Hadrian – the rise to power
Publius Aelius Hadrianus (AD 76 – 138), or
Hadrian as we know him, inherited control of the Roman Empire
in AD 117. He was 41 and had been named as the successor to the
previous emperor, Trajan who had been his guardian.
The families of both men were from Italica in
Roman Spain. This city had been founded in 209 BC by the Roman
general Scipio A
fricanus as a settlement for wounded or retired
Roman soldiers. Hadrian’s and Trajan’s ancestors were probably
among them.
In Hadrian’s time, much of the olive oil
supplied to the city of Rome came from this part of Spain. It was a
key commodity in the Roman world and the empire could not function
without it. The landowning elites of this region grew rich from the
export of oil and other produ
ce. With this great
wealth came political influence in Rome itself, and these families
had formed a close-knit, new elite. Hadrian’s family was part of
this new elite.
When Hadrian was nine years old, in AD 85, his father died and
Trajan, his father’s cousin, became one Hadrian’s guardians.
Hadrian’s life was transformed when Trajan became emperor in AD 98.
He married Trajan’s great-niece Sabina in AD 100 and became even
more closely linked to the emperor’s family.
More information about the objects featured here (from
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