One thousand nine hundred years ago, the city of Tomis, a Greek colony on the west coast of the Euxine (Black Sea), honoured Hadrian with a large bilingual inscription carved on what was probably the pedestal of a statue carrying the Emperor's effigy. The inscription (CIL III, 7539), found in two fragments in Constanța (Romania), begins… Continue reading AD 120 – The city of Tomis honours Hadrian with a bilingual inscription (#Hadrian1900)
As was the custom at the beginning of every year, annual public vows were made by all magistrates and all priestly colleges for the welfare and safety (salus) of the Emperor. Amongst the collegia inaugurating the new year with oaths were the Arval Brethren (fratres arvales), a highly exclusive priesthood revived by Augustus and centered around… Continue reading The Acts of the Arval Brethren of AD 120 (#Hadrian1900)
In December of the year 119, Hadrian faced a personal tragedy. He said farewell to his beloved mother-in-law, Salonia Matidia, who passed away in her early 50s. Immediately after her death, Hadrian granted her extravagant honours. He arranged for her deification, delivered a speech in her honour, turned the commemoration of her passing into a… Continue reading 23 December AD 119 – Hadrian commemorates his mother-in-law, Salonia Matidia (#Hadrian1900)
On 4 August AD 119, a copy of a letter written by Hadrian and addressed to Quintus Rammius Martialis, the prefect of Egypt (AD 117-19), was published in Alexandria. In his letter, Hadrian granted illegitimate children of soldiers conceived during their fathers' military service the right to inherit. The text was translated in Greek from… Continue reading 4 August AD 119 – A letter from Hadrian conferring new rights to illegitimate children of soldiers is published in Alexandria (#Hadrian1900)
After less than a year spent in Rome since his arrival in the capital as the new emperor, Hadrian journeyed into Campania, the southern region of Italy where Greek civilisation had once flourished. A passage in the Historia Augusta gives a chronological order of the events and states that the journey came after the removal… Continue reading AD 119 – Hadrian visits Campania to aid the towns by gifts and benefactions (#Hadrian1900)
In spring AD 119, Aulus Platorius Nepos, a close friend of Hadrian, was appointed as consul suffectus (suffect consul), the supreme magistracy in Rome, before being sent out as governor of Germania Inferior. Nepos is known from a dedicatory inscription at Aquileia (CIL V 877, Smallwood 229), where he had been appointed patronus (patron). The local… Continue reading Spring AD 119 – Aulus Platorius Nepos is appointed as suffect consul (#Hadrian1900)
On 24 January AD 119, Hadrian celebrated his 43rd birthday in Rome, the first he spent in the capital as emperor. The emperor put on a gladiatorial show lasting six consecutive days to mark the occasion. Dio Cassius and the Historia Augusta reported that many wild animals were slaughtered, including 100 lions and 100 lionesses.… Continue reading 24 January AD 119 – Hadrian celebrates his 43rd birthday in Rome with gladiatorial games (#Hadrian1900)
On January AD 119, Hadrian celebrated the new year (year 872 Ab urbe condita) in Rome as consul for the third time (COS III) and appointed Publius Dasumius Rusticus as ordinary consul. Rusticus is known only from his consulship and the reason why he received this prestigious honour is not known. It may be that… Continue reading January AD 119 – Hadrian inaugurates the new year in Rome (#Hadrian1900)
Since November of 2017, the National Archaeological Museum of Athens and the Italian Archaeological School at Athens have been hosting a temporary exhibition called Hadrian and Athens. Conversing with an Ideal World in Gallery 31a of the Sculpture Collection. The exhibition marks 1900 years since the beginning of Hadrian's principate in August AD 117, an anniversary already celebrated in… Continue reading Exhibition: ‘Hadrian and Athens. Conversing with an Ideal World’ at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens (#Hadrian1900)
In AD 115, while Trajan and the majority of the Roman troops were campaigning in Parthia in the East, the diasporic Jews rose against Rome, creating havoc in Cyrenaica, Egypt and Cyprus. The hostilities started in Cyrene and quickly spread to Alexandria, Judaism's largest city, and resulted not only in great loss of life but… Continue reading The rebuilding of Cyrene by Hadrian in AD 118/9 (#Hadrian1900)
