The Probert Encyclopaedia of People

HADRIAN

Hadrian (real name Publius Aelius Hadrianus) was the fourteenth in the series of Roman emperors. He was born in 76 at Rome and died in 138. His father, who was cousin to the emperor Trajan, died when he was ten years old, and left him under the charge of his illustrious kinsman. He married Sabina, Trajan's grand-niece, accompanied the emperor on his expeditions, filled the highest offices of state, and, on the death of Trajan, assumed the government as his adopted son in 117. He made peace with the Parthians, renouncing all conquests east of the Euphrates, and bought off a war with the Roxolani by payment of a sum of money.

From the year 121 he spent most of his time in visiting the various provinces of the empire. Hadrian's policy was a peaceful one, because he saw that the further extension of the empire only weakened it. Although avoiding war as much as he could, he kept the armies in excellent condition, fortified the frontiers in Germany, and, crossing over into Britain, constructed the wall known as Hadrian's Wall (or that of Severus), which protected the Roman province from the barbarous tribes of the north. He next travelled into Asia and Africa, and lived in Athens for three years. In 131 he promulgated the Edictum Perpetuum, a fixed code of laws, which forms an important epoch in the development of Roman law. In 132 the Jews revolted, and for four years carried on a bloody war, the only notable one of his long reign.
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