Hadrian and the Triumph of Rome

Hadrian and the Triumph of Rome

<b>€œA fascinating insight into the mind of the Roman emperor.€€"<i>Sunday Telegraph </i>(London)</b><br><br>Born in A.D. 76, Hadrian lived through and ruled during a tempestuous era, a time when the Colosseum was opened to the public and Pompeii was buried under a mountain of lava and ash. Acclaimed author Anthony Everitt vividly recounts Hadrian€s thrilling life, in which the emperor brings a century of disorder and costly warfare to a peaceful conclusion while demonstrating how a monarchy can be compatible with good governance. <br><br>What distinguished Hadrian€s rule, according to Everitt, were two insights that inevitably ensured the empire€s long and prosperous future: He ended Rome€s territorial expansion, which had become strategically and economically untenable, by fortifying her boundaries (the many famed Walls of Hadrian), and he effectively €œHellenized€ Rome by anointing Athens the empire€s cultural center, thereby making Greek learning and art vastly more prominent in Roman life.<br><br>By making splendid use of recently discovered archaeological materials and his own exhaustive research, Everitt sheds new light on one of the most important figures of the ancient world.