The Roman emperor Aelius Hadrianus was a man of Italian origin, but Greek in culture who had a burning passion for knowledge and unquenchable thirst for travel. Hadrian was never the same, for his nature possessed many sides: a singer and musician, a physician, a geometrician, a painter, a sculptor all encompassed in a single emperor. Historian Ferdinand Gregorovius writes that an ancient Roman historian described Hadrian’s nature was so unique in that “A bel esprit of so brilliant a character has not often been seen among men.” Indeed, Hadrian was blessed with a gifted mind and a curious spirit for knowledge, seeking to know everything that there was to possibly know. His vast wisdom pervaded his role as ruler, and under his wise policies …show more content…
at Italica in Spain where his ancestors had migrated from Hadria. From there the Roman Empire would recognize two rulers: Hadrian and Trajan who had ruled before him. At a young age, Hadrian’s father passed and he became a ward of a Trajan, who was an ex-praetor at the time in Rome. Therefore, the guardianship gave a young Hadrian the opportunity to form a close connection and to learn from the future emperor. Young Hadrian’s greatest passion was the sport of hunting in which few compared to his skill. Although mostly consumed during his youth by the pleasures of hunting, Hadrian did not neglect his desires for knowledge. There was no better place for Hadrian to be then in Rome, the sphere of learning. In Rome, Hadrian indulged his mind studying among poets and intellectuals and painting or carving in studios. According to Gregorovius, Hadrian’s mastery grew to encompass all so that, “With no branch of knowledge did he remain unacquainted.” Hadrian was particularly interested in in the studies and culture of the Greeks. Hadrian was so deeply invested in learning about ancient Greece that Gregorovius states …show more content…
Unorthodox to the Roman emperors past, Hadrian renounced roman possession of provinces past the Euphrates rather than pursuing a policy of expansion by conquest. Hadrian instead had a policy of peace in mind for the Roman Empire for “there was no desire in Hadrian’s nature for imperial greatness.” Hadrian’s resolution to abandon the conquests of his predecessors was a dangerously bold decision that bore the great risk of affronting the highly militarized state of aristocrats. It was their opinion the empire could only maintain power and its supremacy in this world through conquest and expansion. However, it was his that distant, and often tenable, countries were far easier to acquire than they were to effectively control. Had Hadrian carried on the boundless extensions of those before him, he would have relinquished his reign to endless and expensive wars. Hadrian resolved to keep only one province from Trajan’s conquest and relieve the rest of Roman legions, thus tactfully earned acknowledgement of his power by several of those