Hadrian and the Triumph of Rome (34 page)

Two scenes from Trajan’s Column illustrate the outset of the Dacian wars. In the lower one, a troop of Praetorian standard-bearers marches across the Danube on a bridge of boats. They are led by Trajan, as he sets foot on enemy soil. He is preceded by trumpeters and dismounted cavalrymen. Above, soldiers build a fortress connected by a bridge to a marching camp.

THE WALL
The wall that Hadrian commissioned to run seventy-three miles across northern Britain, from South Shields on the east coast to Ravenglass on the west, was one of Rome’s greatest engineering achievements. This view shows one of eighty milecastles near Steel Rigg in Northumberland.

“MY HOUSE AT TIVOLI”
This model evokes the huge scale of Hadrian’s villa near Tivoli. A road on the right of the picture skirts the long colonnaded terrace in the foreground and leads to the villa’s formal entrance building. Beyond this lies a stretch of water called the Canopus, where summer banquets were held. Further still, at the top right, is a group of buildings, the so-called Academy, where the empress Sabina may have held her court. A temple of Antinous was discovered before the model was made; it should stand on the green land along the side of the entrance road where it approaches its destination. V
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In the heart of the villa complex stand the ruins of Hadrian’s bolt-hole—a tiny circular building separated from the outside world by a moat. Here, in the midst of splendor and publicity, the emperor could be alone.

The Canopus at Hadrian’s villa, so-called after a canal and popular tourist resort outside Alexandria in Egypt. This was the scene of large open-air dinner parties. The long pool was lined with statues, and sculptures of maritime beasts rose from the water. At the far end stands a vast, half-domed water feature, which towers above a semicircular stone dining couch. From this vantage point, the emperor could survey his guests.

THE YOUNG BITHYNIAN
Antinous as a chubby-faced teenager. This was how he looked when Hadrian first set eyes on him in Bithynia. He fell in love with the boy. B
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Antinous lost his life in Egypt.
Hadrian deified his dead lover and buried him in a temple built in his honor beside the entrance to the villa at Tivoli. It housed statues of Antinous, including this image of him as pharoah, the ruler who embodied the skygod Horus in life, and Osiris, god of the underworld, when dead. M
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Antinous was the last sculptural type of male beauty to have been invented in the classical world—lush, melancholy, and demure. With his ivy and grape headband, he is shown here as an incarnation of the gods Dionysus and Osiris. M
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HADRIAN’S OTHER BOYS
Hadrian adopted Lucius Ceionius Commodus and made him his heir, renaming him Lucius Aelius Caesar. Critics said unkindly that he was chosen for his looks rather than his ability as a ruler. Unfortunately he was seriously ill, probably suffering from tuberculosis. He soon died, upsetting the emperor’s plans for the succession.

Young Marcus Annius Verus. A solemn and dutiful child, he was fascinated by philosophy. Hadrian was very fond of him and affectionately teased him for his virtuous behavior, nicknaming him “Verissimus” or “truest.” After the death of Aelius Caesar, Hadrian made Antoninus Pius his heir and designated Marcus as his next successor but one. He reigned as Marcus Aurelius. M
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