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The Traveling Emperor

Related Images

  • Figure 1: map showing the travels of Hadrian, [World History Encyclopaedia](https://www.worldhistory.org/image/14744/the-travels-of-hadrian-and-the-roman-empire-c-125/)
  • Figure 2: coin from Hadrian’s ADVENTVI series, the arrival in Cilicae, [Wildwind](https://www.wildwinds.com/coins/ric/hadrian/RIC_0883.jpg)
  • Figure 3: coin from Hadrian’s ADVENTVI series, the arrival in Judaea, [Wildwinds](https://www.wildwinds.com/coins/ric/hadrian/RIC_0893.jpg)

Hadrian was known for his travels through his vast empire. As previously mentioned, the Roman empire was at its peak size during the reign of Hadrian. This meant that his travels were long and were very time-consuming; there were no cars or aeroplanes waiting for him. But how do we know about his travels?

When looking at the map (Figure 1), we see that he visited the majority of the territories of his empire: over land he traveled with a coach, and journeys over the Mediterranean Sea were undertaken by ship. When studying these travels, one has to look into one of the numerous sources that describes these journeys.

For this we have to dig into the ancient sources. There are various sources we can use, but for now we can divide them into literary sources and archaeological sources. In ancient literary sources we can read what the writers thought of this emperor. In one particular source we can also read about the stops Hadrian made, and where he stayed on longer. The late Roman historian Cassius Dio gives us a real detailed description of Hadrian’s travels in his Roman History stating:

Hadrian travelled through one province after another, visiting the various regions and cities and inspecting all the garrisons and forts. Some of these he removed to more desirable places, some he abolished, and he also established some new ones. Cassius Dio, Roman History, Book LXIX, 9.1

Besides literary sources, we have archaeological sources which can tell us about his travels: Hadrian had an extensive building programme ordered by him in the provinces, from which we can deduce where he has been. But he had also issued special coins (ADVENTVI series) stating his arrival in certain cities. (Figure 2,3)For an the expanded version of the map with the travels of Hadrian see Simeon Netchev's The Travels of Hadrian across the Roman Empire c. 125 CE and Orbis website has created an online tool with which it is possible to calculate and determine your route in Antiquity. - Walter Scheidel& Elijah Meeks - ORBIS The Stanford Geospatial Network Model of the Roman World