The Emperor Hadrian

It's funny how as soon as you hear "Hadrian's Wall" ....well everyone thinks of the wall itself but very few people know anything about Hadrian himself. So what was the man like?Well....

1. He lived AD 78 to AD 138.
2. He was a lover of all things Greek and was closely associated with the stoics.He also sported a beard which was both unusual and very Greek.
3. Hadrian was the most travelled of all Roman emperors. Born and brought up in Spain he had a successful military career, mainly as an aide to the Emperor Trajan. His campaigns were mainly in Romania and the middle east ( against the jews and in egypt).
4. The biggest influence in his personal life was a young greek man, Antinous who eventually drowned ,tragically in the Nile. A devasted Hadrian then had Antinous deified.
5. Tremendously ambitious, educated, well travelled but true to the poisonous nature of Roman politics reviled when he died.

Just one other small note we have now launched a small website dedicated to our self catering cottages on Hadrians Wall.