202 Decades of Western History

[Music] episode 12 the Roman Commonwealth 120 to 129 ad hello and welcome back to 202 decades this time we move into the reign of hadrien and follow his travels across the Empire as he worked to unite it with a common ethos last time in 113 ad the parthians broke a treaty with the Romans over Armenia that had been in place since Nero in response Tran went East and took Armenia without a fight over the next 2 years Tran captured the parthan capital and all of Mesopotamia to the Persian Gulf then it all fell apart when revolts broke out across the East the disturbances were caused by the diminished number of soldiers ERS left behind in the provinces and the solidarity of the Jews with their Brethren living in Parthia the Roman territory was painfully subdued but the newly conquered lands though temporarily recovered soon fell to the parthians in 117 Tran grew ill and died on his way back to Rome hadrien was the new emperor and with him Mesopotamia was abandoned and Armenia returned to being just a client Kingdom at the end of the last decade just after becoming Emperor hadrien had a mess to clean up Rebellion still rocked much of the East hadrien helped ease tensions through carrot and stick he appeased the Jews by removing quitus as governor of Judea trajan's General who had viciously dealt with the rebellions in Mesopotamia in Judea on the other hand hadrien reassigned soldiers who had been away on Tran's camp aigns now back in Roman territory they were able to finish off resistance hadrien next visited the danu just as in the East disturbances had grown due to the diminished military presence in the area many Legions had been pulled into Tran's campaign in Parthia reports came in too of trouble in morania the chaos was growing stability War thin hadrien hadn't made this mess but it was his responsibility to clean it up is it any wonder he abandoned trajan's conquests after seeing the consequences of stretching the legions so thin while stationed on the danu hadrien received the news of the deaths of four EXC consules including Tran's key General quitus I misspoke last time when I said they were executed without a trial they they had been tried on the accusation that they plotted to overthrow hadrien but the trial was a sham they were tried In Absentia the accused weren't present to defend themselves so it's no surprise they were found guilty they were each tracked down and killed quas was in Judea but without his Berber personal guard Hadrian had removed them not long before the emperor claimed ignorance of all this but the deaths of the chief opponents to his abandoning of the parthan conquests was too personally convenient for most to believe he wasn't involved aanus had been behind these sham trials and for the removal of two senators who were a little too vocal in questioning Hadrian's succession this aanus was the petorian prefect of Tran who along with Tran's wife platina had taken hadrien in at the young age of 10 hadrien shifted the liability fully on aanus for the executions aanus was forced to resign as petorian prefect but also elevated to senatorial Rank and given a pension he retired in peace the public and senatorial disapproval for the executions prompted hadrien to come to Rome he had just become emperor and he was already off to a rocky start with the Senate trying to ease tensions hadrien made an oath to never put a senator to death without a vote of the Senate the Senate liked the sound of that but remained wary his abandoning of Tran's conquests his successions murky circumstances and the execution of the four EXC consuls hung over the relationship hadrien spent the next couple of years in Rome securing his position it seems at this time he allowed the abandonment of a large Western section of daia Tran stone bridge over the danu built by aporus was destroyed lest it be used by Invaders rumors began to swirl that he planned a full withdrawal of DEA a huge backlash grew and perhaps because of this reaction at losing this Legacy of Tran he held on to the central region with the capital and its lucrative Minds hadrien quickly set up a bureaucracy capable of running the Empire a bureaucracy loyal to him but he needed the Senate and the people on his side he won the Public's favor with two simple actions first he forgave all the Imperial debts from the past 15 years to spare anyone's doubts the records of those debts were hauled out into the street and publicly burned a Smash Hit next he hosted lavish games always an easy way to win popularity with the public the senators were harder to woo after his purges of the EXC consuls despite his talk to try to calm their fears many worried he would be a new demission ruling on his own cutting the Senate out to counter this hadrien made himself available to visitors from the Senate he was an open book and despite his bureaucracy he treated the Senate with the respect they craved once he was sure and stable in his Reign he left the Eternal City bound not to see again for 4 years few Emperors had left Italy for long before Claudius had briefly gone to britania Dom Mission had campaigned along the danu and in Germania and of course Tran had left three times on campaign but these excursions were to lead military operations only Nero had left Italy for other reasons competing and Performing and he was widely criticized for abandoning Rome part of the reason for his downfall hadrien though was leaving to tour the provinces for business not pleasure he wanted to personally intervene in provincial Affairs this micromanagement was another deviation from his predecessor we saw last time how Tran corresponded with a governor offering advice and help when needed but generally letting the local officials take care of local problems Hadrian's approach though represented a centralization of Imperial Authority and action somewhat paradoxically as we'll see this decade and next hadrien wanted to shift perspectives in the provinces his Roman Empire was no longer one where the Romans imposed their rule on the provincials but one where the provincials were just as integral to the whole as Rome or Italy all the subjects of the Empire whether GS berbers Greeks or Latins were to be United in a Roman Commonwealth Hadrian's personal presence in the provinces provided positive proof of their inclusion in this Commonwealth ainong or Athens or apamea or Antioch were just as legitimate places for the emperor to be as Rome for the remainder of this episode we will be following hadrien across the Empire on his travels 121 in 121 ad hadrien departed from the eternal City accompanied by his wife Sabina by Nobles by petorian cohort but also by an Entourage of Engineers Architects and artists he sailed from Rome to the port of masalia modern Marse France and entered Gaul as we begin to follow hadrien I should mention that our sources for his travels can be murky we often have to rely on archaeology or Engravings for more than would be preferable our written sources are brief and dubious in quality Hadrian's first major stop was lunham Modern Leon France this was the chief city of Gaul and probably the largest city west of Italy in Europe with a population of around 100,000 we don't know what exactly he did there except bestowing gifts tradition says he ordered the renovation of the Forum in the city and repaired the theater he surely visited the sanctuary of the three Gs a Temple dedicated to the cult of the Emperors hadrien didn't stay long though his goal was the Rin Frontier leaving Gaul he went North on the Via agria and came to munti AUM in Germania Superior reaching the frontier he came to scrutinize the Ry Legions hadrien toured the lies the series of forts and defenses to prevent incursions from the German we've not heard much from the German tribes over the last several decades but don't worry they're still there across the river we will encounter them again soon in his inspections of the defenses hadrien impressed the legions with his thoroughness he was not there just for show but really trying to improve things and he found the liem inadequate expanding on the foundations begun by Dom mission in the elbow of land between the headwaters of the rine and the danu he ordered construction of the first continuous barrier there but defenses are nothing without Defenders the discipline of the legions concerned hadrien the Rin Legions unlike their comrades on the danu had been relatively inactive for decades hadrien instituted severe regulations to maintain discipline he rooted out luxuries that would make them soft removing Camp d rooms porticos covered arches and ornamental Gardens from their camps normally this would have anchored the soldiers maybe caused a mutiny but hadrien humbled them by personally following all of his own regulations he lived simply in the camp ate what they ate and walked everywhere rather than riding on a carriage hadrien even carried a full legionary pack on a 20m March an achievement the soldiers didn't associate with soft administrators he practiced what he preached and they were impressed by his auster Vigor hadrien didn't just ask more from the legions though he gave too he passed policies that raised the legal status of the legionaries improved their equipment and supplies and even allowed them more freedoms in their time off so long as they were ready and disciplined in their duties 122 the emperor traveled down the Ryan River crossed the English Channel and arrived in bratonia in 122 it had been 79 years since the Roman occupation of Britain began and the same number of years since an emperor had visited Britain has been absent from our story for the last several decades 38 years have passed since the governor agricola's recall the period between his departure and Hadrian's arrival has left virtu no records in Britain last time we were here in the 80s we saw agria push Roman Legions North into calonia what we call Scotland he defeated a Caledonian Army and went to the northern tip of the island for One Shining Moment Rome controlled all of brania when Agricola was recalled from his governorship though the highlands of calonia were abandoned archaeology tells us there was a Roman president in the Scottish lowlands until 105 when this too was abandoned this pullback was followed by Caledonian raids into Roman control territory from 119 to 121 these disturbances probably inspired Hadrian's visit to Britain the slow roll back of Roman control and the raids of the recent years got hadrien thinking about how to defend against Invasion something to keep the Wilds of calonia out he he settled on building a wall we get just one reference to this in our written sources Hadrian's biographer in the frequently untrustworthy Historia austa says and so having reformed the Army quite in the manner of a monarch he set out for Britain and there he corrected many abuses and was the first to construct a wall 80 m in length which was to separate the Barbarians from the Romans here the source is reliable in 122 the three Legions of britania came to Northern England and began constructing a wall on a narrow stretch of land from the fth of sway in the west to the river th in the East using 760,000 metric tons of rock they built a stone wall 3 m wide and 5 m high for most of the length some of the western section though was a smaller Turf wall but even this Western section would later have a ston wall added the Plan called for a fort every Roman mile a mile castle with two smaller Towers placed between each mile Castle in practice the mile castles weren't evenly spaced due to Geographic constraints Hills Cliffs streams Etc got in the way some had to be placed up to 200 M off the mile marks behind the wall ran a road connecting the fors about 20 men gar each mile Castle 15 of these mile castles were larger hosting about 600 men this network of forts towers and garrisons ensured threats could rapidly and proportionately be addressed after completing its 6 years of construction 10,000 Soldiers garrisoned the wall not legionaries though they were too valuable to tie up defending a wall instead auxiliary solders drawn from the provinces were employed here the wall was a physical and symbolic border it didn't just slow Raiders it also controlled trade by forcing Travelers and Merchants going in both directions to pass through monitored Gates as a symbol the wall advertised to The Barbarians Rome's power and dedication to defending its lands to the Romans on the other side of the wall it provided a sense of security and loyalty to the Emperor who maintained their peace the bright white lime coated wall stood out in stark contrast to the dreary Moors on either side an unmistakable Testament to Roman power in 1782 two inscribed Stones were found during the renovation of a church in jarro a town in northern England just south of the Eastern end of Hadrian's Wall the stones had Engravings in Latin and it quickly became apparent that they had been taken from the wall for construction of the church during the Anglo-Saxon era at first the two stones were thought to be independent but in the 1940s a researcher worked out that they had come from the same Source together they read son of all the deified Emperors the emperor Caesar Tran hadrien Augustus after the necessity of keeping the Empire within its limits had been laid upon Him by Divine precept after The Barbarians had been dispersed and the province of Britain had been recovered he added a frontier line between either shore of the ocean for 80 mil the stones date from the completion of the wall and testify to Hadrian's direction as well as the disturbances that had made the wall necessary despite being called Hadrian's Wall today in the 2 Century it was just called the Vellum the wall in fact Hadrian's role in its construction was once entirely forgotten in a monastery attached to the same church I've just mentioned in jarro bead the venerable once worked he was an Anglo-Saxon monk born in jarro in 672 ad among many other works and translations he wrote the ecclesiastical history of the English people in this book he begins with the coming of Julius Caesar in 55 BC and passes quickly through the Roman period when he mentions the wall which was right outside his Monastery he says this the departing Romans thinking that it might be some help to the Britain whom they were forced to abandon constructed a strong stone wall from sea to Sea in a straight line between the towns that had been there built for fear of the enemy where seus also had formerly built a rampart so bead attributes the wall to a much later time period probably to the early 5th Century Hadrian's role had been forgotten but that allies in the future back to the 120s with his Legions at work building hadrien crossed back into Gaul in late 122 and went quickly South to the province of narbonensis in what's called provance today he passed through towns like ainong which he made a Roman colony and neim which lay on the Via domisha the road connecting Italy and hispania hadrien followed this road and spent his winter in hispania at taraco the capital of hispania taranis which covered most of the north of the peninsula 123 while in hispania hadrien enjoyed one of his favorite pastimes hunting like his marching with Allegiance this is another example of Hadrian's physical Vigor it's likely he went B War hunting and finished off the beasts with a spear cases Dio tells us he was so skillful in the chase that he once brought down a huge boar with a single blow and yet he also says in one instance hadrien broke his collarbone and came close to being maimed supposedly his Fitness saved his life in Taco while walking alone in a garden a slave rushed at him with a sword hadrien managed to dodge the swing and over power the man he showed his Justice by not condemning the man right there but by turning him over to the authorities to be put on trial Hadrian's day in Taco coincided with the 150th anniversary of Octavian taking the title Augustus Augustus had lived in the city for a year from 26 to 25 BC and in his honor a temple was constructed here to celebrate augustus's auspicious annivers hadrien funded Restorations to the temple out of his own pocket at the same time he sought to further link himself with Augustus by shortening his Imperial title to just hadrianus Augustus when spring came hadrien went South perhaps avoiding his hometown of italica he came to Gibralter and crossed with his Entourage into the North African province of morania here he helped conduct some military operations against the Berber tribes who were raiding Roman towns the disturbances may have been connected to the reduction of troops during the prior decade or to the execution of Lucius quitus trajan's General who was a Berber Native Son Of The Province whatever the cause hadrien helped subdue the tribes before returning to the coast and sailing for the east in late 123 he made his way quickly East but likely stopped briefly in abalonia the port city for sireni and serenica last decade this was the city that had suffered extensive damage by the Jewish Rebels led by luuis they had intentionally destroyed all signs of pagan idolatry the many temples but also the baths and the gymnasiums and that's not to mention the local Pagan population itself which was nearly annihilated with the Rebellion crushed and nearly all of the Jews forced out of the province the city sat quietly in Ruins hadrien ordered the rebuilding of the temples and everything else settlers were brought in sirene was restored sweeping up the coast of Syria hadrien came to Antioch if you're following Hadrian's travels geographically moving roughly counterclockwise around the Roman Empire everything had made sense until he left morania the logical move would would have been to travel east to the province of Africa then to siren and then to Egypt what had pulled hadrien to the opposite corner of the Mediterranean reports had reached him of the parthians mobilizing for war hadrien came to Syria to be closer to any action that flared up two Legions were sent to the Euphrates to check any parthan incursion but whenever possible hadrien favored diplomacy instead of fighting both sides came together to renew peace we're told hadrien met with the parthan king who we assume means koses still alive and ruling the Western half of Parthia in opposition to his nephew vasis who still controlled the East the Romans and the parthians took turns dining together on opposite sides of the Euphrates in exchange for peace koshero asked for his daughter back she had been held as captive since Tran took Tesson almost 10 years earlier hadrien agreed and allowed her to return to Parthia kosro also asked for The Golden Throne of Parthia to be returned this too had been captured by trun while hadrien is said to have agreed the throne never made its way back to Parthia kosro would still be asking for its return from Hadrian's successor still peace held and Rome and Armenia were left unharassed by parthan arrows the Historia austa is the only source mentioning this meeting or the tensions at all so it's unclear if it actually happened peace held throughout Hadrian's Reign and something pulled hadrien from morania to Antioch so I think it's plausible that there was some kind of meeting even if hadrien Andor koser weren't there in person with peace secured the emperor went North along the frontier he inspected the defenses in this remote but vulnerable area the place where Anatolia Armenia and Mesopotamia meet he followed the Military Road North probably stopping at Zug the largest Frontier Town with a population of up to 70,000 people it had grown in size and become wealthy thanks to its position facilitating trade between Rome and Parthia hadrien kept marching North inspect Forts and the legions in this region essential to the Eastern defenses the Imperial Entourage passed over the pontic Alps until while descending to the Black Sea trapezes came into view this town would later be called trebizon and today it's called trabzon in northeastern turkey traveling with hadrien was his friend the historian and legot of capadia Aryan a Greek native of bethenia in in Tzus the emperor tasked aryion with traveling around the Black Sea and creating a detailed report of his findings the result of his work was called the parus of the yukine sea the yukine here is the Black Sea in aryan's report to hadrien he recalls the moment that while crossing the pontic elps the sea came into view we came in the course of our Voyage to trapezius a Greek city in a maritime situation a colony from copi as we were informed by zenfon the celebrated historian we surveyed the yukine sea with a greater pleasure as we viewed it from the same spot when both zenfon and yourself had formerly observed it trapezes sat on a table of land a Mesa with steep Ravines on three sides and the Sea on the final side under the Roman peace of the past Century and a half it had flourished as the main Port of trade between the Mediterranean the Black Sea and the Caucasus inspecting the city hadrien found its harbor lacking he ordered Renovations and expansions the emperor and his Entourage set sail from here and traveled West along the coast stopping at the city of cipi which lies on a peninsula juding about 15 Mi North into the sea continuing West hadrien came to bethenia last decade we heard many of the province's problems from plen hadrien wintered at Nicoma and made some excursions to prusa NAA heracleia pontica and claudiopolis now claudiopolis was not a major town more known for its cheese and shepherding than any cultural achievements but Hadrian's visit here or passing through here is noteworthy for who he met here is where hadrien met antinis this boy no more than 14 years old immediately made an impression on hadrien for his Beauty it's unclear the exact circumstances of their meeting antinous may have performed as part of the public festivities that marked Hadrian's arrival or he may have competed in athletic contests either way hadrien was Smitten by the boy anois was selected and then sent to Rome to receive a proper education it's not the last time we'll hear from him an earthquake had struck the region two or three years earlier and hadrien provided funds to rebuild in bethenia hadrien followed his formula inspecting the province giving gifts granting privileges founding Roman colonies and granting citizenship he must have doled out citizenship generously here because many locals later added Alia to their name this being Hadrian's family name name 124 in Spring of 124 ad hadrien crossed the bosis and came to thce here the account is garbled the only action we can be sure of was the refounding of the Greek city of aresius as hronopoulos during the later Roman period hronopoulos became Adrian opal and it became the chief city of thce when the Ottomans arrived in the 14th century adrianople became their Capital until the capture of Constantinople few pieces of earth have been fought over more than hronopoulos if you were to look up the Battle of adrianople your surge could turn up any of at least 16 major battles fought here from the 4th Century to the 20th but in Hadrian's day during the long Pax Romana peace reigned by by summer of 124 hrin was back in Anatolia the city of kekus was another place that had suffered destruction in the earthquake of 121 hren was moved by the destruction he encountered here he ordered the construction of a large no a huge Temple this Temple of hadrien in kekus was to become the largest classical temple in the ancient world it had eight columns on each short side and 15 on each long longside its footprint was 50 m wide by 120 M long its columns were in the Corinthian order that's the leafy looking one and each was 21 1/2 M tall the temple was adorned from top to bottom with integrate carvings and Rich colors what God was the Temple dedicated to ah hadrien himself of course a temple of this Grand would take time to finish the emperor would be dead before his Temple was completed in 139 from here hadrien made his way South through the province of Asia to the Greek cities of Anatolia pergamum Sardis Smyrna and Ephesus as the days began to shorten the emperor sailed to roads and then onto the port of Athens hadrien was very familiar with Athens having previously been granted Athenian citizenship he was even briefly made an archon in 112 he loved Athens the city of poetry philosophy art and Peak Hellenism he idolized the Glorious history and achievements of the city's Golden Age some 600 years earlier he saw in Athens a culture which could unify his Empire but the reality of Athens would need to be improved if it was to be emulated across the Mediterranean so Adrien got to work he did much to improve the city becoming almost a refound of Athens work began on several projects two public fountains which required an unusually complex series of aqueducts and tunnels on a bath house and on a grand Library sparkling with a gilded roof Alabaster paintings and a garden in its Courtyard he renovated the Agora and the theater of dionis where Aristophanes and Sophocles had once held their plays most impressive of all was the construction of the Temple of Olympian Zeus work on this Temple originally began in 550 BC by the Tyrant pisistratus however only the platform was completed before the tyrants were overthrown work had briefly resumed under this luced King Antiochus in the 160s BC and then pause again with his death in 86 BC Roman forces under solah destroyed much of the temple when they besieged and captured Athens during the first mytic war hadrien found it in this destroyed condition and ordered its final completion the temple was big requiring four times as much marble as the nearby Parthenon had used it would take almost a decade to complete but hadrien had done what neither the tyrants nor The Heirs to Alexander had managed today in Athens the remains of the temple lie below and just east of the Acropolis only 15 of its columns still stand today apart from construction hren was asked to reform the laws of the city he was invited to revise the Athenian Constitution which he did with care and without getting involved in local squabbles that Autumn hadrien was inaugurated into the elosan Mysteries and an anient mystical religious Cult of the goddesses pany and deer dedicated to secret knowledge of the Soul hadrien next traveled into the pipines toward Sparta bestowing gifts to cities along the way an aqueduct for Argos restoration of a temple to Poseidon in Mana in Sparta he invited a magistrate of a noble family to join the Roman senate the man agreed and along side an Athenian Aristocrat the two old rivals Athens and Sparta became the first senators from the great cities of Greece to enter the Roman senate you have to wonder what the old Romans if there were any left thought about the admission of conquered people into Rome's most esteemed Society but that kind of parochial jealousy was an old manner of thinking hadrien saw the Empire as one not of ethnic Romans ruling conquered people but an Empire of collected peoples sharing a helenic culture supervised from Rome 125 to 127 after 4 years on the road it was time for hadrien to return to Rome in spring hadrien set sail from the port of derium crossed the Adriatic Sea and stopped in Sicily we're told the emperor treed to the top of Mount Etna there he climbed Mount Etna to see the sunrise which is many hued they say like the rainbow hadrien then finally returned to Rome I would like to tell you here all about Hadrian's reunion with the Senate how they and the people welcomed him and give some detail about his administration but our sources are incredibly brief on his 2year stay in the Eternal City the Historia Augusta tells of him climbing Mount Etna which I just quoted and then says then he returned to Rome and from there he crossed over to Africa two years are hidden between those words here's what can be told the bureaucracy hadrien had set in motion during his first years as Emperor kept the Empire running and flourishing in his absence without requiring him to be present in the capital hadrien made his close friend the general turbo his petorian prefect after crushing the Jewish revolts in seren and Egypt and the Berber revolts in morania Turbo had proven his competence and loyalty his appointment was another example alongside the admittance of the Nobles of Sparta and Athens to the Senate of Hadrian's favor to Greeks like turbo they could now reach high positions once close to them in 126 hadrien oversaw the completion of the pantheon in Rome agria the general of Augustus had originally constructed a Pantheon but this version had burned down in ad80 ad hadrien rebuilt it on a grand scale as usual and added its huge concrete Dome the new Pantheon retained an Epitaph and it's this engraving that you'll see today if you visit this exceptionally well-preserved Temple from the ancient world hadrien seems to have left Rome for a time even while he stayed in Italy he visited the po valley and Atria and crossed the appenines in what's now the Italian region of abuso hadrien ordered the further draining of the fusine lake we talked in detail about Claudius and his fredman's attempts to drain this Lake during the episode on the 50s Hadrian's improvements further reduced the size of this feted Lake by about 50% having toured Italy the emperor found it much like anywhere else he had been he then made the misstep of splitting Italy into four regions each with its own Governor this was too far for the residents of Italy who were proud of their special status Hadrian's ruling made them no more than a collection of provinces just like Gaul or hispania Hadrian's vision for the empire was not yet shared by all this division of Italy was quickly scrapped after Hadrian's death 128 the Historia austa tells us hardly any Emperor ever traveled with such speed over so much territory by the spring of 128 hren was out of Rome and off traveling again he first sailed South to Sicily stopping at Syracuse then he continued to the province of Africa in modern Tunisia and Algeria and came to Carthage he spent some time in this large city with a population over 200,000 it was is one of the five largest cities in the empire in summer hadrien left the city and went with his Entourage to a new legionary base called Lambesis hadrien arrived in July which is not when I would have chosen to visit a camp not far from where the fertile lands of North Africa begin transitioning into the Sahara but his presence in the heat without so much as a hat impressed the legion he observed them drill on a parade ground and then a addressed to the soldiers his speech was later carved into a column there and has partially been preserved hadrien Praises their drill work and commends the soldiers who stood in the front lines compliments the horsemen for their spear throwing and makes special mention of the skill and speed of the army Engineers work others have spread out over several days you took only one day to finish hadrien also toured and commented on the auxiliary units with which were linked to the legion not far south of the camp work began on a series of walls similar in function to Hadrian's Wall on the opposite side of the Roman Empire the emperor soon returned back to the more pleasant temperatures of the Mediterranean and then traveled back to Rome but his stop was brief maybe just long enough to pick up a person of importance for the next leg of his journey in September of 128 hadrien left Rome again this time with the object of his affection an tenuous perhaps awkwardly his wife Sabina was also with his Entourage since their initial meeting in 123 antinous had been trained in a classical education in Rome now about 16 years old hadrien found the boy in teenage beauty only improved by his education the two had probably reunited when hadrien returned to to Italy in 125 spending time together at Hadrian's Villa outside of Rome the emperor was enamored with the boy or obsessed it's hard to adequately convey the infatuation of hadrien for antinis but in events we'll cover next time I think you'll get a better idea of the depth of his feeling hadrien apparently wrote a significant body of erotic poetry much of it probably focused on antinous though all of it has now been lost if it's not clear by now their relationship was sexual though hadrien was 52 years old in 128 pederasty the sexual relationship between an older man and a younger boy was a practice familiar in Classical Greece though more ambiguous in Rome given Hadrian's proclivity for all things Greek his public emulation of this tradition must have been intentional hadrien and anuis sailed to Corinth and then returned to Athens the emperor found the city a clatter with construction on his Myriad of projects whatever you think of the golden age of classical Athens from a pure scale of buildings and wonder you have to give the crown to Athens during Hadrian's Reign never before had it been so beautifully adorned and above all unlike during the classical age it was a city at peace hadrien again went down to Sparta as the other pole of the Greek experience the Vigor and discipline to Athens culture and philosophy favor was due to this city as well hadrien gave Gifts of land to Sparta and offered it the unique privilege of being allowed to import grain from Egypt formerly reserved for Rome alone with Athens and Sparta on their way to restoring their dignity after centuries of Decay he began to think over a new Union of Greek city states instead of squabbling as they had for Millennia hadrien wanted to see them United as they had been for just a moment against the Persians in a common League 129 after attending the eloian Mysteries again and initiating antinis the emperor and his Entourage left Athens in March of 129 they crossed back to the province of Asia and came to Ephesus the leading city of trade and helenistic culture on the east coast of the aan the Imperial Entourage didn't stay long Egypt was Hadrian's next Target but rather than sailing they took the long road across Anatolia and then down the coast of Syria we end the decade with hadrien once again in Antioch the city where he became emperor 13 years before hadrien had passed the majority it of those years micromanaging his Empire not from Rome but from the provinces his travels far from dissuading him had only confirmed his vision for a Consolidated Empire sharing a helenistic culture United in a Roman Commonwealth of peoples next time in a more defined episode we will tie up many Loose Ends the conclusion of hadrien and antinous's relationship the fruits of Hadrian's helenistic fandom and the results of trying to push his helenismo thanks for listening I'll see you next time [Music] n [Music]