Happy 1950th birthday, Hadrian! In keeping with tradition, I baked Hadrian a birthday cake. This year, I chose Cato’s recipe for savillum (a kind of cheesecake), one of my favourite sweet cakes from antiquity. This savoury cheesecake was served with Mulsum, a wonderfully sweet and spiced white wine, usually served before the main meal and therefore an… Continue reading Felicem diem natalem, Hadriane! 🎂
On January 24, AD 126, Emperor Hadrian celebrated his 50th birthday. This event was marked by the dedication of a small temple to the god Serapis (Serapeum) in the forecourt of the Luxor Temple (Roman Thebes) in Egypt. Modest in scale, the temple, discovered during excavations conducted by Egyptian archaeologist Zakaria Ghoneim in 1950-51, features a Greek… Continue reading 24 January AD 126 – A small Serapeum is consecrated in Thebes to Hadrian on his 50th birthday (#Hadrian1900)
Happy 1949th birthday, Hadrian! In keeping with tradition, I made a birthday cake for Hadrian. This time, I decided to bake a Roman honey cake. 🎂 Ingredients: 3 eggs 200 grams liquid honey 50 grams spelt flour Instructions: Whip eggs with an electric mixer or a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat them until they are… Continue reading Felicem diem natalem, Hadriane! 🎂
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
After Pergamon and Sardis (see here), two other great cities of western Asia had their turn to receive Hadrian and his party, Smyrna and Ephesus. Both metropoleis were perennial rivals, competing for first place in the province and the coveted title of neokoros. Travelling with Hadrian was one of the most renowned sophists of his… Continue reading Summer AD 124 – Hadrian tours Asia (part 3), visits Smyrna and Ephesus and sails to Athens (#Hadrian1900)
After touring the province of Bithynia, where Hadrian may have first encountered Antinous (see here), the Emperor crossed the Sea of Marmara to Thrace. Accompanying him was the renowned sophist and teacher of rhetoric, Antonius Polemon. Polemon chronicled this journey in his Physiognomica, a treatise on physiognomy later preserved in a 14th-century Arabic translation. In his writings, Polemon recalls, "I was a… Continue reading Spring AD 124 – Hadrian visits Thrace and founds Hadrianopolis (#Hadrian1900)
The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures of the University of Chicago possesses a papyrus with the inventory number E8349, which contains the only surviving copy of Hadrian's lost autobiography. Written toward the close of his life, Hadrian's autobiography appears to have taken the form of a series of letters to Antoninus Pius. Its… Continue reading The only known copy of Hadrian’s lost autobiography in the Chicago Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures
Happy 1947th birthday, Hadrian! This year, I made some Cato’s Globi (Pastry Balls) as Hadrian’s birthday cake. 🎂 Globi (original recipe from LacusCurtius): Mix the cheese and spelt in the same way (as Libum), sufficient to make the number desired. Pour lard into a hot copper vessel, and fry one or two at a time, turning them frequently… Continue reading Felicem diem natalem, Hadriane! 🎂
In 122, perhaps in late spring, Hadrian returned from the Danube to the Rhine. The last stage of his journey along the German frontier before moving to Britannia would have taken him down the Rhine to Colonia Agrippinensis (modern Cologne), the Hadrianic capital of Germania Inferior. One of his most trusted friends, Platorius Nepos, who… Continue reading Spring AD 122 – Hadrian inspects the northern frontiers: part 4 Germania Inferior (#Hadrian1900)
Happy 1946th birthday, Hadrian! 🎂 I baked a cake for Hadrian's birthday inspired by Hadrian's Wall and the HW1900 festival this year. 2022 marks the 1900th anniversary of the beginning of the construction of Hadrian’s Wall. Starting today on Hadrian's birthday, the HW1900 festival will celebrate this epic milestone with hundreds of events taking place along… Continue reading Felicem diem natalem, Hadriane! #HW1900 🎂
