Hadrianus, Publius Aelius (Reign: 117-138 AD)
Publius Hadrianus (Hadrian) was born in 76 AD in the town of Italica. Following the death of his father, Publius Aelius, in 85 AD, he was educated in the house of future emperor Trajan, to whom he was related. He received his first military command during Domitian's reign and became a consul suffectus (substitute consul) in 108 AD. Hadrian was Archon of Athens in 111 AD. He escorted Trajan in the Parthian War and was appointed Governor of Syria in 114 or 117 AD. After Trajan's death he was proclaimed as Emperor in Syria on August 11th, 117.
Hadrian returned to Italy in 118 AD and started a campaign aimed to win the public's favor. He declared a general remission of unpaid taxes, worth 900 million sesterces. In addition, he performed extensive construction projects, including the reconstruction of the Pantheon, and the building of several temples, his own mausoleum in Rome and a vast villa in Tivoli. His main concern, though, was the provinces, and he used to visit them almost all through his reign. Hadrian spent his last years in Rome. He never had children with his wife Vibia Sabina, whom he married in 100 AD. He fell sick in 136 AD, died in 138 AD and was buried in the Mausoleum in Rome (today known as Castel Sant'Angelo).
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