the epitome of Dio Cassius (lxix.) by See also:Xiphilinus; Aurelius See also:Victor, Epit. 14, probably based on See also:Marius See also:Maximus; See also:Eutropius viii. 6; See also:Zonaras xi. 23; Suidas, s.v. 'Abpcavos: and numerous inscriptions and coins. The autobiography was used by both Dio Cassius and Marius Maximus. See also:Modern authorities: C. See also:Merivale, Hist. of the See also:Romans under the Empire, ch. lxvi.; H. See also:Schiller, Geschichte der romischen Kaiserzeit, i. 2, p. 602 (1883); J. B. See also:Bury, The Student's Roman Empire (1893), where a concise table of the journeys is given; P. von Rohden, s.v. " Aelius (No. 64) in Pauly-Wissowa's Realencyclopadie, i. 1 (1894) ; J. Diirr, See also:Die Reisen See also:des Kaisers Hadrian (1881) ; F. See also:Gregorovius, The Emperor Hadrian (Eng. tr. by See also:Mary E. See also:Robinson, 1898) ; A. See also:Hausrath, Neutestamentliche Zeitgeschichte, iii. (1874); W. See also:Schurz, De mutationibus in imperio ordinando ab See also:imp. Hadr. factis, i. (See also:Bonn, 1883); J. Plew, Quellenuntersuchungen zur Geschichte des Kaisers Hadrian (See also:Strassburg, 189o); O. T. Schulz, " Leben des Kaisers Hadrian," Quellenanalysen [of Spartianus' Vita] (1904); E. Kornemann, Kaiser Hadrian and der letzte See also:grosse Historiker von Rom (1905); W. Weber, Untersuchungen zur Geschichte des Kaisers Hadrianus (1908); H. F. See also:Hitzig, Die Stellung Kaiser Hadrians in der romischen Rechtsgeschichte (1892); C. Schultess, Bauten des Kaisers Hadrian (1898); G. Doublet, Notes sur See also:les oeuvres litleraires de l'empereur Hadrien (See also:Toulouse, 1893); J. B. See also:Lightfoot, Apostolic Fathers, ii. 1, 476 seq.; See also:Sir W. M. See also:Ramsay, See also: H. F.)
HADRIAN'S See also:WALL, the name usually given to the remains of the Roman fortifications which defended the See also:northern frontier of the Roman See also:province of Britain, between the Tyne and the Solway. The See also:works consisted of (1) a continuous defensive rampart with a ditch in front and a road behind; (2) various forts, blockhouses and towers along the rampart; and (3) an earthwork to the south of it, generally called the Valium, of uncertain use. The defensive wall was probably first erected by Hadrian about A.D. 122 as a See also:turf wall, and rebuilt in See also: Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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