168-514: Luguvalium (or Luguvalium Carvetiorum ) was an ancient Roman city in northern Britain located within present-day Carlisle , Cumbria , and may have been the capital of the 4th-century province of Valentia . It was the northernmost city of the Roman Empire . The city was located on a crossroads of major Roman north-south and east-west roads and situated near to the Roman frontier, first defined by
336-606: 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
504-405: A priestly role . He could not marry a woman from a senatorial family, nor achieve legitimate senatorial rank himself, but during the early Empire, freedmen held key positions in the government bureaucracy, so much so that Hadrian limited their participation by law. The rise of successful freedmen—through political influence or wealth—is a characteristic of early Imperial society. The prosperity of
672-507: 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
840-606: 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
1008-418: 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"
1176-580: 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
1344-425: A fifth of the population and played a major role in the economy. Slavery was a complex institution that supported traditional Roman social structures as well as contributing economic utility. In urban settings, slaves might be professionals such as teachers, physicians, chefs, and accountants; the majority of slaves provided trained or unskilled labour. Agriculture and industry, such as milling and mining, relied on
1512-635: A fine for a crime for which an humilior might receive a scourging . Execution, which was an infrequent legal penalty for free men under the Republic, could be quick and relatively painless for honestiores , while humiliores might suffer the kinds of torturous death previously reserved for slaves, such as crucifixion and condemnation to the beasts . In the early Empire, those who converted to Christianity could lose their standing as honestiores , especially if they declined to fulfil religious responsibilities, and thus became subject to punishments that created
1680-425: A freedman were born free, with full rights of citizenship. After manumission, a slave who had belonged to a Roman citizen enjoyed active political freedom ( libertas ), including the right to vote. His former master became his patron ( patronus ): the two continued to have customary and legal obligations to each other. A freedman was not entitled to hold public office or the highest state priesthoods, but could play
1848-403: 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
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#17328512005462016-617: A high-achieving group of freedmen is attested by inscriptions throughout the Empire . The Latin word ordo (plural ordines ) is translated variously and inexactly into English as "class, order, rank". One purpose of the Roman census was to determine the ordo to which an individual belonged. Two of the highest ordines in Rome were the senatorial and equestrian. Outside Rome, cities or colonies were led by decurions , also known as curiales . "Senator"
2184-565: A higher social class. Most of the emperors were bilingual but had a preference for Latin in the public sphere for political reasons, a "rule" that first started during the Punic Wars . Different emperors up until Justinian would attempt to require the use of Latin in various sections of the administration but there is no evidence that a linguistic imperialism existed during the early Empire. After all freeborn inhabitants were universally enfranchised in 212 , many Roman citizens would have lacked
2352-401: A household or workplace, a hierarchy of slaves might exist, with one slave acting as the master of others. Talented slaves might accumulate a large enough peculium to justify their freedom, or be manumitted for services rendered. Manumission had become frequent enough that in 2 BC a law ( Lex Fufia Caninia ) limited the number of slaves an owner was allowed to free in his will. Following
2520-465: A knowledge of Latin. The wide use of Koine Greek was what enabled the spread of Christianity and reflects its role as the lingua franca of the Mediterranean during the time of the Empire. Following Diocletian's reforms in the 3rd century CE, there was a decline in the knowledge of Greek in the west. Spoken Latin later fragmented into the incipient romance languages in the 7th century CE following
2688-513: A lasting influence on the development of language , religion , art , architecture , literature , philosophy , law , and forms of government across its territories. Latin evolved into the Romance languages while Medieval Greek became the language of the East. The Empire's adoption of Christianity resulted in the formation of medieval Christendom . Roman and Greek art had a profound impact on
2856-425: 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
3024-584: 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
3192-503: 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
3360-454: A man as an equestrian. The census of 28 BC uncovered large numbers of men who qualified, and in 14 AD, a thousand equestrians were registered at Cádiz and Padua alone. Equestrians rose through a military career track ( tres militiae ) to become highly placed prefects and procurators within the Imperial administration. The rise of provincial men to the senatorial and equestrian orders
3528-554: A married woman could have sex only with her husband, but a married man did not commit adultery if he had sex with a prostitute or person of marginalized status. Childbearing was encouraged: a woman who had given birth to three children was granted symbolic honours and greater legal freedom (the ius trium liberorum ). At the time of Augustus, as many as 35% of the people in Roman Italy were slaves, making Rome one of five historical "slave societies" in which slaves constituted at least
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#17328512005463696-479: 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
3864-434: 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
4032-450: 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
4200-427: A sense of "Romanness". Roman society had multiple, overlapping social hierarchies . The civil war preceding Augustus caused upheaval, but did not effect an immediate redistribution of wealth and social power. From the perspective of the lower classes, a peak was merely added to the social pyramid. Personal relationships— patronage , friendship ( amicitia ), family , marriage —continued to influence politics. By
4368-507: A slave's rapist had to be prosecuted by the owner for property damage under the Aquilian Law . Slaves had no right to the form of legal marriage called conubium , but their unions were sometimes recognized. Technically, a slave could not own property, but a slave who conducted business might be given access to an individual fund ( peculium ) that he could use, depending on the degree of trust and co-operation between owner and slave. Within
4536-554: 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
4704-427: 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
4872-480: 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
5040-417: 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
5208-409: 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
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5376-545: Is an aspect of social mobility in the early Empire. Roman aristocracy was based on competition, and unlike later European nobility , a Roman family could not maintain its position merely through hereditary succession or having title to lands. Admission to the higher ordines brought distinction and privileges, but also responsibilities. In antiquity, a city depended on its leading citizens to fund public works, events, and services ( munera ). Maintaining one's rank required massive personal expenditures. Decurions were so vital for
5544-613: Is traditionally regarded as the Pax Romana ("Roman Peace"). The cohesion of the empire was furthered by a degree of social stability and economic prosperity that Rome had never before experienced. Uprisings in the provinces were infrequent and put down "mercilessly and swiftly". The success of Augustus in establishing principles of dynastic succession was limited by his outliving a number of talented potential heirs. The Julio-Claudian dynasty lasted for four more emperors— Tiberius , Caligula , Claudius , and Nero —before it yielded in 69 AD to
5712-524: 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
5880-589: The Antonine wall was built in 142-144, but was rebuilt in stone in about 165 when Hadrian's Wall was reinstated as the frontier. Uxelodunum housed a nominal 1,000-strong cavalry regiment, the Ala Gallorum Petriana , the sole regiment of this size along the wall. Milecastle 65 was also built on the wall about 1km northwest of the fort. The garrison of the Luguvalium fort was only gradually reduced from 105 until
6048-590: The Battle of Actium in 31 BC. In 27 BC the Senate gave him the title Augustus ("venerated") and made him princeps ("foremost") with proconsular imperium , thus beginning the Principate , the first epoch of Roman imperial history. Although the republic stood in name, Augustus had all meaningful authority. During his 40-year rule, a new constitutional order emerged so that, upon his death, Tiberius would succeed him as
6216-529: The Brigantian Venutius . The fort was refurbished in 83 using oak timbers from further afield, rather than local alder , indicating the greater Roman control of the area, and was garrisoned by a 500-strong cavalry regiment, the Ala Gallorum Sebosiana . The 'Stanegate' frontier established from about 87 which consisted of Luguvalium and several other forts on the road east to Corbridge ,
6384-470: The Dominate . The emperor was the ultimate authority in policy- and decision-making, but in the early Principate, he was expected to be accessible and deal personally with official business and petitions. A bureaucracy formed around him only gradually. The Julio-Claudian emperors relied on an informal body of advisors that included not only senators and equestrians, but trusted slaves and freedmen. After Nero,
6552-599: 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
6720-521: 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
6888-542: 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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7056-666: The Huns of Attila , led to the decline of the Western Roman Empire . With the fall of Ravenna to the Germanic Herulians and the deposition of Romulus Augustus in 476 by Odoacer , the Western Empire finally collapsed. The Eastern Roman Empire survived for another millennium with Constantinople as its sole capital, until the city's fall in 1453. Due to the Empire's extent and endurance, its institutions and culture had
7224-533: The Italian Renaissance . Rome's architectural tradition served as the basis for Romanesque , Renaissance and Neoclassical architecture , influencing Islamic architecture . The rediscovery of classical science and technology (which formed the basis for Islamic science ) in medieval Europe contributed to the Scientific Renaissance and Scientific Revolution . Many modern legal systems, such as
7392-615: The Mediterranean and beyond. However, it was severely destabilised by civil wars and political conflicts , which culminated in the victory of Octavian over Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, and the subsequent conquest of the Ptolemaic Kingdom in Egypt. In 27 BC, the Roman Senate granted Octavian overarching military power ( imperium ) and
7560-691: The Napoleonic Code , descend from Roman law. Rome's republican institutions have influenced the Italian city-state republics of the medieval period, the early United States , and modern democratic republics . Rome had begun expanding shortly after the founding of the Roman Republic in the 6th century BC, though not outside the Italian Peninsula until the 3rd century BC. Thus, it was an "empire" (a great power) long before it had an emperor. The Republic
7728-583: 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,
7896-466: The Nile Valley in Egypt. The empire completely circled the Mediterranean ... referred to by its conquerors as mare nostrum —'our sea'. Trajan's successor Hadrian adopted a policy of maintaining rather than expanding the empire. Borders ( fines ) were marked, and the frontiers ( limites ) patrolled. The most heavily fortified borders were the most unstable. Hadrian's Wall , which separated
8064-495: The Pax Romana ( lit. ' Roman Peace ' ). Rome reached its greatest territorial extent under Trajan ( r. 98–117 AD ), but a period of increasing trouble and decline began under Commodus ( r. 180–192 ). In the 3rd century, the Empire underwent a 49-year crisis that threatened its existence due to civil war, plagues and barbarian invasions . The Gallic and Palmyrene empires broke away from
8232-634: 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
8400-620: 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
8568-590: The Servile Wars of the Republic, legislation under Augustus and his successors shows a driving concern for controlling the threat of rebellions through limiting the size of work groups, and for hunting down fugitive slaves. Over time slaves gained increased legal protection, including the right to file complaints against their masters. A bill of sale might contain a clause stipulating that the slave could not be employed for prostitution, as prostitutes in ancient Rome were often slaves. The burgeoning trade in eunuchs in
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#17328512005468736-512: The Stanegate road and then by Hadrian's Wall , leading to Luguvalium’s development as a supply base and major military and commercial centre. It also protected a strategic location and trade route overlooking the confluence of the Caldew and Eden rivers. Today the Roman city is located mainly under the modern city of Carlisle, but the Roman fort around which the settlement developed is mainly beneath
8904-583: The local deity Belatucadros . The town was listed in the Roman Antonine Itinerary (from beginning of the 3rd century). Coins excavated in the area suggest that Romans remained in Carlisle until the reign of Emperor Valentinian II , from 375 to 392. Romano-British occupation of Luguvalium seems to have continued unbroken after the Roman withdrawal from Britain around 410. Possible 5th-century buildings have been identified during excavation, and
9072-410: The 1950s identified the site of the fort of Luguvalium to the south of the present medieval Carlisle Castle , which lies over the north-eastern corner of the Roman fort. More recent excavations revealed the well-preserved timber structure of the Roman gatehouse and its adjoining rampart. Three large marching camps near to Carlisle at Plumpton Head, Crackenthorpe and Rey Cross have all been attributed to
9240-556: The 600-member body by appointment. A senator's son belonged to the ordo senatorius , but he had to qualify on his own merits for admission to the Senate. A senator could be removed for violating moral standards. In the time of Nero, senators were still primarily from Italy , with some from the Iberian peninsula and southern France; men from the Greek-speaking provinces of the East began to be added under Vespasian. The first senator from
9408-400: The 6th and 7th centuries with the disintegration of the complex Imperial economy. Laws pertaining to slavery were "extremely intricate". Slaves were considered property and had no legal personhood . They could be subjected to forms of corporal punishment not normally exercised on citizens, sexual exploitation , torture, and summary execution . A slave could not as a matter of law be raped;
9576-620: 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
9744-452: The Augustan programme to restore traditional morality and social order, moral legislation attempted to regulate conduct as a means of promoting " family values ". Adultery was criminalized, and defined broadly as an illicit sex act ( stuprum ) between a male citizen and a married woman, or between a married woman and any man other than her husband. That is, a double standard was in place:
9912-513: The Empire was engulfed by the Crisis of the Third Century , a period of invasions , civil strife , economic disorder , and plague . In defining historical epochs , this crisis sometimes marks the transition from Classical to Late Antiquity . Aurelian ( r. 270–275 ) stabilised the empire militarily and Diocletian reorganised and restored much of it in 285. Diocletian's reign brought
10080-547: 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
10248-617: 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
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#173285120054610416-553: The Middle East. The Latin phrase imperium sine fine ("empire without end" ) expressed the ideology that neither time nor space limited the Empire. In Virgil 's Aeneid , limitless empire is said to be granted to the Romans by Jupiter . This claim of universal dominion was renewed when the Empire came under Christian rule in the 4th century. In addition to annexing large regions, the Romans directly altered their geography, for example cutting down entire forests . Roman expansion
10584-450: The Rhine and Danube. Roman jurists also show a concern for local languages such as Punic , Gaulish , and Aramaic in assuring the correct understanding of laws and oaths. In Africa , Libyco-Berber and Punic were used in inscriptions into the 2nd century. In Syria , Palmyrene soldiers used their dialect of Aramaic for inscriptions, an exception to the rule that Latin was the language of
10752-558: The Roman Republic ) while greatly extending its power beyond Italy. In 44 BC Julius Caesar was briefly perpetual dictator before being assassinated by a faction that opposed his concentration of power. This faction was driven from Rome and defeated at the Battle of Philippi in 42 BC by Mark Antony and Caesar's adopted son Octavian . Antony and Octavian divided the Roman world between them, but this did not last long. Octavian's forces defeated those of Mark Antony and Cleopatra at
10920-484: The Roman armies began to conquer the north and erected a timber fort around 72 AD at a key point south of the River Eden in a loop protected on two sides by water, on the site of the later Carlisle Castle . This fort later became the nucleus of the important Roman town of Luguvalium which grew up outside it. The fort was built by a vexillation of the legion Legio IX Hispana during the final campaign of Cerialis against
11088-597: 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
11256-732: 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
11424-586: The Roman emperor Septimius Severus and his consort Julia Domna may have spent time in Luguvalium around AD 208-211, since engraved stone fragments dedicated to the empress were found, as well as the emperor's personal workshop-stamped tiles (Severus was campaigning in Scotland at the time). Two oversized sculptures of heads were discovered in 2023, and another one was found in 2024. 54°53′42″N 2°56′13″W / 54.895°N 2.937°W / 54.895; -2.937 Roman Empire The Roman Empire
11592-430: The Roman legal concept of imperium , meaning "command" (typically in a military sense). Occasionally, successful consuls or generals were given the honorary title imperator (commander); this is the origin of the word emperor , since this title was always bestowed to the early emperors. Rome suffered a long series of internal conflicts, conspiracies, and civil wars from the late second century BC (see Crisis of
11760-448: The Roman world from what was perceived as an ever-present barbarian threat, is the primary surviving monument of this effort. Latin and Greek were the main languages of the Empire, but the Empire was deliberately multilingual. Andrew Wallace-Hadrill says "The main desire of the Roman government was to make itself understood". At the start of the Empire, knowledge of Greek was useful to pass as educated nobility and knowledge of Latin
11928-724: 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
12096-468: 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
12264-449: The account of his achievements ( Res Gestae ) prominently featured the geographical cataloguing of the Empire. Geography alongside meticulous written records were central concerns of Roman Imperial administration . The Empire reached its largest expanse under Trajan ( r. 98–117 ), encompassing 5 million km . The traditional population estimate of 55–60 million inhabitants accounted for between one-sixth and one-fourth of
12432-535: 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
12600-414: 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
12768-500: The campaigns of governor Cerialis and dated sometime around 72/73AD. Tiles and pottery with stamps of the Legio IX Hispana (the fabled "Ninth Legion") have also been found at Scalesceugh 8km south of Carlisle, which indicates that a vexillation was probably involved with the early presence at Carlisle. Excavations in 1981-84 and 1990 discovered around 50 wooden writing tablets within the Roman fort, containing unique evidence for
12936-406: The cavalry regiment, the ala Gallorum Sebosiana , and its consumption of barley, wheat and weapons. The collection is second in importance only to that from Vindolanda . In 2017 imperial baths larger than any found near Hadrian's Wall, and possibly belonging to a mansio were discovered just north of the River Eden in the cricket ground. Archaeological artefacts discovered in 2021 suggest that
13104-645: 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
13272-711: 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
13440-418: The collapse of the Empire's west. The dominance of Latin and Greek among the literate elite obscure the continuity of other spoken languages within the Empire. Latin, referred to in its spoken form as Vulgar Latin , gradually replaced Celtic and Italic languages . References to interpreters indicate the continuing use of local languages, particularly in Egypt with Coptic , and in military settings along
13608-482: The conditions of martyrdom . The three major elements of the Imperial state were the central government, the military, and the provincial government. The military established control of a territory through war, but after a city or people was brought under treaty, the mission turned to policing: protecting Roman citizens, agricultural fields, and religious sites. The Romans lacked sufficient manpower or resources to rule through force alone. Cooperation with local elites
13776-449: 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
13944-561: 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
14112-481: The deceased emperor's deification. The dominance of the emperor was based on the consolidation of powers from several republican offices. The emperor made himself the central religious authority as pontifex maximus , and centralized the right to declare war, ratify treaties, and negotiate with foreign leaders. While these functions were clearly defined during the Principate , the emperor's powers over time became less constitutional and more monarchical, culminating in
14280-497: The descent "from a kingdom of gold to one of rust and iron", a comment which has led some historians, notably Edward Gibbon , to take Commodus' reign as the beginning of the Empire's decline . In 212, during the reign of Caracalla , Roman citizenship was granted to all freeborn inhabitants of the empire. The Severan dynasty was tumultuous; an emperor's reign was ended routinely by his murder or execution and, following its collapse,
14448-604: 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
14616-488: 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 ,
14784-467: The easternmost province, Cappadocia , was admitted under Marcus Aurelius. By the Severan dynasty (193–235), Italians made up less than half the Senate. During the 3rd century, domicile at Rome became impractical, and inscriptions attest to senators who were active in politics and munificence in their homeland ( patria ). Senators were the traditional governing class who rose through the cursus honorum ,
14952-457: The empire's most concerted effort against the perceived threat of Christianity , the " Great Persecution ". Diocletian divided the empire into four regions, each ruled by a separate tetrarch . Confident that he fixed the disorder plaguing Rome, he abdicated along with his co-emperor, but the Tetrarchy collapsed shortly after . Order was eventually restored by Constantine the Great , who became
15120-506: The empire. This legal egalitarianism required a far-reaching revision of existing laws that distinguished between citizens and non-citizens. Freeborn Roman women were considered citizens, but did not vote, hold political office, or serve in the military. A mother's citizen status determined that of her children, as indicated by the phrase ex duobus civibus Romanis natos ("children born of two Roman citizens"). A Roman woman kept her own family name ( nomen ) for life. Children most often took
15288-609: The end of the Western Roman Empire in 476, when Romulus Augustulus was forced to abdicate to the Germanic warlord Odoacer . Odoacer ended the Western Empire by declaring Zeno sole emperor and placing himself as Zeno's nominal subordinate. In reality, Italy was ruled by Odoacer alone. The Eastern Roman Empire, called the Byzantine Empire by later historians, continued until the reign of Constantine XI Palaiologos ,
15456-498: The exploitation of slaves. Outside Italy, slaves were on average an estimated 10 to 20% of the population, sparse in Roman Egypt but more concentrated in some Greek areas. Expanding Roman ownership of arable land and industries affected preexisting practices of slavery in the provinces. Although slavery has often been regarded as waning in the 3rd and 4th centuries, it remained an integral part of Roman society until gradually ceasing in
15624-457: The father's name, with some exceptions. Women could own property, enter contracts, and engage in business. Inscriptions throughout the Empire honour women as benefactors in funding public works, an indication they could hold considerable fortunes. The archaic manus marriage in which the woman was subject to her husband's authority was largely abandoned by the Imperial era, and a married woman retained ownership of any property she brought into
15792-591: 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
15960-619: The first emperor to convert to Christianity , and who established Constantinople as the new capital of the Eastern Empire. During the decades of the Constantinian and Valentinian dynasties, the empire was divided along an east–west axis, with dual power centres in Constantinople and Rome. Julian , who under the influence of his adviser Mardonius attempted to restore Classical Roman and Hellenistic religion , only briefly interrupted
16128-468: The fort probably became the civitas capital of the Carvetii tribe some time in the 2nd century. It was eventually enclosed by a stone wall assumed to have followed the line of the later medieval wall. Industry in the town included copper working and tanning , while merchants are also in evidence. Inscriptions show there was a Mithraeum in the town and possibly a temple to Mars , who was identified with
16296-456: The functioning of cities that in the later Empire, as the ranks of the town councils became depleted, those who had risen to the Senate were encouraged to return to their hometowns, in an effort to sustain civic life. In the later Empire, the dignitas ("worth, esteem") that attended on senatorial or equestrian rank was refined further with titles such as vir illustris ("illustrious man"). The appellation clarissimus (Greek lamprotatos )
16464-421: 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
16632-571: 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
16800-453: The grounds of the later Carlisle Castle . The Romans called the settlement Luguvalium which is now explained as a borrowed Brittonic placename reconstructed as * Luguwalion , meaning "[city] of Luguwalos", Luguwalos being a masculine Celtic given name meaning "strength of Lugus ". The name apparently continued in use among Brythonic speakers in the Hen Ogledd and Wales and it
16968-664: The historian Christopher Kelly described it: Then the empire stretched from Hadrian's Wall in drizzle-soaked northern England to the sun-baked banks of the Euphrates in Syria; from the great Rhine – Danube river system, which snaked across the fertile, flat lands of Europe from the Low Countries to the Black Sea , to the rich plains of the North African coast and the luxuriant gash of
17136-546: 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
17304-636: 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
17472-715: 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
17640-586: The influence of the latter was regarded with suspicion, and the emperor's council ( consilium ) became subject to official appointment for greater transparency . Though the Senate took a lead in policy discussions until the end of the Antonine dynasty , equestrians played an increasingly important role in the consilium . The women of the emperor's family often intervened directly in his decisions. Hadrian Hadrian ( / ˈ h eɪ d r i ən / HAY -dree-ən ; Latin : Publius Aelius Hadrianus [(h)adriˈjaːnus] ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138)
17808-515: The last Roman emperor. He died in battle in 1453 against Mehmed II and his Ottoman forces during the siege of Constantinople . Mehmed II adopted the title of caesar in an attempt to claim a connection to the former Empire. His claim was soon recognized by the Patriarchate of Constantinople , but not by most European monarchs. The Roman Empire was one of the largest in history, with contiguous territories throughout Europe, North Africa, and
17976-588: The late 1st century prompted legislation that prohibited the castration of a slave against his will "for lust or gain". Roman slavery was not based on race . Generally, slaves in Italy were indigenous Italians, with a minority of foreigners (including both slaves and freedmen) estimated at 5% of the total in the capital at its peak, where their number was largest. Foreign slaves had higher mortality and lower birth rates than natives, and were sometimes even subjected to mass expulsions. The average recorded age at death for
18144-479: 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
18312-486: The marriage. Technically she remained under her father's legal authority, even though she moved into her husband's home, but when her father died she became legally emancipated. This arrangement was a factor in the degree of independence Roman women enjoyed compared to many other cultures up to the modern period: although she had to answer to her father in legal matters, she was free of his direct scrutiny in daily life, and her husband had no legal power over her. Although it
18480-416: The members of the three higher "orders", along with certain military officers. The granting of universal citizenship in 212 seems to have increased the competitive urge among the upper classes to have their superiority affirmed, particularly within the justice system. Sentencing depended on the judgment of the presiding official as to the relative "worth" ( dignitas ) of the defendant: an honestior could pay
18648-719: The military. The last reference to Gaulish was between 560 and 575. The emergent Gallo-Romance languages would then be shaped by Gaulish. Proto-Basque or Aquitanian evolved with Latin loan words to modern Basque . The Thracian language , as were several now-extinct languages in Anatolia, are attested in Imperial-era inscriptions. The Empire was remarkably multicultural, with "astonishing cohesive capacity" to create shared identity while encompassing diverse peoples. Public monuments and communal spaces open to all—such as forums , amphitheatres , racetracks and baths —helped foster
18816-439: 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
18984-444: The new de facto monarch. As Roman provinces were being established throughout the Mediterranean, Italy maintained a special status which made it domina provinciarum ("ruler of the provinces"), and – especially in relation to the first centuries of imperial stability – rectrix mundi ("governor of the world") and omnium terrarum parens ("parent of all lands"). The 200 years that began with Augustus's rule
19152-407: The new title of Augustus , marking his accession as the first Roman emperor . The vast Roman territories were organized into senatorial provinces, governed by proconsuls who were appointed by lot annually, and imperial provinces, which belonged to the emperor but were governed by legates . The first two centuries of the Empire saw a period of unprecedented stability and prosperity known as
19320-628: The northern form of the name did not have the final -ydd . (Compare the River Derwent in Cumbria with Derwenydd in Wales, both from Brittonic * Derwentjū .) There are limited remains of a settlement during the British Iron Age . Before the Romans, the chief city of the Carvetii seems to have been Clifton Dykes . Following their earlier conquest of the southern part of Britain, and Boudica's revolt ,
19488-439: 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
19656-412: The political career track, but equestrians often possessed greater wealth and political power. Membership in the equestrian order was based on property; in Rome's early days, equites or knights had been distinguished by their ability to serve as mounted warriors, but cavalry service was a separate function in the Empire. A census valuation of 400,000 sesterces and three generations of free birth qualified
19824-507: The poor were other sources. Vernae , by contrast, were "homegrown" slaves born to female slaves within the household, estate or farm. Although they had no special legal status, an owner who mistreated or failed to care for his vernae faced social disapproval, as they were considered part of the family household and in some cases might actually be the children of free males in the family. Rome differed from Greek city-states in allowing freed slaves to become citizens; any future children of
19992-501: 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
20160-460: 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
20328-513: The province was visited by Hadrian who approved a plan to build a wall along the frontier slightly to the north of the Stanegate. A new large fort, Uxelodunum , was built therefore on the wall in the Stanwix area of Carlisle north of the river and within sight of the Luguvalium fort and became the largest fort along the length of Hadrian's Wall . Uxellodunum was abandoned like the rest of the wall when
20496-604: 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
20664-583: 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
20832-399: 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
21000-492: The settlement has been identified as the court of Urien Rheged 's kingdom . Saint Cuthbert visited the town in the 7th century and, according to Bede , described the high stone walls and an impressive fountain, presumably fed by a still-functioning aqueduct. The place was under the control of a praepositus civitatis . Cair Ligualid was listed among the 28 cities of Britain in Nennius (composed after 830). Excavations in
21168-513: 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
21336-568: The site was finally levelled and abandoned during the Antonine period (138-161). The fort was rebuilt in stone in about 200 by the Legio XX Valeria Victrix based at York. Timber structures further to the south-east were probably associated military buildings and were also later replaced in stone by soldiers from the 20th legion. The fort was finally abandoned sometime between 275-325. The civilian settlement ( vicus ) that developed outside
21504-528: The slaves of the city of Rome was seventeen and a half years (17.2 for males; 17.9 for females). During the period of republican expansionism when slavery had become pervasive, war captives were a main source of slaves. The range of ethnicities among slaves to some extent reflected that of the armies Rome defeated in war, and the conquest of Greece brought a number of highly skilled and educated slaves. Slaves were also traded in markets and sometimes sold by pirates . Infant abandonment and self-enslavement among
21672-636: The state and a series of short-lived emperors led the Empire, which was later reunified under Aurelian ( r. 270–275 ). The civil wars ended with the victory of Diocletian ( r. 284–305 ), who set up two different imperial courts in the Greek East and Latin West . Constantine the Great ( r. 306–337 ), the first Christian emperor , moved the imperial seat from Rome to Byzantium in 330, and renamed it Constantinople . The Migration Period , involving large invasions by Germanic peoples and by
21840-442: 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
22008-522: The strife-torn Year of the Four Emperors , from which Vespasian emerged as the victor. Vespasian became the founder of the brief Flavian dynasty , followed by the Nerva–Antonine dynasty which produced the " Five Good Emperors ": Nerva , Trajan , Hadrian , Antoninus Pius , and Marcus Aurelius . In the view of contemporary Greek historian Cassius Dio , the accession of Commodus in 180 marked
22176-461: The succession of Christian emperors. Theodosius I , the last emperor to rule over both East and West, died in 395 after making Christianity the state religion . The Western Roman Empire began to disintegrate in the early 5th century. The Romans fought off all invaders, most famously Attila , but the empire had assimilated so many Germanic peoples of dubious loyalty to Rome that the empire started to dismember itself. Most chronologies place
22344-562: The time of Nero , however, it was not unusual to find a former slave who was richer than a freeborn citizen, or an equestrian who exercised greater power than a senator. The blurring of the Republic's more rigid hierarchies led to increased social mobility , both upward and downward, to a greater extent than all other well-documented ancient societies. Women, freedmen, and slaves had opportunities to profit and exercise influence in ways previously less available to them. Social life, particularly for those whose personal resources were limited,
22512-464: 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
22680-489: 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
22848-426: 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
23016-444: 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
23184-453: 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
23352-504: 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
23520-521: 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
23688-411: The world's total population and made it the most populous unified political entity in the West until the mid-19th century. Recent demographic studies have argued for a population peak from 70 million to more than 100 million . Each of the three largest cities in the Empire – Rome, Alexandria , and Antioch – was almost twice the size of any European city at the beginning of the 17th century. As
23856-401: 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
24024-874: 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
24192-442: Was a point of pride to be a "one-man woman" ( univira ) who had married only once, there was little stigma attached to divorce , nor to speedy remarriage after being widowed or divorced. Girls had equal inheritance rights with boys if their father died without leaving a will. A mother's right to own and dispose of property, including setting the terms of her will, gave her enormous influence over her sons into adulthood. As part of
24360-680: 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
24528-464: 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
24696-422: 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
24864-487: 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
25032-666: Was during that time that the initial element caer ("fort") was added. The place is mentioned in Welsh sources such as Nennius , who calls it Cair Ligualid , and the Book of Taliesin where it is rendered Caer Liwelyδ (Modern Welsh Caerliwelydd ). (These derived from the original Brittonic name, rather than from its Latin form.) The earliest record of the place in English is as Luel ( c. 1050 ); later medieval forms include Cardeol , Karlioli , and Cærleoil . These appear to suggest that
25200-465: Was further defined by their citizenship. Most citizens held limited rights (such as the ius Latinum , "Latin right"), but were entitled to legal protections and privileges not enjoyed by non-citizens. Free people not considered citizens, but living within the Roman world, were peregrini , non-Romans. In 212, the Constitutio Antoniniana extended citizenship to all freeborn inhabitants of
25368-466: Was further fostered by a proliferation of voluntary associations and confraternities ( collegia and sodalitates ): professional and trade guilds, veterans' groups, religious sodalities, drinking and dining clubs, performing troupes, and burial societies . According to the jurist Gaius , the essential distinction in the Roman " law of persons " was that all humans were either free ( liberi ) or slaves ( servi ). The legal status of free persons
25536-454: 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
25704-461: 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
25872-589: Was mostly accomplished under the Republic , though parts of northern Europe were conquered in the 1st century, when Roman control in Europe, Africa, and Asia was strengthened. Under Augustus , a "global map of the known world" was displayed for the first time in public at Rome, coinciding with the creation of the most comprehensive political geography that survives from antiquity, the Geography of Strabo . When Augustus died,
26040-501: 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
26208-671: Was necessary to maintain order, collect information, and extract revenue. The Romans often exploited internal political divisions. Communities with demonstrated loyalty to Rome retained their own laws, could collect their own taxes locally, and in exceptional cases were exempt from Roman taxation. Legal privileges and relative independence incentivized compliance. Roman government was thus limited , but efficient in its use of available resources. The Imperial cult of ancient Rome identified emperors and some members of their families with divinely sanctioned authority ( auctoritas ). The rite of apotheosis (also called consecratio ) signified
26376-416: Was never a legal requirement for Latin in the Empire, but it represented a certain status. High standards of Latin, Latinitas , started with the advent of Latin literature. Due to the flexible language policy of the Empire, a natural competition of language emerged that spurred Latinitas , to defend Latin against the stronger cultural influence of Greek. Over time Latin usage was used to project power and
26544-468: 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
26712-445: Was not a nation-state in the modern sense, but a network of self-ruled towns (with varying degrees of independence from the Senate ) and provinces administered by military commanders. It was governed by annually elected magistrates ( Roman consuls above all) in conjunction with the Senate. The 1st century BC was a time of political and military upheaval, which ultimately led to rule by emperors. The consuls' military power rested in
26880-424: 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
27048-426: Was not itself an elected office in ancient Rome; an individual gained admission to the Senate after he had been elected to and served at least one term as an executive magistrate . A senator also had to meet a minimum property requirement of 1 million sestertii . Not all men who qualified for the ordo senatorius chose to take a Senate seat, which required legal domicile at Rome. Emperors often filled vacancies in
27216-584: Was proving a more stable frontier against the Picts than those established deeper into Caledonia . By the early 2nd century, Carlisle was established as a prominent stronghold. The fort was deliberately demolished around 103 but rebuilt before 105 and retained its garrison until the Hadrianic period. One of the Vindolanda tablets records a centurio regionarius , a Stanegate officer, stationed at Luguvalium in 103. In 122
27384-460: 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
27552-551: 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
27720-485: Was the era of Roman civilisation lasting from 27 BC to 476 AD. Rome ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Romans conquered most of this during the Republic , and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian 's assumption of effective sole rule in 27 BC. The western empire collapsed in 476 AD, but the eastern empire lasted until the fall of Constantinople in 1453. By 100 BC, Rome had expanded its rule to most of
27888-477: 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
28056-447: Was used to designate the dignitas of certain senators and their immediate family, including women. "Grades" of equestrian status proliferated. As the republican principle of citizens' equality under the law faded, the symbolic and social privileges of the upper classes led to an informal division of Roman society into those who had acquired greater honours ( honestiores ) and humbler folk ( humiliores ). In general, honestiores were
28224-476: Was useful for a career in the military, government, or law. Bilingual inscriptions indicate the everyday interpenetration of the two languages. Latin and Greek's mutual linguistic and cultural influence is a complex topic. Latin words incorporated into Greek were very common by the early imperial era, especially for military, administration, and trade and commerce matters. Greek grammar, literature, poetry and philosophy shaped Latin language and culture. There
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