Hadrian's Legacy
As our tour of Greece and Italy drew to a close last year we went to visit Tivoli, the summer palace of the Emperor Hadrian, and were suitably impressed with the vast size of the place. Even walking briskly - as we were when rain brought our visit to an ignominious end - it took a good ten minutes to get from one end of the building to the other! The baths in which Hadrian refreshed himself and up to 2,000 guests were larger than many civic swimming pools and the mind boggles at the amount of wood that was burned daily to keep them at a suitable temperature!
Actually, all our tours are never very far from Hadrian's awe-inspiring presence. In Athens we gaped at the massive Temple of Zeus, a centuries-long building project brought to completion by Hadrian. When we visit Egypt and stare at the Colossi of Memnon our eyes inevitably encounter the lines of Greek poetry scratched into their legs by Hadrian's court poetess when the emperor sailed down the Nile. When we visit Jerash in Jordan, we enter the city through the much-ruined triumphal archway erected in honour of Hadrian's visit to that city. In Israel we are reminded of the fact that Jerusalem itself was once called Aelia Capitolina after Hadrian's family name. If we ever get around to organising a tour of Britain - which would suit me down to the ground - one of the "must see" sites will be Hadrian's famous Wall.
Recently There have been some who try to glorify Hadrian on the grounds of his homosexuality - his great favourite, Antinous, was deified when he drowned accidentally in the Nile and became the last god of antiquity. Less attractive is the fact that Hadrian appears to have made himself available to older men who could help him in his climb to power.
Like most men in the Roman and Greek world, homosexuality was not an exclusive orientation (though such orientations were known and widely mocked, including men who went through a ceremony of marriage with each other). Hadrian appears to have used his sexuality as a tool, for he was equally attractive to women and not only married, but it was his friendship with Trajan's wife that ultimately led to him becoming emperor, for Trajan's wife Plotina, who had long been his friend and supporter, reported that Trajan had adopted Hadrian as he lay dying. This tale - and many have doubted its veracity - was crucial in deciding the legions to accept Hadrian as the new emperor.
Hadrian's real fame lies not in the area of his private life, but in the very real achievements of his reign. With the exception of the Second Jewish Revolt in AD 132, Hadrian never fought a large-scale war and was actually responsible for giving up Mesopotamia, where Trajan had met his death, on the grounds that it was not a feasible possession. Instead he devoted his time to both ensuring that the army was capable of meeting any threat, with increased training and expenditure on military equipment, while at the same time ensuring that the army never needed to be used.
Instead of fighting the Parthians, Hadrian marched to the frontier with a large army and then negotiated peace with the Parthian king Osroes I. Instead of setting out to conquer Scotland, Hadrian set about building his famous wall to protect Britain and set a limit to Roman expansion. He strengthened the German Limes to make them a formidable barrier, but took no steps to quell the turbulent tribes beyond them.
Hadrian spent much of his reign in continuous travel. As a cultured observer he may well have gained considerable personal pleasure from these journeys, but he devoted much time to reorganising the empire, reforming law codes, rebuilding ruined cities, appointing new governors where the old ones were found lacking, and generally doing all he could to serve the empire.
In many areas Hadrian was a pioneer. For example, he had long been interested in architecture, seeing potentialities in the new material of concrete for a style of building that surpassed anything that had been possible with mere wood and stone. His curved designs were once dismissed by the leading architect of the day, Apollodorus, as "pumpkins", but the Pantheon in Rome not only proved that they were possible, but its dome provided a model for many famous buildings since then.
His legacy to the Roman empire was one of peace and stability. The arrangements that he made for the succession lasted for nearly a century after his death - and not many men can boast as much!
From July 24 to October 26 2008 the British Museum will be paying tribute to this great emperor with an exhibition entitled "Hadrian: Empire and Conflict", which brings together 180 objects 31 countries, including objects from the Bar Kokhba revolt in Israel, a gilded bronze peacock from the Vatican Museum, and a silver bowl from Georgia, a gift to the emperor from the citizens of that country.
© Kendall K. Down 2008
