Birley Anthony R. Hadrian, the Restless Emperor

Taylor and Francis, 2005. — 415 p. — (Roman imperial biographies).Hadrian's reign (AD 117-138) was a watershed in the history of the Roman Empire. Hadrian abandoned his predecessor Trajan's eastern conquests - Mesopotamia and Armenia - trimmed down the lands beyond the lower Danube, and constructed new demarcation lines in Germany, North Africa, and most famously Hadrian's Wall in Britain, to delimit the empire. The emperor Hadrian, a strange and baffling figure to his contemporaries, had a many-sided personality. Insatiably ambitious, and a passionate Philhellene, he promoted the 'Greek Renaissance' extravagantly. But his attempt to Hellenize the Jews, i.;Cover; Title Page; Copyright Page; Dedication; Table of Contents; List of plates; List of maps; Preface; Note; Acknowledgements; Introduction: The Emperor Hadrian; 1. A Childhood in Flavian Rome; 2. The Old dominion; 3. Military tribune; 4. Principatus et libertas; 5. The young general; 6. Archon at Athens; 7. The Parthian war; 8. The new ruler; 9. Return to Rome; 10. To the German frontier; 11. Hadrian's Wall; 12. A New Augustus; 13. Return to the east; 14. A summer in Asia; 15. A year in Greece; 16. Pater patriae; 17. Africa; 18. Hadrianus Olympius; 19. Death in the Nile.