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A guide book or travel guide is "a book of information about a place designed for the use of visitors or tourists". It will usually include information about sights, accommodation, restaurants, transportation, and activities. Maps of varying detail and historical and cultural information are often included. Different kinds of guide books exist, focusing on different aspects of travel, from adventure travel to relaxation, or aimed at travelers with different incomes, or focusing on sexual orientation or types of diet.

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106-432: Frommer's ( / ˈ f r oʊ m ər z / ) is a travel guide book series created by Arthur Frommer in 1957. Frommer's has since expanded to include more than 350 guidebooks in 14 series, as well as other media including an eponymous radio show and a website. In 2017, the company celebrated its 60th anniversary. Frommer has maintained a travel-related blog on the company's website since 2007. In 1957, Arthur Frommer, then

212-511: A Byron for sentiment, and finds out by them what he is to know and feel by every step." After Karl Baedeker died, his son, also named Karl, inherited the Baedeker travel guide business; however, he was killed in action during World War I. British nationalism and anti-German sentiment resulted in some British people labeling Baedeker guides "instrumental to the German war effort", and their popularity in

318-449: A corporal in the U.S. Army , wrote a travel guide for American GIs in Europe, and then produced a civilian version called Europe on $ 5 a Day . The book ranked popular landmarks and sights in order of importance and included suggestions on how to travel around Europe on a budget. It was the first travel guide to show Americans that they could afford to travel in Europe. Frommer returned to

424-606: A hero and composing an epigraph for the tomb. As Pompey was universally acknowledged as responsible for establishing Rome's power in the east, this restoration was probably linked to a need to reaffirm Roman Eastern hegemony following social unrest there during Trajan's late reign. Hadrian and Antinous held a lion hunt in the Libyan desert; a poem on the subject by the Greek Pankrates is the earliest evidence that they travelled together. While Hadrian and his entourage were sailing on

530-622: A Hungarian-born author of travel articles , who had emigrated to the United States before the war, wrote guidebooks which introduced English-reading audiences to continental Europe. Arthur Frommer , an American soldier stationed in Europe during the Korean War , used his experience traveling around the Continent as the basis for Europe on $ 5 a Day (1957), which introduced readers to options for budget travel in Europe. Both authors' guidebooks became

636-474: A budget. She therefore included for the first time a wealth of advice on luggage, obtaining passports, the precise cost of food and accommodation in each city and even advice on the care of invalid family members. She also devised a system of exclamation mark ratings [!!!], a forerunner of today's star ratings . Her books, published by John Murray , served as a template for later guides. In the United States ,

742-507: A capacity for both great personal generosity and extreme cruelty and driven by insatiable curiosity, conceit, and ambition. Publius Aelius Hadrianus was born on 24 January 76, in Italica (modern Santiponce , near Seville ), a Roman town founded by Italic settlers in the province of Hispania Baetica during the Second Punic War at the initiative of Scipio Africanus ; Hadrian's branch of

848-606: A city within Mysia, Hadrianutherae , after a successful boar hunt. At about this time, plans to complete the Temple of Zeus in Cyzicus , begun by the kings of Pergamon , were put into practice. The temple received a colossal statue of Hadrian. Cyzicus, Pergamon , Smyrna , Ephesus and Sardes were promoted as regional centres for the imperial cult ( neocoros ). Hadrian arrived in Greece during

954-418: A commonwealth of civilised peoples and a common Hellenic culture under Roman supervision. He supported the creation of provincial towns ( municipia ), semi-autonomous urban communities with their own customs and laws, rather than the imposition of new Roman colonies with Roman constitutions. A cosmopolitan, ecumenical intent is evident in coin issues of Hadrian's later reign, showing the emperor "raising up"

1060-400: A deal with Publishers Group West to distribute and promote Frommer's books. More than 75 million copies of Frommer's guide books have been sold since 1957. Over 350 titles are available in the following series: Frommer's guidebooks are represented in the 2004 comedy EuroTrip when one of the main characters, Jamie, uses it to guide a group of teenagers around Europe . Jamie later gets

1166-486: A detailed itinerary. In the medieval Arab world , guide books for travelers in search of artifacts and treasures were written by Arabic treasure hunters, magicians, and alchemists . This was particularly the case in Arab Egypt , where treasure hunters were eager to find valuable ancient Egyptian antiquities. Some of the books claimed to be imbued with magic that could dispel the magical barriers believed to be protecting

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1272-580: A distinguished Roman senatorial family based in Gades ( Cádiz ). His only sibling was an elder sister, Aelia Domitia Paulina . His wet nurse was the slave Germana, probably of Germanic origin, to whom he was devoted throughout his life. She was later freed by him and ultimately outlived him, as shown by her funerary inscription, which was found at Hadrian's Villa at Tivoli . Hadrian's great-nephew, Gnaeus Pedanius Fuscus Salinator , from Barcino (Barcelona) would become Hadrian's colleague as co-consul in 118. As

1378-403: A grand league of all Greek cities. Successful applications for membership involved mythologised or fabricated claims to Greek origins, and affirmations of loyalty to imperial Rome, to satisfy Hadrian's personal, idealised notions of Hellenism. Hadrian saw himself as protector of Greek culture and the "liberties" of Greece – in this case, urban self-government. It allowed Hadrian to appear as

1484-497: A handbook for travellers by Professor Johannes August Klein entitled Rheinreise von Mainz bis Cöln; ein Handbuch für Schnellreisende ( A Rhine Journey from Mainz to Cologne ; A Handbook for Travellers on the Move ). He published this book with little changes for the next ten years, which provided the seeds for Baedeker's new approach to travel guides. After Klein died, he decided to publish

1590-507: A job with Frommer's at the end of EuroTrip. In the opening scene of 2003's Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle , Cameron Diaz enters a Mongolian beer shack holding a Frommer's guidebook. A copy can also be seen near the beginning of the 2008 film Jumper . Complete references from the Frommer's Guide book for Traveling around the world can be seen in the movie Last Stop for Paul . Guide book Travel guides or guide books can also take

1696-425: A legitimate heir may have come too late to dissuade other potential claimants. Hadrian's greatest rivals were Trajan's closest friends, the most experienced and senior members of the imperial council; any of them might have been a legitimate competitor for the imperial office ( capaces imperii ); and any of them might have supported Trajan's expansionist policies, which Hadrian intended to change. One of their number

1802-584: A local dispute between producers of olive oil and the Athenian Assembly and Council , who had imposed production quotas on oil producers; yet he granted an imperial subsidy for the Athenian grain supply. Hadrian created two foundations to fund Athens' public games, festivals and competitions if no citizen proved wealthy or willing enough to sponsor them as a Gymnasiarch or Agonothetes . Generally Hadrian preferred that Greek notables, including priests of

1908-503: A lower cost than a massed border army, and controlled cross-border trade and immigration. A shrine was erected in York to Britannia as the divine personification of Britain ; coins were struck, bearing her image, identified as Britannia. By the end of 122, Hadrian had concluded his visit to Britannia. He never saw the finished wall that bears his name . Hadrian appears to have continued through southern Gaul. At Nemausus , he may have overseen

2014-586: A new edition in 1839, to which he added many of his own ideas on what he thought a travel guide should offer the traveller. Baedeker's ultimate aim was to free the traveller from having to look for information anywhere outside the travel guide; whether about routes, transport, accommodation, restaurants, tipping, sights, walks or prices. Baedeker emulated the style of John Murray's guidebooks, but included unprecedented detailed information. In 1846, Baedeker introduced his star ratings for sights, attractions and lodgings, following Mrs. Starke's and Murray's. This edition

2120-535: A pretext to remove him from office. Hadrian spent the winter of 122/123 at Tarraco , in Spain, where he restored the Temple of Augustus . In 123, Hadrian crossed the Mediterranean to Mauretania , where he personally led a minor campaign against local rebels. The visit was cut short by reports of war preparations by Parthia; Hadrian quickly headed eastwards. At some point, he visited Cyrene , where he personally funded

2226-481: A senator, Hadrian's father would have spent much of his time in Rome. In terms of his later career, Hadrian's most significant family connection was to Trajan , his father's first cousin , who was also of senatorial stock and a native of Italica. Although they were considered to be, in the words of Aurelius Victor , advenae ("aliens", people "from the outside"), both Trajan and Hadrian were of Italic lineage and belonged to

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2332-450: A senatorial career. He then served as a military tribune , first with the Legio   II Adiutrix in 95, then with the Legio V Macedonica . During Hadrian's second stint as tribune, the frail and aged reigning emperor Nerva adopted Trajan as his heir; Hadrian was dispatched to give Trajan the news – or most probably was one of many emissaries charged with this same commission. Then Hadrian

2438-554: A state visit and was given the civic name Hadriana Palmyra. Hadrian also bestowed honours on various Palmyrene magnates, among them one Soados, who had done much to protect Palmyrene trade between the Roman Empire and Parthia. Hadrian had spent the winter of 131–32 in Athens, where he dedicated the now-completed Temple of Olympian Zeus , At some time in 132, he headed East, to Judaea. In Roman Judaea , Hadrian visited Jerusalem , which

2544-427: A succession of competing claimants – a civil war. Too early a nomination could be seen as an abdication and reduce the chance for an orderly transmission of power. As Trajan lay dying, nursed by his wife, Plotina, and closely watched by Prefect Attianus, he could have lawfully adopted Hadrian as heir by means of a simple deathbed wish, expressed before witnesses; but when an adoption document was eventually presented, it

2650-480: A successor, on condition that Antoninus adopt Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus as his own heirs. Hadrian died the same year at Baiae , and Antoninus had him deified, despite opposition from the Senate. Later historians counted him as one of Rome's so-called " Five Good Emperors ", and as a " benevolent dictator ". His own Senate found him remote and authoritarian. He has been described as enigmatic and contradictory, with

2756-417: A young Roman aristocrat . Hadrian's enthusiasm for Greek literature and culture earned him the nickname Graeculus ("Greekling"), intended as a form of "mild mockery". Hadrian's first official post in Rome was as a member of the decemviri stlitibus judicandis , one among many vigintivirate offices at the lowest level of the cursus honorum ("course of honours") that could lead to higher office and

2862-409: A youth of 13 or 14. It is also possible that Antinous was sent to Rome to be trained as a page to serve the emperor and only gradually rose to the status of imperial favourite. The actual historical detail of their relationship is mostly unknown. With or without Antinous, Hadrian travelled through Anatolia . Various traditions suggest his presence at particular locations and allege his foundation of

2968-524: The Amphictyonic League based in Delphi, but by now he had decided on something far grander. His new Panhellenion was going to be a council that would bring Greek cities together. Having set in motion the preparations – deciding whose claim to be a Greek city was genuine would take time – Hadrian set off for Ephesus. From Greece, Hadrian proceeded by way of Asia to Egypt, probably conveyed across

3074-646: The Fayyum at the beginning of December. Hadrian's movements after his journey down the Nile are uncertain. Whether or not he returned to Rome, he travelled in the East during 130–131, to organise and inaugurate his new Panhellenion , which was to be focused on the Athenian Temple to Olympian Zeus . As local conflicts had led to the failure of the previous scheme for a Hellenic association centered on Delphi, Hadrian decided instead for

3180-521: The First Temple had been after the Babylonian exile . A massive anti-Hellenistic and anti-Roman Jewish uprising broke out, led by Simon bar Kokhba . Given the fragmentary nature of the existing evidence, it is impossible to ascertain an exact date for the beginning of the uprising. It probably began between summer and fall of 132. The Roman governor Tineius (Tynius) Rufus asked for an army to crush

3286-542: The Historia Augusta suggests that the revolt was spurred by Hadrian's abolition of circumcision ( brit milah ); which as a Hellenist he viewed as mutilation . The scholar Peter Schäfer maintains that there is no evidence for this claim, given the notoriously problematical nature of the Historia Augusta as a source, the "tomfoolery" shown by the writer in the relevant passage, and the fact that contemporary Roman legislation on "genital mutilation" seems to address

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3392-583: The Nile , Antinous drowned. The exact circumstances surrounding his death are unknown, and accident, suicide, murder and religious sacrifice have all been postulated. Historia Augusta offers the following account: During a journey on the Nile he lost Antinous, his favourite, and for this youth he wept like a woman. Concerning this incident there are varying rumours; for some claim that he had devoted himself to death for Hadrian, and others – what both his beauty and Hadrian's sensuality suggest. But however this may be,

3498-634: The Peloponnese . His exact route is uncertain, but it took in Epidaurus ; Pausanias describes temples built there by Hadrian, and his statue – in heroic nudity  – erected by its citizens in thanks to their "restorer". Antinous and Hadrian may have already been lovers at this time; Hadrian showed particular generosity to Mantinea , which shared ancient, mythic, politically useful links with Antinous' home at Bithynia. He restored Mantinea's Temple of Poseidon Hippios , and according to Pausanias, restored

3604-620: The Sarmatians ". Between 107 and 108, Hadrian defeated an invasion of Roman-controlled Banat and Oltenia by the Iazyges . The exact terms of the peace treaty are not known. It is believed the Romans kept Oltenia in exchange for some form of concession, likely involving a one-time tribute payment. The Iazyges also took possession of Banat around this time, which may have been part of the treaty. Now in his mid-thirties, Hadrian travelled to Greece; he

3710-515: The 'daytrip essay' Record of Stone Bell Mountain by the noted poet and statesman Su Shi (1037–1101) presented a philosophical and moral argument as its central purpose. In the West, the guidebook developed from the published personal experiences of aristocrats who traveled through Europe on the Grand Tour . As the appreciation of art, architecture and antiquity became ever-more essential ingredients of

3816-518: The 2nd century A.D. This most famous work is a guide to the interesting places, works of architecture, sculpture, and curious customs of Ancient Greece , and is still useful to Classicists today. With the advent of Christianity, the guide for the European religious pilgrim became a useful guidebook. An early account is that of the pilgrim Egeria , who visited the Holy Land in the 4th century CE and left

3922-668: The Aegean with his entourage by an Ephesian merchant, Lucius Erastus. Hadrian later sent a letter to the Council of Ephesus, supporting Erastus as a worthy candidate for town councillor and offering to pay the requisite fee. Hadrian arrived in Egypt before the Egyptian New Year on 29 August 130. He opened his stay in Egypt by restoring Pompey the Great 's tomb at Pelusium , offering sacrifice to him as

4028-623: The Dutch publisher Officina Elzeviriana (House of Elzevir) published a bestselling pocketbook series, the Respublicae Elzevirianae (Elzevirian Republics), which has been described as the "ancestor of the modern travel guide". Each volume gave information (geography, population, economy, history) on a country in Europe, Africa, the Near East or the Far East. An important transitional figure from

4134-596: The Empire, and indulged a preference for direct intervention in imperial and provincial affairs, especially building projects. He is particularly known for building Hadrian's Wall , which marked the northern limit of Britannia . In Rome itself, he rebuilt the Pantheon and constructed the vast Temple of Venus and Roma . In Egypt, he may have rebuilt the Serapeum of Alexandria . As an ardent admirer of Greek culture, he promoted Athens as

4240-617: The Greeks deified him at Hadrian's request, and declared that oracles were given through his agency, but these, it is commonly asserted, were composed by Hadrian himself. Hadrian founded the city of Antinoöpolis in Antinous' honour on 30 October 130. He then continued down the Nile to Thebes , where his visit to the Colossi of Memnon on 20 and 21 November was commemorated by four epigrams inscribed by Julia Balbilla . After that, he headed north, reaching

4346-645: The Roman army during both the 66 and 132 rebellions. It has been speculated that Hadrian intended to assimilate the Jewish Temple to the traditional Roman civic-religious imperial cult ; such assimilations had long been commonplace practice in Greece and in other provinces, and on the whole, had been successful. The neighbouring Samaritans had already integrated their religious rites with Hellenistic ones. Strict Jewish monotheism proved more resistant to imperial cajoling, and then to imperial demands. A tradition based on

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4452-732: The Roman defences, then set off westwards, along the Black Sea coast. He probably wintered in Nicomedia , the main city of Bithynia . Nicomedia had been hit by an earthquake only shortly before his stay; Hadrian provided funds for its rebuilding and was acclaimed as restorer of the province. It is possible that Hadrian visited Claudiopolis and saw the beautiful Antinous , a young man of humble birth who became Hadrian's lover. Literary and epigraphic sources say nothing of when or where they met; depictions of Antinous show him aged 20 or so, shortly before his death in 130. In 123 he would most likely have been

4558-724: The Senate, alongside the Athenian grandee Herodes Atticus the Elder . The two aristocrats would be the first from "Old Greece" to enter the Roman Senate, as representatives of Sparta and Athens, traditional rivals and "great powers" of the Classical Age. This was an important step in overcoming Greek notables' reluctance to take part in Roman political life. In March 125, Hadrian presided at the Athenian festival of Dionysia , wearing Athenian dress. The Temple of Olympian Zeus had been under construction for more than five centuries; Hadrian committed

4664-637: The United Kingdom dropped considerably. As a result, the two editors of Baedeker's English-language titles left the company and acquired the rights to Murray's Handbooks . The resulting guide books, called the Blue Guides to distinguish them from the red-covered Baedekers, constituted one of the major guide book series for much of the 20th century and are still published today. Soon after World War II , two new names emerged which combined European and American perspectives on international travel. Eugene Fodor ,

4770-555: The United States and began practicing law. During that time, he continued to write and also began to self-publish guidebooks to additional destinations, including New York, Mexico, Hawaii, Japan and the Caribbean. In 1977, Frommer’s trademark was sold to Simon & Schuster , Inc. Pearson bought the reference division of Simon & Schuster in 1998 and sold it to IDG Books in 1999. John Wiley & Sons acquired IDG Books (renamed Hungry Minds) in 2001. Arthur’s daughter, Pauline Frommer,

4876-468: The Younger and (briefly) Governor of Dacia at the start of Hadrian's reign. He was probably Hadrian's chief rival for the throne; a senator of the highest rank, breeding, and connections; according to the Historia Augusta , Hadrian had considered making Nigrinus his heir apparent before deciding to get rid of him. Soon after, in 125, Hadrian appointed Quintus Marcius Turbo as his Praetorian Prefect. Turbo

4982-477: The artifacts. Travel literature became popular during the Song dynasty (960–1279) of medieval China . The genre was called 'travel record literature' (youji wenxue), and was often written in narrative , prose , essay and diary style. Travel literature authors such as Fan Chengda (1126–1193) and Xu Xiake (1587–1641) incorporated a wealth of geographical and topographical information into their writing, while

5088-535: The autumn of 124 and participated in the Eleusinian Mysteries . He had a particular commitment to Athens, which had previously granted him citizenship and an archonate ; at the Athenians' request, he revised their constitution – among other things, he added a new phyle (tribe), which was named after him. Hadrian combined active, hands-on interventions with cautious restraint. He refused to intervene in

5194-411: The books by Baedeker and Murray helped sharpen and formalize the complementary genre of the personal travelogue , which was freed from the burden of serving as a guide book. The Baedeker and Murray guide books were hugely popular and were standard resources for travelers well into the 20th century. As William Wetmore Story said in the 1860s, "Every Englishman abroad carries a Murray for information, and

5300-414: The building of a basilica dedicated to his patroness Plotina, who had recently died in Rome and had been deified at Hadrian's request. At around this time, Hadrian dismissed his secretary ab epistulis , the biographer Suetonius , for "excessive familiarity" towards the empress. Marcius Turbo's colleague as praetorian prefect, Gaius Septicius Clarus , was dismissed for the same alleged reason, perhaps

5406-645: The city", since he was related to him by marriage. Hadrian is said to have placed the city's main Forum at the junction of the main Cardo and Decumanus Maximus , now the location for the (smaller) Muristan . After the suppression of the Jewish revolt, Hadrian provided the Samaritans with a temple dedicated to Zeus Hypsistos ("Highest Zeus") on Mount Gerizim . The bloody repression of the revolt ended Jewish political independence from

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5512-711: The city's original, classical name. It had been renamed Antigoneia since Hellenistic times, after the Macedonian King Antigonus III Doson . Hadrian also rebuilt the ancient shrines of Abae and Megara , and the Heraion of Argos . During his tour of the Peloponnese, Hadrian persuaded the Spartan grandee Eurycles Herculanus – leader of the Euryclid family that had ruled Sparta since Augustus' day – to enter

5618-570: The concept of "sights" which he rated in terms of their significance using stars for Starke's exclamation points. According to scholar James Buzard, the Murray style "exemplified the exhaustive rational planning that was as much an ideal of the emerging tourist industry as it was of British commercial and industrial organization generally." In Germany, Karl Baedeker acquired the publishing house of Franz Friedrich Röhling in Koblenz, which in 1828 had published

5724-449: The construction of a wall "to separate Romans from barbarians". The idea that the wall was built in order to deal with an actual threat or its resurgence, however, is probable but nevertheless conjectural. A general desire to cease the Empire's extension may have been the determining motive. Reduction of defence costs may also have played a role, as the Wall deterred attacks on Roman territory at

5830-561: The cultural capital of the Empire. His intense relationship with Greek youth Antinous and the latter's untimely death led Hadrian to establish a widespread, popular cult. Late in Hadrian's reign, he suppressed the Bar Kokhba revolt ; he saw this rebellion as a failure of his panhellenic ideal. Hadrian's last years were marred by chronic illness. His marriage had been both unhappy and childless. In 138 he adopted Antoninus Pius and nominated him as

5936-604: The east for a while, suppressing the Jewish revolt that had broken out under Trajan . He relieved Judea's governor, the outstanding Moorish general Lusius Quietus , of his personal guard of Moorish auxiliaries; then he moved on to quell disturbances along the Danube frontier. In Rome, Hadrian's former guardian and current praetorian prefect , Attianus, claimed to have uncovered a conspiracy involving Lusius Quietus and three other leading senators, Lucius Publilius Celsus, Aulus Cornelius Palma Frontonianus and Gaius Avidius Nigrinus. There

6042-488: The eastern provinces, and to some extent in the west, Nero had enjoyed popular support; claims of his imminent return or rebirth emerged almost immediately after his death. Hadrian may have consciously exploited these positive, popular connections during his own travels. In the Historia Augusta , Hadrian is described as "a little too much Greek", too cosmopolitan for a Roman emperor. Prior to Hadrian's arrival in Britannia ,

6148-799: The emergence of digital technology, many publishers turned to electronic distribution, either in addition to or instead of print publication. This can take the form of downloadable documents for reading on a portable computer or hand held device such a PDA or iPod , or online information accessible via a web site. This enabled guidebook publishers to keep their information more current. Traditional guide book incumbents Lonely Planet , Frommers , Rough Guides , and In Your Pocket City Guides , and newcomers such as Schmap or Ulysses Travel Guides are now offering travel guides for download . New online and interactive guides such as Tripadvisor , Wikivoyage , and Travellerspoint enable individual travelers to share their own experiences and contribute information to

6254-591: The fictive heir to Pericles , who supposedly had convened a previous Panhellenic Congress – such a Congress is mentioned only in Pericles' biography by Plutarch , who respected Rome's imperial order. Epigraphical evidence suggests that the prospect of applying to the Panhellenion held little attraction to the wealthier, Hellenised cities of Asia Minor, which were jealous of Athenian and European Greek preeminence within Hadrian's scheme. Hadrian's notion of Hellenism

6360-600: The first published guidebook was Gideon Minor Davison's The Fashionable Tour , published in 1822, and Theodore Dwight's The Northern Traveller and Henry Gilpin's The Northern Tour , both from 1825. The modern guidebook emerged in the 1830s, with the burgeoning market for long distance tourism. The publisher John Murray began printing the Murray's Handbooks for Travellers in London from 1836. The series covered tourist destinations in Europe, Asia and northern Africa, and he introduced

6466-514: The form of travel websites . A forerunner of the guidebook was the periplus , an itinerary from landmark to landmark of the ports along a coast. A periplus such as the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea was a manuscript document that listed, in order, the ports and coastal landmarks, with approximate intervening distances, that the captain of a vessel could expect to find along a shore. This work

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6572-477: The foundations for extensive series, eventually covering destinations around the world. Since then, Let's Go , Lonely Planet , Insight Guides , Rough Guides , Eyewitness Travel Guides and many other travel guide series have been published. Specialist climbing guidebooks for mountains have a long history owing to the special needs of mountaineering , rock climbing , hill walking , and scrambling . The guides by W A Poucher for example, are widely used for

6678-421: The general issue of castration of slaves by their masters. Other issues could have contributed to the outbreak: a heavy-handed, culturally insensitive Roman administration; tensions between the landless poor and incoming Roman colonists privileged with land-grants; and a strong undercurrent of messianism, predicated on Jeremiah 's prophecy that the Temple would be rebuilt seventy years after its destruction, as

6784-426: The gens Aelia came from Hadria (modern Atri ), an ancient town in the Picenum region of Italia, the source of the name Hadrianus . One Roman biographer claims instead that Hadrian was born in Rome , but this view is held by a minority of scholars. Hadrian's father was Publius Aelius Hadrianus Afer , a senator of praetorian rank, born and raised in Italica. Hadrian's mother was Domitia Paulina , daughter of

6890-522: The guide. Wikivoyage, CityLeaves, and Travellerspoint make the entire contents of their guides updatable by users, and make the information in their guides available as open content , free for others to use. This list is a select sample of the full range of English language guide book publishers - either contemporary or historical. Hadrian Hadrian ( / ˈ h eɪ d r i ən / HAY -dree-ən ; Latin : Publius Aelius Hadrianus [(h)adriˈjaːnus] ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138)

6996-400: The hill regions of Britain . There are many more special guides to the numerous climbing grounds in Britain published by the Climbers Club , for example. Travel guides are made for diving destinations and specific dive sites . These have been published as magazine articles, stand-alone books and websites, often publicising the dive sites in the vicinity of specific service providers. With

7102-546: The idea of the Roman Empire as a commonwealth with an underlying Hellenic culture. If Hadrian were to be appointed Trajan's successor, Plotina and her extended family could retain their social profile and political influence after Trajan's death. Hadrian could also count on the support of his mother-in-law, Salonia Matidia , who was the daughter of Trajan's beloved sister Ulpia Marciana . When Ulpia Marciana died in 112, Trajan had her deified , and made Salonia Matidia an Augusta . Hadrian's personal relationship with Trajan

7208-417: The idiosyncratic style of the Grand Tour travelogues to the more informative and impersonal guidebook was Mariana Starke . Her 1824 guide to travel in France and Italy served as an essential companion for British travelers to the Continent in the early 19th century. She recognized that with the growing numbers of Britons traveling abroad after 1815 the majority of her readers would now be in family groups and on

7314-531: The imperial cult, focus on more essential and durable provisions, especially munera such as aqueducts and public fountains ( nymphaea ). Athens was given two nymphaea ; one brought water from Mount Parnes to the Athenia Agora via a complex, challenging and ambitious system of aqueduct tunnels and reservoirs, to be constructed over several years. Several were given to Argos, to remedy a water-shortage so severe and so long-standing that "thirsty Argos" featured in Homeric epic. During that winter, Hadrian toured

7420-562: The imperial retinue, when he joined Trajan's expedition against Parthia as a legate. When the governor of Syria was sent to deal with renewed troubles in Dacia, Hadrian was appointed his replacement, with independent command. Trajan became seriously ill, and took ship for Rome, while Hadrian remained in Syria, de facto general commander of the Eastern Roman army. Trajan got as far as the coastal city of Selinus , in Cilicia , and died there on 8 August 117; he would be regarded as one of Rome's most admired, popular and best emperors. Around

7526-422: The legitimacy of Hadrian's adoption: Cassius Dio saw it as bogus and the Historia Augusta writer as genuine. An aureus minted early in Hadrian's reign represents the official position; it presents Hadrian as Trajan's " Caesar " (Trajan's heir designate). According to the Historia Augusta , Hadrian informed the Senate of his accession in a letter as a fait accompli , explaining that "the unseemly haste of

7632-439: The most part, relied on the reports of their imperial representatives around the Empire, Hadrian wished to see things for himself. Previous emperors had often left Rome for long periods, but mostly to go to war, returning once the conflict was settled. Hadrian's near-incessant travels may represent a calculated break with traditions and attitudes in which the empire was a purely Roman hegemony. Hadrian sought to include provincials in

7738-593: The noble upbringing so they predominated in the guidebooks, particularly those devoted to the Italian peninsula. Richard Lassels (1603–1668) wrote a series of manuscript guides which were eventually published posthumously in Paris and London (1670) as The Voyage of Italy . Grand Tour guidebooks poured off the presses throughout the eighteenth century, those such as Patrick Brydone 's A Tour Through Sicily and Malta being read by many who never left England. Between 1626 and 1649,

7844-439: The personifications of various provinces. Aelius Aristides would later write that Hadrian "extended over his subjects a protecting hand, raising them as one helps fallen men on their feet". All this did not go well with Roman traditionalists. The self-indulgent emperor Nero had enjoyed a prolonged and peaceful tour of Greece and had been criticised by the Roman elite for abandoning his fundamental responsibilities as emperor. In

7950-501: The population was enslaved. The extent of punitive measures against the Jewish population remains a matter of debate. Hadrian renamed Judea province Syria Palaestina . He renamed Jerusalem Aelia Capitolina after himself and Jupiter Capitolinus and had the city rebuilt in Greek style. According to Epiphanius, Hadrian appointed Aquila from Sinope in Pontus as "overseer of the work of building

8056-460: The province had suffered a major rebellion from 119 to 121. Inscriptions tell of an expeditio Britannica that involved major troop movements, including the dispatch of a detachment ( vexillatio ), comprising some 3,000 soldiers. Fronto writes about military losses in Britannia at the time. Coin legends of 119–120 attest that Quintus Pompeius Falco was sent to restore order. In 122 Hadrian initiated

8162-604: The resistance; bar Kokhba punished any Jew who refused to join his ranks. According to Justin Martyr and Eusebius , that had to do mostly with Christian converts, who opposed bar Kokhba's messianic claims. The Romans were overwhelmed by the organised ferocity of the uprising. Hadrian called his general Sextus Julius Severus from Britain and brought troops in from as far as the Danube. Roman losses were heavy; an entire legion or its numeric equivalent of around 4,000. Hadrian's report on

8268-583: The security of his reign; this earned him the senate's lifelong enmity. He earned further disapproval by abandoning Trajan's expansionist policies and territorial gains in Mesopotamia , Assyria , Armenia , and parts of Dacia . Hadrian preferred to invest in the development of stable, defensible borders and the unification of the empire's disparate peoples as subjects of a panhellenic empire , led by Rome. Hadrian energetically pursued his own Imperial ideals and personal interests. He visited almost every province of

8374-399: The senatorial nobility, but no particular distinction befitting an heir designate. Had Trajan wished it, he could have promoted his protege to patrician rank and its privileges, which included opportunities for a fast track to consulship without prior experience as tribune; he chose not to. While Hadrian seems to have been granted the office of tribune of the plebs a year or so younger than

8480-513: The shrine of Cupra in Cupra Maritima and improved the drainage of the Fucine lake . Less welcome than such largesse was his decision in 127 to divide Italy into four regions under imperial legates with consular rank, acting as governors. They were given jurisdiction over all of Italy, excluding Rome itself, therefore shifting Italian cases from the courts of Rome. Having Italy effectively reduced to

8586-442: The status of a group of mere provinces did not go down well with the Roman Senate, and the innovation did not long outlive Hadrian's reign. Hadrian fell ill around this time; whatever the nature of his illness, it did not stop him from setting off in the spring of 128 to visit Africa. His arrival coincided with the good omen of rain, which ended a drought. Along with his usual role as benefactor and restorer, he found time to inspect

8692-464: The time of his quaestorship, in 100 or 101, Hadrian had married Trajan's seventeen- or eighteen-year-old grandniece, Vibia Sabina . Trajan himself seems to have been less than enthusiastic about the marriage, and with good reason, as the couple's relationship would prove to be scandalously poor. The marriage might have been arranged by Trajan's empress, Plotina. This highly cultured, influential woman shared many of Hadrian's values and interests, including

8798-540: The training of young men from well-bred families for the Roman military. Cyrene had benefited earlier in Hadrian's reign (in 119) from his restoration of public buildings destroyed during the earlier, Trajanic Jewish revolt. Birley describes this kind of investment as "characteristic of Hadrian". When Hadrian arrived on the Euphrates , he personally negotiated a settlement with the Parthian King Osroes I , inspected

8904-426: The troops in acclaiming him emperor was due to the belief that the state could not be without an emperor". The new emperor rewarded the legions' loyalty with the customary bonus , and the Senate endorsed the acclamation. Various public ceremonies were organised on Hadrian's behalf, celebrating his "divine election" by all the gods, whose community now included Trajan, deified at Hadrian's request. Hadrian remained in

9010-444: The troops; his speech to them survives. Hadrian returned to Italy in the summer of 128, but his stay was brief, as he set off on another tour that would last three years. In September 128, Hadrian attended the Eleusinian Mysteries again. This time his visit to Greece seems to have concentrated on Athens and Sparta – the two ancient rivals for dominance of Greece. Hadrian had played with the idea of focusing his Greek revival around

9116-453: The upper class of Roman society. One author has proposed to consider them part of the " Ulpio - Aelian dynasty". Hadrian's parents died in 86 when he was ten years old. He and his sister became wards of Trajan and Publius Acilius Attianus (who later became Trajan's Praetorian prefect ). Hadrian was physically active and enjoyed hunting; when he was 14, Trajan called him to Rome and arranged his further education in subjects appropriate to

9222-504: The vast resources at his command to ensure that the job would be finished. On his return to Italy, Hadrian made a detour to Sicily . Coins celebrate him as the restorer of the island. Back in Rome, he saw the rebuilt Pantheon and his completed villa at nearby Tibur , among the Sabine Hills . In early March 127 Hadrian set off on a tour of Italy; his route has been reconstructed through the evidence of his gifts and donations. He restored

9328-575: The war to the Roman Senate omitted the customary salutation, "If you and your children are in health, it is well; I and the legions are in health." The rebellion was quashed by 135. According to Cassius Dio . Beitar , a fortified city 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) southwest of Jerusalem, fell after a three-and-a-half-year siege. Roman war operations in Judea left some 580,000 Jews dead and 50 fortified towns and 985 villages razed. An unknown proportion of

9434-401: Was Aulus Cornelius Palma who as a former conqueror of Arabia Nabatea would have retained a stake in the East. The Historia Augusta describes Palma and a third executed senator, Lucius Publilius Celsus (consul for the second time in 113), as Hadrian's personal enemies, who had spoken in public against him. The fourth was Gaius Avidius Nigrinus , an ex-consul, intellectual, friend of Pliny

9540-874: Was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. Hadrian was born in Italica , close to modern Seville in Spain, an Italic settlement in Hispania Baetica ; his branch of the Aelia gens , the Aeli Hadriani , came from the town of Hadria in eastern Italy. He was a member of the Nerva-Antonine dynasty . Early in his political career, Hadrian married Vibia Sabina , grandniece of the ruling emperor, Trajan . The marriage and Hadrian's later succession as emperor were probably promoted by Trajan's wife Pompeia Plotina . Soon after his own succession, Hadrian had four leading senators unlawfully put to death, probably because they seemed to threaten

9646-545: Was also his first "experimental" red guide. He also decided to call his travel guides "handbooks", following the example of John Murray III . Baedeker's early guides had tan covers, but from 1856 onwards, Murray's red bindings and gilt lettering became the familiar hallmark of all Baedeker guides as well, and the content became famous for its clarity, detail and accuracy. Baedeker and Murray produced impersonal, objective guides; works prior to this combined factual information and personal sentimental reflection. The availability of

9752-680: Was as ab actis senatus , keeping the Senate's records. During the First Dacian War , Hadrian took the field as a member of Trajan's personal entourage, but was excused from his military post to take office in Rome as tribune of the plebs , in 105. After the war, he was probably elected praetor . During the Second Dacian War , Hadrian was in Trajan's personal service again. He was released to serve as legate of Legio I Minervia , then as governor of Lower Pannonia in 107, tasked with "holding back

9858-464: Was back in Rome; he was elected quaestor , then quaestor imperatoris Traiani , liaison officer between Emperor and the assembled Senate, to whom he read the Emperor's communiqués and speeches – which he possibly composed on the emperor's behalf. In his role as imperial ghostwriter , Hadrian took the place of the recently deceased Licinius Sura, Trajan's all-powerful friend and kingmaker. His next post

9964-422: Was complex and may have been difficult. Hadrian seems to have sought influence over Trajan, or Trajan's decisions, through cultivation of the latter's boy favourites; this gave rise to some unexplained quarrel, around the time of Hadrian's marriage to Sabina. Late in Trajan's reign, Hadrian failed to achieve a senior consulship, being only suffect consul for 108; this gave him parity of status with other members of

10070-487: Was customary, he had to leave Dacia, and Trajan, to take up the appointment; Trajan might simply have wanted him out of the way. The Historia Augusta describes Trajan's gift to Hadrian of a diamond ring that Trajan himself had received from Nerva , which "encouraged [Hadrian's] hopes of succeeding to the throne". While Trajan actively promoted Hadrian's advancement, he did so with caution. Failure to nominate an heir could invite chaotic, destructive wresting of power by

10176-454: Was granted Athenian citizenship and was appointed eponymous archon of Athens for a brief time (in 112). The Athenians awarded him a statue with an inscription in the Theatre of Dionysus ( IG II2 3286) offering a detailed account of his cursus honorum thus far. Thereafter, no more is heard of him until Trajan's Parthian campaign . It is possible that he remained in Greece until his recall to

10282-461: Was his close friend, a leading figure of the equestrian order, a senior court judge and a procurator . As Hadrian also forbade equestrians to try cases against senators, the Senate retained full legal authority over its members; it also remained the highest court of appeal, and formal appeals to the emperor regarding its decisions were forbidden. If this was an attempt to repair the damage done by Attianus, with or without Hadrian's full knowledge, it

10388-501: Was narrow and deliberately archaising; he defined "Greekness" in terms of classical roots, rather than a broader, Hellenistic culture. Some cities with a dubious claim to Greekness, however – such as Side – were acknowledged as fully Hellenic. The German sociologist Georg Simmel remarked that the Panhellenion was based on "games, commemorations, preservation of an ideal, an entirely non-political Hellenism". Hadrian bestowed honorific titles on many regional centres. Palmyra received

10494-468: Was no public trial for the four – they were tried in absentia , hunted down and killed. Hadrian claimed that Attianus had acted on his own initiative, and rewarded him with senatorial status and consular rank; then pensioned him off, no later than 120. Hadrian assured the senate that henceforth their ancient right to prosecute and judge their own would be respected. The reasons for these four executions remain obscure. Official recognition of Hadrian as

10600-424: Was not enough; Hadrian's reputation and relationship with his Senate were irredeemably soured, for the rest of his reign. Some sources describe Hadrian's occasional recourse to a network of informers, the frumentarii , to discreetly investigate persons of high social standing, including senators and his close friends. Hadrian was to spend more than half his reign outside Italy. Whereas previous emperors had, for

10706-561: Was possibly written in the middle of the 1st century CE. It served the same purpose as the later Roman itinerarium of road stops. The periegesis , or "progress around" was an established literary genre during the Hellenistic age. A lost work by Agaclytus describing Olympia ( περὶ Ὀλυμπίας ) is referred to by the Suda and Photius . Dionysius Periegetes (literally, Dionysius the Traveller)

10812-508: Was signed not by Trajan but by Plotina. That Hadrian was still in Syria was a further irregularity, as Roman adoption law required the presence of both parties at the adoption ceremony. Rumours, doubts, and speculation attended Hadrian's adoption and succession. It has been suggested that Trajan's young manservant Phaedimus, who died very soon after Trajan, was killed (or killed himself) rather than face awkward questions. Ancient sources are divided on

10918-551: Was still in ruins after the First Roman–Jewish War of 66–73. He may have planned to rebuild Jerusalem as a Roman colony  – as Vespasian had done with Caesarea Maritima  – with various honorific and fiscal privileges. The non-Roman population would have no obligation to participate in Roman religious rituals but were expected to support the Roman imperial order; this is attested in Caesarea, where some Jews served in

11024-602: Was the author of a description of the habitable world in Greek hexameter verse written in a terse and elegant style, intended for the klismos traveller rather than the actual tourist on the ground; he is believed to have worked in Alexandria and to have flourished around the time of Hadrian . An early "remarkably well-informed and interesting guidebook" was the Hellados Periegesis ( Descriptions of Greece ) of Pausanias of

11130-477: Was transferred to Legio XXII Primigenia and a third tribunate. Hadrian's three tribunates gave him some career advantage. Most scions of the older senatorial families might serve one, or at most two, military tribunates as a prerequisite to higher office. When Nerva died in 98, Hadrian is said to have hastened to Trajan, to inform him ahead of the official envoy sent by the governor, Hadrian's brother-in-law and rival Lucius Julius Ursus Servianus. In 101, Hadrian

11236-497: Was writing her own series of travel guidebooks and continuing the Frommer’s travel legacy. On August 13, 2012, it was announced that Google was acquiring Frommer's for an undisclosed sum. In March 2013, it was reported that Google ended the printing of Frommer's guidebooks. In April 2013, it was announced that the Frommer's brand has been reacquired by Arthur Frommer and his daughter, Pauline Frommer. In July 2013, Arthur Frommer struck

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