A new slab of the Fasti Ostienses, an ancient Roman marble calendar (extant in fragmentary form) recording imperial news, magistrates and events related to the city of Ostia, the harbour city of ancient Rome, emerged during the second excavation campaign at the Forum of Porta Marina in Ostia Antica, as part of the Ostia Post… Continue reading A new fragment of the Fasti Ostienses dated to AD 128 found at Ostia Antica
In the early year of AD 121, Pompeia Plotina, the greatly respected widow of Emperor Trajan, sent Hadrian a letter asking him to help the Epicurean school in Athens resolve an issue regarding the rights of succession. Under Roman law, the head of the school was required to appoint a new leader from among Roman… Continue reading Early AD 121 – Plotina writes to Hadrian on behalf of the Epicurean school in Athens (#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)
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)
On the news of Trajan's death and Hadrian's accession, embassies from every part of the empire were sent to pay homage to the new Emperor. They carried letters of congratulations with them, and each received a written answer, which would be taken home and proudly reproduced in stone to be displayed in a public space.… Continue reading End of AD 117 – Hadrian sends a letter of reply to Hierapolis (#Hadrian1900)
On 25 August AD 117, two weeks after Hadrian's proclamation in Antioch, the new prefect of Egypt (Praefectus Aegypi), Quintus Rammius Martialis, addressed a circular letter to the strategoi of the Egyptian districts (nomes) announcing the imperial accession of Hadrian and instructing them to declare festivities for ten days. The document, written in Greek, has been… Continue reading 25 August AD 117 – The announcement of Hadrian’s accession in Alexandria (#Hadrian1900)
The Natalis Antinoi, which commemorated the birthday of Antinous, was celebrated on November 27. While the exact year of his birth is uncertain, estimated to be around AD 110 to 112, an inscription discovered in numerous fragments at Lanuvio in Italy confirms that his birth date falls on the fifth day before the Kalends of December… Continue reading The Natalis Antinoi and the collegium of Diana and Antinous in Lanuvium
