Earlier this year, the Mouseia of Villa Adriana hosted an exhibition dedicated to the portraits of Emperor Hadrian. Titled "Io Sono Una Forza Del Passato: Adriano, i ritratti" ("I Am a Force of the Past: Hadrian's Portraits"), this exhibition presented, for the first time, all forms of Hadrian's imperial representation. It featured nine portraits of… Continue reading The Eight Faces of Hadrian in Tivoli
Antiquity was a very colourful place! The myth of all-white marble classical sculpture that remained uninterrupted for centuries has been put to rest thanks to modern science. Over the past thirty years or so, ground-breaking research in pigmentation has revealed new evidence for painted and ornamented surfaces on classical sculpture. Modern techniques such as X-ray… Continue reading Hadrian in colour, by Danila Loginov
Of the many bronze portraits of Hadrian that are known to have existed, only three have survived from antiquity. After the exhibition 'Hadrian: An Emperor Cast in Bronze' (see here) held at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem from December 2015 to June 2016, the Musée du Louvre invites us to discover these exceptional portraits in… Continue reading Exhibition: Three bronze portraits of Hadrian at the Louvre, Paris
On the eastern tip of the Rodopou Peninsula in West Crete are the scanty remains of a temple dedicated to the Cretan goddess Diktynna (Diktynnaion). Diktynna was the virgin goddess of hunting, worshipped fervently in western Crete as the patroness of hunters and fishermen. Diktynna's name may be connected with Mount Dikte, but the Greek… Continue reading The Hadrianic Temple of Diktynna in Crete
The Acropolis Museum in Athens celebrated the 1900th anniversary of Hadrian's accession with the presentation of an exquisite portrait of the Emperor found on Syngrou Avenue and an interesting video showcasing the Emperor's immense building program in Athens. The presentation ran from 15 January to 31 March 2017. Hadrian was a dedicated philhellene who admired… Continue reading Hadrian at the Acropolis Museum of Athens
In 2016, the Israel Museum in Jerusalem hosted an exhibition titled 'Hadrian: An Emperor Cast in Bronze'. The exhibition was curated by David Merovah (Curator of Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine Archaeology) and Rachel Caine Kreinin (Associate Curator) from the Israel Museum, together with Thorsten Opper (Curator of the Department of Greece and Rome) from the… Continue reading Exhibition: ‘Hadrian: An Emperor Cast in Bronze’ in Jerusalem
Today I was thrilled to discover that a beautiful bust of Hadrian had been excavated at the archaeological site of Los Torrejones in the Region of Murcia in Spain. The bust, characterized by its excellent condition, was discovered during archaeological digs at the site which ran from October to December 2014. It was only unveiled… Continue reading Exquisite marble bust of Hadrian found in Spain
On July 25, 1975, an American tourist discovered a magnificent bronze cuirassed statue of the Roman Emperor Hadrian while searching for ancient coins with a metal detector in Tel Shalem, located in the Beth Shean Valley, Israel. This site was once occupied by a detachment of the Sixth Roman Legion (Legio VI Ferrata). The statue… Continue reading Bronze statue of Hadrian from the legionary camp at Tel Shalem (Judaea), Israel Museum
About halfway along today’s Via del Corso, once known as Via Lata, a large Roman arch used to span the street until the mid-17th century. Originally called the Arcus Hadriani, the arch was renamed Arco di Portogallo (Arch of Portugal) in the 16th century because it was located near the residence of the Portuguese ambassador, the… Continue reading The Hadrianic reliefs from the Arch of Portugal (Arco di Portogallo), Rome
Hadrian was a dedicated philhellene who admired Greek culture and did his best to be accepted and admired by the Greeks. He visited Greece three times as emperor (AD 124/5, 128/9 and 131/2), and he was especially fond of Athens. The philhellenic emperor did all he could to raise Athens to a special position in… Continue reading Exploring Hadrian’s Athens
