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Words and Rituals for the Dead: Hadrian Among Hellenic Heroes

  • Anna Kouremenos
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Narratives of the Roman Empire
This chapter is in the book Narratives of the Roman Empire

Abstract

Hadrian’s engagement with the Greek past extended beyond mere admiration — he actively participated in its commemoration through words and rituals. This paper explores Hadrian’s systematic veneration of the tombs of long-deceased Hellenic figures, a practice unparalleled among Roman emperors. Unlike his predecessors, who merely visited or acknowledged such sites, Hadrian composed sepulchral epigrams and performed ritual acts at their gravesites, reinforcing a connection between Rome and the Hellenic past. By analyzing epigraphic, literary, and archaeological evidence, this study examines the political, cultural, and personal motivations behind Hadrian’s actions. It argues that his engagement with these monuments and sites was a deliberate strategy to position himself within the continuum of Hellenic heroic tradition, thereby legitimizing his rule and reinforcing his vision of a Hellenized Roman Empire. Ultimately, Hadrian’s words and rituals for the dead functioned as acts of imperial self-fashioning, further solidifying his legacy in both life and death.

Abstract

Hadrian’s engagement with the Greek past extended beyond mere admiration — he actively participated in its commemoration through words and rituals. This paper explores Hadrian’s systematic veneration of the tombs of long-deceased Hellenic figures, a practice unparalleled among Roman emperors. Unlike his predecessors, who merely visited or acknowledged such sites, Hadrian composed sepulchral epigrams and performed ritual acts at their gravesites, reinforcing a connection between Rome and the Hellenic past. By analyzing epigraphic, literary, and archaeological evidence, this study examines the political, cultural, and personal motivations behind Hadrian’s actions. It argues that his engagement with these monuments and sites was a deliberate strategy to position himself within the continuum of Hellenic heroic tradition, thereby legitimizing his rule and reinforcing his vision of a Hellenized Roman Empire. Ultimately, Hadrian’s words and rituals for the dead functioned as acts of imperial self-fashioning, further solidifying his legacy in both life and death.

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Foreword V
  3. Contents VII
  4. List of Figures XI
  5. Introduction: How to Make Rome? Words, Narratives and Rituals in the Shaping of the Roman Empire 1
  6. Part I: The Performative Power of Words: Imperial Power, Law and Political Ritual
  7. The Words of the Senate in Empire-Building and Its Interaction with Local Communities: Discourse and Performance 11
  8. An Empire of Letters and the Power of Presence: Rethinking the Constitutive Performances of Imperial Power and Law 29
  9. Units of Rule in Roman Legislation 47
  10. Staging the Prince’s Words: Performativity and Political Ritual in the First Three Centuries of the Principate 59
  11. Words of the Lord: The ethne and Hadrianus Augustus Restitutor 87
  12. The Leagues and the Territorial Administration of the Roman Empire by Means of Imperial Letters 111
  13. Part II: Empire-Building in the Literary Sources: Rhetoric, Sophist and Historiography
  14. The Message of the Second Sophistic (from Dio of Prusa and Plutarch) 127
  15. Aelius Aristides’ Speech Regarding Rome: Epideictic Rhetoric and Ideological Negotiation 137
  16. Subabsurda Roma: A View of the Roman Imperial State Through the Lens of the Historia Augusta 153
  17. Narratives of Failure: The Botched Campaigns Against Hatra in Roman Historiography 175
  18. Part III: The Performative Power of Rituals: Traditional Religion, Imperial Rituals and New Religious Discourses on the Empire
  19. Animal Sacrifice as Normative Cult Practice in the Roman Empire 199
  20. Rituals that Built the Empire: sunthusia oikoumenes 213
  21. Greek Games for a Roman Emperor: Augustus and the Power of Greek Festivals 227
  22. The Construction of Imperial Narratives Through Virtues 245
  23. Imperial Cult Narratives: The Case of Hispania 263
  24. Words and Rituals for the Dead: Hadrian Among Hellenic Heroes 281
  25. Part IV: Empire-Building in a Provincial Setting: Local Discourses and Imperial Dynamisms
  26. Placing Epiros in the Emperor’s Narrative: Local Initiative and Provincial Discourse at the Time of Hadrian 301
  27. Hadrian’s Policy in Jerusalem and Underlying Imperial Discourses 319
  28. Imperial Power and the Cities: The Hadrianic Narrative of Italica 339
  29. List of Contributors 351
  30. Index of Literary Sources
  31. Index of Epigraphic Sources
  32. Index Personae
  33. Index of Places
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111707020-017

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Foreword V
  3. Contents VII
  4. List of Figures XI
  5. Introduction: How to Make Rome? Words, Narratives and Rituals in the Shaping of the Roman Empire 1
  6. Part I: The Performative Power of Words: Imperial Power, Law and Political Ritual
  7. The Words of the Senate in Empire-Building and Its Interaction with Local Communities: Discourse and Performance 11
  8. An Empire of Letters and the Power of Presence: Rethinking the Constitutive Performances of Imperial Power and Law 29
  9. Units of Rule in Roman Legislation 47
  10. Staging the Prince’s Words: Performativity and Political Ritual in the First Three Centuries of the Principate 59
  11. Words of the Lord: The ethne and Hadrianus Augustus Restitutor 87
  12. The Leagues and the Territorial Administration of the Roman Empire by Means of Imperial Letters 111
  13. Part II: Empire-Building in the Literary Sources: Rhetoric, Sophist and Historiography
  14. The Message of the Second Sophistic (from Dio of Prusa and Plutarch) 127
  15. Aelius Aristides’ Speech Regarding Rome: Epideictic Rhetoric and Ideological Negotiation 137
  16. Subabsurda Roma: A View of the Roman Imperial State Through the Lens of the Historia Augusta 153
  17. Narratives of Failure: The Botched Campaigns Against Hatra in Roman Historiography 175
  18. Part III: The Performative Power of Rituals: Traditional Religion, Imperial Rituals and New Religious Discourses on the Empire
  19. Animal Sacrifice as Normative Cult Practice in the Roman Empire 199
  20. Rituals that Built the Empire: sunthusia oikoumenes 213
  21. Greek Games for a Roman Emperor: Augustus and the Power of Greek Festivals 227
  22. The Construction of Imperial Narratives Through Virtues 245
  23. Imperial Cult Narratives: The Case of Hispania 263
  24. Words and Rituals for the Dead: Hadrian Among Hellenic Heroes 281
  25. Part IV: Empire-Building in a Provincial Setting: Local Discourses and Imperial Dynamisms
  26. Placing Epiros in the Emperor’s Narrative: Local Initiative and Provincial Discourse at the Time of Hadrian 301
  27. Hadrian’s Policy in Jerusalem and Underlying Imperial Discourses 319
  28. Imperial Power and the Cities: The Hadrianic Narrative of Italica 339
  29. List of Contributors 351
  30. Index of Literary Sources
  31. Index of Epigraphic Sources
  32. Index Personae
  33. Index of Places
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