Winter AD 124/5 – Hadrian tours the Peloponnese (part 1) and visits Megara, Argos and Mantineia (#Hadrian1900)

After attending the Eleusinian Mysteries (see here), Hadrian embarked on a brief tour of the Peloponnese with his wife, Sabina. The Emperor’s presence in several renowned cities during this period is well-documented, although no exact dates have been recorded. Wherever the imperial court went, cities benefited from the Emperor’s generosity, as his desire was, among other things, to improve affairs in Greece. In return, dedications were made, and statues were erected. Hadrian’s first stop was at the Dorian city of Megara, a long-standing rival of Athens located to the west.

Megara was one of the four districts of Attica, situated between Eleusis and the isthmus of Corinth, and it controlled the trade routes connecting the Peloponnesus and Central Greece. According to Pausanias, the Megarians said that their town owed its origin to Car, the son of Phoroneus, who built the Acropolis called ‘Karia’ on the easterly side of the city and underground caves for the cult of Demeter called megara, from which the place derived its name. After a promising start, during which Megara distinguished itself by founding Byzantium and the Hyblaean Megara in Sicily, internal turmoil soon erupted, causing Megara to decline and be surpassed by Athens. During the civil war between Pompey and Caesar, the city found itself on the losing side and faced Caesar’s retribution. The second century AD marked a new period of relative growth, particularly under Hadrian, during which numerous public works were undertaken. However, despite Hadrian’s best efforts, Megara remained impoverished. According to Pausanias, “not even the emperor Hadrian could make more prosperous.” (1.36.3). Megara subsequently fell to the status of a minor town during the Roman Empire and, in late Antiquity, faced invasions from the Goths that devastated the town.

On Hadrian’s visit in 124/5, the Megarians created a new phyle (tribe), a fourth one called Hadrianidai, in honour of the Emperor’s philhellenic largesse towards the cities of Central Greece. Megarian inscriptions from the late 130s hailed Hadrian as ‘their founder, lawgiver, benefactor and patron’. He had clearly implemented reforms as well as building work. Sabina was also honoured at Megara as a ‘New Demeter’ (IG VII 74), from which one may guess that she had accompanied her husband. Julius Candidus (suffect consul in 129) is mentioned as the supervisor of the erection of a set of statues in honour of Hadrian and Sabina by the people of Megara. Each tribe dedicated a statue of the imperial couple, although only two bases for Sabina are known to survive. Julius Candidus was listed as the epimeletes in charge of this project, and Aiskhron, son of Damokrates, was strategos.

For the twice hailed as Imperator Caesar Trajan Hadrian Augustus Olympios Pythias Panhellenios, founder and lawgiver and benefactor, at the commission of the most excellent proconsul Julius Canditus, when Aischronos, son of Damokrates, was acting as strategos over the Damokratians. By the Dymanes. (IG VII 70)

For Queen Sabina Augusta, new Demeter, wife of Emperor Hadrian, by (the phyle) Hadrianidai, at the commission of the most excellent proconsul Julius Canditus, when Aischronos, son of Damokrates, was acting as strategos over the Damokratians. (IG VII 74)

The most important deity of Megara was Demeter, who was closely associated with the city’s founding. Pausanias tells us that Demeter wandered through Megara in search of Persephone (1.43.2). He also mentions a sanctuary of Demeter Thesmophoros (“lawgiver”) on the Acropolis of Alcathous, the western of the two Megarian city hills (1.41.6), as well as a sanctuary of Demeter Malophorus (“fruit-bearer”) at Nisaea, the port town of Megara.

Pausanias specifically mentions that Hadrian, among other benefactions, completely rebuilt the former brick temple of Apollo Pythios, the Pythion, in “white stone” at Megara (1.42.5) and was honoured with the title “Pythios” (IG VII 70). Apollo was Megara’s chief male god, and his temple was on the western Acropolis. According to Pausanias, three wooden cult statues of ebony stood in the Pythion, located on the Acropolis of Alcathous. Apollo was said to have assisted Alcathous in the construction of the town’s walls. In honour of this god, the Lesser Pythaeia games were held in Megara. They were associated with the temple and continued to be celebrated in the Hadrianic period (Boatwright, 2000). Furthermore, careful copies of Megara’s late Hellenistic coinage bearing the image of Apollo were produced in very small numbers during the reign of Hadrian. They likely celebrated the imperial visit or his benefaction towards the temple of Apollo (source).

Pausanias also tells us that the previously impassable, treacherous rocky road from Megara to Corinth, along the Saronic Gulf, was made passable for carriages. (1.44.6). Known in antiquity as the Scironian Road, this famous pass was named after the wicked Sciron, a bandit who robbed travellers passing over the Scironian cliffs and was killed by Theseus by throwing him into the sea. An inscription dated to AD 125 (IG VII 69) probably belonged to the first milestone of this road. Hadrian may indeed have issued an edict ordering road improvements all over Achaea and Macedonia at this time (Birley, 1997).

“The road called Scironian to this day and named after Sciron, was made by him when he was war minister of the Megarians, and originally they say was constructed for the use of active men. But the emperor Hadrian broadened it, and made it suitable even for chariots to pass each other in opposite directions.” (1.44.6)

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From Megara, the imperial party proceeded over the Isthmus to Epidaurus, the most celebrated centre of the cult of Asclepius, the Greek god of medicine. Epidaurus was an obvious destination for the religiously interested emperor, who had just initiated a large-scale reconstruction of the Hellenistic Asklepieion at Pergamon (see here). Hadrian’s visit to the sanctuary had a definite effect on the healing sanctuary as the emperor enforced new regulations concerning the appointment of religious ministers and the recurrence of the Asklepieia. The minting in Epidaurus was probably linked to Hadrian’s visit. Most Epidaurian coins had Asklepieia, the athletic and dramatic festival held every four years, as part of the reverse legend (RPC III, 396A).

Hadrian’s visit is attested in at least three inscriptions (IG IV² 1 606, IG IV² 1 607, AE 1974, 611) in which he is called “saviour and benefactor”. The city erected a statue to him in AD 124, marking the beginning of a new era in the local calendar. However, no details of his benefactions have survived.

In the third year of the consecration of Zeus Olympios and the foundation of the Panhellenion, the year of Trajan Hadrian Caesar‘s visit, when the priest of Asclepius was Eutychus, son of Eutychus, grandson of Eutychus; in place of him Leonidus son of Perigenes; Stephanos son of Eutychus was the fire-bearer (pyrphoros) of Asclepius and Epione. (IG IV² 1 384)

The religious centre at Epidaurus included baths, hotels, and residences for the priest-physicians, a tholos building, temples, stoas, a gymnasium, a palaestra, a stadium, and a 14,000-seat theatre. Pausanias admired the theatre for its symmetry and beauty (2.27.5). The Temple of Asclepius, built in the 4th century BC, was a Doric peripteros, featuring a row of tuff columns (6 x 11) surrounding it, partly clad in marble. The lost cult statue of Asclepius, which Pausanias describes as “half the size of the Olympian Zeus at Athens, made of ivory and gold” (2.27.2). In front of the temple stood the monumental altar. The sanctuary experienced a resurgence in the mid-2nd century AD when Sextus Julius Maior, an aristocrat from Nysa in Asia Minor, funded a rebuilding programme. As indicated by the discoveries of dedicatory inscriptions, new deities were also introduced into the sanctuary: Ammon, Sarapis, and Isis.

A prominent member of a distinguished family in Epidaurus during Hadrian’s visit was Gnaeus Cornelius Pulcher, the great-grandson of Gnaeus Cornelius Nicatas, the founder of the imperial cult at Epidaurus and twice priest of Augustus (IG IV²,1 652). He had been procurator of Epirus at least ten years earlier and was to become the first archon (SEG 26:253) of Hadrian’s Panhellenion, holding the priesthood of Hadrian Panhellenios. One may infer that this cultivated person attracted Hadrian’s attention (Birley, 1997). Pulcher is the earliest attested high priest of Greece and Helladarch, the chairman of the Council of the Achaians, a pair of lifetime posts that appear to have always been held together. The former was responsible for the imperial cult of the province of Achaia, while the latter oversaw that of the Achaian League, one of several leagues of Greek cities within the province (source).

From Epidaurus, Hadrian and his entourage went to Troezen and Hermione, situated on the Argolid’s eastern shore. Troezen is where the mythical king and founder-hero of Athens, Theseus, was born, and his son Hippolytus died. On the occasion of the Emperor’s visit to the city, a local benefactor, Eision, son of Timotheos, paid a significant amount of money to make the roads passable for carriages prior to what was described as ‘the long-awaited visit of the greatest emperor’ (IG IV 758). Everything suggests that this was Hadrian, particularly as the small town of Hermione, located south of Troezen, erected a statue in honour of Sabina (IG IV 702).

Hippolytus was worshipped as a hero at Troezen. Pausanias saw his temple and cult statue located outside the city walls. He informs us that annual sacrifices were made and that every virgin girl cut off a lock of hair for him before her marriage, dedicating it to his shrine (2.32). Nearby was the Asklepieion, comprising a propylon, a small prostyle temple, a fountain house, and a large ceremonial banquet hall with four wings arranged around a central peristyle court surrounded by rooms. Troezen, due to its favourable geographical position, enjoyed particular prosperity throughout the Roman period and produced coins only under Commodus, depicting Theseus fighting the Minotaur in Crete (RPC IV.1, 7943). However, Athens minted coins during the reigns of Hadrian and Antoninus Pius, showing on the reverse Theseus lifting the stone to find the gnorismata, the sword and the sandals left by his father, Aegeus, under the rock (RPC IV.1, 8198). Today, a large hewn stone standing near the entrance to the sanctuary of Hippolytus is believed to be the rock of Theseus, as reported by the historian Pausanias (2.32.7).

“On the road that leads through the mountains to Hermione is a spring of the river Hyllicus, originally called Taurius (Bull-like), and a rock called the Rock of Theseus; when Theseus took up the boots and sword of Aegeus under it, it, too, changed its name, for before it was called the altar of Zeus Sthenius (Strong). Near the rock is a sanctuary of Aphrodite Nymphia (Bridal), made by Theseus when he took Helen to wife.”

The imperial party then reached Argos. Not far from the desolate ruins of Mycenae stood the famous sanctuary of Hera, the queen of the gods and patron deity of Argos. According to Pausanias, Hadrian dedicated a gold peacock adorned with precious gems to the goddess. A peacock was represented on the reverse of one of the coins minted in Argos under Hadrian (RPC III, 377).

There is an altar upon which is wrought in relief the fabled marriage of Hebe and Heracles. This is of silver, but the peacock dedicated by the Emperor Hadrian is of gold and gleaming stones. He dedicated it because they hold the bird to be sacred to Hera. (2.17.6)

The Argive Heraion was built over the remains of a Mycenaean settlement, and archaeological evidence suggests that cultic activity at the site dates back as early as the 10th century BC. The sanctuary was situated on three artificial terraces above the Argive Plain. The upper terrace was constructed using large Cyclopean blocks, possibly dating to the late Geometric period (760–700 BC). The Old Temple of Hera was one of the earliest colonnaded temples in Greece. It was destroyed by fire in 423 BC and has almost completely disappeared. After the fire, a New Temple of Hera was built by the architect Eupolemos of Argos. The famous chryselephantine statue of Hera by Polykleitos was housed in the temple’s cella. Strabo compared it to Pheidias’s giant chryselephantine sculpture of Zeus at Olympia, stating that it was smaller and less expensive to make (8.732).

The middle terrace was dominated by the New Temple of Hera, which was built by the architect Eupolemos of Argos c. 420-410 BC following the fire. The famous chryselephantine statue of Hera (made of gold and ivory over a wood core) by Polykleitos was housed in the temple’s cella. Other structures located on the middle terrace included one of the earliest examples of a building with a peristyle court, which appears to have served as a dining hall. Stoas were constructed to the south and below the temple terrace. On the lowest terrace was a stoa dating back to the 5th century BC and an Archaic retaining wall with a flight of steps that ran the length of the middle terrace.

The Heraion continued to be used well into the Roman Empire, thanks to dedications made by Augustus, Nero, and Hadrian. Before the temple’s entrance stood a statue of Orestes, identified as Augustus by an inscription; Nero offered a golden crown and purple robe to Hera (Paus. 2.17.3). Additionally, archaeological findings reveal features of the north stoa, and new temples were constructed during the Roman era.

A number of bronze coins from Argos allude to the emperor’s visit and building work there. They depict a laureate Hadrian with the legend ΑΥΤ ΑΔΡΙ-ΑΝΟϹ ΚΤΙϹΤΗϹ (Emperor Hadrian the Builder), while the reverses have images of gods and heroes, including Zeus, Apollo, Heracles, Danae, Diomedes and Perseus, followed by the inscription Ἀργείων (of the Argives). Building the new aqueduct for the city, with a nymphaeum at its end, may have justified the title of ktistes. Hadrian funded an aqueduct that improved the city’s water supply by transporting water from the surrounding hills, approximately 30km away. Eight fragments of an inscription found in the west basin of the Nymphaeum refer to that gift. The document, dated AD 124, informs us that Hadrian acquired the necessary land for the construction of the aqueduct. W. Vollgraff, who cleared the nymphaeum in 1906, restored the Greek inscription as follows (Vollgraff, 1944):

[Αυτοκράτωρ Κ]αΐ[σαρ, θεοϋ Τ]ρα[ϊανοΰ Παρθικού υίός, θεοΰ Νέρουα υίωνός], [Τραϊαν]6ς Άδ[ριανος Σεβα]στός, [άρχιερεύς μέγιστος, δημαρχικής έξουσία]ς η’, ύπ[ατος γ’, πατήρ] πα[τρίδος], τ[δ ύδραγωγεΐον έκ των ιδίων υπέρ της πόλεως] Άρ[γείων κατ]εσκεύα[σεν ώνησάμενος την γήν μήκος πόδας , πλάτος δ]έ ν’.

Emperor Caesar Hadrian Augustus, pontifex maximus, year eight of his tribunician power, consul for the third time, father of the father-land, son of the divine Trajan Parthicus, grandson of the divine Nerva, constructed the aqueduct for the city of Argos at his own expense, having bought the land… feet long, fifty feet wide.

An over-life-size, heroic nude statue of Hadrian comes from the Nymphaeum. Hadrian is depicted wearing a paludamentum draped around his left forearm and gathered over his left shoulder. His right arm is raised, while he holds a sword in his left hand (see here).

The area of Argos was known for its scarcity of water. According to mythology, the daughter of Danaos, one of the founders of the city of Argos, suggested a method for supplying the city with water by piercing and constructing wells. By drawing water from the depths of the earth, the city of Argos became abundant in water. The Hadrianic aqueduct was one of the two aqueducts built to supply water to the city.

Based on a fragmentary inscription found in 1930 in the northern part of the theatre’s orchestra, Hadrian is also credited with restoring the theatre at Argos after it was devastated by fire (Vollgraff, 1944). The theatre stage was extensively enlarged in length, depth, and height. Carved into the lower rocky slopes of the Larisa Hill in the Hellenistic period, it had a seating capacity of around 20,000 spectators.

[Αύτοκρά]τωρ Καίσαρ, [θεού Τραϊανού Παρθικού υιός], [θεού Νέρο]υα υίωνός, [Τραϊανός ‘Αδριανός Σεβαστός], [άρχιερεύς μέγισ]τος, δημαρχικής έ[ξουσίας το . , ύπατος το . , πατήρ πατρίδος], [το θέατρον “Αργου]ς ύπο εμπρησμού δ[ιαφθαρέν άπδ θεμελίων άνωκοδόμησεν].

The smaller and older theatre, adjacent to the Hellenistic theatre, was renovated, roofed, and converted into an Odeon, probably during the reign of Hadrian, although it underwent alterations later in the 3rd century AD. A poorly preserved mosaic in the orchestra, no longer visible, depicts a table for prizes at the Nemean and Heraian games. The Odeon seated 1,800 people and was thought to have been used for meetings of the Argive assembly (called the aliaia) and perhaps for music and drama performances. The neighbouring brick-faced bathhouse, part of a complex dedicated to the worship of Asklepios (Aupert, 1987), has also been dated to the Hadrianic period. The Asklepieion is referred to by Pausanias (2.23.4).

According to Pausanias, Hadrian also reintroduced boys’ horse races into the winter Nemean games, which had fallen into disuse, and moved them to Argos (6.16.4). By the time of Hadrian, the Nemean Games were well established at Argos, as the city had taken control of the games in 271 BC and permanently relocated the musical events to its own theatre. The Winter Games appear to have been held in Argos during the last days of December, and Hadrian may have attended in person (Birley, 1997). A coin struck in Argos during the Hadrianic period commemorates the Nemean Games (RPC III, 368).

From Argos, Hadrian and his entourage proceeded with their journey into the northern Arcadian plain, heading towards Mantineia. Pausanias’ description of the city includes three distinct references confirming Hadrian’s presence, the first being that Hadrian commanded the revival of the city’s original name. Mantineia had been called Antigoneia for over three hundred years in honour of Macedonian king Antigonus II Doson (8.8.12). Indeed, Mantineia claimed to have founded Bithynion-Claudiopolis, the hometown of Antinous in Bithynia.

Ten generations afterwards, when Hadrian became Emperor, he took away from the Mantineans the name imported from Macedonia and gave back to their city its old name of Mantineia. (Paus. 8.8.12)

Hadrian likely met Antinous during his tour of Bithynia the year before (see here) and included him in his entourage. The city of Mantineia would later honour Antinous with particular fervour, becoming a centre for his worship. Annual mysteries and games, known as the Antinoeia, were celebrated every four years and established after AD 130. An inscription from Alexandria Troas refers to Hadrian’s agonistic calendar (see here), noting that the games at Mantineia were held in the 4th Olympic year, between the games at Isthmia and the Olympieia of Athens (Hervás, 2020). The Antinoeia were held in the stadium outside the city walls at the foot of Mount Alesium, attracting athletic, poetical and musical competitors from all over the east and offering substantial prizes. An inscription discovered in Mantineia also mentions the games held in honour of Antinous (IG V.2, 313). Pausanias reports that a room in the gymnasium contained multiple Antinous statues and paintings, most of which depicted him in the guise of Dionysus.

Antinous too was deified by them; his temple is the newest in Mantineia. He was a great favourite of the Emperor Hadrian. I never saw him in the flesh, but I have seen images and pictures of him. He has honours in other places also, and on the Nile is an Egyptian city named after Antinous. He has won worship in Mantineia for the following reason. Antinous was by birth from Bithynium beyond the river Sangarius, and the Bithynians are by descent Arcadians of Mantineia. (Paus. 8.9.7)

The Emperor established his worship in Mantineia also; mystic rites are celebrated in his honour each year, and games every four years. There is a building in the gymnasium of Mantineia containing statues of Antinous, and remarkable for the stones with which it is adorned, and especially so for its pictures. Most of them are portraits of Antinous, who is made to look just like Dionysus. (Paus. 8.9.8)

The stadium where the Antinoeia were held stood near the Archaic sanctuary of Poseidon Hippios (of the horse), said to have been made of oak and built by the famous mythical architects Agamedes and Trophonios, who also constructed the temple of Apollo at Delphi. The temple, however, seems to have fallen into ruin in the Roman era. Pausanias reports that Hadrian ordered the construction of a new temple around the existing site. He appointed guards to supervise the workers and ensure no one entered the ancient shrine or disturbed its ruins.

There are roads leading from Mantineia into the rest of Arcadia, and I will go on to describe the most noteworthy objects on each of them. On the left of the highway leading to Tegea there is, beside the walls of Mantineia, a place where horses race, and not far from it is a race-course, where they celebrate the games in honour of Antinous. (Paus. 8.10.1)

By the foot of the mountain is the sanctuary of Horse Poseidon, not more than six stades distant from Mantineia. About this sanctuary, I, like everyone else who has mentioned it, can write only what I have heard. The modern sanctuary was built by the Emperor Hadrian, who set overseers over the workmen, so that nobody might look into the old sanctuary, and none of the ruins be removed. He ordered them to build around the new temple. Originally, they say, this sanctuary was built for Poseidon by Agamedes and Trophonius, who worked oak logs and fitted them together. (Paus. 8.10.2)

The Temple of Poseidon Hippios was identified by French archaeologist Gustave Fougères, located southeast of the polis, near the present-day village of Milea. Greek archaeologist Dr Theodore Spyropoulos later excavated it from 1985 to 1995, revealing remains of the Archaic temple and important objects, including a clay acroterion bearing a Gorgoneion (see here) and horse-headed bronze figures. The excavations also uncovered inscriptions dedicated to Poseidon Hippios -Ποσειδωνος Ιππιου- (IG V 2, 276).

Antinous appears on medallions of Mantineia (RPC III, 325) commissioned by a magistrate or notable citizen called Vetourius, who is otherwise unknown. The reverse depicts a horse and the legend ΤΟΙϹ ΑΡΚΑϹΙ (for the Arcadians). The medallions were probably issued for distribution at the games held in Mantineia in honour of Antinous after his death, and the horse represented on these coins may be related to the Arcadian cult of Poseidon Hippios. The legend ΤΟΙϹ ΑΡΚΑϹΙ could indicate the Arcadian Koinon (Hervás, 2020).

Hadrian had a strong personal interest in Mantineia and undertook remarkable initiatives, transforming the city through his ambitious projects. Additionally, perhaps in person in 125, he composed an epigram for the Theban general Epaminondas (c. 418-362 BC), which was inscribed on a stele placed at the leader’s tomb beside the old inscription in Boiotian dialect. Epaminondas was buried on the battlefield, where he died in victory, sometime around 362 BC, after the Battle of Mantineia between Thebes and Sparta. Epaminondas was commemorated in Arcadia, which he had helped to free. Pausanias describes his funerary monument as a tomb surmounted by a column on which a shield with the image of a dragon was suspended, representing his clan (Paus. 8.11.8). Sadly, Pausanias did not record Hadrian’s epigram, but he recorded the inscription in elegiac verse on the statue of Epaminondas (Paus. 9.15.6):

By my counsels was Sparta shorn of her glory,
And holy Messene received at last her children.
By the arms of Thebes was Megalopolis encircled with walls,
And all Greece won independence and freedom.

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The imperial party would have continued south to Sparta with a stop at Tegea, southeast of Arcadia. Tegea, like Epidaurus, changed its calendar to mark a new era from the date of his visit (IG V,2 51). An inscription referring to him as ‘saviour and founder’ suggests that he provided benefits to the city (see here). Tegea was the eternal rival of Mantineia, an ally of Sparta during the Peloponnesian War. The city was famous for its sanctuary to the goddess Athena Alea, which had a large 4th-century BC Doric temple designed by the famous sculptor and architect Skopas from Paros. The temple remained in use during the Hellenistic and Roman periods. Tegea appears to have been a significant city in the 2nd century AD. Pausanias declared it was “far superior to all other temples in the Peloponnesus on many grounds, especially for its size” (Paus. 8.45.5).

The emperor would travel further through Greece, visiting Sparta, Corinth, and possibly Olympia, with a commitment to promoting cultural and architectural development throughout the region.

Sources & references:

• Birley, A.R. (1997). Hadrian The Restless Emperor, London, Roman Imperial Biographies pp. 174-180
• Boatwright, M.T. (2000). Hadrian and the Cities of the Roman Empire, Princeton University Press
• Vollgraff, W. (1951). Le théâtre d’Argos. Mnemosyne, 4(3/4), 193–203. (link)
• Aupert P. (1987). Pausanias et l’Asclépieion d’Argos. In: Bulletin de correspondance hellénique. Volume 111, livraison 2, pp. 511-517. (link)
• Hervás, R. (2020). Antinous and the Games of the Koinon of the Achaeans and the Arcadians in Mantinea. Hermes. 148. 218-231. 10.25162/hermes-2020-0013.
• Balériaux, J. (2019). Mythical and ritual landscapes of Poseidon Hippios in Arcadia, Kernos, 32 (link)
• Fougères, G. (1890). “Fouilles de Mantinée”, in: BCH 14, 65–90.
• Fougères, G. (1898). Mantinée et l’Arcadie orientale, Paris

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