Cogent Classics

Introduction

In my previous post, P. Carisius: A celebration of Roman conquest, I discussed how the Emperor Augustus used the fact that his adoptive father Julius Caesar had been deified after death to help legitimise his rule. I had several questions regarding this, and thought it would be useful to discuss this phenomenon further, using the emperor Hadrian as an example.

The basic principle was that an emperor could be deified after death by order of the senate. This would only be done if he had been considered a ‘good’ emperor, and could be used by the next emperor – either a family member or other successor – to legitimise their rule by virtue of the fact that their father was a god. Elaborate funeral rites would be carried out, with the release of an eagle representing the ascension of the spirit of the deceased from the funeral pyre – termed ‘apotheosis’. The deified emperor would be worshipped in perpetuity alongside the other Roman deities throughout the empire, giving rise to the phenomenon known as imperial cult. Other members of the imperial family, including women, could be granted this honour. It is important to note that an identification by an emperor of him being a living god was not tolerated, such as the reaction to Domitian’s demand to be referred to as god (Suetonius, Domitian 13). This contributed to Domitian being considered a ‘bad’ emperor. This is in stark contrast to Egyptian culture, where the Pharaoh was regarded as a divine being, and was the mediator between gods and humans (Collins, 2014: 841).

Hadrian’s Story

Hadrian (76-138 CE) had been the ward of the Emperor Trajan after his father’s death in 85 CE. He followed the typical trajectory of an elite Roman male by carrying out military service in the First Dacian War, as well as working his way through the cursus honorum, becoming consul in 108 CE. He later became Trajan’s speech-writer and attained the position of governor of Syria in 117 CE. When Trajan died suddenly in 117 CE, his wife (the aptly named Plotina) announced a posthumous adoption of Hadrian which is thought to have been staged. However, Hadrian’s position was strong due to his military and administrative credentials, and in addition he had married Trajan’s great niece Sabina in 100 CE, a match arranged by his devoted supporter Plotina (Cassius Dio, Roman History 69.1; Hornblower and Spawforth, 1998).

Hadrian had rivals but was popular with the army and therefore tolerated by the senate, despite having had some opponents executed early in his rule. After this inauspicious start, Hadrian attempted to make reparations by cancelling taxes, subsidising bankrupt senators and funding lavish gladiatorial games. Hadrian travelled extensively throughout the empire and was a particular admirer of Greek culture. However, he maintained his presence in Rome by funding a great many architectural innovations. Hadrian rejected the expansionist aims of previous emperors, which included a withdrawal from the recently acquired provinces of Mesopotamia, Armenia and Syria, and the order to build Hadrian’s Wall in Britain. However, he ensured that his army was well trained and disciplined in order to tackle the inevitable episodes of unrest throughout the empire (Hornblower and Spawforth, 1998). According to Scriptores Historiae Augustae (SHA), Hadrian’s marriage to Sabina was not a happy one, and the fact that the marriage was childless was likely to have fuelled anxieties regarding succession.

Hadrian’s passion was for a beautiful young man from Bithynia named Antinous: they are thought to have been lovers, and Hadrian was devastated when Antinous drowned in the Nile during a visit to Egypt (Cassius Dio, Roman History 69.11; SHA, Hadrian 14.11).

During a period of ill health prior to his death, Hadrian, who was likely mindful of his own dubious succession, became paranoid and had several potential usurpers executed. His health further deteriorated, and he finally adopted Antoninus Pius. Furthermore, he also took steps to ensure his dynastic chain by causing Antoninus Pius to adopt Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus (SHA, Hadrian, 23 &24). Hadrian was interred in his new mausoleum next to the Tiber in Rome, which is now the site of the Castel Sant’Angelo.

Hadrian and Divinity

Hadrian was aware of the importance of divinity in Roman culture, and as well as considering himself divinely sanctioned to rule through his divine adoptive father Trajan, he sought to surround himself with gods of his own making. The first to be honoured in this way was his mother-in-law Matidia in 119 CE. Thus, being the son of a god and married to the daughter of a goddess helped to legitimise his right to rule. Trajan’s wife Plotina was deified in 123 CE as well as Sabina herself in 136/137 CE. The relief panel pictured in Figure 5 is thought to have come from an altar dedicated to Sabina. It depicts Sabina’s apotheosis, with a winged figure (thought to represent Eternity) carrying her upwards, as Hadrian looks on, pointing upwards to the heavens.

Hadrian also promoted Antinous as a god after his death in 130 CE as well as naming a new city on the Nile after him- Antinoopolis. Although Antinous was not an imperial family member and was not formally deified by the senate, his cult became popular throughout the empire. This is perhaps why there are so many of his statues in museums in modernity.

Despite the fact that Hadrian was heavily invested in imperial cult, his own ascension to the divine was not straightforward: although his rule had been tolerated, he was judged to be not worthy of deification by the senate, mainly due to the murders committed at the beginning and end of his reign. An inscription from Hadrian’s mausoleum, probably from 139 CE, mentions the divine Trajan, Nerva and Sabina, whereas Hadrian has no such divine status, and is simply termed Imperator Caesar Hadrian (CIL VI 984). It appears that it was Hadrian’s successor Antoninus Pius who finally persuaded the senate to order his divination (Cassius Dio, Roman History 69, 2.5 and 23; SHA, Hadrian 27). The reason for Antoninus Pius’s persistence is not known, but there may have been some level of self interest in legitimising his own rule by being the adopted son of a god.

Conclusion

In terms of how Hadrian is viewed in modern times, the fact that he travelled extensively throughout the empire coupled with his promotion of imperial cult, is believed to have been a cohesive and stabilising force throughout this period. His decision to limit the extent of empire, although unpopular at the time, undoubtedly supported this long period of stability.

I hope this answers any questions you may have had on imperial cult. For further reading I would suggest an excellent free online module on Hadrian by the Open University at https://search.app/zPvHt16kDZUyEMty6.

Bibliography:

Ancient Sources:

• Cassius Dio, Roman History, Volume VIII: Books 61-70, Cary, E. and Foster, H.B. (trans.) (1925) Loeb Classical Library 176, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA [Online]. Available at https://search.app/n3qJLfrenQRBvnCR6 (Accessed 30 October 2024).
• Scriptores Historiae Augustae, Hadrian, Birley, A. (trans.) (1976) Lives of the Later Caesars, Penguin, London, pp. 57-87 [Online]. Available at https://search.app/Jud7drGwv5FaTbcv7 (Accessed 30 October 2024).
• Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars, Graves, R. (trans.) (1957), Penguin, London.

Modern Sources:

• Collins, A. (2014) ‘The Divinity of the Pharoah in Greek Sources’, The Classical Quarterly, 62(2), pp. 841-844 [Online]. Available at https://search.app/zK445vAXoUKci7ZEA (Accessed 1 November 2024).
• Hornblower, S., Spawforth, A. (1998) The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization (2nd ed.), Oxford University Press, Oxford.