The travels of Emperor Hadrian across the Roman Empire c. 125 AD

39 comments

  1. Hadrian came to power in 117 CE as the successor of emperor Trajan and ruled until the end of his life in 138 CE, spending more than half of his reign outside Italy.

    Once he consolidated his power, Hadrian set out on a series of travels and visited almost every province of the empire.

    And he composed the following poem shortly before his death:

    >Animula vagula blandula

    > Hospes comesque corporis

    >Quae nunc abibis in loca

    >Pallidula rigida nudula

    >Nec ut soles dabis iocos

    Five Latin lines very difficult to accurately translate into English.

    >Little soul, you charming little wanderer, my body’s guest and partner,

    >Where are you off to now?

    >Somewhere without colour, savage and bare;

    >Never again to share a joke.

    Marguerite Yourcenar’s version that appears in her masterpiece “Memoirs of Hadrian” is also very moving:

    >Little soul, gentle and drifting, guest and companion of my body, now you will dwell below in pallid places, stark and bare; there you will abandon your play of yore. But one moment still, let us gaze together on these familiar shores, on these objects which doubtless we shall not see again… Let us try, if we can, to enter into death with open eyes…

  2. Heureux qui comme Ulysse a fait un long voyage …

    ça marche aussi.

    let’s translate it : Happy as Ulysse was who made a very long trip…
    (it works too…)

  8. Fascinating stuff. The ability to control such a large territory almost 2000 years ago, with so much success for almost a century in the 96-180 AD period, truly awe inspiring. No wonder it was such a fascination to the Brits in the 19th century, to numerous sci-fi writers, and in terms of the US as the world’s prime superpower it is often referenced even today.

  15. >This Second Century appeals to me because it was the last century, for a very long period of time, in which men could think and express themselves with full freedom. As for us, we are perhaps already very far from such times as that.

  16. A paragraph from – Pharasmanes II “The Valiant” of Iberia (East Georgian kingdom)

    ​

    The contemporary Classical authors, with a more solid historical background, focus on Pharasmanes’ uneasy relations with Rome. He refused in 129 to come and pay homage to the emperor Hadrian.

    According to the Aelius Spartianus, one of the authors of Augustan History:

    *”And when some of the kings came to him, he treated them in such a way that those who had refused to come regretted it. He took this course especially on account of Pharasmanes, who had haughtily scorned his invitation.”*

    Pharasmanes then went touring the East and prompted the Alans to attack the neighboring Roman provinces by giving them a passage through his realm, even though the emperor had sent him greater gifts including a war elephant, than to any other king of the East. In his pique, Hadrian dressed some 300 criminals in the gold-embroidered cloaks which were part of the return gift of Pharasmanes and sent them into the arena.

    According to Spartianus:

    “*He showed a multitude of favors to many kings, but from a number he even purchased peace, and by some, he was treated with scorn; to many, he gave huge gifts, but none greater than to the king of the Iberians, for to him he gave an elephant and a band of fifty men, in addition to magnificent presents. And having himself received huge gifts from Pharasmanes, including some cloaks embroidered with gold, he sent into the arena three hundred condemned criminals dressed in gold-embroidered cloaks as an insult to the king.”*

    Fragment of the Fasti Ostienses which mentions King Pharasmanes’ visit to Rome.

    Eventually, the ancient sources report a highly honored visit paid by Pharasmanes to Hadrian’s successor Antoninus Pius. According to Cassius Dio, he came to Rome as a guest of Antoninus Pius, together with his wife, son, and noble retinue where he was especially honored, being allowed to sacrifice in the Capitol and to have his equestrian statue in the temple of Bellona, and also the emperor increased the territory of his kingdom.

  20. Weird to see modern city names on a map of the Roman Empire.

    I mean – sure, Mainz is where ancient Mogontiacum lay. Londinium where London is now. Colonia Agrippinensis Something Something became Cologne (Köln). Et cetera.

    But apart from the location, these are totally different cities compared to their ancient precursors, with not a stone being in the same place (a few exceptions notwithstanding).

    _edit: at least be consistent and call it Istanbul instead of Byzantium_

  26. hmmm if Hadrian (Adriano) was from Italica (in current south Spain), how there are not travel from and to it?

  27. Note that this is not even the Roman empire at its greatest extent.

    Hadrian’s predecessor Trajan scored some pretty important victories against the Parthians and conquered some of their territories with the final intent of trading directly with India.

    However, Hadrian decided to retreat after he took over because he thought that the empire would become too overstretched to be ruled effectively, even with the excellent network of roman roads and also the rich merchants of the eastern provinces of Syria, Egypt and Arabia were very opposed to the idea, as trading with India directly would’ve weakened their role as middlemen in the trade routes.

  31. Hadrien was in some ways the best Emperor :

    – Lover of philosophy, who reintroduced the beard in roman society, as well as classical greek education for roman elites
    – Travelled more extensively throughout his empire than any other emperor
    – Kept the peace for twenty years
    – Directly chose both his successors in Antoninus and Marcus Aurelius, ensuring forty more years of sound governance after his death.
    – And of course, I forgot that to add that he built and renovated more monuments than any other individual in Roman history.

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