The Ancient Roman Emperor Hadrian

did you know that the emperor Hadrian was well known for his violent temper [Music] hello and welcome to world history encyclopedia my name is Kelly and today's video is all about the Restless Roman Emperor who spent more time traveling than he did in Rome today we are looking at the life and reign of Hadrian don't forget the easiest way to support us is by giving this video a thumbs up subscribing to our Channel and hitting that Bell icon for notifications so you don't miss out on any new uploads world history encyclopedia is a non-profit organization and you can find us on patreon a brilliant site where you can support our work and receive exclusive benefits in return your support helps us create videos every week so make sure to check it out via the pop-up in the top corner of the screen or via the patreon link down below Hadrian was born in the town of italica hispania known today as Seville in Spain and grew up well educated as a son of upper class Romans at 10 his father died and Hadrian was sent to a school in Rome under the care of trajan who would soon become the next emperor of Rome trajan's wife platina was fond of the young Hadrian and she encouraged him in his Keen interest in Greek poetry and culture Hadrian admired Greece so ardently that he is even now often mistakenly identified as being Greek or of Grecian lineage under the emperor nerva who reigned between 96 and 98 CE Hadrian was a Tribune as his first stint in the military and was selected for the important job of telling trajan that he was nervous successor trajan as the next emperor of Rome was actually the first emperor to have been born in the provinces and although later biographers tried to place the birth of both trajan and Hadrian in the city of Rome they were both born in modern day Spain in 117 say a trajan died while on campaign and at the time of his death while Hadrian was in command of the rear guard it's not believed that trajan had actually named successor it was actually platina who signed the papers of succession claiming that trajan had selected Hadrian so although it is known that trajan respected Hadrian and considered him his successor he had not named him officially as his Heir and it seems platina was responsible for the adoption of Hadrian at about 100 CE there seems to have been some sort of dispute between the two men and although there is no documentation for it after the argument trajan refused to elevate Hadrian's Rank and the positions he did give the boy just so happened to remove him from the emperor's immediate circle it has been suggested that the rift was caused by Hadrian seducing or trying to seduce one of the emperor's favorite young men but this is just speculation lucky for Hadrian though platina was a driving force behind his advancement and both platina and trajan's niece salonia Materia pushed for Hadrian's marriage to materia's daughter Vivia Sabina since Hadrian preferred the company of men his marriage never really flourished and he was a much better ruler than he was a husband as a man who had served in the military prior to becoming emperor of Rome in 117 CE he already had the support of the army upon his Ascension to the throne Hadrian was embraced by the people of Rome and was greatly admired throughout his Reign he continued to be highly regarded even though he spent 12 of his 21 years as ruler outside of Rome something that other Emperors were criticized harshly for like Nero who spent far less time away from the city than Hadrian did Hadrian showed his Devotion to his army by sleeping and eating with the common soldiers and even though his Reign was marked by a relative peace he was often depicted in military attire since the empire was fairly stable during his Reign Hadrian spent much of his time visiting the provinces of Rome and inspecting the projects He had commissioned the projects that have become probably his most enduring Legacy Hadrian established cities improved roads raised monuments and strengthened the infrastructure in the Roman provinces of Egypt Asia Minor North Africa Greece and through the Balkan Peninsula he ended up visiting Greece twice and during one of those times he was initiated into the elusinian Mysteries and in his honor the arch of Hadrian was constructed by the Athenian citizens in 131 and 132 CE for his substantial contributions to the city like the Temple of Zeus back in Rome Hadrian had the pantheon rebuilt after it was destroyed by fire as well as trajan's forum and commissioned the building of many Villas and Roman baths no building project of hadrians is as famous as his wall known in Antiquity as vallum hadriani but famously known today as Hadrian's Wall in England the construction of this wall began when he visited Britannia in 122 CE after a Revolt had been put down and it was built in order to stop the northern picts from easily invading his territory it worked as a marker for the northern Point boundary of Rome in Britain but its sheer length and breadth was intended more as a show of Rome's power than a fortified boundary Hadrian's walls stretched across 120 kilometers or 73 miles and took six years to build along the wall there were 16 or 17 fortifications and a ditch purposely constructed of Earthworks and known as a Vellum which ran parallel along the length of the wall the wall was initially plastered and whitewashed and was thought to represent the might of the Empire and Hadrian's foreign policy of peace through strength after visiting Britannia Hadrian traveled to Asia Minor and while in the region of bithynia in 123 CE either in nicomedia or claudiopolis he met the Young antinous Who became his constant companion antinous would have been somewhere between 13 and 15 years old at this time but the same-sex relationship between a younger and older man was accepted in Rome as long as it was consensual for the next seven years they were in a serious committed relationship despite Hadrian being married Hadrian sent antinos to a boarding school in Rome that trained him for life in court and between 125 and 1 30 the two of them lived in Hadrian's Villa in Rome while the two weren't traveling the provinces antinous accompanied Hadrian on his travels and in October of 1 30 they arrived in Egypt for the Festival of Osiris at the end of the month antinous drowned in the Nile and although Hadrian reported it as an accident historians have claimed that the youth sacrificed himself in a ritual to cure Hadrian of an unknown illness this latter claim is strengthened by the policy that antinous as Hadrian's beloved would have been accompanied by servants who would have surely saved him if he had accidentally fallen into the Nile Hadrian's grief over the death of his lover was overwhelming and he immediately had the youth deified which was somewhat unprecedented since usually you would have to submit the suggestion for the Senate to approve Hadrian went further and had a city named Antonopoulos built in his honor and very quickly a cult around antinous grew in the city and spread throughout the provinces he was seen as a dying and Reviving God and was thought since he was once human to be quicker at responding to supplications than other deities his likeness was raised in temples and shrines and of the estimated 2 000 statues of antinous that once graced the Empire 117 have been recovered his cult grew to be so popular that even 200 years later it rivaled both the well-established Cult of Isis and the new religion of Christianity Hadrian continued to travel through the provinces dealing with his grief despite being well educated and known for his policy of peaceful relations he was equally well known for losing his temper he lost patience with Scholars at court and even accidentally blinded a servant in one eye when he threw his stylus at him in Rage this kind of outburst became Infamous during his time in Jerusalem Hadrian visited the city in 132 CE the city was in Ruins still after the first Roman Jewish war and so he had the city rebuilt and named it after himself and the king of the Roman gods Alia capitalina Jupiter Capital Linus but when he built a temple to Jupiter on the ruins of a temple of Solomon that was considered Sacred by the Jews they Rose in Revolt under the leader of Simon bakhokbar in what has become known as the bakba Revolt Hadrian became so enraged he ordered the Revolt crushed sparing no one not even those too young or too old to have participated both the Romans and the Jews lost massive numbers in this war with the Jewish losses numbering 580 000 by the time the Revolt was put down over 1 000 towns and villagers were destroyed and if that wasn't enough Hadrian had the remaining Jewish population banished from the region and then renamed it Syria pelestina after the traditional enemies of the Jewish people the Philistines Hadrian even ordered a public burning of the Torah executed Jewish Scholars and prohibited the practice of Judaism foreign Hadrian returned to Rome in failing health and spent his time writing poetry and handling administrative Affairs he named antonina's Pious as his successor as long as he in turn adopted the young Marcus Aurelius in 138 CE Hadrian died at the age of 62 presumably of a heart attack he was originally buried on the grounds of the former estate of the rhetorician Cicero because of Hadrian's love of learning but after antoninus Pius finished the great tomb of Hadrian a year later Hadrian was cremated and interred with his wife and adopted son Lucius Alias Caesar who was the father of Lucius Ferris who co-ruled with Marcus Aurelius for a Time Hadrian was later deified and temples were built in honor of the man whose people continued to regard him as highly as ever why do you think Hadrian was such a popular Emperor let us know what you think in the comments below if you enjoyed this video make sure to give it a thumbs up and subscribe to our channel so you don't miss out on our new 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Channel: World History Encyclopedia

Views: 1,056

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Id: hSnEqt9xkto

Length: 12min 26sec (746 seconds)

Published: Tue May 30 2023