Ruling 117-138, the Roman Emperor Hadrian was born in 76. He was born in the colony of Italique, located in the province of Baetica near modern Seville. Adrian was the son of Praetor Publius Elius Adrian Aphra (that is, African, this title went to his father as a reward for his service in distant Mauritania). The boy's mother was Domitia Paulina, originally from the Spanish Hades. Emperor Hadrian belonged to the aristocracy. His paternal grandfather was a member of the Senate and the husband of Trajan's aunt. This emperor, who reigned from 98-117, being Hadrian's great uncle, became his guardian after the death of the child's parents in 85.
Youth
The future Emperor Hadrian chose a military career. He became a tribune in the legions serving in the most tense European provinces: Upper Germany, Lower Moesia and Lower Pannonia. Being the right hand of Trajan, Hadrian accompanied him on the road to Rome, when he was preparing to take the throne. A military man got married in the capital. His wife was Vibia Sabina, the daughter of the new emperor's niece.
Then Adrian became a quaestor, commanded a legion and acted as praetor during the Dacian War. For some time he was the governor in Lower Pannonia, which was facilitated by the emperor himself. Adrian was distinguished by service and diligence. In 108, his administrative qualities allowed him to become a consul. It was a turbulent time for the empire - the key figures of state power had to respond to many challenges of the era. With the outbreak of war with Parthia, Hadrian went to Syria, where he became governor in the border province.
Trajan's heir
In 117, Hadrian was elected consul for the second time. However, already in the same summer, Trajan died and the acute question arose about the transfer of power to a successor. For three days the news of the death of the sovereign remained a mystery to the masses. The elites tried to agree on who would be the new head of state. The day after Trajan's death, his will was discovered, in which he adopted Hadrian and transferred him the rights to the throne. The fact of the last will of the deceased was confirmed by his wife Pompey Plotina.
Despite this, the news of the adoption raised some doubts. Following the accession to the throne of Hadrian, new coins were even issued with the image of his profile, on which he was titled Caesar, but not August. However, the de facto transfer of power did take place. The decisive word was for the army, and she supported the applicant, well known to the military. Opposition to the new ruler could arise in the Senate, but the senators, finding themselves in virtual isolation, willingly or not, recognized the new monarch.
Peacekeeper
First of all, the new Emperor Hadriandeified his predecessor and guardian. To do this, he had to ask permission from the Senate. The rhetoric of the ruler in relation to influential nobles was specific. The autocrat treated the senators with respect and courtesy. In fact, a non-aggression pact was concluded, initiated by Adrian himself. The emperor of Rome promised not to repress the aristocracy if it did not interfere with the implementation of an independent policy.
The desire to govern yourself was not accidental. Adrian's ideas differed in many ways from those that Trajan was guided by. The new emperor refused further expansion in the east. The reason for this was the major unrest in Mesopotamia. Because of them, the reign of Emperor Hadrian began with the fact that he decided to put an end to the turmoil on the border. By his order, the legions stopped the wars with Parthia. Buffer states between Persia and the Roman Empire remained in the hands of local vassal kings.
The policy of compromise quickly bore fruit. The unrest has stopped. After the first success, Adrian turned his eyes to the banks of the Danube. Through this border river, the Roksolani and Sarmatians began to invade the Roman state. The army defeated these nomads who came from the Black Sea steppes. In neighboring Dacia, Hadrian consolidated Trajan's acquisitions by introducing a new system of administration there and dividing the province into three parts.
The Emperor and the aristocracy
Winter 118 Adrian spent in Bithynia and Nicodemia. There, news reached him about the strife of the aristocrats in the capital. The praetorian prefect, who was at that time in Rome,Attian, in the absence of the emperor, executed several influential political figures who were suspected of treason. Among them was Lucius Const, whom Hadrian himself had recently dismissed from the post of governor in Judea. Another punished was Gaius Avidius Nigrin, who was considered a possible successor to the emperor.
Having learned about the massacre, Adrian returned to Rome. He had to demonstrate to the Senate that he was not involved in the deaths of high-ranking officials. For this, the emperor made a sacrificial sacrifice, depriving Attian of his position as praetorian prefect. Nevertheless, this story had a negative impact on relations between August and the Senate.
Attitude towards provinces
Energetic Adrian is the Roman emperor, who was the first in a series of his predecessors and successors to travel all over his vast empire. He is deservedly considered one of the greatest travelers of antiquity. The peak of trips to the provinces occurred in 121-132. In each city, the emperor personally received citizens, recognized their problems and solved their most pressing problems.
Having gained impressions of his own country, Hadrian ordered to issue a series of coins, which included images of the centers of each Roman province. The various regions of the state were personified in the image of a woman. They all differed from each other, having received a unique characteristic attribute: the Asian saber, the Egyptian ibis, the games of the Greeks, etc.
Hadrian became the first emperor to abandon the ideology, according to which the empire was supposed to exist only for the sake of prosperityRome. It was he who set out to create a living organism from a huge state, the equal of which has not yet been in human history. The autocrat saw in the empire not an accumulation of conquered and occupied lands, but a commonwe alth in which many unique peoples lived. Hadrian's attention to provincial affairs continued unabated throughout his reign.
Hadrian's Travels
The destination of Hadrian's first major journey was Gaul. The emperor visited the provinces located in the basin of the Rhine and Danube. Then he traveled to distant Britain. On behalf of Caesar, the construction of a long wall began in the north of the island, which protected the Roman possessions from hostile Caledonians.
In 122, Hadrian again visited Gaul, this time in its southern regions. In the city of Nemaus (modern Nimes), he founded a temple in honor of the recently deceased wife of Trajan, Pompeii Platina. The sovereign every time tried to emphasize his own piety towards his predecessor and his family. In Italica, where Hadrian was born, the Roman emperor visited the following winter, from where he moved to Mauritania and Africa.
In 123, relations between Rome and Parthia experienced another test of strength. Fearing war, Adrian personally visited the east of the country. He negotiated with the Persians and defuse the situation. During this voyage, the sovereign visited Palmyra and Antioch. The next year, the indefatigable Adrian came to Thrace, where he founded the city of his name, Adrianople. This political and cultural center survived the empire. In the era of Byzantium, it was one of its most important provincial centers. Today the city bears the Turkish name of Edirne.
The Emperor's travels to Greece are curious. During one of them, August personally took part in the Eleusinian Mysteries, the most important annual Hellenic religious rite dedicated to the fertility goddesses Persephone and Demeter. Also noteworthy is the ascent of the emperor to the top of Mount Etna in Sicily. Traveling through the empire, Hadrian conquered several more mountains (for example, Cassius in Syria). Visited August and glorious Egypt. He reached the Colossi of Memnon, the stone statues of Pharaoh Amenhotep III, which had stood in Thebes for a thousand and a half years.
Building new fortifications
For the sovereign's habits and character, it was important that Adrian was a Roman emperor, whose biography was an example of a successful military man, who eventually went into politics. After becoming sovereign, he began to travel frequently to the army. The emperor visited and constantly controlled the troops, checking their readiness and combat skills. Since Hadrian refused further Roman expansion, the legions had to completely change their own way of life. Having lost their aggressive campaigns, they were thrown to strengthen the border regions.
In the era of Hadrian, a significant number of powerful defensive structures were built along the state borders. The main fortification of the empire appeared in Northern Britain. This already mentioned wall, called Hadrian's Wall, stretches from the S alt Road to Tyne and even survives to this day. It was built from turf and stone. The salient features of the wallmoats became in the shape of the letter V. The peace of Roman Britain was protected by massive gates and high towers, in which the best and hardiest legionnaires served. In total, the wall was guarded by about fifteen thousand people. To the north of it lay the unconquered barbarian Caledonia.
Similar fortifications appeared in Greece and Germany. They were placed where there were no natural boundaries (for example, rivers). A continuous stretch of two hundred miles was drawn between the Danube and the Rhine. This rampart was topped with a wooden palisade and surrounded by steep ditches.
Changes in the army
Prosperous civilian settlements have sprung up near the borders thanks to Hadrian's protective policies. They appeared near the military camps. The colonists tried to hide from the dangerous barbarian neighbors behind the fortress walls.
The lifestyle of the army also changed. Now the soldiers did not just fight, but bred horses, built quarries, made uniforms, guarded and transported grain, and were engaged in animal husbandry. The legions that ceased to be transferred from province to province significantly expanded the field of their activity. Now they also solved household problems.
All these innovations were encouraged by Adrian himself. The Roman emperor, whose bust photos show us an impressive and thorough man in his prime, tirelessly engaged in the affairs of the army, which was the backbone of the tranquility and prosperity of a huge state. Adrian demanded strict discipline and at the same time knew how to communicate sympathetically with the soldiers. He regularlyattended maneuvers, shared food and life with the legionnaires. Himself, having left the military environment, the emperor aroused great sympathy among the infantrymen and officers. Largely due to this, during the reign of Hadrian, there was not a single soldier rebellion in the empire.
Jewish uprising
Most of Hadrian's era was peaceful. The only serious war broke out in 132, towards the end of his reign. A Jewish uprising broke out in Judea. The reason for the unrest was the construction of a Roman temple in Jerusalem. Simeon Bar-Kokhba was the inspirer of the uprising. The rebels captured Jerusalem and drove the Romans out of it. The suppression of the armed uprising took three years.
The actions of the army were periodically led by Adrian himself. The emperor of Rome was present at the fall of Jerusalem in 134. A few months after this episode, the scattered remnants of the disaffected were finally defeated by the legions. Repressions fell on the Jews. In particular, circumcision was forbidden to them.
Death and legacy
Succession proved to be the main problem Adrian faced. The Roman emperor never had children. His relationship with his wife Vibia Sabina was rather cool. She died in 128. Eight years later, Adrian adopted Lucius Commodus, but he died prematurely. Antony Pius became the next official heir. To ensure a long-term succession of power in the next generations, Hadrian ordered the successoradopt Lucius Verus and Marcus Aurelius. All of them later became emperors. Hadrian himself died on July 10, 138. For his repose in Rome, a mausoleum was built in advance. Today it is known as Castel Sant'Angelo.
Hadrian is a Roman emperor whose date of birth (January 24, 76) fell on the heyday of pagan culture. The sovereign was the embodiment of his era. He was interested in magic, astrology and took part in religious rites. Adrian wrote several poems, loved literature and regularly interacted with the best contemporary writers. He was also interested in architecture and art. During the time of Hadrian, a new genre of painting emerged in the empire, inspired by Greek culture. He was the first August to be portrayed in an idealized manner and with a beard.
Roman painters and sculptors were very interested in Emperor Hadrian and Antinous, the emperor's favorite and close associate. This young man tragically drowned in the Nile in the year 130. Hadrian ordered the establishment of a religious cult of Antinous, and since then he has been revered as a god.
Interesting facts about the Emperor
Adrian's architectural tastes were most vividly embodied in his own residence in Tibur, a suburb of Rome, built among slopes and olive groves. The emperor's villa reflected a variety of styles characteristic of the different provinces of the state in which he visited. Adrian surrounded himself with bold, experimental architects and challenged them to create something entirely new. The result of the survey was brick-lined concreteconstructions similar to which were not in all of Rome. Thus, a real revolution took place in the empire and the fashion for curved complex outlines was born, which replaced simple straight lines.
August himself was not going to be limited in innovations to his villa alone. Hadrian is a Roman emperor whose years of reign (117-138) fell at the peak of the veneration of the ancient gods. In honor of them, the pantheon on the Champ de Mars was rebuilt. A new round building appeared on the site of the old temple. Hadrian's Pantheon was the first building of its kind where believers gathered.
At the will of the emperor, a temple of Roma and Venus was built near the Roman Forum. A separate religious building was built by the architects in honor of Trajan, ranked among the gods. In Athens, the sovereign initiated the reconstruction of the temple of Zeus. There is no doubt that Emperor Hadrian, whose biography was associated with numerous trips to the east of his country, was a true Hellenophile.
