On 28 January AD 118, four days after his 42nd birthday, Hadrian celebrated the 20th anniversary of Trajan's accession, the first since the emperor's death at Selinus five months earlier. Festivities took place throughout the empire as Roman citizens remembered the Optimus Princeps as a successful soldier-emperor who presided over the greatest military expansion in… Continue reading 28 January AD 118 – Hadrian celebrates the 20th anniversary of Trajan’s accession (#Hadrian1900)
On 9 August AD 117, Trajan's letter of adoption (litteras adoptionis) was made public when it reached Hadrian in Antioch. Hadrian was now Caesar. As mentioned earlier (see here), there had been some uncertainty about whether Trajan had adopted Hadrian as his son and successor before his death or if Plotina staged the adoption. The… Continue reading 9 August AD 117 – Trajan’s letter of adoption reaches Hadrian (#Hadrian1900)
On 8 August AD 117, after a 19-year reign of military glory, Emperor Trajan died at the coastal town of Selinus in western Cilicia (present-day Gazipaşa, about 180 km East of Antalya on the southern coast of Turkey). According to Cassius Dio, Trajan fell seriously ill after an unsuccessful siege of the Mesopotamian city of… Continue reading 8 August AD 117 – Trajan dies at Selinus (#Hadrian1900)
On 13 December AD 115¹, Hadrian survived a violent and devastating earthquake while wintering in Antioch during Trajan's campaign in the east. Hadrian had been in Syria since January AD 114 as imperial legate (envoy to the emperor) and, as such, had taken up residence in Antiochia ad Orontem (Antioch on the Orontes). The city… Continue reading The AD 115 earthquake in Antioch
