Hadrian: Rome’s Architect Emperor

SUMMARY

• Hadrian’s succession was controversial, with accusations of intrigue and the deaths of several senators. This created tension with the Roman Senate throughout his reign.
• Hadrian was deeply influenced by Greek culture, reflected in his extensive travels, architectural projects, and promotion of Hellenistic traditions throughout the Empire.
• Hadrian shifted Roman policy from expansion to consolidation, establishing strong defensive borders like Hadrian’s Wall in Britain and focusing on internal stability.

The period of history between the reign of Trajan and the death of Marcus Aurelius, from 98 to 180 CE, is usually characterized as the height of the Roman Empire. The period was recognized as a Golden Age, in part due to the character of the emperors themselves. It began, of course, with Trajan, the optimus princeps. Significantly, the emperors during this period all adopted their successors. Lacking biological heirs of their own, they instead appointed their successors from the “best of men” available. Meritocracy, not genealogy, appeared to be the principle that guided these emperors to imperial power. Arguably, Hadrian was the most problematic of the four emperors who led during this favorable era in Rome’s history. Reigning from 117 to 138 CE, his reign was characterized by magnificent cultural expressions of Roman creativity. It was, however, also marked by periods of conflict and tension.

Born in 76 CE, Hadrian hailed, like Trajan, from the city of Italica (near modern Seville) in Spain, from a family of aristocratic Italian stock. His father’s first cousin was the man who would become the emperor Trajan. Hadrian was cared for by the future emperor when his parents died when he was just 10 years old. Hadrian’s early years contained few surprises and followed the expected course of an aristocratic adolescence. This included a good education and his advancement along the cursus honorum, the traditional sequence of public offices for men of senatorial rank. He was enrolled in the army. It was during his service as a military tribune that Hadrian was first introduced to the machinations of imperial power. It was Hadrian who was dispatched to Trajan to give him the news of his adoption by Nerva, a necessary move to quell unrest after the murder of Domitian. Later, Hadrian would accompany Trajan as emperor during his Dacian and Parthian campaigns, gaining important exposure to the soldiers he would one day command.

His connection to Trajan’s family was further solidified in around 100 CE by his marriage to Vibia Sabina, Trajan’s grandniece. The marriage was not overly popular with the emperor. Despite their familial connections, there was no indication, even late into Trajan’s reign, that Hadrian had received any particular distinction marking him as the imperial heir. It is suggested that Trajan’s wife, the empress Plotina, influenced not only Hadrian’s marriage to Sabina but also his eventual succession, as she cared for the mortally ill Trajan on his deathbed. Some sources suggest that it was Plotina, not the emperor, who signed the adoption document, confirming Hadrian as the imperial heir. A further irregularity was the geographic distance between the two men. Roman law required all parties to be present at an adoption ceremony, yet whilst Trajan lay dying in 118 CE, Hadrian remained in Syria.

The ancient historians themselves were divided over the legality of the succession. Cassius Dio highlighted the connivance of Plotina, whilst the Historia Augusta — that always fun, but not always factual, 4th-century biography of emperors — declared that “Hadrian was declared adopted, and then only by means of a trick of Plotina’s…” The death of four leading senators soon after has often been cited as further evidence of Machiavellian politics at play in the lead-up to Hadrian’s succession. Their deaths would also contribute to tensions with the Senate that would dog the entirety of Hadrian’s reign, despite the popularity he enjoyed elsewhere.

Reputedly, Plotina’s relationship with Hadrian, which was so pivotal to his accession, was based on their shared beliefs and cultural values. The two of them understood Rome’s vast Empire as being built on the foundation of a shared Hellenic, which is to say Greek, culture. Since his youth, Hadrian had been enamored with the culture of the Greeks, earning him the nickname Graeculus (“Greekling”). Reputedly, he favored the dress sense of the Greeks, wearing a Greek cloak at banquets in the presence of senators. By the time of his accession, Hadrian had already spent considerable time in Greece as part of his education. In Athens, the Greek polis for which he had a particular affinity, Hadrian had already been granted citizenship and other honors. This included the archonship (chief magistracy) of the city in 112 CE.

As Emperor, his interest in Greece continued unabated. This would not necessarily have been well received at Rome. The last emperor to take too keen an interest in Greece, Nero, had very quickly lost support for his Hellenistic cultural proclivities (notably on stage). Despite this, Hadrian traveled again to Greece as part of his tour of the Empire in 124 CE, returning again in 128 and 130 CE. When traveling in Greece, Hadrian moved often, not limiting himself to Athens. His travels were encouraged by the leading Greek notables, such as the famous Athenian nobleman Herodes Atticus. Notably, these individuals had been reticent to engage too fulsomely with Roman politics prior to Hadrian’s reign. The emperor’s direct, personal interaction with the local aristocracy appears to have been the catalyst for these wealthy individuals to compete to sponsor great projects across the imperial provinces. Herodes Atticus, for one, left an indelible stamp on the Athenian cityscape with several monuments.

More broadly, Hadrian’s attempts at unity point to his belief in the shared Mediterranean culture. Reflective of this, he was also heavily involved in Hellenistic cult practices, most famously the Eleusinian Mysteries at Athens, in which he participated several times. However, it was in architecture that his interest in all things Greek manifested itself most clearly. His travels to the region were often times of great construction, with structures ranging from the grandiose, such as the Athenian Temple to Olympian Zeus, to the practical, including an array of aqueducts. Several of these public works were completed in the wider Greek world, for example, engineering work delivering fresh water to the city of Argos. The polis had been recognized as thirsty for centuries, even being described as such in Homer’s epics.

Almost all Roman emperors traveled. In fact, those who elected to stay in Rome, such as Antoninus Pius, were in the minority. However, their various journeys were frequently in the name of war. The emperor would journey to the campaign and, if he was successful, take a meandering route back to Rome, there to celebrate a triumph. In times of peace, it was more common for emperors to rely on the reports of their representatives, as the correspondence between Trajan and Pliny the Younger makes clear.

Hadrian, however, is especially famous for his peregrinations. For him, travel appears to have been almost a raison d’être. He actually spent more than half of his reign outside of Italy, and his exposure to the cultures of the Empire would leave a lasting legacy on the culture of the Hadrianic Empire. Alongside his time spent in Greece, his travels took him to the far northern frontiers of the Empire in Britain, to the heat of the Empire’s Asian and African provinces, ranging as far east as the wealthy trading center of Palmyra (which received the name Hadriana Palmyra in honor of his visit), to North Africa and Egypt. Everywhere he went, he displayed evidence of his awareness of and appreciation for Classical culture. In Egypt, he oversaw the restoration of the tomb of Pompey the Great, even composing an epigraph for the great rival of Julius Caesar.

An important aspect of Hadrian’s travels around the Empire was to inspect the Limes, the imperial frontiers. The reign of Trajan, his predecessor, had resulted in the Empire reaching its greatest geographic extent following the conquest of Dacia and the campaigns in Parthia. However, Hadrian elected to reverse Trajan’s overtly expansionist policies. Some of the territories Rome had won in the east were given up, with Hadrian instead interested in establishing secure and fixed defensive limits to the Empire.

These imperial limits are still famous today. Hadrian’s Wall in the north of England, for instance, marked the northern limit of the Empire. Beyond it was the unconquered territory of Caledonia. Perhaps the most famous of the Roman imperial frontiers, this defensive structure runs from Wallsend on the River Tyne in the northeast of England to Bowness-on-Solway in the west, a distance of 73 miles. Historians have noted that such a structure would have had a profound psychological and physical impact. The ability to construct such a vast defensive network would have informed the people of Britain, on both sides of the wall, of the power of the Roman Empire and the emperor. Similar structures in North Africa, the fotassum Africae, have been attributed to Hadrian and indicate the southern borders of the Empire. The emperor’s decision to give up certain territories incurred the disapproval of some sections of Roman society.

Second Jewish War: Did Hadrian Destroy Jerusalem?

Rome endured a tumultuous relationship with Judaea. Religious tensions, exacerbated by heavy-handed imperial (mis)management, had previously led to revolts, most notably the First Roman-Jewish War of 66-73 CE. This war was only concluded with the siege and destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem by Titus, the son of the emperor Vespasian. Although the region was still in a state of ruin following this, Hadrian visited Judaea and Jerusalem during his travels.

However, religious tensions once more led to an outbreak of violence. An imperial visit and integration of the region into the Empire would have been predicated on the population taking an active role in Roman religion. This would not have meant abandoning the Jewish faith, but rather that the faith was practiced alongside traditional Roman cult, especially honoring the emperor himself. Such polytheistic integration was commonplace across the Empire but naturally ran contrary to the monotheistic faith of the Jews. The ever-problematic Historia Augusta suggests that the revolt was in part fueled by Hadrian’s attempted abolition of the practice of circumcision. Although there is no evidence of this, it serves as a useful frame of reference for understanding the incompatibility of Roman and Jewish religious beliefs.

A revolt quickly broke out, fueled by anti-Roman sentiment, led by Simon bar Kokhba. This was the Third Roman-Jewish War, which lasted from around 132 to 135 CE. Casualties were heavy on both sides, with the Jews, in particular, shedding much blood. Cassius Dio records the deaths of some 580,000 men, along with the destruction of over 1,000 settlements of various sizes. With the defeat of the revolt, Hadrian erased the Jewish heritage of the region. The province was renamed Syria Palaestina, whilst Jerusalem itself was renamed Aelia Capitolina (renamed for himself, originally Publius Aelius Hadrianus, and the god Jupiter Capitolinus).

Hadrian wasn’t given the moniker Graeculus without reason. Although given to him as a youth, his career as emperor displays a consistent engagement with and interest in the culture of Greece. This is most clear in the architecture of the Empire that survives from the period of his reign. The city of Rome itself owes perhaps its most iconic structure, the Pantheon, to Hadrian. This “temple to all gods,” the literal meaning of “Pantheon,” was rebuilt by Hadrian following a destructive lightning strike in 110 CE.

It was originally built by Marcus Agrippa, the right-hand man of Augustus. Hadrian’s reconstruction is notable for the respect it pays to its origins. Displayed proudly on the portico is the inscription: M. AGRIPPA. L. F. COS. TERTIUM. FECIT. Translated, this states: “Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius (Lucii filius), consul for the third time, built this.” Respect for the original builders was a recurrent theme across Hadrian’s restoration projects. This stands in stark contrast to other emperors. Directly under Hadrian’s inscription on the Pantheon, the emperor Septimius Severus left another, much longer, inscription celebrating his own (less substantial) renovations on the structure. Elsewhere in Rome, he was responsible for the Temple of Venus and Roma, opposite the Colosseum on the edge of the Forum Romanum.

On the outskirts of Rome, in Tivoli, Hadrian also built an expansive private villa that covered roughly seven square miles. The architecture there was magnificent, and even today, what remains reveals the opulence and splendor of this former imperial residence. Work on the villa began early in Hadrian’s reign, although evidence provided by brick stamps shows work was ongoing throughout his reign. Likewise, portraits of his successors, from Antoninus Pius to Caracalla, have been found at Tivoli, showing how the villa remained a popular palatial alternative to the Palatine. More importantly, the early date of construction is suggestive of Hadrian’s desire to distance himself from the center of Rome as soon as possible, hinting at the fractious relationship the emperor endured with Rome’s traditional elite.

It also conveyed the influence of Hadrian’s cosmopolitanism. Many of the villa’s structures were inspired by the cultures of the Empire, especially Egypt and Greece. Similarly, the sculptural decoration at the villa testified to the breadth of Hadrian’s travels and his cultural interests. There were imitations of the caryatids, the distinctive sculptures from the Erectheion at Athens, and the statues of the Egyptian god Bes. Reputedly, according to the Historia Augusta, the rebellious Palmyrene queen Zenobia was allowed to live out her days at Tivoli after being captured by Aurelian in the 3rd century.

Typical of Hadrian’s reign, however, tensions bubbled beneath the surface, even in a field as seemingly benign as architecture. Reputedly, his own high opinion of his architectural skills brought him into tension with Apollodorus of Damascus, the exceptional architect who had worked with Trajan and was responsible for the wondrous bridge over the Danube. According to Dio, the architect offered pointed criticisms of Hadrian’s plans for the temple of Venus and Roma, which so enraged the emperor that he banished the architect before ordering his death.

Hadrian’s marriage to Sabina, the grandniece of Trajan, was far from a marriage made in heaven. Its political benefits could hardly be overstated, but in terms of the relationship between husband and wife, it left a lot to be desired. Sabina accumulated a wealth of public honors during her husband’s reign, unprecedented since Livia, the wife of Augustus and mother of Tiberius. She also traveled widely with her husband and was well-known throughout the Empire, frequently appearing on coinages. One scandalous episode in the Historia Augusta has Hadrian’s secretary, the biographer Suetonius, dismissed from court for his overly familiar conduct towards Sabina. However, as far as the imperial marriage was concerned, there appears to have been little love, or even warmth, between the two.

Rather, Hadrian, allegedly, much like Trajan before him, preferred the company of men and homosexual relations. His great love was Antinous, a young man from Bithynia (northern Asia Minor). He accompanied Hadrian on his travels of the Empire, even being inducted into the Eleusinian Mysteries with the emperor in Athens. However, in mysterious circumstances, the young man died as the imperial retinue floated down the Nile in 130 CE. Whether he drowned, was murdered, or committed suicide remains unknown and the subject of speculation.

Whatever the cause, Hadrian was devastated. He founded the city of Antinoöpolis on the site where his great love had died, as well as ordering his deification and cult. The importance of Antinous is evidenced by the wealth of statuary that has survived, showing the cult of the handsome young man spread around the Empire. Some, however, were critical of the intense grief Hadrian expressed for Antinous, especially given the coldness of his marriage to Sabina.

Hadrian spent the final years of his life back in the imperial capital, remaining in Rome from 134 CE onwards. His final years were marked by sadness. His victory in the Second Roman-Jewish War was kept comparatively muted. The uprising marked a failure in his attempts to establish a unifying Hellenistic culture across the Empire. Similarly, Sabina passed away in 136 CE, bringing to a close a marriage of political necessity and one that passed without children. Lacking an heir, Hadrian was in a similar position to his predecessor. He ultimately settled on Titus Aurelius Fulvus Boionius Arrius Antoninus, who would go on to reign as Antoninus Pius. From 134 CE, he oversaw the construction of what would be his final resting place, the Mausoleum of Hadrian. Known today as Castel Sant’Angelo (thanks to its afterlife as a medieval fortress), this domineering structure would go on to be the final resting place of many emperors from Hadrian to Caracalla in the early 3rd century.

Hadrian died in the summer of 138 CE, aged 62. He passed away at his imperial villa in Baiae, on the Campanian coastline, his health gradually declining. His 21-year reign was the longest since Tiberius in the 1st century and would remain the fourth longest of all (beaten only by Augustus, Tiberius, and Antoninus Pius, his successor). Interred in the Mausoleum he had built for himself in 139, his legacy remained contentious.

The Empire he left was secure and culturally enriched, and the succession had been smooth. However, the Senate remained reluctant to deify him. Theirs was a relationship that remained fractious until the very end. He was eventually honored with a temple in the Campus Martius (which has today been repurposed as Rome’s Chamber of Commerce). This temple was decorated with numerous reliefs depicting personifications of the provinces of his Empire, identifiable by their iconic attributes; Hadrian’s cosmopolitanism manifest in marble. For Rome’s wandering emperor, there could have been no better guardians to keep watch over his temple.

What is Hadrian’s speech on Matidia?

Hadrian’s speech on Matidia is an inscribed record of a speech given by Hadrian about Matidia, a niece of the emperor Trajan and an important member of the Nerva-Antonine dynasty. The inscription was copied in the 16^th century, but the original has been lost. Hadrian probably gave the speech in the Senate in support of Matidia’s deification following her death in 119 CE. She is one of several people deified under Hadrian, including Trajan, his widow Plotina, Trajan’s wife Sabina, and his lover Antinous.

Why was there tension between Hadrian and the Senate?

There were several reasons for the strained relationship between Hadrian and the Senate, but problems began early in his reign when he had four leading senators illegally put to death. Before he had even returned to Rome, Hadrian’s Praetorian Prefect, Attianus, claimed that he had uncovered a conspiracy against him. There was no public trial. Instead, the four ex-consuls were tried in absentia, hunted down, and killed. While Hadrian promised that judicial processes would be followed in the future, his relationship with the Senate was forever damaged.

Was Hadrian a good emperor?

Hadrian has gone down in history as one of Rome’s best emperors, despite ancient historians criticizing him for his treatment of the Senate, retrenchment of Roman territorial gains, and handling of the Bar Kokhba Revolt in Judea. Nevertheless, he is highly regarded by modern historians, partly thanks to the very visible mark that he left on history through his building projects across the Empire.

Originally published: April 20, 2023. Last update: January 21, 2025, by Jessica Suess.