Rome in the Footsteps of an XVIIIth Century Traveller

IX - From Nerva to Marcus Aurelius

In this page:
Nerva and the Adoption Process - Trajan
Trajan's Wars
Hadrian
Hadrian's Last Years
Antoninus Pius
Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus
Iconography

Nerva and the Adoption Process - Trajan

If a man were called to fix the period in the history of the world, during which the condition of the human race was most happy and prosperous, he would, without hesitation, name that which elapsed from the death of Domitian to the accession of Commodus.
Edward Gibbon - The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Chapter 3 - 1776-1789
On the very day of the assassination of Domitian, the Senate elected the new emperor: the choice fell on Marcus Cocceius Nerva, a senior member of the Senate from Narnia who had managed to successfully hold important offices during the reigns of Nero, of Vespasian and of Domitian.
Nerva managed to control the reaction of the supporters of Domitian and more in general he promoted a policy of reconciliation among the various factions into which the Roman society was divided. He was aware he needed the support of the army; at the age of 70 and without a military background, Nerva knew he could not obtain it in the battlefield and therefore he chose as his associate Marcus Ulpius Traianus (Trajan), the commander of the Roman legions in Germany. He then adopted him as his successor.

(left) Musei Capitolini: portrait of Nerva from the Albani Collection; (right-above) Thamugadi in Algeria: dedicatory inscription to Emperor Antoninus Pius mentioning the previous emperors starting from Nerva (NERVAE PRONEPOTE); (right-below) Great Mosque of Kairouan in Tunisia: fragment of a dedicatory inscription to Septimius Severus or Caracalla mentioning the previous emperors starting from Nerva (NERVAE ADNEPOTIS)

Adoption was not a new practice for appointing a successor, but for the first time the ruling emperor did not adopt a member of his family, but rather a person chosen for his background and his skills. Trajan did the same and the next two emperors felt obliged to follow this pattern; so Trajan (98-117), Hadrian (117-138), Antoninus Pius (138-161) and Marcus Aurelius (161-180) are collectively known as the adoptive emperors. They all regarded Nerva as their ancestor and so did the emperors of the Severian dynasty to justify the legitimacy of their power.
Each of the four adoptive emperors ruled for approximately twenty years granting stability to the government of the empire; overall it was a period of peace and economic development, especially in the provinces where many cities flourished and were able to build new facilities such as aqueducts, fora, libraries, schools and stadiums not inferior to those of Rome.
Another interesting aspect related to the choice of Trajan as the new emperor is the fact that he was born at Italica in Spain from a family of Roman origin (and therefore had full citizenship rights). His becoming emperor meant that the accession to the highest position of the empire was no longer restricted to members of the Roman or Italian aristocracy.
In 98 after just two years of reign Nerva died and Trajan became the new emperor.

Basilica Ulpia and behind it Colonna Traiana

Trajan expanded the area of the Roman Fora by levelling to the ground Velia, a hill between Campidoglio and Quirinale. The main building of his forum was a large basilica called Ulpia after his family name. The central section of the building can be seen thanks to the first modern archaeological excavations in Rome, initiated by the French government at the beginning of the XIXth century and completed by Pope Pius VII. The basilica was decorated with reliefs celebrating Trajan, some of which were moved two centuries later to Arco di Costantino.
Trajan's forum was designed by Apollodorus of Damascus, a Greek architect who built also a gigantic bridge on the Lower Danube and public baths in Rome.
The improvement of Via Appia at Terracina, a new artificial harbour at Porto, an aqueduct from Bracciano (today known as Acqua Paola), well structured covered markets in Rome are just some of the other initiatives taken by Trajan in Rome and its environs. You may wish to see the triumphal arches which were dedicated to him at Ancona and at Benevento.

Trajan's Wars

Modern map showing the Roman Empire at the time of Trajan on the rear wall of Basilica di Massenzio

Trajan led the Roman Empire to its maximum extent: his best known military campaigns are related to the Dacian wars, but Trajan made also a serious attempt to expand the empire in the Middle East, in addition to strengthening its defences by founding new fortified towns, e.g. Colonia Ulpia Traiana (Xanten) along the Rhine and Colonia Marciana Traiana Thamugadi (Timgad) in Algeria near the Sahara Desert.
In 106 he conquered part of today's Kingdom of Jordan including the city of Petra and he built a road to link the Red Sea to Syria. He then waged war against the Parthians; he defeated them in Armenia and Mesopotamia and in 116 he occupied Ctesiphon, the capital of the Parthians located 20 miles south of Baghdad. From there, following the footsteps of Alexander the Great, Trajan reached the shores of the Persian Gulf. But these conquests were ephemeral; a vast rebellion from Mesopotamia spread to other eastern provinces and Trajan had to give up his attempts to further move eastwards; he precipitously returned to Syria where he died in 117.

Musei Vaticani: busts of Dacian prisoners from Porto (left/centre) and Basilica Ulpia (right)

The Greeks and after them the Romans depicted their enemies following an archetype which highlighted their savagery; the Galatians, a Celtic tribe of Anatolia, were portrayed naked, wearing only a necklace/ amulet and with short unkempt hair. The statues and reliefs which decorated the monuments built by Trajan to celebrate his Dacian conquests depicted a very different and more dignified type of enemy. This new archetype was adopted for a long time in monuments celebrating military campaigns even though they were not related to Dacia, e.g. at Arco di Settimio Severo.

Temple to Trajan on the Acropolis of Pergamum; see an arch dedicated to him at Mactaris

During his military career Trajan had been in several provinces of the empire and had a first hand knowledge of how the decisions taken in Rome were often poorly implemented there and how often they did not meet local needs. He therefore paid special attention to improving the logistics of the empire; he did so by improving roads, ports, aqueducts, markets and by establishing a net of local informatores who reported to him what happened in the provinces and the needs of their inhabitants.
Trajan he went beyond his glory in war, in ability and judgment as a ruler, conducting himself as an equal towards all, going often to his friends as a visitor. (..) Hence, being regarded throughout the world as next to a god, he deservedly obtained the highest veneration both living and dead. (..) So much respect has been paid to his memory, that, even to our own times, they shout in acclamations to the emperors, "More fortunate than Augustus, better than Trajan!" So much has the fame of his goodness prevailed, that it affords ground for most noble illustration in the hands either of such as flatter, or of such as praise with sincerity.
Eutropius - Abridgement of Roman History - translated by John Selby Watson.
Eutropius wrote his summary of Roman history in ca 370 and it reflected a widespread opinion on Trajan. According to a medieval legend reported by Dante his good fame eventually allowed him access to Heaven. Many monuments were dedicated to him and he is mentioned in very many inscriptions throughout the Roman Empire.

Hadrian

Trajan adopted as his successor Publius Aelius Adrianus (Hadrian), another general born at Italica and who was the proconsul of Syria at the Emperor's death. He was married with Vibia Sabina, daugther of Salonia Matidia, the only niece of Trajan. Hadrian realized that the recent acquisition of Mesopotamia was not defensible and chose to give back to the Parthians the territories occupied by Trajan in return for a lasting peace agreement.
Notwithstanding his military background, Hadrian refrained from new wars and devoted himself to making more effective the administration and in particular the judiciary system; he established that laws and decrees should be reviewed by a body of experts to ensure their consistency with other existing regulations.
He extensively visited the various provinces of the empire to show that the emperor was a good pater familias (father of the family) who cared for the wellbeing of his subjects and not a distant despot closeted in the imperial palace. In his many travels the Emperor inspected the legions, attended military exercises, e.g. at Lambaesis, and made recommendations for the defence of the Empire, e.g. at the northern border of the province of Britannia by a vallum, a rampart which stretched across the island. He involved the legions in the construction of roads, aqueducts, e.g. that of Carthage, and other public facilities. He promoted the construction of large buildings, e.g. the baths of Leptis Magna and the Temple to Serapis at Pergamum.

Galleria Estense - Modena: relief portraying Phanes, a Greek ancestral deity emerging from a cosmic egg, entwined with a serpent and holding a thunderbolt, or Aion, a deity associated with the passing of time and heternity hence the circular depiction of the Zodiac symbols (second quarter of the IInd century AD - from Rome, probably an offer to a "mithraeum")

Hadrian was imbibed with Greek culture; he was introduced to the Eleusinian mysteries and he was curious about the religions of the eastern provinces which were spreading to the western part of the Empire.
The emperor himself was occasionally the object of a personal cult as a deity in these provinces, e.g. at Sagalassos. Hadrian greatly enlarged and embellished with new monuments Athens and in a new gate he wanted to be celebrated as its second founder. Unlike Trajan and the previous emperors, exception made for Nero, who were clean shaven, Hadrian had a beard, a sign of philhellenism. His immediate successors and those of the Severian dynasty chose to have a beard out of respect for him (see some busts in a previous section).

(left) Museum of Ostia Antica: IInd century AD bust of Themistocles from Caseggiato del Temistocle; (centre) Centrale Montemartini: IInd century AD bust of Anacreon, from Trastevere; (right) Musei Vaticani: herm of Aspasia from S. Marinella (IInd century AD)

Hadrian's interest in Greek culture was shared by the Roman upper classes of his time. Many Roman copies of Greek works of art were related to the Golden Age of Athens. The bust of Themistocles was based on a lost original dated ca 470 BC. Anacreon was a late VIth century BC Greek lyric poet. Aspasia, a courtesan, had a relationship with Pericles (495-429 BC), with whom she had a son.

Tempio di Venere e Roma which was designed by Hadrian and built in 131-135

Hadrian had a personal interest for architecture and regarded himself as a talented architect. We know that Apollodorus of Damascus criticized the Emperor's plan for the colossal Temple to Venus and Rome and for this he was exiled and eventually killed. Hadrian rebuilt in a very innovative way the Pantheon, although he preferred to retain the old inscription celebrating Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, Augustus' son-in-law. He did not build a new forum, but added some facilities (Auditoria Hadriani) near that of Trajan. .

Hadrian's Last Years

In 124 Hadrian, while visiting the province of Bithynia (today's north-western Turkey), fell in love with Antinous, a teenager of rare beauty. This kind of relationships between a man of a certain age (Hadrian was then 48 and age patterns were different from those we are accustomed to nowadays) and a much younger man (Antinous was fourteen) were not unusual in the Greek world and were tolerated in the Roman one. They usually ended when the younger partner reached adulthood.
In 130 Antinous died by drowning in the Nile; the passion Hadrian had for him had not yet subsided and the emperor's grief was immense; he dedicated his last years to celebrate his lover by naming after him cities, sending statues with his effigy to all corners of the empire and even by dedicating temples and an obelisk to Antinous. While the love affair had been regarded as a private matter, the initiatives taken by Hadrian to celebrate Antinous were seen as extravagant and not in line with the gravitas, the traditional self-control a Roman emperor was expected to display.

The Canopus of Villa Adriana. See some winter views of Villa Adriana and a Temple to Hadrian at Ephesus

Hadrian closely followed the construction of Villa Adriana, a countryside residence near Tivoli which was began in 121 and completed shortly before his death. It is generally said that its different sections reminded him of the sites he had visited in his journeys, in particular in Greece and in Egypt (the Canopus being a canal of Alexandria leading to a temple to Serapis). At nearby Praeneste he had another villa.
In 132, at the end of his last journey, Hadrian visited Jerusalem, which was still in ruins after the First Roman-Jewish War of 66-73. He planned to rebuild it as Aelia Capitolina, a Roman colony named after him and this decision led to a new revolt which lasted until 135. The new town was completed, but the Jews were forbidden from living there.
In 134 he started to build a gigantic mausoleum (today's Castel Sant'Angelo) on the right bank of the Tiber, because that built by Augustus was no longer outside the pomerium, the sacred limit of the City. Ponte Adriano (or Sant'Angelo) the bridge giving access to the mausoleum has withstood the ravages of time.
He began to develop a monumental area between the initial section of Via Flaminia and the Pantheon which was completed after his death where he planned to erect a temple to his deceased wife. Reliefs from an arch at the entrance to the area depict Hadrian delivering a speech, the Apotheosis of Vibia Sabina and the Emperor formally entering the City of Rome.

Florence - Galleria degli Uffizi: relief depicting a scene of sacrifice; some art historians suggest it was made to celebrate the XXth anniversary of Hadrian's rule and that the shield was painted with an inscription

In 136 he appointed as his successor Lucius Aelius Verus, a young senator with no military background; the choice has never been fully understood. Lucius Aelius Verus however never became emperor as he died in January 138. The ailing emperor decided to appoint as his new successor a respected senator, Titus Aurelius Antoninus, on the condition that he in turn would appoint Lucius Verus (son of Lucius Aelius) and Marcus Aurelius (a distant relative of Vibia Sabina) as co-emperors (the scene of the appointment was depicted in a famous relief at Ephesus). At the death of Hadrian in July 138 the Senate made an attempt to deny official funerary celebrations, but Antoninus insisted on not damaging Hadrian's memory.

Antoninus Pius

With such care did he govern all peoples under him that he looked after all things and all men as if they were his own. As a result, the provinces all prospered in his reign.
Scriptores Historiae Augustae - Antoninus Pius VI; 7; VII - Translation by David Magie.
Antoninus ruled for 23 years: they were almost uneventful years from a political and military point of view: he acted as a sort of constitutional monarch, returning most of their ancient decisional power to the Senate and to the other Roman institutions.
He strengthened the defence of the empire by building in Britain a more advanced vallum on the Firth of Forth. Similar to Hadrian he chose to live in a villa he had near Lanuvio, rather than in the imperial palaces on the Palatine.

Antonine Baths of Carthage: walls which supported the halls of the baths

Antoninus completed the buildings which had been initiated by Hadrian, some of which are named after him, e.g. the baths of Carthage, and he dedicated to Hadrian the temple which his predecessor had started to erect near the Pantheon.
He complied with the commitment imposed on him by Hadrian to appoint as his successors Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus (the former became his son-in-law by marrying Annia Faustina Minor, Antoninus' daughter) and he took care of their education and cursus honorum, i.e. the appointment to military and administrative posts in order to prepare them to their future role.

Tempio di Antonino e Faustina: detail of the frieze and of the columns

The Senate gave Antoninus the appellative (qualifying adjective) of Pius for his filial devotion to Hadrian and in recognition of his lifestyle, so respectful of the traditional Roman family values.
Antoninus emphasized his attachment to these values by not remarrying after the death of his wife Annia Faustina Maior in 140. He erected several temples, e.g. at Sardis and other monuments, e.g. at Miletus dedicated to her and he founded charitable institutions for the assistance of young women, named after her puellae Faustinianae.
The temple he built in the Roman Forum was afterwards dedicated to him too; its structure was so strong that it resisted all attempts to pull it down; its cipollino columns show the cuts made to place the ropes which were vainly used to cause the collapse of its portico.
Some of the largest buildings of the Roman Empire, e.g. the temples to Bacchus and to Jupiter at Baalbek, were initiated or completed during the reign of Antoninus.
Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus erected a column to Antoninus Pius near today's Piazza di Montecitorio; the column is lost, but the fine reliefs at its base are in the Vatican Museums.

Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus

Unlike Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus had to face continuous threats to the stability of the empire. In 162 the Parthians invaded the eastern Roman provinces of Syria and Armenia; Lucius Verus led the Roman armies to the counter-attack and in 164 the Romans occupied again Ctesiphon, the enemy capital and briefly restored their rule over Mesopotamia; the victory however brought an unexpected and bitter fruit: a pestilence (now thought to have been a bubonic plague) developed among the Roman legionaries and they brought it back with them at the end of the campaign; in the following years the pestilence spread to the whole empire; a famine followed the disease and further weakened the economy and reduced the population.

Triumphal arch dedicated to the two emperors at Tripoli in 163

The two emperors had just repelled the Parthians in the east, when a new threat arose in the west; the Marcomanni, a German tribe living in today's Bohemia, in association with other tribes (Quadi, Vandals and Sarmatians) attacked the Roman colonies along the Danube in Germany, Austria and Hungary. They were most likely forced to do this because they were in turn attacked by other tribes coming from Central Asia.

Bronze statue of Marcus Aurelius in Palazzo dei Conservatori - Musei Capitolini

In 166 the Senate gave Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus the appellative of Pater Patriae and most likely to celebrate this title a bronze statue of Marcus Aurelius was erected in his family villa near today's S. Giovanni in Laterano. In the Middle Ages the statue was called caballus Constantini (Constantine's horse) and this saved it from being melted, because Constantine was regarded as the first Christian Roman emperor. In 1536 it was moved to Piazza del Campidoglio and in 2006 it was placed in a covered courtyard inside Musei Capitolini; according to tradition when the statue loses its remaining gold leaf, Rome will perish (and with it the world). The statue was taken as a model for many modern equestrian statues throughout Italy and Europe, e.g. at Florence, Vienna, Paris and Madrid.

Museo Nazionale Romano: Sarcofago Piccolo Ludovisi depicting scenes of fights between Romans and Barbarians (late IInd century AD)

After the death of Lucius Verus in 169, Marcus Aurelius had to bear the full responsibility of defending the empire. Being a man of great culture, he would have preferred to have time for his philosophic studies, but he felt it was his duty to personally lead the many campaigns caused by the increasing pressure on the northern border of the empire.
He died in 180 at Vindobona (today's Vienna) where he was closely following the preparation of yet another campaign against the Marcomanni. He was succeeded by Commodus, his son, whom he had appointed co-emperor in 177.
Many historians set at his death the beginning of the decadence of the Roman Empire as some of its key causes made their appearance during the reign of Marcus Aurelius: a weakened economy, a substantial reduction in population and an increased pressure on the Rhine and Danube borders by the tribes who lived beyond it.

Iconography

The following links show works of art portraying characters and events mentioned in this page; they open in another window:
Trajan's Justice by Eugene Delacroix (1840) at Musée des Beaux-Arts - Rouen.
Statues of Antinous and Lucius Verus at Musei Vaticani - Rome.
Bust of Antoninus Pius at Musei Capitolini - Rome.
Reliefs portraying Marcus Aurelius at Musei Capitolini - Rome.
Marcus Aurelius Distributing Bread to the People by Joseph-Marie Vien (1765).

Next page:
X - A Century of Turmoil

Previous pages:
I - The Foundation and the Early Days of Rome
II - The Early Republican Period
III - The Romans Meet the Elephants
IV - Expansion in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea
V - Pompey and Caesar
VI - Augustus
VII - From Tiberius to Nero
VIII - The Flavian Dynasty