Hadrian’s influence on the city of Athens was both physical and symbolic, reshaping the city’s cultural landscape to reflect his dual admiration for its past and his aspirations for its future. He undertook an ambitious architectural program — completion of the Olympieion Temple to Zeus, Hadrian’s Library, the construction of a new marketplace, transformation of the Theatre of Dionysus, the construction of a residential quarter for Hadrian himself, and many more monuments and statues. Initially, this rigorous program of construction appears as a manifestation of Hadrian’s generosity, and went far beyond the patronage offered to other prominent cities under the Empire. But was it, as commonly interpreted, purely a show of philhellenic generosity?
Every one of these measures involved propaganda that tied the heritage of Athens to the image of the Emperor himself. At the Acropolis, the religious centre of Athens and its symbolic peak, Hadrian added a sculpture of himself inside the cella (inner chamber) of the Parthenon. This was to further the image of him as Athena’s brother, implying his role in the patronage of Athens was similar to the divine being considered the city’s guardian and namesake. It also positioned Hadrian to be Zeus’ son, thus claiming a divinity that for the Greeks went beyond his Imperial cult.
Hadrian also completed the ongoing construction of the Olympieion, to which he added a sculpture of himself as Zeus in ivory and gold. Besides the aggrandisement of Hadrian as the most powerful Greek god, the materials of the sculpture are particularly significant because they echo the Athena Parthenos, a colossal statue on the Acropolis which was a monumental, iconic depiction of Athens’ most significant goddess.
In the Theatre of Dionysus, Hadrian entirely reconstructed the front of the theatre and the upper part of the scanenae frons (the permanent theatrical background of the stage), affecting anyone viewing the theatre from the inside or out. This was not just a transformation of architecture, but of iconography, as the decorative sculptures were entirely replaced by images of Dionysus, other mythological characters, and most centrally, an elevated statue of Hadrian as Dionysus himself. Hadrian placed this propaganda in one of Athens’ most culturally relevant locations; building on the idea of him as adjacent to the city’s fundamental mythological foundation and to the leader of Greek divine power, he now established himself as the key patron of its most significant cultural art.
The Library of Hadrian, despite the grandeur of the “hundred pillars of Phyrgian marble” and “gilded roof” that Pausanius describes, makes the Imperial intentions of this program even more palpable. Destroying the residential quarter which used to occupy that land, the library altered the landscape in order to produce a monument which recalled Roman architecture, and thus, power. The layout of the library, which included a peristyle surrounded by columns and rooms flanking each side, was a clear mimicry of the Temple of Peace built by Vespasian in Rome. The splendour of the construction is undeniable, however this should not overshadow the message revealed in its architecture: this was a stamp of Imperial power and domination, bringing the ‘Roman’ to this corner of the Empire in a majestic way.
The Arch of Hadrian bears an inscription whose double-entendre summarises the intentions of the new Hadrianic architecture. “This is the city of Hadrian, and not of Theseus”, a bolder claim than those of divinity or than the imperial ‘stamp’ of the Library — this is Hadrian’s proclamation of Athens not just as a cradle of a significant Greek civilisation, but as a city reborn under his authority. An authority which is undeniably Roman.
This is not to negate Hadrian’s genuine affection for Greek culture, rooted in the Second Sophistic movement of his time which saw a glorification of the intellectual environment that had flourished in Classical Athens. However, these generous acts of cultural and religious patronage should not cloud our portrait of Hadrian, and thus our understanding of his empire, because they cannot be separated from the shadow of Roman Imperial power.
Carafa, Paolo. “Athens in the Antonine Period” Sapienza University of Rome, 6 December 2023, Rome, Lecture.
Raddote, Carole. “Exploring Hadrian’s Athens” Following Hadrian, 29 Apr. 2014, followinghadrian.com/2014/04/29/exploring-hadrians-athens/.