In the year AD 121, Hadrian left Rome and set off on an ambitious tour of the western provinces. His first intended destination was the German frontier (limes) which he probably reached in the autumn or winter of that year. A passage in Dio Cassius describing Hadrian bareheaded in the "German snows" (Dio 69.9.4) plausibly… Continue reading Winter AD 121/2 – Hadrian inspects the northern frontiers: part 1 Germania Superior (#Hadrian1900)
In February 98 AD, Hadrian travelled from Moguntiacum (Mainz) to Colonia Agrippinensis (Cologne) to inform Trajan, the then governor of Germania Inferior, of the death of his adoptive father Nerva (who had died on 27 January) and to congratulate him on his accession to the imperial throne. Hadrian's first visit to the German provinces as… Continue reading Marble head of Hadrian, Römisch-Germanisches Museum, Cologne
Last November, I visited the Römerhalle at Bad Kreuznach, Germany. It is a museum that displays finds from a late 2nd century Roman villa as well as other Roman finds from the district of Bad Kreuznach. Around 58 BC, the Rhineland-Palatinate region became part of the Roman Empire, with a Roman vicus named Cruciniacum, forming a supply station… Continue reading The Gladiator Mosaic at Bad Kreuznach, Germany
From one end of the empire to another! The Roman empire encircled the Mediterranean Sea, and beyond that, lay its frontiers. At its height, the empire stretched from the Atlantic Ocean to the Black Sea, through the deserts of the Middle East to the Red Sea, and across North Africa. The “Limes” represents the border line… Continue reading Exploring the Limes Germanicus – images from Rome’s Germanic Frontier
