-What did the different social classes of Ancient Rome think about religion, philosophy, and education? What was their worldview?
-During the days of the Republic, it was expected that fathers would be responsible for the education of their sons (daughters I guess were expected to learn from their moms how to look after the house and shit).
-However, as the empire expanded and Roman culture evolved over time, for the nobility it became typical for their children (both boys and girls) to be educated by Greek slaves.
-From age 7-12, children were educated in reading, writing (using a stylus with wax tablets), and arithmetic (although the pedagogy during this time would be quite primitive (or backwards) compared to how it's done today, of course).
-To make matters worse, mistakes were met with corporal punishment (from smacks on the wrist to full-on beatings)!
-Additionally, children went to school just about every day (no weekends, although there was the exception of random holidays) of the year, and class was based on mind-numbingly boring drills, copying, and rote memorization. Ugh.
-The Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius famously stated that his lack of formal education (as described above) as a child was one of the greatest things that ever happened to him in his life.
-As teenagers, they were educated in grammar, literature, (and finally, rhetoric, if their family could afford it).
-They rigidly studied classic Greek and Latin writers (Homer, Menander, Terence, Ennius, etc.), memorized grammar rules and literary passages, focusing on the order in which the words were written and shit like that.
-It seems as if maybe that's why the Romans weren't known to be great poets, and probably made them just focused on being pedantic haha.
-The purpose of rhetoric seemed to be to prepare the teens for life in the highly-litigious Roman public sphere and how to constantly be ready for argument or debate, and it was also seen as the highest form of intellectualism.
-The emphasis seemed to be more on presentation and theatricality rather than actual content.
-Essentially, it was a lot less philosophy and a lot more sophism (ugh) and who could deliver a "better speech".
-So basically, the Roman education system and ethos sucked.
-Because it was so crappy, many otherwise intellectually-oriented Romans were stunted early on, and those who weren't usually turned to religion (the majority) or philosophy (the minority) in order to satisfy their curiosities and burning existential questions.
-However, it's worth noting that the religion many of these types turned to was not traditional Roman paganism (which actually had started to dwindle in terms of popularity by the 2nd century AD although people still did the rituals and shit just out of habit/tradition), but actually Eastern cults (due to the Roman wars of expansion in the East) such as Christianity, the mysteries of Isis, Egyptian astrology, etc.
-These new cults/religions were exciting for many Romans who felt spiritually empty because they offered alternative worldviews, explanations, etc.
-Christianity in particular flourished with slaves (it was initially known as a flourishing slave religion), the working class, and (perhaps most importantly) women due to its promise of salvation after death (so this shitty world can go fuck itself, basically) and that everyone was equal in the eyes of Yahweh/God.
-This was incredibly important because slaves, the working class, and women made up the majority of the empire's population (so it's not hard to imagine how easily it spread)!
-Many of these cults involved initiation rites and complex rituals which were meant to lead its followers to secret, mystical truths about reality and allow them to make predictions about the future and shit like that.
-Of course, conservative Romans hated these cults and the radical, new, bizarre behavior they encouraged in their adherents. Unfortunately, it seemed as if even these conservatives had grown bored with the traditional Roman beliefs and rituals and were really only going through the motions out of superstition.
-Of all of the new cults and religions, it was of course Christianity that flourished the most.
-In many respects, Christianity during this time was similar to the other cults in that it had a secret initiation process for new members, but what made it different was that it DEMANDED that its followers forsake all other religions and belief systems, something that was very unusual for a pagan culture which had (up until then) enjoyed a wide variety of harmonious religions and traditions of worship.
-However, at this point Christianity had already been around and spreading for over 100 years, so by the time it got to Rome itself it had already been "Helenized" (e.g. filtered through influential early Christian theologians and fanatics in the Near East and Greece (like St. Peter (AKA Simon, Simeon, Kepha, Cephas, etc.), St. Paul (AKA Paul the Apostle, Saul of Tarsus, etc.), etc.)).
-These early additions/interpretations to/of Christian doctrine emphasized sexual denial, forsaking material possessions, etc.
-To put them more at odds with the Roman powers-that-be, Christians refused to offer sacrifices to the Roman emperors (who were believed to be divine, but if you didn't at least pretend to believe it of course you'd have serious problems).
-Even the Jews during this time didn't go that far; they covered their own asses by offering sacrifices to Yahweh in the name of the Roman emperors, (a very clever loophole, BTW)).
-Because of this, Christians were persecuted by Roman authorities across the empire, but this didn't stop the cult from spreading.
-In fact, something that made Christianity even more appealing to a lot of people was Christians' willingness to die for their faith, something that was probably missing from the other cults and religions.
-Of course, not every intellectual was drawn to religion or mystery cults; a minority got into philosophy, instead, although a lot of ancient philosophy wasn't really that much different than ancient religions.
-The big difference was that philosophy was based on human rationality; cults and religions were based on magical rituals and shit.
-However, it's important to keep in mind that BOTH schools of thought were typically based on the teachings of godlike mythological figures and rules in which you had to follow and shit like that.
-During this time in Rome the two big philosophical traditions were Stoicism and Epicureanism, both of which were disdained by the average Roman due to their perceived contrary nature to how most Romans viewed the world and behaved.
-Stoicism was founded by Zeno (or Zenon) of Citium (or Kition) around 300 BC, and was/is seen by many as a continuation of the Cynic school of thought (which had started up like a century before that).
-The name comes from the Greek word stoa, meaning "porch", and is in reference to the Stoa Poikile ("Painted Porch"), located on the north side of Ancient Agora of Athens and where Zeno held his teachings.
-Zeno believed that emotion MUST be subordinate to reason, and by doing this everyone could lead a virtuous life.
-It's actually a common misconception that the Stoics were anti-emotions or in favor of everyone acting like robots; instead, they believed that negative emotions are destructive and that everything must be beholden to reason. When emotions are allowed to cloud our rational minds, that's what allows for chaos and shit to break down (which is contrary to how nature wants things to be).
-Essentially, Stoicism was an attempt to combine determinism with a guide for how to successfully manage an individual's free will. Their ultimate goal was to develop good judgement with a calm mind that could weather any storm, accept the world for what it is along with our own place in it, and to our best with what we have.
-Stoicism also was surprisingly egalitarian for its time (although in a different way than Christianity (see above)), as Zeno essentially had taught that non-slaves and slaves alike were both still human (e.g. possessing of the same goals, fears, emotions, etc.), although it's obvious for why it didn't catch on among the slave populations compared with Christianity ("life sucks so just accept it and get over it" vs. "life sucks but if you believe in Jesus you can go to Heaven after you die").
-Also, it was hard for Stoicism to truly catch on in general because it required lots of hard work and self-reflection; ain't nobody got time for that!
-Epicureanism, founded by Epicurus of Samos around the same time as Zeno founded Stoicism, introduced the same overall goals in mind as Stoicism (a state of being free of fear, pain, or anxiety) except it promoted a radically different approach- identify that which gives you displeasure or discomfort and then purge it from your life.
-Like Stoicism, Epicureanism was/is also misunderstood as being an excuse for hedonism and an endless drive for pleasure, when in fact Epicureans were actually quite modest in their pursuit of pleasure and happiness compared with, say, their average fellow Romans.
-Epicureans actually believed that hedonism just led to more pain, suffering, and discomfort. Instead, Epicureans advocated for a way of life in which one enjoyed eating simple meals while hanging out with friends; they didn't get involved in lawsuits, politics, or commercial activities. Basically, it was all about enjoying the simple things in life, following the Golden Rule, and not being afraid of death (which was the source of everything bad (anger, war, being an asshole, etc.) in the world).
-If you could figure out how to not be afraid to die, then everything else would fall into place in one's own life.
-Also, forget about the gods- if they do exist, then they certainly don't give a shit about us; there's also no Heaven or afterlife, so forget about that shit, too. When we die, we can't feel anything, so we don't need to be scared of that because we can't feel it! We're alive now, so just try to make this life the best we can while we can still feel it because it won't matter when we're dead.
-Although the tenants of Epicureanism as a whole really aren't that controversial by today's standards, the were typically met with condemnation by the superstitious masses of the ancient world due to its take on the gods or the supernatural.
-It's also important to point out that although most men who were into philosophy came from elite or rich families, this certainly wasn't the case for all of them, as there were indeed philosophers (or people who followed these philosophers/philosophies) that did not come wealthy backgrounds. The cities were full of these "panhandling philosophers" or "street philosophers" who, among other things, might claim their lack of money (or good hygiene) was a choice or virtue.
-All in all, the Roman Empire at this time was beginning to show signs of decay- the education system had become too rigid and encouraging of sophistry; the elites had withdrawn into following new religions, cults, or esoteric philosophy; and the masses were doing everything they could to just stay afloat and survive. The optimistic days of the Republic were long gone, and society had instead grown self-absorbed and ignorant about the threats that loomed beyond the borders of the empire.
Tuesday, April 9, 2019
Monday, October 22, 2018
Wealth and Class
-At this point (c. 150 AD), the Romans had fundamentally changed and no longer pined for "the good ol' days" (the Republic)...the Roman character had fundamentally shifted!
-During the Republic the Romans had been quite conservative- maintain a simple home and strong familial relationships, piousness, and a willingness to sacrifice oneself for the greater good of the public.
-At this point, though, aristocratic Romans had grown lazy, self-indulgent, obsessed with petty gossip, ostentatious displays of wealth, and games.
-The middle class had crumbled as farmers no longer had their own farms and had to either end working as tenants on aristocrats' huge estates or go try and find work in the city (where they would most likely be unemployed since they were farmers and didn't have the right skills for a city trade).
-The military used to be made up of Roman citizen soldiers who came from farming backgrounds, but now it was made up almost entirely of professional soldiers from the provinces, as at this point being a soldier was one of the only ways the working class would have a shot at any kind of upwards mobility in society.
-The only soldiers who were actually from Italia itself were usually either the poorest of the poor or aristocrats looking to go into politics later in life (and having served in the military would look quite nice on their resume).
-How did this change happen?
-Rome was now all-powerful (they controlled the Mediterranean!).
-The empire had grown quite wealthy (presumably through taxes and conquest).'
-New foreign philosophies and religions from Greece and the Near East had entered into the public consciousness.
-The cracks in the empire were finally starting to show...
-One of the most important things to remember about the Roman Empire (at any point of its history) is that it had always had a serious problem with wealth inequality.
-Roman economic classes:
-Slaves- how the empire was built! Slaves were slaves just like in every other civilization in human history and also served as a status symbol for their masters' families.
-The more slaves one owned, the better! This was especially true with the super rich because they could afford to show off how many slaves they had by having a slave whose only job would be to perform some small, minor task for their masters... for example, while it would be possible for maybe one slave to perform 10 tasks, it was far better to have one slave designated to one task respectively in order to show off to the other wealthy families.
-Slave-owners rarely went out in public without their slaves. In cities, slaves were essentially treated like pets by their masters (which, as we know, can be either good or bad). In the countryside, slaves were essentially treated like pack animals, working on farms which produced typical Roman cash crops like barley, wheat, millet, and grapes (which was the base of the average Roman diet).
-In fact, small farms eventually became increasingly rare over time as giant estates swallowed up more and more land, and many farmers or rural-based slaves ended up being tenant farmers on these huge farms.
-It's worth noting that these mega-farms were one of the few exports that the empire produced that generated any serious income, as Rome was like an all-consuming black hole (in terms of consuming more than producing) that thrived off of war and conquest and not so much profitable trade.
-The typical Roman citizen was no longer a humble farmer (and soldier) with their own small plot of land- the vast majority had shifted towards working on someone else's land. Most people during this time still would not travel very far from where they were born, and would most likely not ever visit the nearest provincial city (let alone Rome itself!).
-While it was legal (I guess?) for slave-owners to mistreat their slaves, this was generally considered quite taboo by society (just like how we would look down on people who mistreat their pets in today's society).
-Also, unlike a lot of other slave systems in other civilizations, slaves had the opportunity to either by their freedom or be set free (if they worked hard enough or established a strong bond with their masters).
-Freeing slaves actually became such an issue for the government that Augustus actually had to make laws which restricted how slaves could be freed (slaves could only be freed after the age of 30; masters could only free 100 (per 500) slaves at a time; etc.).
-In fact, just like hoarding slaves was seen as a status symbol, so was freeing slaves! Having the power to bestow freedom on another human being was seen as a major virtue during this time, so rich slave-owners often freed their slaves (I guess this would be like rich people giving to charity or engaging in philanthropic and/or humanitarian efforts nowadays?).
-That being said, there was still an infinitesimally small minority of slaves that went on to achieve wealth and power, but this was rare.
-It's been estimated that the slave population made up about 1/3 of the entire population of the Roman Empire.
-Slaves were usually prisoners of war from Roman conquests, but Roman citizens also had the option if selling their own children into slavery if they were desperate enough (and/or just really shitty people). Additionally, some people were born slaves if their mother was a slave, although this didn't happen that often because most slaves probably knew that it would be a shitty thing to do to their children.
-Selling one's own children had become less and less common by the time of the emperors, but it would still happen occasionally!
-Thus, slave traders grew quite rich from Rome's constant invasions of foreign lands, although the slave trade would reach its peak during the time of Trajan (due to the empire still expanding at that time). After Trajan, the slave trade sharply declined overall due to the lack of newly-enslaved conquered people.
-Freedmen- the practice of freeing a slave eventually became so common that an entirely new social class of freed slaves emerged.
-While freedmen still weren't considered full citizens of the empire, they did still enjoy some privileges that were denied to regular slaves.
-However, it's worth noting that up until the reign of Claudius, freedmen were restricted in the kind of jobs they could have in society; Claudius would eventually strike down these restrictions and allow for freemen to have the opportunity to have any kind of job.
-Why did Claudius do this? It's possible that he may have wanted to be nice to freedmen, but it's also likely that he wanted an excuse to be able to stock the government bureaucracy with a bunch of educated freedmen who would be efficient and competent without all of the drama and baggage that would come with appointing regular rich dudes for those same positions. Smart!
-Unfortunately, this also kind of backfired once regular citizens started to see how much power these freedmen were able to have, so they began to protest for reform. This allowed for Domitian to take the opportunity to stock HIS government bureaucracy with equestrians.
-Why did Domitian do this? It's possible that he wanted to get in tight with the middle class (elites hated Domitian) whom had been marginalized by the senatorial class, but also he may have wanted to crack down on all of the corruption which had resulted from Claudius' freedmen bureaucrats amassing so much power so quickly in the government.
-Apparently, this seemed to work rather well for everyone overall, and the emperors after Domitian continued this trend of appointing equestrians to government positions for some time.
-Of course, freedmen were also kind of looked down upon by Roman society as a whole, but this didn't stop freedmen from occasionally acquiring a considerable amount of wealth and power. Also, freedmen's kids weren't considered to be slaves or freedmen, but
-Freedmen were still obligated to have a patron-client relationship with their former masters, however. This allowed for former masters to still retain their prestige that otherwise would have been lost when they freed their slaves- hoarding clients was also a status symbol as well for rich Roman families!
-Poor people (vast majority of the common folk).
-Lower middle-class- 10x smaller than the poors (in terms of size), but 10x richer.
-However, the lower middle-class struggled just like the poor because they didn't qualify for state welfare!
-Upper middle-class (equestrians)- lived comfortably, but nowhere near as rich as the senatorial class.
-Aristocrats (senatorial class)- rich people.
-Ludicrously rich- the richest of the rich (a handful of senators) who really called the shots in the empire (besides the emperor, of course).
-The emperor- the richest person in the entire empire BY FAR (which also allowed him to have the most power). This was what really allowed for the emperor to act with impunity, especially since it was money that controlled the legions. As long as the legions were happy, the emperor could rest easy.
-The emperor would become rich by either just straight-up taking whatever he wanted (usually off the books), but also would issue leases for imperial holdings and shit like that.
-Thus, most people living in the Roman Empire were stuck between the poor (no power) and the super rich (most of the power). Even the richest of the rich weren't safe from the whims of the emperor.
-For example, Nero one time just straight-up executed six rich dudes who owned like half of the province of Africa and then just confiscated their land for himself!
-While most rural-based Romans worked agricultural jobs, urban-based Romans worked a wide variety of jobs (just like how it's always been throughout human history) such as importers, exporters, wholesalers, bankers, cooks, retailers, innkeepers, masons, druggists, potters, tanners, jewelers, teachers, actors, etc.
-However, unfortunately there massive amounts of city-dwellers who were actually unemployed and lived on the dole (typically free grain and games provided by the government) while working odd jobs.
-An important note is that living on the dole still wasn't enough to support a family, as the grain provided was only enough for one person (usually the working male of the household).
-Also, members of the lower-middle class didn't qualify for the dole, so life was hard for them too because they didn't have very much money but also didn't benefit from any government assistance! -Even equestrians struggled sometimes!
-Thus, because everyone from the poor to the equestrians were struggling (to varying degrees, of course), something had to be done in order to retain some sort of balance or else the whole system would quickly fall apart.
-Enter: the patron-client system!
-During the days of the republic the patron-client system was mainly used by politicians hoping to gain political power and influence among the masses in exchange for votes, but obviously after Augustus took power and the republic collapsed there was no need for politicians to do this because emperors called all the shots after this.
-So, after the fall of the republic the patron-client system returned, but this version had evolved so that it acted as an alternate version of the dole.
-Clients would visit their patrons in order to pay respect, and in return the patrons would give their clients a bit of money. This in turn became the most common way for working class families to survive if they couldn't survive on the dole (or otherwise couldn't qualify for it to begin with).
-Truly desperate (or lazy haha) clients would have multiple patrons whom they would visit throughout the day, every day, in order to get a few coins that would allow them and their families to live on those small earnings for the day.
-During the Republic the Romans had been quite conservative- maintain a simple home and strong familial relationships, piousness, and a willingness to sacrifice oneself for the greater good of the public.
-At this point, though, aristocratic Romans had grown lazy, self-indulgent, obsessed with petty gossip, ostentatious displays of wealth, and games.
-The middle class had crumbled as farmers no longer had their own farms and had to either end working as tenants on aristocrats' huge estates or go try and find work in the city (where they would most likely be unemployed since they were farmers and didn't have the right skills for a city trade).
-The military used to be made up of Roman citizen soldiers who came from farming backgrounds, but now it was made up almost entirely of professional soldiers from the provinces, as at this point being a soldier was one of the only ways the working class would have a shot at any kind of upwards mobility in society.
-The only soldiers who were actually from Italia itself were usually either the poorest of the poor or aristocrats looking to go into politics later in life (and having served in the military would look quite nice on their resume).
-How did this change happen?
-Rome was now all-powerful (they controlled the Mediterranean!).
-The empire had grown quite wealthy (presumably through taxes and conquest).'
-New foreign philosophies and religions from Greece and the Near East had entered into the public consciousness.
-The cracks in the empire were finally starting to show...
-One of the most important things to remember about the Roman Empire (at any point of its history) is that it had always had a serious problem with wealth inequality.
-Roman economic classes:
-Slaves- how the empire was built! Slaves were slaves just like in every other civilization in human history and also served as a status symbol for their masters' families.
-The more slaves one owned, the better! This was especially true with the super rich because they could afford to show off how many slaves they had by having a slave whose only job would be to perform some small, minor task for their masters... for example, while it would be possible for maybe one slave to perform 10 tasks, it was far better to have one slave designated to one task respectively in order to show off to the other wealthy families.
-Slave-owners rarely went out in public without their slaves. In cities, slaves were essentially treated like pets by their masters (which, as we know, can be either good or bad). In the countryside, slaves were essentially treated like pack animals, working on farms which produced typical Roman cash crops like barley, wheat, millet, and grapes (which was the base of the average Roman diet).
-In fact, small farms eventually became increasingly rare over time as giant estates swallowed up more and more land, and many farmers or rural-based slaves ended up being tenant farmers on these huge farms.
-It's worth noting that these mega-farms were one of the few exports that the empire produced that generated any serious income, as Rome was like an all-consuming black hole (in terms of consuming more than producing) that thrived off of war and conquest and not so much profitable trade.
-The typical Roman citizen was no longer a humble farmer (and soldier) with their own small plot of land- the vast majority had shifted towards working on someone else's land. Most people during this time still would not travel very far from where they were born, and would most likely not ever visit the nearest provincial city (let alone Rome itself!).
-While it was legal (I guess?) for slave-owners to mistreat their slaves, this was generally considered quite taboo by society (just like how we would look down on people who mistreat their pets in today's society).
-Also, unlike a lot of other slave systems in other civilizations, slaves had the opportunity to either by their freedom or be set free (if they worked hard enough or established a strong bond with their masters).
-Freeing slaves actually became such an issue for the government that Augustus actually had to make laws which restricted how slaves could be freed (slaves could only be freed after the age of 30; masters could only free 100 (per 500) slaves at a time; etc.).
-In fact, just like hoarding slaves was seen as a status symbol, so was freeing slaves! Having the power to bestow freedom on another human being was seen as a major virtue during this time, so rich slave-owners often freed their slaves (I guess this would be like rich people giving to charity or engaging in philanthropic and/or humanitarian efforts nowadays?).
-That being said, there was still an infinitesimally small minority of slaves that went on to achieve wealth and power, but this was rare.
-It's been estimated that the slave population made up about 1/3 of the entire population of the Roman Empire.
-Slaves were usually prisoners of war from Roman conquests, but Roman citizens also had the option if selling their own children into slavery if they were desperate enough (and/or just really shitty people). Additionally, some people were born slaves if their mother was a slave, although this didn't happen that often because most slaves probably knew that it would be a shitty thing to do to their children.
-Selling one's own children had become less and less common by the time of the emperors, but it would still happen occasionally!
-Thus, slave traders grew quite rich from Rome's constant invasions of foreign lands, although the slave trade would reach its peak during the time of Trajan (due to the empire still expanding at that time). After Trajan, the slave trade sharply declined overall due to the lack of newly-enslaved conquered people.
-Freedmen- the practice of freeing a slave eventually became so common that an entirely new social class of freed slaves emerged.
-While freedmen still weren't considered full citizens of the empire, they did still enjoy some privileges that were denied to regular slaves.
-However, it's worth noting that up until the reign of Claudius, freedmen were restricted in the kind of jobs they could have in society; Claudius would eventually strike down these restrictions and allow for freemen to have the opportunity to have any kind of job.
-Why did Claudius do this? It's possible that he may have wanted to be nice to freedmen, but it's also likely that he wanted an excuse to be able to stock the government bureaucracy with a bunch of educated freedmen who would be efficient and competent without all of the drama and baggage that would come with appointing regular rich dudes for those same positions. Smart!
-Unfortunately, this also kind of backfired once regular citizens started to see how much power these freedmen were able to have, so they began to protest for reform. This allowed for Domitian to take the opportunity to stock HIS government bureaucracy with equestrians.
-Why did Domitian do this? It's possible that he wanted to get in tight with the middle class (elites hated Domitian) whom had been marginalized by the senatorial class, but also he may have wanted to crack down on all of the corruption which had resulted from Claudius' freedmen bureaucrats amassing so much power so quickly in the government.
-Apparently, this seemed to work rather well for everyone overall, and the emperors after Domitian continued this trend of appointing equestrians to government positions for some time.
-Of course, freedmen were also kind of looked down upon by Roman society as a whole, but this didn't stop freedmen from occasionally acquiring a considerable amount of wealth and power. Also, freedmen's kids weren't considered to be slaves or freedmen, but
-Freedmen were still obligated to have a patron-client relationship with their former masters, however. This allowed for former masters to still retain their prestige that otherwise would have been lost when they freed their slaves- hoarding clients was also a status symbol as well for rich Roman families!
-Poor people (vast majority of the common folk).
-Lower middle-class- 10x smaller than the poors (in terms of size), but 10x richer.
-However, the lower middle-class struggled just like the poor because they didn't qualify for state welfare!
-Upper middle-class (equestrians)- lived comfortably, but nowhere near as rich as the senatorial class.
-Aristocrats (senatorial class)- rich people.
-Ludicrously rich- the richest of the rich (a handful of senators) who really called the shots in the empire (besides the emperor, of course).
-The emperor- the richest person in the entire empire BY FAR (which also allowed him to have the most power). This was what really allowed for the emperor to act with impunity, especially since it was money that controlled the legions. As long as the legions were happy, the emperor could rest easy.
-The emperor would become rich by either just straight-up taking whatever he wanted (usually off the books), but also would issue leases for imperial holdings and shit like that.
-Thus, most people living in the Roman Empire were stuck between the poor (no power) and the super rich (most of the power). Even the richest of the rich weren't safe from the whims of the emperor.
-For example, Nero one time just straight-up executed six rich dudes who owned like half of the province of Africa and then just confiscated their land for himself!
-While most rural-based Romans worked agricultural jobs, urban-based Romans worked a wide variety of jobs (just like how it's always been throughout human history) such as importers, exporters, wholesalers, bankers, cooks, retailers, innkeepers, masons, druggists, potters, tanners, jewelers, teachers, actors, etc.
-However, unfortunately there massive amounts of city-dwellers who were actually unemployed and lived on the dole (typically free grain and games provided by the government) while working odd jobs.
-An important note is that living on the dole still wasn't enough to support a family, as the grain provided was only enough for one person (usually the working male of the household).
-Also, members of the lower-middle class didn't qualify for the dole, so life was hard for them too because they didn't have very much money but also didn't benefit from any government assistance! -Even equestrians struggled sometimes!
-Thus, because everyone from the poor to the equestrians were struggling (to varying degrees, of course), something had to be done in order to retain some sort of balance or else the whole system would quickly fall apart.
-Enter: the patron-client system!
-During the days of the republic the patron-client system was mainly used by politicians hoping to gain political power and influence among the masses in exchange for votes, but obviously after Augustus took power and the republic collapsed there was no need for politicians to do this because emperors called all the shots after this.
-So, after the fall of the republic the patron-client system returned, but this version had evolved so that it acted as an alternate version of the dole.
-Clients would visit their patrons in order to pay respect, and in return the patrons would give their clients a bit of money. This in turn became the most common way for working class families to survive if they couldn't survive on the dole (or otherwise couldn't qualify for it to begin with).
-Truly desperate (or lazy haha) clients would have multiple patrons whom they would visit throughout the day, every day, in order to get a few coins that would allow them and their families to live on those small earnings for the day.
Monday, March 5, 2018
Antoninus the Dutiful
-138 AD- Antoninus Pius was now emperor of Rome.
-Everyone seemed happy about this, including the Senate, as they had absolutely hated Hadrian.
-Antoninus was well-liked by just about everyone.
-Because of Antoninus' popularity, the histories reflect that this was arguably the reason for why iut was written that this was the zenith of the Roman Empire.
-However, is this actually true? The consensus nowadays seems to be that while Antoninus wasn't a bad emperor, he also wasn't exactly the best either, as he didn't really do anything truly amazing.
-Antoninus ended up living a long life, so Hadrian's plan of having Marcus Aurelius become a young emperor didn't pan out exactly as he had hoped.
-Most scholars believe that Antoninus received the "Pius" after his name because of his push to have Hadrian (his father-in-law) deified (which the Senate was loathe to do but ultimately acquiesced), but there are other possible reasons for why as well.
-During this time the empire was quickly losing its "Roman" character, as more and more elites from the provinces entered the Senate and the imperial circle of advisers.
-This was especially the case during the reign of Hadrian, but Antoninus (himself born in Gaul) seemed to rely more on Italian men for his official appointments.
-Thus, this marked the last gasp of Italian supremacy before the power shifted to the provincials.
-Hadrian had been quite "progressive" in terms of innovation, expansion, etc. However, Antoninus was clearly much more conservative and more concerned with maintenance and keeping shit running normally.
-Didn't spend much money either unless it was for the public good, and was very strict with spending imperial funds, often spending his own money to help with public service projects (especially during emergencies and disasters).
-Antoninus was also constantly asked by neighboring states to have Rome take them on as clients, but he refused on the basis that the empire was already maxed out and couldn't afford to take on any more at that time. Unfortunately, this would actually cause big problems in the future, but worked fine during his own reign.
-Meanwhile in Britannia, the Romans were able to crush the rebel Brigantes and push further north into their territory.
-The wall known as "the Antonine Wall" was then constructed 100 miles north of Hadrian's Wall.
-In North Africa, the Romans began to clash with natives in Mauretania, and Antoninus was unsuccessful in pacifying the situation.
-The empire also started experiencing problems in other places as well- clashes along the Danube River with Germanic hordes, another minor rebellion in Judea, etc.
-Despite this, Antoninus rarely got involved in war, and almost always opted for peaceful solutions.
-However, it would be a mistake to see Antoninus as lazy or boring; he worked actively to micro-manage everything and was always working closely with those around him in order to minimize corruption.
-Antoninus also passed legislation that gave slaves more rights (as up to this point they had had very few).
-Pronounced that although slaves have a duty to their master, masters also have duties to their slaves.
-For example, if a master was cruel to his slaves, he could be ordered to sell them; likewise, if a master killed his slave, he could be arrested on charges of murder.
-However, it's important to note that Antoninus wasn't some revolutionary human rights activist; this was kind of the trend of the times and he also wanted to prevent future slave uprisings and shit.
-Everyone seemed happy about this, including the Senate, as they had absolutely hated Hadrian.
-Antoninus was well-liked by just about everyone.
-Because of Antoninus' popularity, the histories reflect that this was arguably the reason for why iut was written that this was the zenith of the Roman Empire.
-However, is this actually true? The consensus nowadays seems to be that while Antoninus wasn't a bad emperor, he also wasn't exactly the best either, as he didn't really do anything truly amazing.
-Antoninus ended up living a long life, so Hadrian's plan of having Marcus Aurelius become a young emperor didn't pan out exactly as he had hoped.
-Most scholars believe that Antoninus received the "Pius" after his name because of his push to have Hadrian (his father-in-law) deified (which the Senate was loathe to do but ultimately acquiesced), but there are other possible reasons for why as well.
-During this time the empire was quickly losing its "Roman" character, as more and more elites from the provinces entered the Senate and the imperial circle of advisers.
-This was especially the case during the reign of Hadrian, but Antoninus (himself born in Gaul) seemed to rely more on Italian men for his official appointments.
-Thus, this marked the last gasp of Italian supremacy before the power shifted to the provincials.
-Hadrian had been quite "progressive" in terms of innovation, expansion, etc. However, Antoninus was clearly much more conservative and more concerned with maintenance and keeping shit running normally.
-Didn't spend much money either unless it was for the public good, and was very strict with spending imperial funds, often spending his own money to help with public service projects (especially during emergencies and disasters).
-Antoninus was also constantly asked by neighboring states to have Rome take them on as clients, but he refused on the basis that the empire was already maxed out and couldn't afford to take on any more at that time. Unfortunately, this would actually cause big problems in the future, but worked fine during his own reign.
-Meanwhile in Britannia, the Romans were able to crush the rebel Brigantes and push further north into their territory.
-The wall known as "the Antonine Wall" was then constructed 100 miles north of Hadrian's Wall.
-In North Africa, the Romans began to clash with natives in Mauretania, and Antoninus was unsuccessful in pacifying the situation.
-The empire also started experiencing problems in other places as well- clashes along the Danube River with Germanic hordes, another minor rebellion in Judea, etc.
-Despite this, Antoninus rarely got involved in war, and almost always opted for peaceful solutions.
-However, it would be a mistake to see Antoninus as lazy or boring; he worked actively to micro-manage everything and was always working closely with those around him in order to minimize corruption.
-Antoninus also passed legislation that gave slaves more rights (as up to this point they had had very few).
-Pronounced that although slaves have a duty to their master, masters also have duties to their slaves.
-For example, if a master was cruel to his slaves, he could be ordered to sell them; likewise, if a master killed his slave, he could be arrested on charges of murder.
-However, it's important to note that Antoninus wasn't some revolutionary human rights activist; this was kind of the trend of the times and he also wanted to prevent future slave uprisings and shit.
Sunday, March 4, 2018
Longing for Death
-134 AD- Hadrian was back in Italia, but his health was rapidly deteriorating.
-Because of this, he began to seriously consider his successor.
-Also, he apparently began to unravel mentally during this time.
-Famous example is his feud with Apollodorus of Damascus, the famous Syrian-Greek genius engineer who had worked so brilliantly with Trajan.
-The drama started when Hadrian had finished the completion of the Temple of Venus and Roma in Rome (from 121-135 AD, with additions later added by (future Roman emperor) Antoninus Pius). Hadrian had designed it himself, and was super-proud of it. However, he asked Apollodorus what he thought of it, but Apollodorus sent back an honest but brutal critique of it.
-Allegedly they had disliked each other ever since the Dacian Wars, when Hadrian had tried to participate in the war discussions among Trajan, Apollodorus, and the other generals, and I guess everyone thought Hadrian was a noob.
-Still though, Hadrian had apparently used Apollodorus to design anti-guerrilla war machines during the Bar Kokhba Revolt.
-Anyway, because of Apollodorus' critique, Hadrian had Apollodorus exiled and later executed!
-However, it's entirely possible that this was just made up and that Apollodorus had died of natural causes around this time, and Hadrian's enemies had used it as anti-Hadrian propaganda.
-136 AD- more or less completion of the Mausoleum of Hadrian in Rome.
-Before Hadrian's death, the only living male relative of Hadrian was Gnaeus Pedanius Fuscus Salinator, husband of Hadrian's niece, Julia.
-However, Hadrian had judged that Fuscus was unfit to be heir, as he was too petty and decadent ("a Nero in the making").
-Originally, it had been expected that Fuscus was going to be chosen as heir, but this turned out to be not so; this especially pissed off Fuscus' grandfather-in-law, the politician Lucius Julius Ursus Servianus (also Hadrian's brother-in-law).
-Servianus himself had also at one point been considered for heir to Hadrian.
-138 AD- Hadrian announced that he was adopting the consul Lucius Ceionius Commodus as heir- theories range wildly as to why he did this.
-Lucius Commodus then changed his name to Lucius Aelius Caesar to reflect this.
-Lucius Commodus was seen as an odd choice because he was always sick.
-Was Hadrian playing 4D chess? Some scholars think so.
-It is likely that ultimately Hadrian was actually aiming for the grandson of Marcus Annius Verus, one his advisers (grandson had the same name, but he would be known in history as (future emperor) Marcus Aurelius!).
-Hadrian saw this boy as remarkably intelligent, mature, and studious.
-Hadrian also had it arranged that Marcus was engaged to Lucius Caesar's daughter immediately after naming Lucius heir.
-Lucius did also have a son, but he was too young, so it made sense that Hadrian was expecting the sickly Lucius to croak before he came of age, setting up Marcus as the next in line by default. For now, though, Marcus was still too young to be adopted as Hadrian's heir.
-Hadrian naming Lucius as heir was too much for Servianus and Fuscus!
-They immediately began to conspire to overthrow Hadrian and take power for themselves.
-Of course, Hadrian quickly found out about this and had Fuscus and Servianus executed.
-According to legend, before dying Servianus cursed Hadrian by saying something like- "May you long for death, but be unable to die!"
-At this point, it's unclear as to what exactly went down- did Hadrian have Servianus, Fuscus, and possibly others (including his own wife, Sabina!) executed on trumped-up charges?
-It's possible that Hadrian was getting paranoid, but it's also possible that the Senate was demonizing him.
-Meanwhile, Lucius died on New Year's Day, 138 AD, after returning from his governorship in Pannonia Superior.
-Quickly, Hadrian named the senator Titus Aurelius Fulvus Boionius Arrius Antoninus as heir (future emperor Antoninus Pius).
-Antoninus was born in 86 AD near Rome.
-Grandson (and son) of a consul who had served under Domitian and was a former military commander.
-Family (Aurelius) had originally come from southern Gaul, but had relocated to Italy at some point.
-Father had died early on, so Antoninus was adopted by his maternal grandfather's clan (hence, why his name is so long). Antoninus was well-connected (e.g. he was close friends with Pliny the Younger).
-Early in his life he married Annia Galeria Faustina, daughter of an aristocratic family and granddaughter of Marcus Annius Verus.
-Because of this, Antoninus found himself as a courtier of Hadrian's when Hadrian assumed power.
-Hadrian liked Antoninus and awarded him with various high offices and shit.
-It's clear at this point that Hadrian had seriously been considering Marcus as heir becuase he allowed for Antoninus to be his heir on the sole condition that Antoninus adopt both Marcus AND Lucius Ceionius Commodus (son of Lucius Caesar).
-Antoninus acccepted, and he changed his name to Titus Aelius Caesar Antoninus.
-July 10, 138 AD- Hadrian finally croaks, and Antoninus becomes the next emperor!
-Hadrian had developed congestive heart failure, which was extremely painful. This resulted in Hadrian trying (and failing) to kill himself on multiple occasions! So maybe Servianus' (alleged) curse turned out to come true!
-Because of this, he began to seriously consider his successor.
-Also, he apparently began to unravel mentally during this time.
-Famous example is his feud with Apollodorus of Damascus, the famous Syrian-Greek genius engineer who had worked so brilliantly with Trajan.
-The drama started when Hadrian had finished the completion of the Temple of Venus and Roma in Rome (from 121-135 AD, with additions later added by (future Roman emperor) Antoninus Pius). Hadrian had designed it himself, and was super-proud of it. However, he asked Apollodorus what he thought of it, but Apollodorus sent back an honest but brutal critique of it.
-Allegedly they had disliked each other ever since the Dacian Wars, when Hadrian had tried to participate in the war discussions among Trajan, Apollodorus, and the other generals, and I guess everyone thought Hadrian was a noob.
-Still though, Hadrian had apparently used Apollodorus to design anti-guerrilla war machines during the Bar Kokhba Revolt.
-Anyway, because of Apollodorus' critique, Hadrian had Apollodorus exiled and later executed!
-However, it's entirely possible that this was just made up and that Apollodorus had died of natural causes around this time, and Hadrian's enemies had used it as anti-Hadrian propaganda.
-136 AD- more or less completion of the Mausoleum of Hadrian in Rome.
-Before Hadrian's death, the only living male relative of Hadrian was Gnaeus Pedanius Fuscus Salinator, husband of Hadrian's niece, Julia.
-However, Hadrian had judged that Fuscus was unfit to be heir, as he was too petty and decadent ("a Nero in the making").
-Originally, it had been expected that Fuscus was going to be chosen as heir, but this turned out to be not so; this especially pissed off Fuscus' grandfather-in-law, the politician Lucius Julius Ursus Servianus (also Hadrian's brother-in-law).
-Servianus himself had also at one point been considered for heir to Hadrian.
-138 AD- Hadrian announced that he was adopting the consul Lucius Ceionius Commodus as heir- theories range wildly as to why he did this.
-Lucius Commodus then changed his name to Lucius Aelius Caesar to reflect this.
-Lucius Commodus was seen as an odd choice because he was always sick.
-Was Hadrian playing 4D chess? Some scholars think so.
-It is likely that ultimately Hadrian was actually aiming for the grandson of Marcus Annius Verus, one his advisers (grandson had the same name, but he would be known in history as (future emperor) Marcus Aurelius!).
-Hadrian saw this boy as remarkably intelligent, mature, and studious.
-Hadrian also had it arranged that Marcus was engaged to Lucius Caesar's daughter immediately after naming Lucius heir.
-Lucius did also have a son, but he was too young, so it made sense that Hadrian was expecting the sickly Lucius to croak before he came of age, setting up Marcus as the next in line by default. For now, though, Marcus was still too young to be adopted as Hadrian's heir.
-Hadrian naming Lucius as heir was too much for Servianus and Fuscus!
-They immediately began to conspire to overthrow Hadrian and take power for themselves.
-Of course, Hadrian quickly found out about this and had Fuscus and Servianus executed.
-According to legend, before dying Servianus cursed Hadrian by saying something like- "May you long for death, but be unable to die!"
-At this point, it's unclear as to what exactly went down- did Hadrian have Servianus, Fuscus, and possibly others (including his own wife, Sabina!) executed on trumped-up charges?
-It's possible that Hadrian was getting paranoid, but it's also possible that the Senate was demonizing him.
-Meanwhile, Lucius died on New Year's Day, 138 AD, after returning from his governorship in Pannonia Superior.
-Quickly, Hadrian named the senator Titus Aurelius Fulvus Boionius Arrius Antoninus as heir (future emperor Antoninus Pius).
-Antoninus was born in 86 AD near Rome.
-Grandson (and son) of a consul who had served under Domitian and was a former military commander.
-Family (Aurelius) had originally come from southern Gaul, but had relocated to Italy at some point.
-Father had died early on, so Antoninus was adopted by his maternal grandfather's clan (hence, why his name is so long). Antoninus was well-connected (e.g. he was close friends with Pliny the Younger).
-Early in his life he married Annia Galeria Faustina, daughter of an aristocratic family and granddaughter of Marcus Annius Verus.
-Because of this, Antoninus found himself as a courtier of Hadrian's when Hadrian assumed power.
-Hadrian liked Antoninus and awarded him with various high offices and shit.
-It's clear at this point that Hadrian had seriously been considering Marcus as heir becuase he allowed for Antoninus to be his heir on the sole condition that Antoninus adopt both Marcus AND Lucius Ceionius Commodus (son of Lucius Caesar).
-Antoninus acccepted, and he changed his name to Titus Aelius Caesar Antoninus.
-July 10, 138 AD- Hadrian finally croaks, and Antoninus becomes the next emperor!
-Hadrian had developed congestive heart failure, which was extremely painful. This resulted in Hadrian trying (and failing) to kill himself on multiple occasions! So maybe Servianus' (alleged) curse turned out to come true!
May His Bones be Crushed
-125 AD- Hadrian returns to Rome after touring the empire.
-Reception of Hadrian by the citizens of Rome was mixed. The provincials had loved him, however.
-While he kept the citizens of Rome happy with games and urban renewal projects, many felt that he was not a "true" Roman.
-Hadrian loved hunting, astrology, poetry, and everything Greek. He was also from Hispania and extremely gay. Additionally, he rocked a full beard, which was not fashionable in Rome at this time.
-He also conducted business from his villa in Tibur (modern-day Tivoli, Lazio) rather than the Palatine Hill.
-127 AD- Hadrian decided to tour the Italian peninsula, moderating and ordering renovations and shit.
-The province of Italia had been divided into 17 districts which kind of administrated themselves, but Hadrian decided to instead divide the peninsula into four zones, each run by an imperial procurator.
-This really pissed off Italians- they felt like Hadrian was just turning Italia into just another province of the empire, diminishing its status of supremacy.
-During this time he also got sick for months.
-128 AD- traveled to North Africa to inspect the troops, order more fortifications built, etc.
-On his way back to Rome he stopped by Greece, and once again participated in the Eleusinian Mysteries.
-While in Greece, he pushed for the creation of a Pan-Hellenic league that would elevate Greece from a backwater into a cultural powerhouse again. Especially, he wanted to unite Sparta and Athens, who famously never got along well together.
-Greece had always been divided politically due to its tendency to develop city-states instead of kingdoms or empires.
-Of course, Greece still wouldn't have any real power, they would just be a major cultural hub.
-Unfortunately, these plans fell through after Hadrian left.
-129 AD- sailed into Anatolia, where he met with Eastern client-kings of Rome who served as buffers between the Roman Empire and the "uncivilized lands" outside of its domain and influence.
-This pissed off the Senate- Rome was powerful enough so that it did not need to pay its allies anymore! You either joined Rome or you were an enemy!
-Hadrian DGAF, of course.
-130 AD- on his way to Aegyptus, Hadrian stopped by Jerusalem.
-During the Jewish revolts, the province had fallen into decline.
-It had been significantly depopulated, the Temple of Solomon had been destroyed, entire cities had been razed, etc.
-The Jewish high priests also no longer had any political authority.
-Hadrian's plan to improve Judea was to erase its Jewish culture and Judaism itself and assimilate the province into a Hellenistic colony.
-Ordered Jerusalem to be rebuilt, and he then named renamed it "Aelia Capitolina".
-The name comes from Hadrian's full name (Publius Aelius Hadrianus) and Jupiter Capitolinus, the temple to Jupiter built on the Capitoline Hill back in Rome.
-Hadrian also built a temple to Jupiter on top of the site of the Temple of Solomon (AKA The Second Temple). Of course, this would thoroughly enrage the Jews and would spark another Jewish revolt in 132 AD.
-Quick note about Hadrian's sexuality and his relationship with Antinous.
-The ancient Romans didn't really have a concept of "gay". They just thought there were "tops" and "bottoms", and being a top was "good" (masculine) and being a bottom was "bad" (feminine). It seems like Hadrian may have been down for both, but he had zero attraction to women and was instead in a relationship with Antinous, the teenage boy whom he had met in the province of Bithynia and loved to travel with. They also lived together as well at Hadrian's villa.
-Also, the Romans, like the Greeks, had a cultural concept of younger boys hooking up with older men in a sort of "patron-client" relationship.
-Antinous was born around 111 AD in Bithynia and was by all accounts and extremely beautiful young man.
-Around 124 AD he was enrolled in an imperial page program which trained young men to be couriers, valets, servants, etc.
-After serving Hadrian when the emperor was in Bithynia, Hadrian had Antinous move to his personal villa in Tibur in 125 AD. After this, wherever Hadrian went, Antinous was close by.
-Anyway, in 130 AD Hadrian went to Aegyptus to tour the province.
-On the way to Memphis, Hadrian stopped in the city of Hermopolis to check out a temple built by Ramses II.
-We still don't know exactly what happened, but during this time Antinous mysteriously died. There are a bunch of theories of course as to what went down- it was a swimming accident; he committed suicide; he was despairing over being stuck as Hadrian's sex slave; he was killed in a ritual sacrifice; etc.
-Anyway, regardless of what happened Hadrian seemed really sad so he founded a new cult to worship Antinous as a god, and Hadrian had a number of statues and monuments built in his honor throughout the empire.
-The cult spread quickly in the East; cities realized that an easy way to curry favor with Hadrian was to give money and influence to the cult.
-In fact, the cult became so popular in the East that its only competition (as far as mystery cults went) was a strange new cult that revolved around the teachings and worship of a mysterious man who had been named Jesus Christ.
-The Senate was outraged at Hadrian's actions regarding the deification of Antinous.
-Antinous had not been of imperial blood, he was just some boy lover of Hadrian's!
-Additionally, Hadrian had not sought the permission of the Senate to do this, which up to this point had always been the precedent.
-Hadrian then founded a new city in Aegyptus, Antinopolis (near modern-day Mallawi, Minya), in Antinous' honor, near the site where he had died. Hadrian then headed to Alexandria before returning to Greece.
-132 AD- Hadrian was in Athens when he received news of a new Jewish revolt in Judea.
-The revolt had not been spontaneous; it had most likely been in the works right after Hadrian left Judea.
-The Jews had constructed a series of cave tunnels and underground networks, and had also gotten the local blacksmiths to forge shitty weapons and armor for the local Roman garrisons.
-When this equipment was rejected by the local legions, the Jews would rework it into high-quality equipment for their own armies instead of throwing it out. Thus, the Roman troops were completely shocked when they realized how well-armed the Jewish rebels were.
-The revolt was led by a dude named Simon Bar Kokhba (most-likely born as Bar Koseva or Ben Koseva or something like that) who had been pronounced by at least one leading sage as "the Messiah" ("Bar Kokhba" means "Son of a Star" in Aramaic and is based off the same star prophecy found in Numbers 24 in the Old Testament).
-The local governor , Tineius Rufus, found his two legions quickly overwhelmed by the massive uprising, and immediately ordered for reinforcements to be sent in from Syria and Aegyptus.
-However, these reinforcements were not properly prepared for the Jewish style of guerrilla warfare, and the legion from Aegyptus was completely annihilated!
-With these victories, Simon Bar Kokhba declared Judea's independence from Rome!
-They even began issuing their own coins and laws and shit.
-Realizing the gravity of the situation, Hadrian summoned Sextus Julius Severus, the governor of Britannia and a genius general, to Judea to help lead the legions there in order to quell the rebellion. He soon arrived in Judea with reinforcements.
-Hadrian and Severus' plan was to use brute force and overwhelming numbers to bring down the rebellion.
-It was a brutal grind, but the rebellion was finally squashed by 135 AD. It took 12 legions and the destruction of approximately 50 cities and 1000 towns and villages to finally pacify the region.
-While the Romans suffered heavy casualties, it is estimated that approximately 600,000 Jews were killed during this time.
-Many scholars mark this as the true beginning of the Jewish diaspora.
-This example of the brutal nature of how Rome pacified rebellious regions is why Tacitus famously quoted a Briton chieftain who said "the Romans make a desert, and they call it 'peace'."
-Thus, because Judea had been so depopulated as a result of Jews either fleeing the province or being exterminated, Hadrian decided to repopulate the province with Greco-Romans.
-The Jews were thus banned from entering Aelia Capitolina (Jerusalem). Also banned was the practice of circumcision, the Hebrew calendar, and Jewish laws based on the Torah.
-Tons of sacred scrolls were burned at the Temple of Jupiter (previously the Second Temple), where Hadrian installed statues of both Jupiter AND himself.
-For many years after this, Jewish scholars would be routinely executed.
-The province was then combined with province of Syria and was renamed Syria Palestina.
-"Palestina" (Palestine) comes from the name for the ancient region of Philistia, the land of the Philistines, who were eventually conquered by the Israelites.
-The Bar Kokhba Revolt obviously had a huge effect on Jewish history, as this region would not be a center for Jewish life and culture for almost 2000 years!!
-Thus, Hadrian has been forever despised as one of the most hated people in Jewish history, with his name usually followed by "may his bones be crushed!"
-Reception of Hadrian by the citizens of Rome was mixed. The provincials had loved him, however.
-While he kept the citizens of Rome happy with games and urban renewal projects, many felt that he was not a "true" Roman.
-Hadrian loved hunting, astrology, poetry, and everything Greek. He was also from Hispania and extremely gay. Additionally, he rocked a full beard, which was not fashionable in Rome at this time.
-He also conducted business from his villa in Tibur (modern-day Tivoli, Lazio) rather than the Palatine Hill.
-127 AD- Hadrian decided to tour the Italian peninsula, moderating and ordering renovations and shit.
-The province of Italia had been divided into 17 districts which kind of administrated themselves, but Hadrian decided to instead divide the peninsula into four zones, each run by an imperial procurator.
-This really pissed off Italians- they felt like Hadrian was just turning Italia into just another province of the empire, diminishing its status of supremacy.
-During this time he also got sick for months.
-128 AD- traveled to North Africa to inspect the troops, order more fortifications built, etc.
-On his way back to Rome he stopped by Greece, and once again participated in the Eleusinian Mysteries.
-While in Greece, he pushed for the creation of a Pan-Hellenic league that would elevate Greece from a backwater into a cultural powerhouse again. Especially, he wanted to unite Sparta and Athens, who famously never got along well together.
-Greece had always been divided politically due to its tendency to develop city-states instead of kingdoms or empires.
-Of course, Greece still wouldn't have any real power, they would just be a major cultural hub.
-Unfortunately, these plans fell through after Hadrian left.
-129 AD- sailed into Anatolia, where he met with Eastern client-kings of Rome who served as buffers between the Roman Empire and the "uncivilized lands" outside of its domain and influence.
-This pissed off the Senate- Rome was powerful enough so that it did not need to pay its allies anymore! You either joined Rome or you were an enemy!
-Hadrian DGAF, of course.
-130 AD- on his way to Aegyptus, Hadrian stopped by Jerusalem.
-During the Jewish revolts, the province had fallen into decline.
-It had been significantly depopulated, the Temple of Solomon had been destroyed, entire cities had been razed, etc.
-The Jewish high priests also no longer had any political authority.
-Hadrian's plan to improve Judea was to erase its Jewish culture and Judaism itself and assimilate the province into a Hellenistic colony.
-Ordered Jerusalem to be rebuilt, and he then named renamed it "Aelia Capitolina".
-The name comes from Hadrian's full name (Publius Aelius Hadrianus) and Jupiter Capitolinus, the temple to Jupiter built on the Capitoline Hill back in Rome.
-Hadrian also built a temple to Jupiter on top of the site of the Temple of Solomon (AKA The Second Temple). Of course, this would thoroughly enrage the Jews and would spark another Jewish revolt in 132 AD.
-Quick note about Hadrian's sexuality and his relationship with Antinous.
-The ancient Romans didn't really have a concept of "gay". They just thought there were "tops" and "bottoms", and being a top was "good" (masculine) and being a bottom was "bad" (feminine). It seems like Hadrian may have been down for both, but he had zero attraction to women and was instead in a relationship with Antinous, the teenage boy whom he had met in the province of Bithynia and loved to travel with. They also lived together as well at Hadrian's villa.
-Also, the Romans, like the Greeks, had a cultural concept of younger boys hooking up with older men in a sort of "patron-client" relationship.
-Antinous was born around 111 AD in Bithynia and was by all accounts and extremely beautiful young man.
-Around 124 AD he was enrolled in an imperial page program which trained young men to be couriers, valets, servants, etc.
-After serving Hadrian when the emperor was in Bithynia, Hadrian had Antinous move to his personal villa in Tibur in 125 AD. After this, wherever Hadrian went, Antinous was close by.
-Anyway, in 130 AD Hadrian went to Aegyptus to tour the province.
-On the way to Memphis, Hadrian stopped in the city of Hermopolis to check out a temple built by Ramses II.
-We still don't know exactly what happened, but during this time Antinous mysteriously died. There are a bunch of theories of course as to what went down- it was a swimming accident; he committed suicide; he was despairing over being stuck as Hadrian's sex slave; he was killed in a ritual sacrifice; etc.
-Anyway, regardless of what happened Hadrian seemed really sad so he founded a new cult to worship Antinous as a god, and Hadrian had a number of statues and monuments built in his honor throughout the empire.
-The cult spread quickly in the East; cities realized that an easy way to curry favor with Hadrian was to give money and influence to the cult.
-In fact, the cult became so popular in the East that its only competition (as far as mystery cults went) was a strange new cult that revolved around the teachings and worship of a mysterious man who had been named Jesus Christ.
-The Senate was outraged at Hadrian's actions regarding the deification of Antinous.
-Antinous had not been of imperial blood, he was just some boy lover of Hadrian's!
-Additionally, Hadrian had not sought the permission of the Senate to do this, which up to this point had always been the precedent.
-Hadrian then founded a new city in Aegyptus, Antinopolis (near modern-day Mallawi, Minya), in Antinous' honor, near the site where he had died. Hadrian then headed to Alexandria before returning to Greece.
-132 AD- Hadrian was in Athens when he received news of a new Jewish revolt in Judea.
-The revolt had not been spontaneous; it had most likely been in the works right after Hadrian left Judea.
-The Jews had constructed a series of cave tunnels and underground networks, and had also gotten the local blacksmiths to forge shitty weapons and armor for the local Roman garrisons.
-When this equipment was rejected by the local legions, the Jews would rework it into high-quality equipment for their own armies instead of throwing it out. Thus, the Roman troops were completely shocked when they realized how well-armed the Jewish rebels were.
-The revolt was led by a dude named Simon Bar Kokhba (most-likely born as Bar Koseva or Ben Koseva or something like that) who had been pronounced by at least one leading sage as "the Messiah" ("Bar Kokhba" means "Son of a Star" in Aramaic and is based off the same star prophecy found in Numbers 24 in the Old Testament).
-The local governor , Tineius Rufus, found his two legions quickly overwhelmed by the massive uprising, and immediately ordered for reinforcements to be sent in from Syria and Aegyptus.
-However, these reinforcements were not properly prepared for the Jewish style of guerrilla warfare, and the legion from Aegyptus was completely annihilated!
-With these victories, Simon Bar Kokhba declared Judea's independence from Rome!
-They even began issuing their own coins and laws and shit.
-Realizing the gravity of the situation, Hadrian summoned Sextus Julius Severus, the governor of Britannia and a genius general, to Judea to help lead the legions there in order to quell the rebellion. He soon arrived in Judea with reinforcements.
-Hadrian and Severus' plan was to use brute force and overwhelming numbers to bring down the rebellion.
-It was a brutal grind, but the rebellion was finally squashed by 135 AD. It took 12 legions and the destruction of approximately 50 cities and 1000 towns and villages to finally pacify the region.
-While the Romans suffered heavy casualties, it is estimated that approximately 600,000 Jews were killed during this time.
-Many scholars mark this as the true beginning of the Jewish diaspora.
-This example of the brutal nature of how Rome pacified rebellious regions is why Tacitus famously quoted a Briton chieftain who said "the Romans make a desert, and they call it 'peace'."
-Thus, because Judea had been so depopulated as a result of Jews either fleeing the province or being exterminated, Hadrian decided to repopulate the province with Greco-Romans.
-The Jews were thus banned from entering Aelia Capitolina (Jerusalem). Also banned was the practice of circumcision, the Hebrew calendar, and Jewish laws based on the Torah.
-Tons of sacred scrolls were burned at the Temple of Jupiter (previously the Second Temple), where Hadrian installed statues of both Jupiter AND himself.
-For many years after this, Jewish scholars would be routinely executed.
-The province was then combined with province of Syria and was renamed Syria Palestina.
-"Palestina" (Palestine) comes from the name for the ancient region of Philistia, the land of the Philistines, who were eventually conquered by the Israelites.
-The Bar Kokhba Revolt obviously had a huge effect on Jewish history, as this region would not be a center for Jewish life and culture for almost 2000 years!!
-Thus, Hadrian has been forever despised as one of the most hated people in Jewish history, with his name usually followed by "may his bones be crushed!"
Saturday, March 3, 2018
Hadrian's Walls
-117 AD- anyway, so Hadrian was now emperor of Rome.
-During this time there was starting to be cracks in the empire.
-Rebellion in Dacia (the Dacian Wars), northern Britannia, and Judea.
-The Second Judean-Roman War (AKA the Kitos War; 115-117 AD) was especially brutal.
-During the first Jewish-Roman War (AKA the Great Revolt; 66-73 AD) many Jews fled the kingdom because the Romans were killing and/or enslaving everyone.
-Many of these Jews fled into different parts of the Roman empire, but they refused to assimilate into these new societies they found themselves living in.
-The Jews came to be increasingly feared and marginalized in their societies.
-Because this situation, it finally reached a head in 117 AD when a dude named Lukuas (AKA Andreas) started a rebellion in the province of Crete and Cyrenaica in 115 AD by proclaiming himself "King of the Jews" and declaring war on the Roman Empire.
-During his rebellion he led his followers to destroy many Roman temples and government buildings, and executed all of the non-Jews they could find. His revolt then spread to Aegyptus, Cyprus, and Mesopotamia.
-Additionally, part of Alexandria in Aegyptus was burned to the ground.
-In Cyprus, up to 200,000 non-Jews were slaughtered.
-During this time Trajan was emperor; he ended up dispatching the Praetorian prefect Marcius Turbo to quell the rebellion, and while this was relatively easy in Cyprus, it wasn't until after Trajan died that he was able to finally get Aegyptus under control.
-Lukuas then fled to the city of Lod (AKA "Lydda" in Greek) in Judea, where he and his rebels were besieged by a Roman army led by Lucius Quietus (governor of Judea), who was ultimately successful in finally quelling the rebellion and executing Lukuas and his rebel army.
-After this, Quietus was actually dismissed as prefect because Hadrian thought he was getting too powerful.
-Because the situation was getting so out of control in the East, Hadrian decided to double down in provinces like Judea and give up on trying to hold Mesopotamia, which he saw as a waste of resources when the other neighboring provinces were so unstable.
-As for Cyrenaica, the province was so depopulated that Hadrian had to set up a recolonization project later, and Jewish immigrants were also permanently banned from Cyprus.
-Because of his decision to withdraw Roman forces from the provinces of Mesopotamia, Hadrian also allowed for Parthamaspates, the puppet ruler (who had been installed by Trajan) of Parthia, to be driven off by Sanatruces II, who was then enthroned as the rightful king of Parthia around 117 AD.
-During this time Hadrian also recalled the legions in Germania back over to the Roman side of the Danube River.
-All of these withdrawals really pissed off the Senate, and it could be argued that there was a religious aspect to this outrage as well- the Romans worshiped Terminus, the god of boundaries, and believed in the sacredness of boundary markers.
-So, to intentionally abandon these boundary markers may have been seen as disgraceful to the gods.
-118 AD- Hadrian had four ex-consuls killed (allegedly).
-These ex-consuls were: Cornelius Palma (former governor of Syria); Publius Celsus (former member of Trajan's inner circle who was kicked out on suspicion of treason); Lucius Quietus; Avidius Nigrinus (governor of Dacia).
-It is believed that this was based on intelligence provided by the prefect Attianus, who claimed that these ex-consuls were conspiring to murder Hadrian and stage a coup.
-They were executed without a trial and their deaths shocked the elites. To make matters worse, either Hadrian or Attianus had forced the Senate to sign off on these executions/murders, making them accomplices.
-Everyone began to fear that Hadrian was turning into another Domitian; no one believed in these trumped-up charges. Hadrian was now scorned in Rome by his fellow elites.
-Anyway, Hadrian knew that everyone now hated him and that this put him at risk of fomenting a legit conspiracy against him, so he began to make a serious effort to try and salvage his reputation.
-He claimed that he had nothing to do with the murders and blamed everything on Attianus, and had Attianus removed as prefect.
-He also encouraged everyone to come visit him in person in the palace and began to make himself as visible as possible in public.
-Hadrian also implemented some financial reforms, such as fines, monetary penalties, etc.
-Any money going to the government now went directly into the imperial treasury (and not into imperial or senatorial accounts). He also cancelled all debts involving loans taken out in the past 15 years. He even went so far as to have all the records publicly burned! Of course, the people loved him for this.
-However, despite Hadrian's reforms and cleaned-up image, he never truly won over the Senate, but they still did manage to trust him to an extent.
-Hadrian also kicked off his reign with a ton of games- gladiatorial matches, chariot races, wild animal-hunting spectacles, etc.
-Hadrian also traveled more than any other emperor had or would in the history of the empire.
-Spent roughly half his reign traveling. He also spent a lot of time in his private villa outside Rome, and this trend would continue as future emperors would eventually tend to spend less and less time in the city of Rome itself.
-121 AD- Hadrian's first grand tour of the western half of the empire.
-The legions in Germania had kind of fallen by the wayside in terms of of attention since most of the action was taking place in the East, so Hadrian wanted to to shift some of the focus back onto these legions. He also wanted to make additional updates to the Limes Germanicus. However, it's important to note that Hadrian's priority was defense; he wasn't interested in expanding across the Rhine.
-Often walked alongside the legions and hung out with them; he was NEVER carried in a litter. He also often wore simple clothes and stayed in spartan lodgings.
-This really boosted troop morale.
-122 AD- Hadrian visits Britannia.
-There had been a bunch of uprisings and revolts after Trajan died in 117 AD, so Hadrian's solution was to build a giant-ass 70-mile wall in the north. However, the purpose of the wall was not meant to "wall off" the barbarians from Roman territory, but rather to cut in half the territory of the Brigantes (Celtic tribe of northern Britannia).
-This allowed for the Romans to manage the territory much more easily and establish influence among the locals as towns would inevitably spring up around the garrisons.
-122-123 AD- Hadrian went to Gaul and Iberia and chilled there for awhile.
-Spring 123 AD- went south to the provinces of Mauretania Tingitana and Mauretania Caesariensis.
-There had been a rebellion by some of the local Mauri (the Roman word for the Berbers of the province of Mauretania) and Hadrian set up a network of forts and ditches ("limes") to fortify the provinces.
-Hadrian then went east to the city of Cyrene in the province of Crete and Cyrenaica (and then maybe went to Alexandria, but this is unclear). Also, the city of Cyrene had recently been pretty fucked up by the Jewish revolts, so while he was there Hadrian pledged to rebuild the city.
-Summer 123 AD- Hadrian arrives in the city of Antioch (modern-day Antakya, Turkey) in Syria. He was there because he wanted to meet with Osroes I (current king of Parthia), as the Parthians were once again becoming increasingly belligerent.
-Through diplomacy they were able to work out a deal- the Euphrates River would serve as the border between Parthia and Rome.
-Hadrian then toured through the rest of Asia Minor.
-During this time in Asia Minor, during his stop in the city of Claudiopulus (modern-day Bolu, Turkey) in the province of Bithynia and Pontus, Hadrian apparently met a beautiful male youth named Antinous (when and where they met exactly is still unknown, however) who would quickly become his lover and would travel with Hadrian and shit during his travels.
-Hadrian's travels and stops at every major city were a big deal because no emperor had ever really done that before. Additionally, pretty much every city he stopped at was improved soon after he left.
-Sometime between 123-124 AD, Hadrian went to Athens.
-He had really wanted to get there in time in order to participate in the Eleusinian Mysteries, a mystical initiation rite into the Greek cult of Demeter and Persephone based out of the city of Eleusis (approximately 10 miles NW of Athens).
-Highly possible that these rites involved psychedelic drugs (including possibly ergot, shrooms, opioids, or even DMT!).
-Augustus himself had even participated back in the day.
-During his time in Athens, Hadrian had made plans to transform the city into a cultural powerhouse once again, as he really loved Greek culture and hated to see that it had kind of become a backwater.
-While the Athenians appreciated Hadrian's good will, they were also annoyed at the idea of Rome "making Athens great again".
-125 AD- Hadrian had been out of Rome for four years at this point, so he knew it was time to return home (even though he probably just wanted to stay in Athens forever).
-However, in order to still enjoy Greek culture back home, Hadrian ordered the construction of the Villa Adriana ("Hadrian's Villa" in English) outside of the town of Tibur (modern-day Tivoli, Italy), located approximately 20 miles outside of Rome, which he styled to his liking.
-After passing through Sicily, Hadrian finally arrived in Rome.
-There, he surveyed a bunch of the construction that he had ordered to be built or remodeled, including the newly-renovated Pantheon!
-During this time there was starting to be cracks in the empire.
-Rebellion in Dacia (the Dacian Wars), northern Britannia, and Judea.
-The Second Judean-Roman War (AKA the Kitos War; 115-117 AD) was especially brutal.
-During the first Jewish-Roman War (AKA the Great Revolt; 66-73 AD) many Jews fled the kingdom because the Romans were killing and/or enslaving everyone.
-Many of these Jews fled into different parts of the Roman empire, but they refused to assimilate into these new societies they found themselves living in.
-The Jews came to be increasingly feared and marginalized in their societies.
-Because this situation, it finally reached a head in 117 AD when a dude named Lukuas (AKA Andreas) started a rebellion in the province of Crete and Cyrenaica in 115 AD by proclaiming himself "King of the Jews" and declaring war on the Roman Empire.
-During his rebellion he led his followers to destroy many Roman temples and government buildings, and executed all of the non-Jews they could find. His revolt then spread to Aegyptus, Cyprus, and Mesopotamia.
-Additionally, part of Alexandria in Aegyptus was burned to the ground.
-In Cyprus, up to 200,000 non-Jews were slaughtered.
-During this time Trajan was emperor; he ended up dispatching the Praetorian prefect Marcius Turbo to quell the rebellion, and while this was relatively easy in Cyprus, it wasn't until after Trajan died that he was able to finally get Aegyptus under control.
-Lukuas then fled to the city of Lod (AKA "Lydda" in Greek) in Judea, where he and his rebels were besieged by a Roman army led by Lucius Quietus (governor of Judea), who was ultimately successful in finally quelling the rebellion and executing Lukuas and his rebel army.
-After this, Quietus was actually dismissed as prefect because Hadrian thought he was getting too powerful.
-Because the situation was getting so out of control in the East, Hadrian decided to double down in provinces like Judea and give up on trying to hold Mesopotamia, which he saw as a waste of resources when the other neighboring provinces were so unstable.
-As for Cyrenaica, the province was so depopulated that Hadrian had to set up a recolonization project later, and Jewish immigrants were also permanently banned from Cyprus.
-Because of his decision to withdraw Roman forces from the provinces of Mesopotamia, Hadrian also allowed for Parthamaspates, the puppet ruler (who had been installed by Trajan) of Parthia, to be driven off by Sanatruces II, who was then enthroned as the rightful king of Parthia around 117 AD.
-During this time Hadrian also recalled the legions in Germania back over to the Roman side of the Danube River.
-All of these withdrawals really pissed off the Senate, and it could be argued that there was a religious aspect to this outrage as well- the Romans worshiped Terminus, the god of boundaries, and believed in the sacredness of boundary markers.
-So, to intentionally abandon these boundary markers may have been seen as disgraceful to the gods.
-118 AD- Hadrian had four ex-consuls killed (allegedly).
-These ex-consuls were: Cornelius Palma (former governor of Syria); Publius Celsus (former member of Trajan's inner circle who was kicked out on suspicion of treason); Lucius Quietus; Avidius Nigrinus (governor of Dacia).
-It is believed that this was based on intelligence provided by the prefect Attianus, who claimed that these ex-consuls were conspiring to murder Hadrian and stage a coup.
-They were executed without a trial and their deaths shocked the elites. To make matters worse, either Hadrian or Attianus had forced the Senate to sign off on these executions/murders, making them accomplices.
-Everyone began to fear that Hadrian was turning into another Domitian; no one believed in these trumped-up charges. Hadrian was now scorned in Rome by his fellow elites.
-Anyway, Hadrian knew that everyone now hated him and that this put him at risk of fomenting a legit conspiracy against him, so he began to make a serious effort to try and salvage his reputation.
-He claimed that he had nothing to do with the murders and blamed everything on Attianus, and had Attianus removed as prefect.
-He also encouraged everyone to come visit him in person in the palace and began to make himself as visible as possible in public.
-Hadrian also implemented some financial reforms, such as fines, monetary penalties, etc.
-Any money going to the government now went directly into the imperial treasury (and not into imperial or senatorial accounts). He also cancelled all debts involving loans taken out in the past 15 years. He even went so far as to have all the records publicly burned! Of course, the people loved him for this.
-However, despite Hadrian's reforms and cleaned-up image, he never truly won over the Senate, but they still did manage to trust him to an extent.
-Hadrian also kicked off his reign with a ton of games- gladiatorial matches, chariot races, wild animal-hunting spectacles, etc.
-Hadrian also traveled more than any other emperor had or would in the history of the empire.
-Spent roughly half his reign traveling. He also spent a lot of time in his private villa outside Rome, and this trend would continue as future emperors would eventually tend to spend less and less time in the city of Rome itself.
-121 AD- Hadrian's first grand tour of the western half of the empire.
-The legions in Germania had kind of fallen by the wayside in terms of of attention since most of the action was taking place in the East, so Hadrian wanted to to shift some of the focus back onto these legions. He also wanted to make additional updates to the Limes Germanicus. However, it's important to note that Hadrian's priority was defense; he wasn't interested in expanding across the Rhine.
-Often walked alongside the legions and hung out with them; he was NEVER carried in a litter. He also often wore simple clothes and stayed in spartan lodgings.
-This really boosted troop morale.
-122 AD- Hadrian visits Britannia.
-There had been a bunch of uprisings and revolts after Trajan died in 117 AD, so Hadrian's solution was to build a giant-ass 70-mile wall in the north. However, the purpose of the wall was not meant to "wall off" the barbarians from Roman territory, but rather to cut in half the territory of the Brigantes (Celtic tribe of northern Britannia).
-This allowed for the Romans to manage the territory much more easily and establish influence among the locals as towns would inevitably spring up around the garrisons.
-122-123 AD- Hadrian went to Gaul and Iberia and chilled there for awhile.
-Spring 123 AD- went south to the provinces of Mauretania Tingitana and Mauretania Caesariensis.
-There had been a rebellion by some of the local Mauri (the Roman word for the Berbers of the province of Mauretania) and Hadrian set up a network of forts and ditches ("limes") to fortify the provinces.
-Hadrian then went east to the city of Cyrene in the province of Crete and Cyrenaica (and then maybe went to Alexandria, but this is unclear). Also, the city of Cyrene had recently been pretty fucked up by the Jewish revolts, so while he was there Hadrian pledged to rebuild the city.
-Summer 123 AD- Hadrian arrives in the city of Antioch (modern-day Antakya, Turkey) in Syria. He was there because he wanted to meet with Osroes I (current king of Parthia), as the Parthians were once again becoming increasingly belligerent.
-Through diplomacy they were able to work out a deal- the Euphrates River would serve as the border between Parthia and Rome.
-Hadrian then toured through the rest of Asia Minor.
-During this time in Asia Minor, during his stop in the city of Claudiopulus (modern-day Bolu, Turkey) in the province of Bithynia and Pontus, Hadrian apparently met a beautiful male youth named Antinous (when and where they met exactly is still unknown, however) who would quickly become his lover and would travel with Hadrian and shit during his travels.
-Hadrian's travels and stops at every major city were a big deal because no emperor had ever really done that before. Additionally, pretty much every city he stopped at was improved soon after he left.
-Sometime between 123-124 AD, Hadrian went to Athens.
-He had really wanted to get there in time in order to participate in the Eleusinian Mysteries, a mystical initiation rite into the Greek cult of Demeter and Persephone based out of the city of Eleusis (approximately 10 miles NW of Athens).
-Highly possible that these rites involved psychedelic drugs (including possibly ergot, shrooms, opioids, or even DMT!).
-Augustus himself had even participated back in the day.
-During his time in Athens, Hadrian had made plans to transform the city into a cultural powerhouse once again, as he really loved Greek culture and hated to see that it had kind of become a backwater.
-While the Athenians appreciated Hadrian's good will, they were also annoyed at the idea of Rome "making Athens great again".
-125 AD- Hadrian had been out of Rome for four years at this point, so he knew it was time to return home (even though he probably just wanted to stay in Athens forever).
-However, in order to still enjoy Greek culture back home, Hadrian ordered the construction of the Villa Adriana ("Hadrian's Villa" in English) outside of the town of Tibur (modern-day Tivoli, Italy), located approximately 20 miles outside of Rome, which he styled to his liking.
-After passing through Sicily, Hadrian finally arrived in Rome.
-There, he surveyed a bunch of the construction that he had ordered to be built or remodeled, including the newly-renovated Pantheon!
Friday, January 19, 2018
The Greekling
-117 AD- Trajan's dead, so there was much anxiety about who would be his heir.
-While Trajan's wife, Pompeia Plotina, had supported a dude named Publius Aelius Hadrianus (Trajan's only living male relative), but Trajan had always been uncertain as to if this was a good choice.
-The rumor is that when Trajan died, Plotina somehow manipulated the situation so that Hadrian was named heir.
-Why would Plotina do this?
-First, by having Hadrian be named emperor, Plotina would be able to retain her power.
-Also provided a seamless tradition of power and hopefully would prevent a civil war.
-Hadrian was also a good choice. He wasn't too old or too young (he was 41 at this time), had lots of military and administrative experience (as governor of Pannonia Inferior). Additionally, he was a legitimate relative of Trajan!
-Hadrian was born in 76 AD possibly in either Italica, Hispania Baetica (outside of modern-day Seville, Andalusia) or Rome; the exact details of his birth and lineage are unclear.
-Family were elite Romans who had lived in Italica for a long time; father was a senator (and later praetor) but he died when Hadrian was 10.
-Thus, Hadrian came under the care of Trajan, his relative and a rising star in Roman politics at this time.
-Also came under the care of another dude, Publius Acilius Attianus, another powerful Roman aristocrat and official from Hispania.
-Growing up, Hadrian was well-educated, taking an especially strong interest in everything Greek. In fact, he liked Greek shit so much that he acquired the nickname "Graeculus" ("the Greekling"). This would also have a huge influence on his reign as emperor, too.
-Moved to Rome with Trajan when he was 14. At this time, Trajan was serving as consul under Domitian.
-Thanks to Trajan, Hadrian eventually landed three successive military tribuneships, beginning in Moesia, then Pannonia, and finally Germania Superior.
-He was a very charismatic officer and competent leader.
-Although he is now seen as a pacifist emperor, he actually loved the military and military culture, and because of this the military loved him.
-Was serving as tribune in Germania Superior when Trajan was enthroned as emperor.
-While Hadrian was possibly an obvious choice for heir, Trajan was skeptical of his worthiness.
-It's also possible that Hadrian had benefited from Trajan's power only because Pompeia liked him, and not Trajan himself.
-Hadrian was also mocked by senators in Rome due to his foreign accent and "barbarian" manners and shit.
-Hadrian eventually married Trajan's niece's daughter, Vibia Sabina, in 100 AD.
-While this was a solid political marriage, it was most certainly not a romantic one. Hadrian and Sabina didn't get along at all, and it also didn't help that Hadrian was gay.
-Anyway, Hadrian continued to serve under Trajan, accompanying him on both Dacian Wars, but it's unclear as to what exactly Hadrian was doing there.
-Was given a praetorship in 106 AD and command over a legion in Germania.
-Was given a praetorship in 107 AD and command over a legion in Pannonia.
-Made suffect consul in 108 AD, but this was considered to be kind of rude (and further evidence that Trajan didn't really like Hadrian).
-Hadrian's generally upward movement in society was good for him, but it was just kind of weird because Trajan was ambiguous about what the point of all of it was. It's also unclear as to what Hadrian made of it, too.
-After finishing his consulship, Hadrian disappeared off the historical record for a few years before popping up again with his arrival in Athens in 112 AD.
-Hadrian got so immersed in Athenian life and culture during this time that he eventually was given Athenian citizenship! He even went on to serve as eponymous archon (chief magistrate) of the city!
-Left Athens in 114 AD to join Trajan and serve in his entourage during Trajan's Parthian campaign.
-117 AD- Hadrian was appointed governor of Syria.
-This was actually a legitimately powerful position, and demonstrated that Trajan was finally starting to take Hadrian seriously.
-When Hadrian found out that Trajan had (allegedly) named him as heir, he announced the news to his legions and there was much rejoicing.
-Thus, the Senate acquiesced and confirmed Hadrian as the new emperor.
-Anyway, now that Hadrian was emperor, he knew that he couldn't yet rest on his laurels (so to speak), as he knew that there were powerful political enemies who would test the limits of his power, so he had to act fast!
-While Trajan's wife, Pompeia Plotina, had supported a dude named Publius Aelius Hadrianus (Trajan's only living male relative), but Trajan had always been uncertain as to if this was a good choice.
-The rumor is that when Trajan died, Plotina somehow manipulated the situation so that Hadrian was named heir.
-Why would Plotina do this?
-First, by having Hadrian be named emperor, Plotina would be able to retain her power.
-Also provided a seamless tradition of power and hopefully would prevent a civil war.
-Hadrian was also a good choice. He wasn't too old or too young (he was 41 at this time), had lots of military and administrative experience (as governor of Pannonia Inferior). Additionally, he was a legitimate relative of Trajan!
-Hadrian was born in 76 AD possibly in either Italica, Hispania Baetica (outside of modern-day Seville, Andalusia) or Rome; the exact details of his birth and lineage are unclear.
-Family were elite Romans who had lived in Italica for a long time; father was a senator (and later praetor) but he died when Hadrian was 10.
-Thus, Hadrian came under the care of Trajan, his relative and a rising star in Roman politics at this time.
-Also came under the care of another dude, Publius Acilius Attianus, another powerful Roman aristocrat and official from Hispania.
-Growing up, Hadrian was well-educated, taking an especially strong interest in everything Greek. In fact, he liked Greek shit so much that he acquired the nickname "Graeculus" ("the Greekling"). This would also have a huge influence on his reign as emperor, too.
-Moved to Rome with Trajan when he was 14. At this time, Trajan was serving as consul under Domitian.
-Thanks to Trajan, Hadrian eventually landed three successive military tribuneships, beginning in Moesia, then Pannonia, and finally Germania Superior.
-He was a very charismatic officer and competent leader.
-Although he is now seen as a pacifist emperor, he actually loved the military and military culture, and because of this the military loved him.
-Was serving as tribune in Germania Superior when Trajan was enthroned as emperor.
-While Hadrian was possibly an obvious choice for heir, Trajan was skeptical of his worthiness.
-It's also possible that Hadrian had benefited from Trajan's power only because Pompeia liked him, and not Trajan himself.
-Hadrian was also mocked by senators in Rome due to his foreign accent and "barbarian" manners and shit.
-Hadrian eventually married Trajan's niece's daughter, Vibia Sabina, in 100 AD.
-While this was a solid political marriage, it was most certainly not a romantic one. Hadrian and Sabina didn't get along at all, and it also didn't help that Hadrian was gay.
-Anyway, Hadrian continued to serve under Trajan, accompanying him on both Dacian Wars, but it's unclear as to what exactly Hadrian was doing there.
-Was given a praetorship in 106 AD and command over a legion in Germania.
-Was given a praetorship in 107 AD and command over a legion in Pannonia.
-Made suffect consul in 108 AD, but this was considered to be kind of rude (and further evidence that Trajan didn't really like Hadrian).
-Hadrian's generally upward movement in society was good for him, but it was just kind of weird because Trajan was ambiguous about what the point of all of it was. It's also unclear as to what Hadrian made of it, too.
-After finishing his consulship, Hadrian disappeared off the historical record for a few years before popping up again with his arrival in Athens in 112 AD.
-Hadrian got so immersed in Athenian life and culture during this time that he eventually was given Athenian citizenship! He even went on to serve as eponymous archon (chief magistrate) of the city!
-Left Athens in 114 AD to join Trajan and serve in his entourage during Trajan's Parthian campaign.
-117 AD- Hadrian was appointed governor of Syria.
-This was actually a legitimately powerful position, and demonstrated that Trajan was finally starting to take Hadrian seriously.
-When Hadrian found out that Trajan had (allegedly) named him as heir, he announced the news to his legions and there was much rejoicing.
-Thus, the Senate acquiesced and confirmed Hadrian as the new emperor.
-Anyway, now that Hadrian was emperor, he knew that he couldn't yet rest on his laurels (so to speak), as he knew that there were powerful political enemies who would test the limits of his power, so he had to act fast!
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