A Man Among Gods: Evaluating the Significance of Hadrian
By Tracy Jennings
The Journal of Undergraduate Research, Vol.1:6 (2009-2010)
Introduction: From 117-138 AD, when Publius Aelius Hadrianus (Hadrian) ruled the Roman empire, five individuals received divine honors through the will of this man: his predecessor Trajan, Trajan’s wife Plotina, his mother-in-law Matidia, his “favorite” Antinous, and his wife Sabina all became gods. By this period, it was not unusual for an emperor to deify his predecessor after a smooth transition of power, but Hadrian was exceptional in the number of people he deified and truly extraordinary in his deification of a person outside the imperial family. The five acts of deification that occurred under Hadrian illuminate the nature of Hadrian’s rule and the nature of emperorship during the early Antonine period. As a non-violent imperial strategy, these acts consolidated his power as emperor both in Rome and in the provinces.
Deification itself was significant but not uncommon in the second century. Over the duration of the Roman empire, thirty-six out of the sixty emperors were named divus, from Augustus to Constantine. This term, once synonymous with deus (god), became used exclusively for deified imperial members after the deification of Julius Caesar in 42 BC. In the first recorded act of deification in Roman history, the Senate awarded Julius Caesar divine honors two years after his death, and from this point to Hadrian’s rule, six other emperors were deified.
By the time of Hadrian’s rule, each divus had a state-sponsored cult that was well-established in religious and political institutions. The Arval Brethren, a traditional college of priests reinstituted by Augustus to honor the emperor, sacrificed offerings for the emperor’s health on his birthday and also kept a list of the divi. The Feriale Durarum, a papyrus that preserves a calendar of feast days celebrated by the army during the rule of Severus Alexander, shows how integrated the imperial cult had become in official proceedings, with honors continuing generations after deification occurred. In the eastern provinces, Hellenistic ruler cults had conditioned people to honor the emperor as a living divinity, but Republican Rome rejected the institution of kingship with strict rules limiting the duration of leadership. When the Republic collapsed, Augustus took public measures to distance the emperorship from a monarchy and rejected deification while he was still living.
A Man Among Gods: Evaluating the Significance of Hadrian
By Tracy Jennings
The Journal of Undergraduate Research, Vol.1:6 (2009-2010)
Introduction: From 117-138 AD, when Publius Aelius Hadrianus (Hadrian) ruled the Roman empire, five individuals received divine honors through the will of this man: his predecessor Trajan, Trajan’s wife Plotina, his mother-in-law Matidia, his “favorite” Antinous, and his wife Sabina all became gods. By this period, it was not unusual for an emperor to deify his predecessor after a smooth transition of power, but Hadrian was exceptional in the number of people he deified and truly extraordinary in his deification of a person outside the imperial family. The five acts of deification that occurred under Hadrian illuminate the nature of Hadrian’s rule and the nature of emperorship during the early Antonine period. As a non-violent imperial strategy, these acts consolidated his power as emperor both in Rome and in the provinces.
Deification itself was significant but not uncommon in the second century. Over the duration of the Roman empire, thirty-six out of the sixty emperors were named divus, from Augustus to Constantine. This term, once synonymous with deus (god), became used exclusively for deified imperial members after the deification of Julius Caesar in 42 BC. In the first recorded act of deification in Roman history, the Senate awarded Julius Caesar divine honors two years after his death, and from this point to Hadrian’s rule, six other emperors were deified.
By the time of Hadrian’s rule, each divus had a state-sponsored cult that was well-established in religious and political institutions. The Arval Brethren, a traditional college of priests reinstituted by Augustus to honor the emperor, sacrificed offerings for the emperor’s health on his birthday and also kept a list of the divi. The Feriale Durarum, a papyrus that preserves a calendar of feast days celebrated by the army during the rule of Severus Alexander, shows how integrated the imperial cult had become in official proceedings, with honors continuing generations after deification occurred. In the eastern provinces, Hellenistic ruler cults had conditioned people to honor the emperor as a living divinity, but Republican Rome rejected the institution of kingship with strict rules limiting the duration of leadership. When the Republic collapsed, Augustus took public measures to distance the emperorship from a monarchy and rejected deification while he was still living.
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