Hadrian, Publius Aelius Hadrianus (AD 76–138)

Roman emperor 117–138. He was adopted by the emperor Trajan, whom he succeeded. He pursued a policy of non-expansion and consolidation after the vast conquests of Trajan's reign. His defensive policy aimed at fixing the boundaries of the empire, which included the building of Hadrian's Wall in Britain. He travelled more widely than any other emperor, and consolidated both the army and Roman administration.

A very capable ruler, Hadrian introduced administrative, financial, and legal reforms. His magnificent buildings, often the result of his travels, are found throughout the empire. Some of his largest building projects were in Rome (including the Pantheon, his own mausoleum, and his villa at Tivoli) and Athens, where his new town and appointment as archon of Athens 112 reveals his fondness for Greek culture. He was also a cultivated poet and patron of the arts.

Hadrian was born at Italica (modern Santiponce, near Seville, Spain), where his family, originally from Atria in Picenum, had lived for nearly 200 years. On his father's death (in AD 85 or 86), he was placed under the guardianship of Marcus Ulpius Traianus (later to become the emperor Trajan) and Caelius Attianus, a future praetorian prefect. Hadrian spent the next six years in Rome, but at the age of 15 returned to Spain and joined the army. Summoned by Trajan to Rome in AD 93, he held various minor civil posts, then went as tribune of the Second Legion at Aquincum in Lower Pannonia, where he remained until his return to Rome with Trajan in 99. In the following year the empress Plotina arranged a marriage between him and Trajan's great-niece Vibia Sabina. Hadrian's public career from this date until his accession was as follows: quaestor 101; tribune of the plebs 105; praetor 106; distinguished himself in both Dacian campaigns 101–02 and 105–06; legatus praetorius of Lower Pannonia 107; legatus in the Parthian campaign 113–17. In this last year Trajan fell ill and set out for home, leaving Hadrian as commander of the army and governor of Syria. Hadrian was at Antioch when he learned of his adoption by Trajan and two days later of the emperor's death. His succession was confirmed by the army and the Senate.

Hadrian's reign as emperor At the time of Hadrian's succession, the empire was threatened on all sides. Hadrian abandoned Assyria, Mesopotamia, and Armenia, which his predecessor had annexed. He pacified the Lower Danube, and then in 118 hurried to Rome to remove the unfavourable impression created by the execution of four consulars alleged to have conspired against him. The first of his two great tours of the empire, 121–25, included Gaul, Germany, Britain, Spain, Mauretania, Greece, and Sicily. Among its principal events were the beginning of Hadrian's Wall in 122 and the emperor's initiation into the Eleusinian Mysteries 125.

The second major tour, 128–34, took in Athens (where he completed and dedicated the buildings begun during his first visit), Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine (where he ordered the rebuilding of Jerusalem), Arabia, and Egypt. On his way back to Europe in 133 he was recalled to deal with the Jewish revolt which had broken out in the previous year, possibly in reaction to Hadrian's decision to build a temple to Jupiter Capitolinus on the site of the Jewish temple of Jerusalem, and ban circumcision. In 134 he entrusted the command to Julius Severus, returned to Rome and passed the remainder of his life between the capital and his villa at Tibur. He died at Baiae, and was succeeded by his adopted son Antoninus Pius.