Hadrian: Rome’s Greatest Builder

Here’s a sanitized version of the provided YouTube transcript:

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During a happy period of more than four score years, public administration was conducted by the virtue and abilities of Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, and the two Antonines. These are the words of 18th-century historian Edward Gibbon, exemplifying the concept of the Five Good Emperors—five Roman rulers who successfully governed the empire by absolute power under the guidance of wisdom and virtue. Hadrian was right in the middle; he left behind the legacy of a builder. As he traveled throughout the regions of his empire, he founded new cities, and all the existing settlements he encountered benefited from some kind of improvement, whether it was a new theater, a bathhouse, or even just a donation for the future. He enacted sensible policies and strengthened the position of his armies, even though he had no grand military ambitions.

That being said, Hadrian was definitely no saint. People quickly fell out of his favor, and those who opposed or slighted him often met violent ends. He also curtailed the powers of the Senate and leaned more towards autocratic rule. For this reason, scholars see Hadrian as a mercurial character—one whose outward displays of geniality and restraint could have simply been a facade hiding a devious and hedonistic mind, or maybe he was just an emperor who wanted to help his people as best he could. It really is hard to say, and for millennia, Hadrian has been a puzzle that historians have struggled to solve.

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Hadrian was born as Publius Aelius Hadrianus on January 24, 76 A.D. Although his place of birth is still somewhat uncertain, most sources indicate he was born in Italica, a settlement in the province of Hispania near Baetica. Others have suggested that his family may have actually been in Rome at the time of his birth, which would not have been so far-fetched given that his father, Publius Aelius Hadrianus Afer, was a Roman senator. His mother was named Paulina, retroactively referred to as Paulina the Elder to help distinguish her from Hadrian’s sister and niece, who both shared the same name. Another relative we should highlight, and perhaps the most important one of all, was an uncle of Hadrian named Marcus Ulpius Trajanus, better remembered as the Roman Emperor Trajan, who played a major role in Hadrian’s life.

In 80 A.D., Hadrian lost both of his parents. It was a terrible blow for the young 10-year-old boy, but he had a modicum of good fortune as Trajan took him and his sister under his wing as his wards, as did another powerful official named Atilianus, a friend of his father. This was still over a decade before Trajan took the throne, but he had the money and influence to ensure that Hadrian received a good education and started climbing through the ranks of Roman bureaucracy, as was expected of him. Hadrian entered public service on the path to become a Roman senator like his father. He started out as a lowly civil servant and then served several times as a military tribune. Unsurprisingly, when Trajan became the new emperor, the positions held by Hadrian significantly improved, but even so, Trajan was careful not to promote him too fast, and there was even a 10-year period when Hadrian did not rise through the ranks at all.

He served among others as quaestor, tribune, praetor, consul, and legate. He was also able to indulge his passion for Greek culture when he traveled to Athens, where he was granted citizenship and named as one of the archons, the officials who handled the city’s affairs.

As with any succession worth mentioning, Hadrian’s rise to the throne of Rome was marked by intrigue, violence, and controversy. At the time of Trajan’s death, Rome was at war with the Parthian Empire in western Asia, and the conflict was not going in his favor. He also had to contend with several rebellions in other parts of his empire. In 117 A.D., Trajan fell ill, so he set sail back to Rome, where Hadrian became the de facto commander, leading the Romans against Parthia as the new governor of Syria. Trajan never made it home, though, as he died on the journey on August 8.

Now, of course, came the matter of who would become the new emperor. Trajan and his wife, Pompeia Plotina, had no children of their own, and he never named an heir—or did he? Because around the time of his death, some letters appeared, apparently written by Trajan, where he named Hadrian as his adopted son and heir to the throne. So did Trajan actually write these letters? That is the question that still troubles historians. Many historians believe that Hadrian’s succession was, in fact, the work of Plotina and his other guardian, Atilianus, who both wanted Hadrian to rule because they liked him and because it meant they would maintain their privileged positions by the emperor’s side.

This is not a belief held only by modern scholars; ancient historians like Cassius Dio, who is one of our main references for Hadrian, said the same thing in his Roman History written less than a hundred years later. He even had a great source for his opinion—his own father, Apronianus, who served as senator and governor of Cilicia. Cassius Dio claimed that his father established with accuracy, as did other senators, that the succession of Hadrian had been engineered by Plotina, as it was her signature on the letters allegedly written by Trajan, something she had never done before. He also said that Plotina delayed the announcement of her husband’s death so that the people might first hear of Hadrian’s adoption.

Surprisingly, despite the suspicions, Hadrian’s ascension to the throne went smoothly and unopposed. Some have argued that this was because even if Trajan did not name him as his heir, he probably would have been okay with Hadrian becoming the next emperor. After all, Trajan took him on as his ward, looked after his political career, and arranged for Hadrian to marry one of his grandnieces, Vibia Sabina. During times of war, he showed that he trusted Hadrian by placing him in charge of the troops.

Furthermore, if Trajan did have someone else in mind, he probably would have named him by then. The Historia Augusta mentions a rumor that Trajan intended to name one of Rome’s leading jurists, Nurius Priscus, as his successor, but this is the only source on the matter and is generally considered to be pretty unreliable.

On August 10, 117 A.D., Hadrian became the new Roman emperor. He was still in Syria and took his time before heading to the capital, putting down some of the rebellions that had erupted during the reign of his predecessor. He did, however, write letters to the Roman Senate—some were boilerplate stuff asking the Senate to confirm his sovereignty, choosing an official title for himself, pledging to serve the public interest, making arrangements for Trajan’s funerals and deification, and so on. He also wanted to get on the good side of the Senate, so he swore an oath never to put to death any senator.

He then immediately proceeded to break this oath, or at the very least, it was broken in his name. We’re not sure of the precise circumstances, but soon after Hadrian’s ascension to the throne, four of Rome’s most powerful senators were accused and convicted of several charges, including conspiracy against him. They were Palmer, Negrinus, Sailors, and Quietus. None were actually in Rome at the time, so they were convicted in absentia without public trial and sentenced to death. They were then tracked down and killed. This immediately turned the Senate against Hadrian with an enmity that lasted for his entire reign. Even when he died, the Senate wanted to deny him divine honors and had to be forced to do so by his successor. For his part, Hadrian always denied any involvement in the deaths of the four senators. His guardian, Atilianus, was almost certainly responsible, but it remains a matter of speculation whether Hadrian knew and approved of his actions or not.

Given the power and influence of the four slain officials, it would not be out of the question for Atilianus to fear that they might oppose Hadrian’s succession. But this is just conjecture. The Historia Augusta, which again contains a lot of statements that are demonstrably false, claimed that the four officials conspired in a murder plot against the new emperor.

These senators were not the only prominent men slain by Hadrian. If Cassius Dio is anything to go by, he also accused the emperor of banishing and then putting to death Apollodorus of Damascus, the famed architect who was responsible for most of the landmarks built under Trajan, including his Trajan’s Column and the bridge across the Danube. All of this was because Apollodorus had insulted Hadrian once back when Trajan was still emperor by mocking his plans for a new building.

Now one may start to wonder why exactly Hadrian was considered a good emperor in the first place, given his propensity to eliminate those who slighted him. But it was also Cassius Dio who came to his defense, arguing that all of Hadrian’s faults were atoned for by his careful oversight, prudence, munificence, and skill. The historian posits that throughout his lengthy 21-year reign, Hadrian did not seek out war but terminated the conflicts already in progress. A strict and disciplined man, he made sure his legions were the same and that they would never be guilty of insolence or insubordination. He never deprived anyone of their wealth without cause, but quite the contrary, often bestowed general sums upon citizens or even entire communities. He more than any other emperor before him assisted almost all of his allies in subject cities, giving to some a water supply, to others harbors, food, public works, money, and various honors.

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We’re given an outline of Hadrian’s reign with the good and the bad, but now let’s get into more details. He arrived in Rome in 118 A.D. for his coronation. He did the standard stuff to get the public on his side: organized games, made donations, gave bonuses to soldiers, canceled debts, etc. He also suggested to Atilianus to give up his position as Praetorian Prefect and go into retirement in 119. Whether this was done as a gesture of goodwill towards the Senate or because Hadrian genuinely had no involvement in the deaths of the four senators, we don’t know. Atilianus was replaced with two other men, Septicius Clarus and Marcius Turbo.

One of Hadrian’s first major acts as emperor was a bold one: he reversed Trajan’s policies in western Asia and willingly surrendered the territories his predecessor had gained in Mesopotamia. It wasn’t a glorious move, but it was practical. Hadrian understood that Rome might have been powerful enough to conquer the region but did not have the soldiers and resources to keep it and maintain peace. If he insisted on continuing Trajan’s expansionist approach, he would have had to deal with one rebellion after another. Instead, Hadrian preferred to use natural borders to consolidate the empire he already had, so he gave up Rome’s claim to everything east of the Euphrates River. This remained the Roman approach for the following four decades until Rome went to war against Parthia once again in 161 A.D.

Inside the empire, Hadrian was enacting multiple reforms to benefit the people of Rome, some of which went against long-established Roman traditions. For example, when someone was charged with a major crime, it was common to confiscate their estate. According to the new law, if that person had children, they were allowed to inherit a portion of their wealth. Hadrian also reclassified middle-class officials, soldiers, veterans, and their families as honestiores. This is one of two categories of Roman citizens, representing the high caste as opposed to humiliores, which was the low caste consisting of freed men and slaves. The distinction was important because the higher caste benefited from multiple legal privileges, particularly when it came to criminal law. They almost always received more lenient sentences, while the cruelest punishments, such as being crucified or thrown to the beasts in the arena, were reserved only for the lower castes.

So while the wealthy enjoyed preferential treatment in most societies, it was actually part of Roman law that they were granted these privileges. Although Hadrian did not get rid of such concessions, he at least made them available to more groups of people. Some of the emperor’s policies even benefited slaves, as he limited the punishments that could be inflicted upon them. Hadrian made it illegal for citizens to kill their slaves just because they felt like it; they could only do it if the slaves were found guilty of a capital offense. The slaves could not be sold to gladiator schools or brothels unless, again, it was punishment for a crime they committed. Granted, it’s still not much in hindsight, but it’s more than most other emperors ever did to benefit the lowest class of people in Rome.

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Hadrian’s reign was characterized by one thing more than anything else: travel. He traveled throughout his empire more than all the previous emperors, going from region to region, preferring to see things for himself rather than relying on reports from others. Other rulers usually stayed in Rome and only left when it was time for war. Hadrian, on the other hand, spent over half his reign outside Rome, founding new cities and improving the ones that already existed. He also gave plenty of attention to his military fortifications in order to better protect his empire from external and internal threats. He ordered the construction of new forts and garrisons, had others moved to more favorable positions, and some he had demolished. Hadrian embarked on this tour of his empire in 122 A.D.

His first stop was Britannia, the part of Great Britain that was a Roman province. There, he ordered the construction of arguably the most famous structure that bears his name: Hadrian’s Wall, a 73-mile defensive fortification that traveled from the east to the west of the province. When it was finished, it had 80 small forts called mile castles plus 17 larger forts used to garrison auxiliary soldiers from all over the empire. Initially, it was abandoned right after Hadrian’s death because his successor wanted to build his own wall further up north into Scotland. However, that second wall was subsequently also abandoned as the following emperors preferred to rely on Hadrian’s Wall, which from that point on remained in use for over 300 years, and large parts of the wall still stand to this day.

After Britannia, Hadrian returned to mainland Europe and traveled through parts of what is today France and Spain before sailing for North Africa. While the trips themselves were not problematic, the emperor had to deal with a few issues in Rome. Pompeia Plotina, the widow of Trajan and his former guardian, had died, so Hadrian made arrangements to have her deified and built a temple in her honor. Furthermore, the emperor dismissed two of his close confidants from his inner circle for allegedly behaving with great familiarity towards his wife, Sabina. They were Septicius Clarus, one of the two Praetorian Prefects, and the historian Satonias, who held the position of Ab Epistolus, or the minister of letters who handled the imperial correspondence. What happened to them after this point remains uncertain.

Upon arriving in Africa, Hadrian had to put down a rebellion by the Moors. Afterwards, he cut his trip short when word reached him that Parthia might have been preparing for war again. He hurried to Asia, where he made sure that Roman defenses were up to snuff. After discussions with the Parthian King Osroes I, he ensured that there would be peace between their empires, at least for the time being. While he was there, Hadrian visited the Roman provinces in Asia Minor, where he met Antinous, a Byzantine youth that the emperor fell in love with. He quickly became a favorite of Hadrian, who first sent him to Rome to complete his education and afterwards made him a part of his retinue.

As the lovers continued their journey throughout the empire, the last stop before Hadrian finally returned to Rome in 126 A.D. was Greece, one of, if not his favorite place in the world. He spent almost a year there, mostly in Athens, taking part in their games and rituals, funding public works and festivals, and even getting initiated in their Eleusinian Mysteries, one of the most secretive religious rites of ancient Greece. Today, there are still plenty of remnants left to remind the world of Hadrian’s voyage. There is an Arch of Hadrian in Athens, an even more impressive one in Jordan, Hadrian’s Gate in Turkey, not to mention that he dedicated resources to finish or rebuild older structures like the Roman Pantheon and the Temple of Zeus in Athens.

After a couple of years spent in Rome, Hadrian got restless again and set out on another tour in 128, this time starting with Greece. He then set off for Egypt since he had to cut his time in Africa short during his first voyage. Here, tragedy befell the emperor. In September or October 130, his lover Antinous died, apparently by