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Publius Aelius Traianus Hadrianus (January 24, 76 - July 10, 138), known as Hadrian in English, was a Roman emperor from 117 - 138. He is considered one of the so-called Five Good Emperors.
Hadrian was born in Spain to a well-established settler family. He was a distant relative of his predecessor Trajan. Trajan never officially designated a successor, but, according to his wife, named Hadrian immediately before his death. However, Trajan's wife was well-disposed toward Hadrian, and he may well have owed his succession to her.
Hadrian's reign was marked by a general lack of military conflict. He surrendered Trajan's conquests in Mesopotamia, considering them to be indefensible. The military's inaction was exacerbated by Hadrian's policy of securing the borders with permanent fortifications (limites, singular limes). The most famous of these is the massive Hadrian's Wall in Britain, and the Danube and Rhine borders were strengthened with a series of mostly wooden fortifications, forts, ouposts and watchtowers, the later specifically improving communications and local area security. To maintain morale and keep the troops from getting restive, he established intensive drill routines, and personally inspected the armies.
See Bar Kokhba's revolt.
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 built by Agrippa was enriched under Hadrian and took the form in which it remains to this day, with the exception of the bronze frontispice depicting the twelve Greek gods, a work which survived until 1633 when it was melted down by Pope Urban VIII Barberini for use in the Vatican, causing the Romans to mutter that they had more to fear from the Barberinis than from the barbarians.
Hadrian was a humanist, 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 parts of Asia Minor. This parliament, known as the Panhellenion didn't succeed however despite spirited efforts to instill cooperation among the Hellenes. Hadrian was especially famous for his love affair with a young Greek, 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. 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.
Hadrian died at his villa in Baiae.
A fragment from the Roman History of Dio Cassius as translated by Earnest Cary in 1925:
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 is classics scholar 2003). The book mixes travelogue, fictionalized memoir and authentic biography, as seen through the eyes of the historical Hadrianic poet and epigram-writer cleanup.
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This is a list of Roman Emperors with the dates they controlled the Roman Empire.
(Note that, contrary to popular belief, Julius Caesar was never Emperor (princeps), although he was named dictator for life in 45 BC (but was not the first Roman to hold that title) and was regarded as such by Roman historians. On the other hand, the name Caesar became the family name of the first dynasty and was effectively treated as a title, a practice which continued throughout the Empire. Similarly, Suetonius wrote of The Twelve Caesars (including the Flavians) so some sense of continuity was evidently felt.)
For the worship of the Roman Emperor as a god, see imperial cult.
For a simplified list see: Concise List of Roman Emperors
italics: claimant who cannot be conisdered to have ruled or held power over part of the empire only
bold italics: nickname by which the individual is commonly known
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