Giovanni Battista Caccini (1556 - 1613) Marble Bust of the emperor Hadrian as a young man. Photo taken at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts
© NS Gill
In A.D. 117, Hadrian officially became Roman Emperor. It is claimed Trajan, his adoptive father, had not wanted Hadrian to succeed him, but was thwarted by his wife, Plotina, who covered up her husband's death until she could make sure of Hadrian's acceptance by the senate. Thus, Trajan died on the 8th of August, but Hadrian only became emperor 3 days later.
Read more about the Emperor Hadrian in Hadrian's Wall.
Related:
- Ancient Rome in Pictures
- Decay as a Reason for the Fall of Rome
- Dates of the Roman Emperors
- Real Romans and How They Lived
- Roman Roads
Hadrian's Wall at Housestead's Fort
© NS Gill
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Several years ago I visited Hadrian’s Wall–I stayed in Haltwhistle, England–what a name, no? Anyway, I was a runner back then, before my back injury and it was a fine, cool June morning and I ran out to the wall and along the wall. One of the best runs I ever had. And what a sight!
I was at Hadrian’s Wall in April or March. It was lovely then, too. I wasn’t in Haltwhistle, though.
“…Hadrian’s claim to the imperial purple, a last-minute writ of adoption, was as thin as the vellum it was scribbled on. To avoid civil war, the legions rallied behind him. After the deaths of four opposing senators, the surviving majority gave their unanimous consent.
On the site of the Golden Milestone, the geographic center of the world from which all distance was measured, Hadrian built a column commemorating the former emperor’s conquests and with great ceremony, buried Trajan’s ashes at the foot of the monument.
Then, reversing everything Trajan had fought for, Hadrian issued a confounding decree. Status quo might be Latin, but it was not his credo. The empire, he said, was swollen to the point of bursting. Rome was overextended, her borders too vast to maintain.
Where Trajan had spent his lifetime burning the benefits of civilization across the sacred groves of ungrateful barbarians, the new ruler would shrink the empire. He would set free those who could never be governed, and build a wall around those who could.”
…from the prologue of “No Roads Lead to Rome”