Hadrian and the Triumph of Rome (2 page)

Women were generally known by the feminine form of their
nomen
, although this rule had been relaxed by Hadrian’s day; thus, his sister was not called Aelia, but was known by her mother’s names, Domitia Paulina.

Most people these days encounter ancient Rome through sword-and-sandals epics in the cinema or television miniseries. These can be entertaining, but often leave us unsatisfied. This is because they dump inappropriate contemporary viewpoints onto classical attitudes. For example, we today regard the arena as an inexplicable display of mass sadism. But, although spectators certainly took a cruel pleasure in what they saw, one purpose of gladiatorial combat was to witness courage and to be strengthened or inspirited by it. Rome was a military society and physical bravery—
virtus—
was at a premium.

This book will have succeeded if it introduces the reader not only to the man Hadrian, but also to his world. This means making the unfamiliar familiar; for without a sense (however tentative and provisional) of what it was like to be alive in those distant days, the reader will make little sense of the events that follow in these pages and the people who acted them out.