divinities, and on the arch’s attic (which may have been completed
after his death and deification), Jupiter hands his thunderbolt to the
emperor, awarding him dominion over Earth. Such scenes, depicting
the “first citizen” of Rome as a divinely sanctioned ruler in the com-
pany of the gods, henceforth became the norm, not the exception, in
official Roman art.Hadrian
Hadrian, Trajan’s chosen successor and fellow Spaniard, was a con-
noisseur and lover of all the arts as well as an author and architect.
He greatly admired Greek culture and traveled widely as emperor,
often in the Greek East. Everywhere he went, statues and arches were
set up in his honor.
HADRIANIC PORTRAITURE More portraits of Hadrian
exist today than of any other emperor except Augustus. Hadrian,
who was 41 years old at the time of Trajan’s death and who ruled for
more than two decades, is always depicted in his portraits as a ma-
ture adult who never ages. Hadrian’s portraits (FIG. 10-48) more
closely resemble Kresilas’s portrait of Pericles (FIG. 5-41) than those
of any Roman emperor before him. Fifth-century BCEstatues also
provided the prototypes for the idealizing official portraits of
Augustus, but the Augustan models were Greek images of young
athletes. The models for Hadrian’s artists were Classical statues of
mature Greek men. Hadrian himself wore a beard—a habit that, in
its Roman context, must be viewed as a Greek affectation. Beards
then became the norm for all subsequent Roman emperors for more
than a century and a half.
PANTHEONSoon after Hadrian became emperor, work began
on the Pantheon (FIGS. 10-2,no. 5, and 10-49), the temple of all
the gods, one of the best-preserved buildings of antiquity and most10-47Arch of Trajan, Benevento, Italy, ca. 114–118 ce.
Unlike Titus’s arch (FIG. 10-39), Trajan’s has relief panels covering both
facades, transforming it into a kind of advertising billboard featuring
the emperor’s many achievements on and off the battlefield.10-48Portrait bust of Hadrian, from Rome, ca. 117–120 CE. Marble,
1 43 – 4 high. Museo Nazionale Romano–Palazzo Massimo alle Terme,
Rome.
Hadrian, a lover of all things Greek, was the first Roman emperor to
wear a beard. His artists modeled his idealizing official portraits on
Classical Greek statues like Kresilas’s Pericles (FIG. 5-41).10-49Pantheon, Rome, Italy, 118–125 ce.
Originally, the approach to Hadrian’s “temple of all gods” in Rome
was from a columnar courtyard. Like a temple in a Roman forum
(FIG. 10-12), the Pantheon stood at one narrow end of the enclosure.High Empire 2671 in.10-47AFunerary
relief, Circus
Maximus,
ca. 110–130 CE.
10-48A
Hadrianic
tondi, Arch
of Constantine,
ca. 130–138 CE.