Emperor Adrian: years of government and interesting facts

Ruling in 117-138, the Roman emperor Adrian was born in the year 76. He was born in the colony of Italica, located in the province of Betique near modern Seville. Adrian was the son of the praetor Publius Elijah Adrian Afro (that is, the African, this title was given to his father as a reward for his service in distant Mauritania). The mother of the boy was Domitia Paulina, originally from Spanish Hades. The emperor Adrian belonged to the aristocracy. His grandfather on his father's side was a member of the Senate and husband of Aunt Trajan. This emperor, who ruled in 98-117 AD, when Adrian was a cousin, became his guardian after the death of the parents of the child in the year 85.

Youth

The future emperor Adrian chose a military career. He became a tribune in the legions, serving in the most tense European provinces: Upper Germany, Lower Moesia and Lower Pannonia. As Trajan's right hand, Adrian accompanied him on his way to Rome, when he was preparing to enter the throne. In the capital, the military married. His wife was Vibia Sabina, the daughter of the niece of the new emperor.

Then Adrian became a quaestor, commanded a legion and served as a praetor during the Dacian war. For some time he was a governor in Lower Pannonia, to which the emperor himself contributed. Adrian was distinguished by a serviceable and efficient service. In 108, the administrative qualities allowed him to become a consul. For the empire, it was a troubled time - the key figures of state power had to answer many challenges of the era. With the onset of the war with Parthia, Adrian went to Syria, where he became governor in the border province.

Heir to Trajan

In 117 AD Adrian was elected consul for the second time. However, already that summer, Trajan died and an acute question arose about the transfer of power to his successor. Three days the news of the death of the sovereign remained a mystery to the masses. Elites tried to agree on who will be the new head of state. The next day after the death of Trajan, his will was found, in which he adopted Adrian and gave him the rights to the throne. The fact of the last will of the deceased was confirmed by his wife Pompey Plotinus.

Despite this, the news of adoption aroused some doubts. Following the accession to the throne of Adrian, even new coins were issued with a picture of his profile, on which he was awarded the title of Caesar, but not Augustus. However, the de facto transfer of power nevertheless took place. The decisive word was for the army, and she supported the applicant, who was well known to the military. Opposition to the new ruler could arise in the Senate, but the senators, finding themselves in actual isolation, with a hunt or not, but recognized the new monarch.

Peacemaker

First, the new emperor Adrian deified his predecessor and guardian. For this he had to obtain permission from the Senate. Rhetoric of the ruler in relation to influential nobles was specific. The autocrat treated senators with reverence and forewarnedness. In fact, a non-aggression pact was initiated, initiated by Adrian himself. The Emperor of Rome promised not to repress the aristocracy, if it does not interfere with the implementation of an independent policy.

The desire to control yourself was not accidental. Hadrian's ideas differed in many ways from those used by Trajan. The new emperor refused further expansion in the east. The reason for this was the major unrest in Mesopotamia. Because of them, the rule of Emperor Hadrian began with the fact that he decided to put an end to the turmoil on the border. At his command, the legions stopped wars with Parthia. The buffer states between Persia and the Roman Empire remained in the hands of local vassal tsars.

The policy of compromises quickly yielded results. The disturbances ceased. After the first success, Adrian turned his gaze to the banks of the Danube. Through this border river in the Roman state began to invade the rockolans and Sarmatians. The army broke these nomads who came from the Black Sea steppes. In neighboring Dacia Adrian secured the acquisition of Trajan, introducing there a new system of administrative management and dividing the province into three parts.

The Emperor and the Aristocracy

Winter Adrian spent 118 years in Bithynia and Nicodemia. There he heard news of the feuds of aristocrats in the capital. At that time in Rome prefect Pretoria Attian in the absence of the emperor executed several influential political figures suspected of treason. Among them was Lucius Konst, whom Adrian himself shortly before removed from his post as governor in Judea. The other punished was Gay Avidiy Nigrin, who was considered a possible successor to the emperor.

Upon learning of the violence, Adrian returned to Rome. He had to demonstrate to the Senate that he was not involved in the deaths of high-ranking officials. To this end, the emperor made a sacrificial sacrifice, depriving Attian of his post as prefect of the praetorium. Nevertheless, this story negatively affected the relations between August and the Senate.

Relationship to the provinces

The energetic Adrian is a Roman emperor who, in the succession of his predecessors and successors, traveled all his vast empire. He is deservedly considered one of the greatest travelers of antiquity. The peak of trips to the provinces fell on 121-132 years. In each city the emperor personally received citizens, learned their problems and solved their most pressing problems.

Gaining impressions about his own country, Adrian ordered the release of a series of coins, which were images of the centers of each Roman province. The various edges of the state were personified in the image of a woman. All of them differed from one another, having received a unique characteristic attribute: the Asian sword, the Egyptian ibis, the games of the Greeks, and so on.

Adrian became the first emperor to abandon the ideology, according to which the empire was to exist only for the sake of the welfare of Rome. It was he who set himself the goal of creating from a vast state a living organism, equal to which there was not yet in human history. The autocrat saw in the empire not a cluster of conquered and conquered lands, but a commonwealth in which many unique nationalities lived. Hadrian's attention to the affairs in the provinces remained unchanged throughout his reign.

Travel Adriana

The goal of Hadrian's first major trip was Gallia. The emperor visited the provinces, located in the basin of the Rhine and the Danube. Then he visited distant Britain. On the instructions of Caesar in the north of the island began the construction of a long wall, which protected the Roman possessions from hostile Caledonians.

In 122 AD, Adrian once again visited Gaul, this time in its southern regions. In the city of Nemaus (modern Nimes), he laid a temple in honor of the recently deceased wife Trajan Pompeii Platina. The Emperor tried every time to emphasize his own piety in relation to his predecessor and his family. In Italy, where Adrian was born, the Roman emperor visited next winter, from where he moved to Mauritania and Africa.

In 123, the relationship between Rome and Parthia survived another test of strength. Fearing war, Adrian personally visited the east of the country. He negotiated with the Persians and defused the situation. During this voyage the sovereign visited Palmyra and Antioch. The following year, the indefatigable Adrian came to Thrace, where he founded the city of his name Adrianople. This political and cultural center survived the empire. In the Byzantine period, he was one of its most important provincial centers. Today the city wears the Turkish name Edirne.

Curious travel of the emperor to Greece. During one of them, August personally took part in the Eleusinian Mysteries - the most important annual Hellenistic religious rite dedicated to the goddesses of fertility Persephone and Demeter. It is also noteworthy that the emperor ascends to the top of Etna volcano in Sicily. Traveling around the empire, Adrian conquered a few more mountains (for example, Cassius in Syria). August and glorious Egypt visited. He reached the Colossi of Memnon - stone statues of Pharaoh Amenhotep III, who stood in Thebes for 1500 years.

Construction of new fortifications

For the habits of the sovereign and character, it was important that Adrian was a Roman emperor, whose biography was an example of a successful military man who ultimately went into politics. Becoming a sovereign, he began to often go to the army. The emperor visited and constantly supervised the troops, checking their readiness and combat skills. Since Adrian refused further Roman expansion, the legions had to completely change their own way of life. Deprived of aggressive campaigns, they were thrown to strengthen the border areas.

In the era of Hadrian along the state lines, a significant number of powerful defensive structures were built. The main fortification of the empire appeared in Northern Britain. This already mentioned wall, called the wall of Hadrian, stretched from the Salt Road to the Mystery and even survived to this day. It was built of turf and stone. Typical features of the wall were ditches in the form of the letter V. The peace of Roman Britain was protected by massive gates and tall towers, in which the best and hardy legionaries served. In total, the wall was guarded by about fifteen thousand people. To the north of it was the unconquered barbarian Caledonia.

Similar fortifications appeared in Greece and Germany. They were put where there were no natural natural boundaries (for example, rivers). A continuous section of two hundred miles long was held between the Danube and the Rhine. This tree was crowned with a palisade of wood and surrounded by steep moats.

Changes in the army

Thanks to Adrian's protective policies, prosperous civil settlements arose near the borders. They appeared next to the military camps. The colonists tried to hide from the dangerous neighbors of the barbarians behind the fortress walls.

The way of life of the army also changed. Now the soldiers did not just fight, but planted horses, built quarries, manufactured uniforms, guarded and transported grain, and engaged in animal husbandry. Those who ceased to move from the provinces to the provinces legions greatly expanded the field of their activities. Now they solved economic problems.

All these innovations were encouraged by Adrian himself. The Roman emperor, whose photos of busts show us an impressive and thorough man in the prime of life, tirelessly engaged in the affairs of the army, which was the backbone of the tranquility and prosperity of a huge state. Adrian demanded strict discipline and at the same time knew how to communicate sympathetically with soldiers. He regularly visited maneuvers, shared food and life with legionaries. Himself, coming out of the military environment, the emperor caused a great sympathy for the infantrymen and officers. Largely due to this during the reign of Hadrian in the empire there was not a single soldier's mutiny.

The Rebellion of the Jews

Most of Adrian's time was peaceful. The only serious war broke out in 132, already near the end of his reign. The Jewish uprising in Judea was starting. The reason for the riots was the construction of a Roman temple in Jerusalem. The inspirer of the uprising was Simeon Bar-Kokhba. The rebels took Jerusalem and drove the Romans out of it. The suppression of the armed speech took three years.

The actions of the army were periodically directed by Adrian himself. The Emperor of Rome was present at the fall of Jerusalem in 134 AD. A few months after this episode, the scattered remnants of the disaffected were finally defeated by the legions. Repression was raging on the Jews. In particular, circumcision was forbidden to them.

Death and heritage

Succession to the throne was the main problem facing Adrian. The Roman emperor never got children. His relationship with his wife Vibia Sabina was quite cool. She died in 128. After eight years, Adrian adopted Lucia Commodus, but he prematurely died. The next official heir was Anthony Pius. To ensure the long-term continuity of power in the next generations, Adrian ordered the successor to adopt Lucius Vera and Marcus Aurelius. All of them later became emperors. Adrian himself died on July 10, 138. For his rest in Rome, a mausoleum was built in advance. Today it is known as the castle of Saint Angela.

Adrian is a Roman emperor, whose birth date (January 24, 76) fell on the heyday of pagan culture. The Emperor was the epitome of his era. He was interested in magic, astrology and took part in religious rituals. Adrian wrote several poems, loved literature and regularly communicated with the best contemporary writers. He was also interested in architecture and art. In the time of Adrian in the empire a new genre of painting arose, inspired by Greek culture. He was the first August to be depicted in an idealized image and with a beard.

Roman artists and sculptors were very interested in the emperor Adrian and Antinous - a favorite and an approximate sovereign. This young man was tragically drowned in the Nile in 130. Adrian ordered the establishment of the religious cult of Antinous, and since that time he was revered as a god.

Interesting facts about the emperor

Adrian's architectural passions were most vividly embodied in his own residence in the suburbs of Rome Tibur, built amidst slopes and olive groves. The emperor's villa reflected a variety of styles, typical for different provinces of the state, in which he visited. Adrian surrounded himself with bold architects-experimenters and instructed them to create something completely new. The result of the research became brick-lined concrete structures, similar to which were not in all of Rome. So in the Empire there was a real revolution and the fashion for the curved complex outlines, which came to replace the simple straight lines, was born.

August itself was not going to limit itself to innovations only with its own villa. Adrian is a Roman emperor, whose reign (117-138) fell to the peak of veneration of the ancient gods. In honor of them, the pantheon was rebuilt on the Champ de Mars. On the site of the old temple appeared a new building of round shape. The Hadrian pantheon was the first such structure where believers gathered.

By the will of the emperor, near the Roman Forum, the temple of Roma and Venus was built. A separate religious building was built by the architects in honor of the Trajan, who was counted among the gods. In Athens, the sovereign initiated the reconstruction of the temple of Zeus. There is no doubt that Emperor Hadrian, whose biography was connected with numerous trips to the east of his country, was a true Hellenophile.