Hadrian: The Restless Emperor

by Vindolanda Trust; The

• ISBN13: 9780415228121
• ISBN10: 0415228123
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2000-04-27
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

This widely acclaimed book brilliantly uses new evidence to chronicle the life of a man who, while broken and hated at his death, nevertheless left an indelible stamp on the Roman Empire. Birley shows how Hadrian brazenly abandoned his predecessor Trajan's eastern conquests, constructed new demarcation lines in Germany, North Africa, and most famously Hadrian's Wall in Britain, to limit the expansion of the Empire. This engrossing book also explores Hadrian's dramatic personal life, including his tragic love affair with the young Antinous, whose death in the Nile caused speculations of suicide and even ritual sacrifice.

Table of Contents

List of plates	ix
List of maps	xi
Preface	xiii
Note	xvi
Acknowledgements	xvii
Introduction: The Emperor Hadrian	1	(9)
A Childhood in Flavian Rome	10	(11)
The old dominion	21	(6)
Military tribune	27	(8)
Principatus et libertas	35	(15)
The young general	50	(8)
Archon at Athens	58	(8)
The Parthian war	66	(11)
The new ruler	77	(16)
Return to Rome	93	(20)
To the German Frontier	113	(10)
Hadrian's Wall	123	(19)
A new Augustus	142	(9)
Return to the east	151	(11)
A summer in Asia	162	(13)
A year in Greece	175	(14)
Pater patriae	189	(14)
Africa	203	(12)
Hadrianus Olympius	215	(20)
Death in the Nile	235	(24)
Athens and Jerusalem	259	(20)
The bitter end	279	(22)
Epilogue: Animula vagula blandula	301	(7)
Stemma	308	(3)
Notes	311	(49)
Bibliography	360	(13)
Index	373