Hadrian: The Restless Emperor (Roman Imperial Biographies)

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Hadrian's reign (AD 117-138) was a watershed in the history of the Roman Empire. Hadrian abandoned his predecessor Trajan's eastern conquests - Mesopotamia and Armenia - trimmed down the lands beyond the lower Danube, and constructed new demarcation lines in Germany, North Africa, and most famously Hadrian's Wall in Britain, to delimit the empire.
The emperor Hadrian, a strange and baffling figure to his contemporaries, had a many-sided personality. Insatiably ambitious, and a passionate Philhellene, he promoted the 'Greek Renaissance' extravagantly. But his attempt to Hellenize the Jews, including the outlawing of circumcision, had disastrous consequences, and his 'Greek' love of the beautiful Bithynian boy Antinous ended in tragedy.
No comprehensive account of Hadrian's life and reign has been attempted for over seventy years. In Hadrian: The Restless Emperor, Anthony Birley brings together the new evidence from inscriptions and papyri, and up-to-date and in-depth examination of the work of other scholars on aspects of Hadrian's reign and policies such as the Jewish war, the coinage, Hadrian's building programme in Rome, Athens and Tivoli, and his relationship with his favourite, Antinous, to provide a thorough and fascinating account of the private and public life of a man who, though hated when he died, left an indelible mark on the Roman Empire.

Hadrian: The Restless Emperor (Roman Imperial Biographies) Review

This is the best biography written about Hadrian in English. Mr. Birley does an excellent job tracing Hadrian as he visited the empire and also provides a fascinating look at the Flavians, the dynasty of Hadrian's youth. There is a lot of detail, particularly when Mr. Birely deals with Hadrian's travels that seems to have provoked comments that his book is dry. One can find this daunting, however, such details are necessary to fully explain what Hadrian was doing, what was happening and with whom he was interacting. Mr. Birley has stuck to relating Hadrian's life and does not explore his buildings, the Pantheon, Temple of Venus and Roma and his Villa at Tibur in any detail. Such considerations are best left to other books. Mr. Birley uses his sources (Historia Augusta etc) very well and explains their departures and omissions to what we know from archaeology. In the end, Hadrian remains an enigmatic personality but we have a far better understanding of him in his desire to Hellenize the empire and seeing himself as a second Augustus. His reign marks a turning point in the expansionist attitude of the Romans; Hadrian withdrew from the new province of Arabia (created by Trajan) and sought to fix the boundries of the empire. This was a view not shared by his immediate successors but came to be a necessity as time passed. Mr. Birley covers these critical ideas thoroughly and provides insight into a an interesting personality. Help other customers find the most helpful reviews� Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Report abuse | PermalinkComment Comment

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