-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.
Monday, March 5, 2018
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!
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