VILLA ADRIANA in TIVOLI

DO-IT-YOURSELF WALKING TOUR

Publius Aelius Hadrianus
was born on 24 January AD 76, probably at Rome, though his family lived in Italica in Baetica, a Roman city in Spain and some historians disagree and contend that he was actually born in Italica. Having originally come from Picenum in north-eastern when this part of Spain was opened up to Roman settlement, Hadrian's family had lived in Italica for some three centuries. With Trajan also coming from Italica, and Hadrian's father, Publius Aelius Hadrianus Afer (Afer for Africa, having had dealings there), being his cousin, Hadrian's
His connections to the imperial palace came from the marriage of his grandfather, a senator, to Ulpia, the aunt of Trajan. When Hadrian's father died in 85 AD, Hadrian fell under the care of his guardians, Trajan himself (who as yet, was not emperor). Emperor from 117-138 AD. The reign of Hadrian is considered one of the great ages in the history of the Roman Empire.

Notes on the life of Hadrian:

During his education, Hadrian displayed an intense fondness for all things Greek, earning him the nickname "Greek ling" (or "Little Greek")
Through Trajan's influence he entered into government service and held the rank of tribune, with postings in Pannonia, Moesia, and Germania Superior. During this last posting (97 AD) word arrived that the emperor Nerva had died. Trajan succeeded him. Hadrian traveled with Trajan to Rome and married Trajan's grandniece, VibiaSabma.
Hadrian saw duty in both the First and Second Darian Wars (102-103 and 105-106 AD). He became a quaestor, legate, and praetor during the conflicts and then governed Pannonia in 107. A consulship followed in 108, along with the governorship of Syria in 114. A second consulship was set to be his in 118, but Trajan died on August 8, 117, in Cicilia.
Hadrian was at Antioch at the rime of Trajan's death. He may not have been the emperor's first choice as successor, but through Attianus and the Empress Pompeia Plotina, Hadrian's adoption was announced on the 9th, two days before the official pronouncement of Trajan's demise. Despite such a suspicious beginning, the new emperor assumed power immediately.
Of all the Roman emperors he was the greatest lover of art, travel and every activity of the spirit, and he personally cultivated the arts of painting, music, and poetry and especially architecture. It is thus logical to conclude that he not only commissioned but also was the real planner of this villa-city.... just as he was the planner of the capital's greatest temple, the Temple of Venus and Rome, and almost certainly of the Pantheon and his own Mausoleum (now Castel Sant'Angelo).

Work attributed to Hadrian in Rome:
Opened the sixth Imperial Forum with the Temple of Venus and Rome; rebuilt from its foundations the most original and finest temple of the Roman era, the Pantheon, with hs dome, still the largest dome made from masonry in the worid; and for his own burial and that of his successors he erected the new Mausoleum across the Tiber (now known as Castel Sant'Angelo. Also works in Ostia, Athens, etc.Hadrian died on July 10, 138 AD at his villa at Baiae (the Bay of Pozzouli)
There is only scattered, superficial information handed down to us about Hadrian's Villa by the ancient writers. Several narrate that the emperor wanted to "reproduce" in the villa itself the buildings and places which had most impressed him during his stays in Greece and Egypt: the Poedle, the Academy, the Lyceum and the Prytaneum in Athens, the Vale of Tempe in Thessaly, the Sanctuary of Serapis at Canopus near Alexandria in Egypt. The literal interpretation of this version, which is actually anything but precise from the artistic point of view, has given rise to a misunderstanding, which should be eliminated if we want to understand thoroughly the importance and significance of this distinguished monumental complex in the history of classical architecture.
Scholars of the 16th century attempted to identify in the various buildings of the Villa those that had been 'reproduced' in likeness to the originals. With the exception of the Canopus, there is no question of 'reproduction' or even architectural inspiration or reworking; it was in fact only a matter of names, chosen for what we might call sentimental motives and having nothing to do with stylistic conception.
Another theory: Hadrian used this site to practice (and experiment) his favorite art, architecture. The certainty this theory is demonstrated by are found in the extremely frequent cases in which modifications and additions were made to architectural works during construction or in a second phase very shortly afterwards Superimposed structures can be seen which can only be explained as modifications to the original project; here and there the remains of previous constructions appear, below the pavement level, with a different orientation, constructions completely demolished before the definitive structure built.
Whatever the purposes of the individual buildings, what is more interesting is the way all the parts of the Villa are harmoniously united by three common elements, which are basic motifs of architectural cohesion:
1. The alternation of constructed areas with areas reserved for gardens.
2. The large number of porticos, peristyles and cryptoportici providing covered passages and at the same time linking the various buildings.
3. The great abundance of fountains, pools and canals, making water an integrating factor if not actually a component of the architecture, anticipating the concept which triumphed no less than fourteen centuries later in Renaissance and Baroque art.
All intertwined as one.

HADRIAN'S VILLA

"Hadrian's aesthetic aims and ambitions also found memorable expression in the architecture of his reign, and most of all in the extensive residence he created for himself on the southern olive-clad slopes beside Tibur in the Roman countryside. The groups of loosely related or independent buildings which constituted this 'Villa of Hadrian' was intended to recall the sites and buildings which the emperor had admired on his travels, but this was only a modest pretext for a whole collection of bold and original forms. The creations of some gifted and experimental architect, inspired by the emperor's inquiring, restless brain, these adventurous structures ingeniously exploit the potentialities of an uneven site, displaying total technical mastery of their concrete, brick-faced material. Curvilinear shapes of many varieties abound; there is hardly a straight or obvious line anywhere to be seen."
- Michael Grant, The Roman Emperors'Villa' erected between 118 and 138 AD (though probably started around 125). The ruins occupy an area of approximately 150 acres, but the further remains found all around lead to the suggestion that the ancient villa occupied almost five times this area. The various buildings in the Villa are laid out along five main alignments, determined not by a rigidly unified town-planning concept but rather by the nature of the terrain. Other secondary alignments served as links with the main ones; and yet others can be perceived in the areas not yet explored.
Recommended Reading:
The Mute Stones Speak: The Story of Archaeology in Italy. Paul MacKendrick. W. W. Norton & Co. If you buy only ONE book as a companion to the archaeological sites in Italy this should be the one!The Roman Emperors: A Biographical Guide to the Rulers of Imperial Rome. 31BC-AD476. Michael Grant. Charles Scribner's Sons. Good thumbnail background on the life of Hadrian.Memoirs of Hadrian. Marguerite Yourcenar. Penguin Modem Classics. Excellent historical fiction on the life of Hadrian.Lives of the Later Caesars. Translated by Anthony Birley. Penguin Classics. A very good account of Hadrian's life in this first part of the Augustan History.

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