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Hadrianus: De Rusteloze Keizer (2010)

by Anthony Everitt(Favorite Author)

3.76 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

9026322763 (ISBN13: 9789026322761)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Ambo

review 1: I'll admit it: all I knew of the emperor Hadrian before reading this book was that he built the famous Wall in the north of England and that he had a male lover named Antinous, whom he deified after his death. I couldn't even have told you which century he lived in. So almost everything in this book was new to me - and yet, despite the plethora of Romans with ridiculously long names and archaic names for familiar places, I was never lost or confused reading this, which is a real testament to the author.I couldn't possibly comment on the ranking of Roman emperors, but it seems to me, reading this, that history must surely look relatively kindly on Hadrian, at least in comparison to some of his fellow emperors. He largely eschewed the conspicuous luxury and arbitrary tyranny... more of some of his predecessors. He set himself the task of stabilising the empire, retracting and formalising the borders (hence the Wall), realising that the empire could not continue an endless policy of aggressive expansion, lacking the military force and resources to sustain such growth. He boosted the morale and efficiency of the legions. He encouraged the spread of Hellenization through the empire, being a true lover of Greece, its history and culture.I always think it must be somewhat akin to completing a jigsaw puzzle with half the pieces missing, writing the biography of a man who lived nearly two millennia ago. So much relies on interpretation, on the chance survivals of archaeological record, mixed in with conjecture and a hefty helping of imagination. There is no such thing as a definitive biography of an historical figure from so long ago, but this must surely be close. Everitt has a very engaging style of writing, not overly formal or prescriptive, with the occasionally flair of lyricism and humour. It made for a very enjoyable read.
review 2: I great book handicapped by the lack of written sources on Hadrian's reign. So many Roman biographies seem to have political motives and because of this we tend to view Hadrian as a kind of psychopath. I appreciated the authors balancing act regarding the sources and the result is a very readable and satisfying portrait of an excellent ruler. It's a pity that Hadrian had to fire Suetonius. If he had not, Suetonius may not have stopped his invaluable book The 12 Caesars with the reign of Domitian. His proximity to the emperor would have made for the best of biographies, as skewed by politics and grudges as it might have been. less

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