Hadrian: Empire and Conflict

This beautiful and informative book is written by Thorsten Opper, who works for the British Museum. It is lavishly illustrated. It gives a thorough treatment of several important topics concerning Hadrian and his role as emperor.

Opper is (in most cases) a careful author, regarding the general view and the detail. However, I must make a small reservation. Even if this book is written by a specialist, and even if it is published by one of the biggest and most famous museums in the world, there are mistakes here, in most cases silly mistakes which the author (or the publisher) easily could have avoided by checking the text just one more time. Here are some examples:

** The notes and the bibliography do not match each other completely: note 12 on page 237 (left column) refers to "Højte (2005)." But this author is not listed in the bibliography. Who is this person? It is the Danish archaeologist Jakob Munk Højte, whose book Roman Imperial Statue Bases was published in 2005.

** Note 31 on page 242 refers to "Spyropoulos (2006)." But this author is not listed in the bibliography either. Who is this person? It is the Greek archaeologist Giorgios Spyropoulos, whose full name is given in Opper's preface (page 11).

** In connection with the notes, I have to correct a small mistake: note 9 on page 236 claims Constantine the Great transferred the capital from Rome to Byzantium in AD 324. The correct date is AD 330. Constantine announced his plans for a new city in AD 324, but the new city was not dedicated until AD 330. Apparently, Opper got the two events mixed up.

In the text there are factual errors. Opper claims:

(1) Nerva died in AD 97 (page 44). The correct date is AD 98. We find it on page 12 and again (indirectly) on page 211.

(2) The Jewish uprising in North Africa began in AD 116 (page 65). The correct date is AD 115. We find it on page 129.

(3) The Roman conquest of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Jewish temple took place in AD 71 (page 90). The correct date is AD 70.

(4) Hadrian's Villa (near Tivoli ca. 30 km east of Rome) covers some 40 km (page 138). But 40 km is a distance, not an area. He wants to say 40 square km (or 40 hectares). The correct formulation appears on page 132.

In addition, I have to mention one small point concerning the section about the Jewish uprising in Judaea (AD 132-135). In this section (pages 89-93) Opper mentions four Roman officers who played an important part in this conflict, but he does not mention Quintus Lollius Urbicus who also played an important role in this conflict.

Quintus Lollius Urbicus was born in the ancient town Castellum Tidditanorum (today Tiddis) in present-day Algeria, and he had a spectacular career. After the Jewish uprising he was governor of Germania Inferior (135-138) and governor of Britannia (138-144). He travelled all over the empire, but he returned to his home town to die. The family mausoleum can still be seen today, four km north of the ancient town.

Why is he not mentioned?

Having said something negative, I would like to add something positive. It is not difficult at all. I will mention three cases which show how Opper, in a very professional way, uses different types of archaeological material to support his account.

* The first case is Monte Testaccio, a man-made mountain of amphora sherds in Rome, which makes a direct connection between the Roman capital and Baetica in south-western Spain, where Hadrian's family (Aelius) came from (pages 36-41).

* The second case is a statue discovered in 1861 in the Temple of Apollo in Cyrene in present-day Libya, which is now in the British Museum. It shows Hadrian dressed as a Greek, but a recent examination of the statue proved that the statue is a hoax: the Roman head does not fit the Greek body (pages 66-72).

* The third case is the decorations of Hadrian's Villa. Examinating floors and walls in different buildings, archaeologists have identified three levels: The top level was for the emperor and his family, the middle level was for high-ranking personnel and distinguished guests, while the low level was for the servants - mostly slaves (pages 144-148).

These (and many other) cases demonstrate that Opper is careful with regard to argumentation and documentation. That is exactly why it is so sad and so puzzling that his book should contain the silly mistakes mentioned earlier.

Text and illustrations support and complement each other perfectly. The text is well-written. It is based on archaeological material, ancient written sources and modern research in the field. The illustrations are absolutely fabulous: high quality pictures in a large format (23 x 28.5 cm).

There are many different perceptions of Hadrian, in part because he wears many different hats. We have the private person and the builder, as well as the military commander and the emperor. But each of these four characters acts in different ways, which is the basis for the different perceptions of this person.

In his preface, Opper explains that his own view of Hadrian changed a good deal while he was working on the book. The last five lines of his preface may provide a fitting conclusion to my review of his book:

“My own picture of Hadrian has changed a great deal during the past few months: while he was certainly a much darker character than commonly thought and only too human, one cannot but admire the incredible stamina and foresight with which he organised the Roman empire and helped to shape the world we live in today.”

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Thorsten Opper,

Hadrian: Empire and Conflict,

British Museum Press, London, 2008, 256 pages

 

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