Early AD 124 – Hadrian spends the winter in Nicomedia, tours Bithynia and “meets” Antinous (#Hadrian1900) FOLLOWING HADRIAN

After crusing alongside the southern Black Coastline, presumably visiting the Pontic cities of Amisus, Sinope and Amastris (see here), Hadrian is assumed to have spent the winter of 123/4 in Nicomedia or presumably Byzantium. Nicomedia was the capital of the twin province of Pontus et Bithynia in what’s now Izmit in northern Turkey. It was additionally the hometown of his lifelong pal Arrian, who might have been his host on this event, like in 117/8 (see here). Arrian was a Stoic thinker and a scholar of Epictetus at Nicopolis in Epirus, the place the pair in all probability met. About 12 years youthful than Hadrian, Arrian shared lots of Hadrian’s passions, together with his enthusiasm for searching.

Throughout his keep within the Bithynian province, the Emperor in all probability visited a number of main cities, together with Heraclea Pontica, Claudiopolis (former Bithynium), Prusias advert Hypium and Nicaea. Throughout considered one of these visits, Hadrian in all probability met Antinous, a wonderful younger Greek boy who would accompany him on his many travels as a cherished lover and companion. Nicomedia and Nicaea had lately skilled an earthquake that had triggered important harm to the cities. The precise date of the earthquake just isn’t identified, nevertheless it most probably occurred within the fifth yr of Hadrian’s reign in 121, between August and December, in accordance with Eusebius. This was earlier than Hadrian’s go to to the realm in 124. Saint Jerome, alternatively, locations the earthquake within the fourth yr of Hadrian’s reign, AD 120, which was the 224th Olympiad.

After an earthquake had occurred, Nicomedia lay in ruins, and lots of issues had been overturned within the metropolis of Nicaea: for the reconstruction of which, Hadrian generously gave funds from the general public treasury. Jerome, Chronicle 180

Hadrian confirmed particular look after the province and contributed to the reconstruction of each Nicomedia and Nicaea. That is evidenced by a set of cash celebrating Hadrian as Restitutor Bithyniae and Restitutor Nicomediae. Nicomedia additionally expressed its gratitude by including the epithet ‘Hadriane’ (Ἁδριανή) to its identify (CIG 1720). The Emperor is credited with reconstructing metropolis partitions, gates and markets within the two neighbouring cities, which had a protracted rivalry over which metropolis held the rank of capital of the province. Nicomedia was the metropolis or ‘first metropolis’ of Bithynia and wished to be the one metropolis claiming the title, which Nicaea additionally claimed. Hadrian additionally entrusted Patrocles, a Bithynian who had commanded two Roman cohorts, with overseeing the reconstruction of his native Nicaea (IK Iznik 56).

Bithynia was a mountainous area with heavy forests and fertile valleys, mendacity northwest of Asia Minor, between the Propontis (now often known as the Sea of Marmara) and the Black Sea. It was bordered by Thrace to the west, Mysia to the southwest, Paphlagonia to the northeast alongside the Pontic coast, and Phrygia to the southeast in direction of the inside of Asia Minor. Bithynia grew to become a Roman province in 74 BC when Nicomedes IV (c. 94–74 BC) bequeathed his complete kingdom to the Roman Republic. The Kingdom of Pontus was included after the defeat of Mithridates VI Eupator (120–63 BC) in 63 BC, due to Pompey the Nice’s decisive victory within the Third Mithridatic Conflict. The province’s space was then expanded as a part of Pompey’s annexations and organisation of the jap provinces.

Throughout Roman rule, the provinces of Bithynia and Pontus had been merged for administrative functions, as evidenced by inscriptions mentioning Procos. provinciae Ponti et Bithyniae. The area coated the jap a part of the coast of the Propontis, the Asian shore of the Bosphorus, and the southern coast of the Black Sea as much as Amisus. These three areas, specifically Bithynia, Paphlagonia, and Pontus, maintain important historic significance.

Pontus and Bithynia had no Roman legions stationed of their territories, however the Roman military handed by means of the area throughout their army operations towards Armenia and Parthia. To achieve the Cappadocian frontier, troops would journey by means of Byzantium, Nicomedia, Nicaea, Juliopolis and Ancyra. Bithynia had a number of distinguished cities, together with Calchedon (a free city) and Apamea, Prusa, and Heraclea Pontica (colonies). Throughout Hadrian’s reign, varied centres corresponding to Caesarea Germanica, Apamea Myrlea, Cius, Calchedon, Bithynium Claudiopolis, and Nicomedia issued cash with the Emperor’s picture.

Greek tradition thrived in Bithynia, a province that produced notable writers and intellectuals. Asclepiades from Prusa (c. 124–40 BC) was a Greek doctor who established Greek drugs in Rome. Lucius Flavius Arrianus (c. 95–175), identified primarily for his work dedicated to the expeditions of Alexander the Nice and his Periplus of the Euxine Sea, was from Nicomedia. Cassius Dio (c. 155–235) from Nicaea was the writer of the Historical past of Rome, and Dio Chrysostom from Prusa (c. 40–c. 110) was a Greek rhetorician and thinker who gained fame in Rome and all through the empire for his writings and speeches.

Though Bithynia et Pontus was ruled by a single Roman governor, Bithynia had its personal provincial meeting, known as the koinon of Bithynia. The meeting met at Nicomedia in a temple devoted to the imperial cult, often known as the Temple of Rome and Augustus. Augustus, who authorised the development in 29 BC, solely allowed temples to be inbuilt his honour if the goddess Rome was additionally worshipped (Suetonius, Augustus 52). The temple is depicted on the reverses of Hadrianic cistophori bearing the legend COM(MUNE) BI(THYNIAE), that means “koinon of Bithynia”. Though the temple has not been discovered, it has been reconstructed primarily based on intensive numismatic proof (RPC III, no. 968-984). The temple was inbuilt Corinthian type and had eight columns, and the inscription on the entablature learn Romae Senatui Populo Augusto. It was in all probability broken in an earthquake and later restored throughout the reign of Hadrian.

All forms of Hadrianic cistophori have counterparts within the bronze sequence (RPC III, no. 985-1021), which repeatedly function ΚΟΙ-ΝΟΝ ΒΕΙΘΥΝΙΑϹ as legends. Nevertheless, no hint of this provincial imperial shrine has been found. The architectural look of the temple is barely identified by means of these cistophori and bronze cash produced by the koinon of Bithynia. The first position of the koinon was to arrange the cult of the Emperor, handle the regional financial system, and acquire taxes.

Bithynia, a senatorial province, was in a state of disarray, each financially and administratively, earlier than Trajan took direct management of it. In AD 110, the Optimus Princeps appointed Pliny the Younger, an skilled administrator, as legatus Augusti professional praetore (proconsular legate of the province) to train his imperium within the allegedly corrupt province. Throughout his tenure, Pliny corresponded with the Emperor to debate administrative points, engineering tasks, and on a regular basis life within the province and its cities. Pliny additionally commented on the emergence of Christianity within the province and sought the Emperor’s recommendation on the right way to take care of this new sect (Ep. 10.96).

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Nicomedia was an necessary port with a well-protected harbour. Town was situated on the principle roads that instantly linked Byzantium to Pontus and Armenia, making it an necessary connection level between the jap frontiers of the empire. It was based in 264 BC by Nicomedes I on the ruins of a Greek colony named Olbia, a Megarian city based within the eighth century BC. Nicomedia served because the chief residence of the Bithynian kings and was the centre of pre-Roman administration. Through the Roman interval, it grew to become a metropolis and the provincial capital, the place the principle administrator of the province resided. Regardless of a number of damaging earthquakes (town rests on the North Anatolian faultline), Nicomedia by no means misplaced its geographical and strategic significance, competing with Nicaea for the primary rank within the province. It was considered one of 37 cities in Asia that acquired the title of neokoros a number of occasions (3 times), related to the imperial cult.

Nicomedia was predominantly constructed on picturesque hills overlooking the ocean. It had sturdy partitions with gates, some elements of which nonetheless exist right now. Town thrived notably throughout the Flavian and Antonine intervals. In his letters to Trajan, Pliny mentions a number of public buildings of town, corresponding to a senate home, a discussion board, and a temple of Cybele. He additionally spoke of an incredible fireplace that engulfed Nicomedia, inflicting a lot destruction due to the dearth of firemen (Plin. Ep. 10.33). Pliny additional reported on the Nicomedian aqueduct, which took an funding of three.5 million sesterces however was not accomplished (Plin. Ep 10.37). Nicomedia additionally had temples devoted to Isis (Plin. Ep 10.37), Zeus Bronton (TAM IV 58), and Cybele/Magna Mater (TAM IV 74). Different notable buildings included giant baths, a nymphaeum, a theatre, gymnasia, quite a few fountains, a circus, and an agora.

Town’s chief divinity of Nicomedia was Demeter, the Olympian goddess of the harvest and agriculture who presided over crops and the fertility of the earth. Nicomedia held common video games known as Demetria in her honour. Arrian, who served because the priest of Demeter and her daughter Kore (as per TAM IV 402), reported that the Mysteries of Demeter and Kore originated in Nicomedia. Through the imperial interval, cash from Nicomedia normally depicted the patron goddess carrying a sceptre, an attribute related to the Eleusinian goddess. The cult celebrating the earth’s fertility was some of the necessary in historical occasions and was comparatively common in Bithynia. This will have been because of the fertility of the realm, as Nicomedia had very fertile valleys and coastal districts that produced an incredible number of merchandise, starting from grain to grapes and nuts.

The famend orator from Antioch, Libanius, resided in Nicomedia from 344 to 349. He referred to Nicomedia as “town of Demeter” and recorded the existence of a temple devoted to Demeter. He additionally documented town’s outstanding buildings, which had been destroyed within the earthquake of AD 358.

What metropolis was extra lovely? Its public buildings had been splendid, its personal contiguous, rising from the bottom elements to the citadel, just like the branches of a cypress, one home above one other, watered by rivulets and surrounded by gardens. Its council-chambers, its faculties of oratory, the multitude of its temples, the magnificence of its baths, and the commodiousness of its harbour I’ve seen, however can not describe. Libanius, Ornationes LXI 7

Nicomedia was among the many cities that worshipped Antinous after his dying within the Nile in Egypt. There are cash confirming that the younger Bithynian was heroised, as he’s proven on cash with the legends ‘ΗΡΩϹ ΑΝΤΙΝΟΟϹ’ (hero Antinous) on the obverse and ‘Η ΜΗΤΡΟΠΟΛΙϹ ΝΙΚΟΜΗΔΕΙΑ’ (Nicomedia the Metropolis) on the reverse. Bithynia noticed the significance of Antinous in linking the birthplace with the empire and wished to commemorate him as a divine native hero as nicely.

As beforehand talked about, an earthquake severely broken Nicomedia and Nicaea earlier than Hadrian’s go to. Late chroniclers explicitly report that the Emperor supplied funds for the required restoration work. ‘He [Hadrian] restored Nicomedia and Nicaea of Bithynia, which had collapsed in an earthquake’ (Eus. Hist. 164). The Historia Augusta additionally mentions that Hadrian gave tax exemptions to communities which had been broken by “famines, plagues, and earthquakes” (SHA, Hadrian, 21.5). Malalas claims that Hadrian “bestowed” cash on the surviving residents (Malalas, 279). Furthermore, on a high-relief frieze block discovered inside the nymphaeum at Nicomedia, the identify Hadrian is written within the nominative case (TAM IV, 1 10). That is believed to be associated to the unique constructing or its reconstruction.

Folks tried to help these affected by the earthquake. A funerary monument was constructed to honour a male tutor named Hermes, who risked his personal security to guard the kids underneath his care. The memorial stele reveals Hermes embracing the younger boys together with his arms, shielding them from the falling particles.

Thraso, son of Diogenes, erected this stele for his two sons, Dexiphanes, aged 5 and Thraso, aged 4, and for Hermes, aged twenty-five, who was bringing them up. Within the earthquake collapse, so did he maintain them in his arms.

From this time on, Nicomedia was tormented by large-scale damaging earthquakes. Different emperors, corresponding to Commodus and Julian, helped rebuild town. Commodus additionally introduced Nicomedia with its second neokoros title, whereas Julian spent a number of years within the metropolis and donated a big sum of money in direction of its restoration. After the earthquake of 533/4, Nicomedia misplaced its grandeur, nevertheless it continued to exist within the Byzantine period. Throughout Justinian‘s rule, town was revived by rebuilding church buildings, aqueducts, and bathhouses.

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After Nicomedia, Hadrian went on to help its rival situated to the southeast on the financial institution of Lake Ascania.

[Hadrian] surrounded with sturdy partitions Nicaea and Nicomedea, which had suffered in an earthquake.’ (Niceph. 256/i. 944).

Whereas our data of Hadrian’s response to the earthquake in Nicomedia is proscribed to historical writers, town of Nicaea has delivered some worthwhile epigraphical and archaeological proof that sheds mild on Hadrian’s efforts to rebuild town. Among the many most vital items of epigraphical proof is the lengthy dedication to Hadrian above the Lefke (jap) and Istanbul (northern) metropolis gates.

Nicaea was a rich metropolis located in an unlimited and fertile valley surrounded by mountains. The settlement was linked to the close by Propontis by way of the principle freeway main from Thrace to central Anatolia and increasing southeast in direction of Syria. Nicaea is claimed to have been colonised by Bottiaeans from Central Macedon, who had named town Helikore, however the Mysians subsequently destroyed the primary colony. Within the wake of Alexander the Great‘s dying, Nicaea was rebuilt by the Macedonian king Antigonus I, who named town Antigoneia after himself. Shortly after that, in 301 BC, Lysimachus conquered town after the battle of Ipsus, and he modified its identify to Nikaea in honour of his spouse.

As Strabo data (Strab. 12.4), the city was constructed as a sq. measuring 16 stadia in circumference (approx. 700 sq. km). Town’s streets had been deliberate utilizing the Hippodamian system, with all intersections at proper angles. This technique remains to be seen in Iznik’s trendy avenue structure. Town had two foremost streets resulting in 4 gates that had been seen from a set stone situated on the centre of the gymnasium, which stood on the coronary heart of the city.

As Strabo famous, Nicaea had a smaller ring of partitions throughout the Hellenistic interval. The Hellenistic partitions fell into disuse and disappeared within the Roman interval. As an alternative, freestanding triumphal arches had been constructed underneath Vespasian on the ends of Nicaea’s foremost streets. Town partitions had been reconstructed after the Goths threatened the area within the late third century AD. These partitions fashioned an irregular pentagon round 5 km lengthy, as seen on the reverses of bronze cash minted underneath the emperors Valerian and Gallienus.

Through the reign of Augustus, Nicaea underwent important improvement to the extent that it rivalled Nicomedia because the seat of the provincial governor. A temple was constructed for Roman residents, devoted to Roma, the personification of town of Rome, and Julius Caesar. Moreover, throughout this time, the koinon of Bithynia established agonistic video games in Nicaea, held each 4 years in honour of the Emperor.

Caesar, in the meantime, in addition to attending to the overall enterprise, gave permission for the dedication of sacred precincts in Ephesus and in Nicaea to Rome and to Caesar, his father, whom he named the hero Julius. These cities had at the moment attained chief place in Asia and in Bithynia respectively. Dio 51.20.6

Within the Flavian period, town of Nicaea acquired 4 new monumental gates constructed utilizing native marble. These gates had been devoted to Vespasian and his son Titus, in addition to to Nicaea itself, by the Bithynian proconsul M. Plancius Varus after AD 70 (IK Iznik 25–28). The 4 gates had been situated on the north, east, west and south sides of town. Every gate consisted of an arched central passage and two minor rectangular gateways. The gates had been adorned with statues positioned within the niches on both facet of the archway and presumably over the gates. Later, within the third century AD, the partitions had been raised, and the gates had been fully rebuilt with new brick superstructures and towers as a part of a re-fortification venture.

Pliny the Youthful additional enlarged town and accomplished the development of recent buildings. In discussing the state of Nicaea’s public works, he reported on investments in unfinished buildings such because the theatre {and gymnasium} (Plin. Ep 10.39). The theatre’s development had begun shortly earlier than Pliny inspected the Bithynian cities, costing greater than ten million sesterces. Nevertheless, the constructing was sinking, with cracks showing, and regardless of Pliny’s suggestion that it needs to be demolished, Trajan requested that or not it’s accomplished.

The theatre was situated within the southwest a part of town between the lake and the jap gate. It was constructed largely on vaulted substructures in opus caementicium and confronted with marble. It measured 85 by 55 m and belonged to the Hellenistic kind, though it had undergone a number of alterations. Over the centuries, the theatre grew to become an open-air quarry. Its stones had been used as development supplies, particularly in restoring town partitions throughout the Byzantine and Ottoman intervals.

After the earthquake of AD 120, Hadrian supplied funds for the restoration of Nicaea. The Paschal Chronicle studies that Hadrian repaired town’s partitions, gates, and market. In recognition of his contributions and go to, the northern and jap gates of Nicaea had been rededicated to him. The lengthy dedication to Hadrian on either side of the gates’ architrave additionally mentions the titles metropolis and neokoros conferred by the Emperor to town, which means that the earliest identified neokoros temple at Nicaea belonged to Hadrian. Moreover, a textual content (IK Iznik 56) reveals {that a} native man named Patrocles was chosen to supervise the rebuilding of town in accordance with Hadrian’s directions. Lastly, inscriptions point out the existence of an aqueduct devoted to Hadrian.

“To the emperor king Trajan Hadrian Augustus, son of the god Trajan Particus, grandson of the god Nerva, he who bears upon himself the authority of the individuals’s sovereignty, Nikaia, descended from the road of Dionysos and Herakles, the primary (metropolis) of Bithynia and Pontus, metropolis by the decrees of the emperors and the sacred Roman senate, gives probably the most pious Neokoros of the Augusti”. (IK Iznik 29)

Two inscriptions associated to the aqueduct of Nicaea, one in Greek (IK Iznik 1) and the opposite in Latin (IK Iznik 55), reveal that Hadrian was the individual to whom the aqueduct was devoted. It’s also talked about that the Emperor imposed strict laws for the safety of the aqueduct. Based on the Greek decree, Hadrian ordered the individuals residing close to the aqueduct to not intervene with the water conduit in any manner. Those that did so had been to pay a effective to the treasury. The stays of the aqueduct which are seen right now lengthen to the east of Iznik from the Lefke Gate. The whole size of the aqueduct was about 1.5 km. Based on Procopius (De aedificiis, V, 3), it was restored throughout the time of Justinian. Restorations had been additionally carried out by Theodore I Lascaris (1205–1222) within the thirteenth century AD.

On a small altar (IK Iznik 32) present in Nicaea, Hadrian is known as Zeus Soter Olympios. The usage of the epithet Olympios for Hadrian is attested for the primary time in 128. Nevertheless, it grew to become common after 131/2, the yr during which the Olympieion in Athens was completed, and the Panhellenion (a league of Greek cities with headquarters in Athens) was established.

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Throughout his tour of Bithynia, Hadrian most probably visited the metropolis of Bithynium-Claudiopolis (modern-day Bolu), situated within the highlands to the east of Nicomedia, past the Sangarius River. Bithynium-Claudiopolis stood on the nice Roman freeway that ran parallel to the coastal ridge, connecting Nicomedia to Ancyra in Galatia. Prior to now, town was identified for its pastures and cheese and was one of many main cities of the Kingdom of Bithynia. It’s believed to be a Hellenistic basis of the kings of Bithynia, as there isn’t any proof of an earlier metropolis on its territory. An inscription discovered at Bolu signifies that the founding father of town was King Prusias I. Nevertheless, in accordance with Pausanias, Bithynium was based by Arcadians from Mantinea (Paus. 8.9.7), a perception which can date from the time of Hadrian. The Bithynian metropolis was renamed Claudiopolis throughout Roman occasions underneath Claudius, however by Hadrian’s day, it had reverted to Bithynion (Bithynium).

Bithynium was a metropolis constructed on a low hill, surrounded by well-watered plains. It was outfitted with the standard buildings present in a metropolis, corresponding to markets, gymnasiums and palaestras, a theatre, and a large bath-house situated on the foot of the mountain. Nevertheless, Pliny had some issues about attainable overspending and poor engineering. Consequently, he requested that Trajan ship an architect to examine the tasks. In response, Trajan gave his well-known rejoinder: “There should be loads of architects to advise you, for there isn’t any province which is with out some males of expertise and ability in that career, and keep in mind once more that it doesn’t save time to ship one from Rome when so lots of our architects come to Rome from Greece.” (Ep. 10.39-40).

Based on Pausanias, Antinous was born in Bithynium-Claudiopolis, though he himself “by no means noticed him within the flesh”. He provides that the Bithynians’ ancestors had been Mantineans from Arcadia. The Mantineans, who, as A. Birley notes, “had been later to honour Antinous with specific fervour”, definitely claimed him as considered one of their very own. Dio confirms the native land, including that Bithynium is now known as Claudiopolis (Dio Cass. 69.11.2).

Antinous was by delivery from Bithynium past the river Sangarius, and the Bithynians are by descent Arcadians of Mantineia. Paus. 8.9.7

There was a rural space known as Mantineion situated exterior Bithynium-Claudiopolis, within the higher valley of the Ladon River (Socrates Hist. eccl. 2.38), which can have been the exact birthplace of Antinous. The pastoral nature of the panorama during which Antinous grew up proved key for the later presentation of the Bithynian youth as a woodland boy (Robert, 1980). As well as, the obverses of a sequence of medallions struck at Bithynium in direction of the top of Hadrian’s reign present Antinous as a divinised herdsman or as Hermes Nomios, “the protector of pastures and shepherds”.

Though the precise circumstances stay unknown, we are able to infer that Hadrian first encountered Antinous throughout his journey by means of the province. He might have been seen at some public ceremony the place Antinous was collaborating. This might have occurred at Claudiopolis, if not at Nicomedia or at Heraclea Pontica, the place athletic contests for boys and males had been held in Hadrian’s honour. Antinous may have been a competitor in these contests (Birley, 1997). After this assembly, Antinous would have been despatched to Rome to attend the imperial paedagogium for additional schooling earlier than turning into a part of the massive entourage of Hadrian and his spouse, Sabina. Nevertheless, we don’t know for positive when Antinous first joined Hadrian on his travels, however his public presence with the emperor wasn’t confirmed till their tour in Egypt in 130.

Hadrian was to grant Bithynium quite a few privileges because the hometown of Antinous and set up a neighborhood cult to Antinous after his dying. The existence of a theatre situated on the southern slope of the Acropolis and a stadium with a size of roughly 93 m are among the many examples of city structure attributed to Hadrian in Bithynium. The stays of marble column fragments from a temple are proof of Hadrian’s dedication to honour Antinous and his hometown.

The architectural fragments from a temple devoted to Antinous and the Hadrianic theatre at the moment are displayed on the Bolu Müzesi, whereas the clearest depiction of the temple is left to us on a single coin minted in Claudiopolis throughout the reign of Elagabalus (AD 218–22), which is now displayed within the Museum of Tremendous Arts in Boston (see here). The Temple of Antinous would have stood above town’s stadium, which itself hosted the Hadrianeia Antinoeia, the sacred video games devoted to Hadrian and Antinous. There may be proof of the establishment of mystic rites (IK Klaudiupolis 65), and an agon mystikos is talked about in an inscription from Ancyra as having travelled to Claudiopolis to take part in a mystical context (I.Ancyra 143).

Antinous was worshipped not solely in public but additionally in personal or home settings. A small limestone altar (IK Klaudiupolis 56) signifies that he was worshipped as a god. A small limestone altar devoted to Antinous is inscribed in Greek: νέωι θεῶ[ι] / Ἀντινόωι / εὐχν / Σωσθένη[ς] (‘to the brand new god Antinous. Sosthenes (set this) as a prayer’). The components signifies that Antinous answered Sosthenes’s prayer (Smith 2018, 53).

Lately, elements of a stadium have been uncovered within the metropolis centre of Bolu, situated on the southern slopes of Hisartepe. This stadium was used because the venue for the Hadrianeia Antinoeia video games. It was constructed utilizing limestone minimize stones with out utilizing mortar. The stadium had an elongated U-shaped construction comprising a operating monitor surrounded by seats on the east, south, and west. The estimated capability of the stadium was 3,500 spectators. The stadium hosted athletic contests, together with boxing and wrestling, in addition to agonistic video games, which in all probability included poetry, music, and drama competitions.

Seven marble slabs had been found in 2008 throughout excavations within the stadium. These slabs type a 20-metre-long inscription (IK Klaudiupolis 53), written in Greek and engraved with common letters in two strains. The inscription reveals that the stadium was devoted to Hadrian and the Demos of Claudiopolis. It additionally states that Gn. Domitius Ponticus Iulianus pledged to fund the stadium’s development however sadly handed away earlier than it was totally accomplished. The venture was taken over by Claudia Procla and Aelius Plotius Iulianus, who had been the authorized foster dad and mom of the daughters of Domitius and managed his property.

A commemorative sequence of cash was issued in honour of Antinous, with the inscription is Η ΠΑΤΡΙΣ ΑΝΤΙΝΟΟΝ ΘΕΟΝ, that’s, “His native nation (reverences) the god Antinous” (RPC III, 1110-1120). Mantinea in Arcadia was the opposite foremost centre of Antinous worship, which was historically considered Bithynium’s mom metropolis. Like Bithynium, Mantinea additionally had a stadium for the integral Hadrianeia Antinoeia. Throughout his go to to Mantinea, Pausanias reported {that a} room within the gymnasium contained a number of Antinous statues, most of which had been conflated with Dionysus. He additionally mentions a temple, the establishment of annual mysteries, and quadrennial video games.

To date, three statue bases of Hadrian (IK Klaudiupolis 51–52–53), dated between AD 131 and 135, have been recognized in Bithynium-Claudiopolis. The sturdy bond between the emperor and town was in the end expressed by renaming town Hadriane, as seen on the native coinage and the milestones. Moreover, two phylai had been additionally renamed Hadriane and Antinois.

The comparatively excessive variety of Aelii (25) in Bithynium-Claudiopolis means that Hadrian granted citizenship to people and bigger teams throughout his go to. Based on Henri-Louis Fernoux (2004), at the very least 84 households of native origin obtained Roman standing in some unspecified time in the future throughout Hadrian’s reign. Examples of native households who named their daughters in accordance with Roman traditions embody Marcia Domitia, Aelia Magna, Aelia Antipatris, and Flavia Valentia from Claudiopolis.

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Bithynium-Claudiopolis was additionally situated on the Roman freeway that headed northward to Heraclea Pontica and Tium (Tios/Tieion), two necessary Greek centres on the Euxine shores in Paphlagonia. Heraclea Pontica (recognized with the current metropolis of Ereğli) is the oldest among the many two centres, with a historical past tracing again to 560 BC. It was based by Dorian Megarians from Attica or, in accordance with Strabo, by Miletus within the eighth century BC (Arrian, Periplus 13.3) or, in accordance with Strabo, by Miletus (Strabo, 12.3.4) within the eighth century BC. Town owes its identify to Hercules, who, in accordance with Greek perception, descended into the underworld by means of a cave situated on the adjoining Archerusian peninsula to seize the three-headed canine Cerberus as a part of the twelfth labours assigned to him by the Mycenean king Eurystheus (now the Cehennemağzı Caves).

Heraclea thrived as a result of its proximity to the fertile lands and sea fisheries. It rapidly grew to become an necessary buying and selling centre and even established colonies on the Black Sea, specifically Callatis and Tauric Chersonesos. The realm was additionally considerable in pines, firs, and beeches, indicating that woodcutting was a standard business. Heraclea boasted a pure harbour that was sheltered and spacious sufficient to accommodate service provider ships. The harbour had two moles and a lighthouse that presumably stood (identified from coins). Town’s social construction was formed by the dominance of sea commerce, transport, and fishing, which additionally drove its financial system.

Based on Strabo, Julius Caesar established a Roman colony in Heraclea. Nevertheless, the colony was later destroyed by the Galatian chieftain Adiatorix, who killed all of the Roman colonists. The colony was re-established by Octavian (Strabo, 12.3.6). Through the reign of Trajan, Heraclea grew to become a metropolis, as proven on the cash bearing the legend ΗΡΑΚΛΕΩΤΑΝ ΜΑΤΡΟΠΟΛΙΤΑΝ (RPC III, 1172). As a Greek metropolis, Heraclea is believed to have had a theatre and a stadium. Within the Roman period, an amphitheatre was constructed, as depicted on cash (RPC VII.2, 2080), however its location stays unknown. Based on the surviving milestones, a highway community main from Heraclea Pontica to Amastris handed by means of Tium, which was constructed as early because the reign of Vespasian.

Pliny didn’t write a lot in regards to the metropolis of Heraclea and solely talked about it as soon as. In his letters, he briefly famous {that a} man named Julius Largus of Pontus bequeathed his property to Heraclea and Tium. He donated 50,000 sesterces to brighten the cities and set up video games in honour of Trajan (Plin. Ep 10.75). Nevertheless, there isn’t any proof of those Traiania video games in inscriptions from Heraclea or in another victory lists. There may be, nevertheless, a reference to the Heracleia Hadrianeia Isaktion (ἐν Ἡρακλε[ί]-ᾳ τῇ πρὸς τῷ Πόντῳ Ἁδρι(ά)νηο[νἩράκλειον ἰσάκτ(ι)ον), the isactian (of Actium), Hadrianic, and Heraclean competitions (Chingyuan, 2018).

An inscription found in Aphrodisias (I.Aphr. 12.215) and dated to the early 3rd century (after AD 211) commemorates the victory of an athlete named Marcus Aurelius […]os. He was a long-distance runner who gained the boys’ distance race in each the Hadrianeia Herakleia Isaktia held at Heraclea Pontica and the Hadrianeia Antinoeia held at Bithynium-Claudiopolis. He additionally gained contests in Ancyra, Chalcedon, Nicomedia and Nicaea, competing on this circuit each as a boy and as an grownup.

As a result of lack of epigraphic documentation, it’s unclear when the Hadrianeia Herakleia Isaktia was based. It’s steered that they both changed the Traianea Heracleia when a brand new Emperor ascended the throne (Chingyuan, 2018) or had been based ex novo underneath the reign of the Emperor, as in different cities (Hervás, 2018). The brand new Hadrianic competition related to the imperial cult was assimilated to Hercules, the patron deity of Heraclea Pontica, and was thought of equal in rank to the contests of Actium (Boatwright, 2000). The identify of the video games implies that their organisation in all probability adopted the identical sample because the Actian video games established by Augustus in Nicopolis in 27 BC after the Battle of Actium. This system consisted of musical competitions, athletic video games, and horse races, with three age classes: boys, youthful ephebes, and older ephebes. These video games had been held each 4 years, and the winner was awarded a crown of reeds.

in nearly each metropolis [Hadrian] each constructed one thing and gave video games” (HA, Hadr. 19.2)

There may be an fascinating inscription from Heraclea Pontica (I.Heraclea 2), which tells us that the thymelic synod of artists in Rome was renamed in honour of  Hadrian and his beloved Antinous within the yr 130. After Antinous’ dying, he was divinised and syncretised with Hermes in Rome (IGUR I 143). At the moment, the thymelic synod issued a decree in Rome for considered one of its members, Marcius Xenokrates, a duplicate of which was despatched to his hometown Heraclea Pontica. Many cities created video games and festivals (agones) named after Hadrian. No less than nineteen of those Hadrianeia and 4 Antinoeia, together with the one at Bithynium-Claudiopolis, are identified to us (Fauconnier, 2023).

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One other Bithynian metropolis that ought to have been favoured with a go to is Prusias advert Hypium (Konuralp), an necessary metropolis between Nicomedia and Amastris on the Euxine within the Pontus area. Town was based within the 4th century BC by settlers from Heraclea Pontica and was initially often known as Kieron. Within the early third century BC, it was conquered by King Prusias I of Bithynia, who renamed town after himself. Prusias advert Hypium was located on a hillside overlooking the plain across the Hypius River and going through Mt. Olympus. It was strategically situated on an necessary highway that linked Nicomedia, Amastris and different settlements within the northern a part of Anatolia.

Prusias advert Hypium was a thriving buying and selling centre that grew to become part of the Roman Republic in 74 BC. Town grew from 4 native tribes (Megaris, Thebias, Dionysias, and Prusias) throughout the Hellenistic interval to 12 by the top of the 2nd century AD, together with two named after Hadrian and Sabina (Hadriane and Sabiniane). Prusias advert Hypium loved a level of autonomy in native governance and even issued its personal forex. Town’s early Roman cash had been first minted underneath Vespasian (see here). Prusias advert Hypium was dwelling to temples devoted to Zeus, Asclepius, Aphrodite, Hermes, Dionysus, and Tyche. An altar unearthed at Prusias referred to Hadrian as “Olympios” (IK Prusias 35).

Sadly, the traditional metropolis of Prusias advert Hypium is generally buried underneath the fashionable settlement. Solely the theatre stays as a preserved monumental construction. Though inscriptions recognized a stadium, a gymnasium, an agora, and a bathhouse, they’ve but to be situated. The significance of this metropolis is highlighted by the finds on show on the native Konuralp Museum. The museum homes a group of 6,237 objects, together with 1,848 archaeological artefacts, 491 ethnographic objects, and three,898 cash. Guests may see a flooring mosaic depicting Orpheus (see here). Probably the most spectacular discover, a marble statue of Tyche, was uncovered in 1931 and is on show on the Istanbul Archaeology Museum.

A number of inscriptions present details about a metropolis’s cultural degree. Many athletes and artists participated within the Augusteia video games, which had been held each 4 years to honour the reigning Emperor. The video games had been organized by the imperial priest (IK Prusias 31). Kallikleanos Kallikles, who based considered one of these video games, was honoured with a monument by the sacred, travelling athletic and theatrical synods (I Prusias 49). The significance of theatre performances within the metropolis is confirmed by an epitaph that tells us {that a} tragedian named Philoksenos from Athens died and was buried in Prusias (I Prusias 97). Philoxenus’ tomb was restored by one other visiting tragedian from Corinth, whose identify was Isthmus.

The theatre of Prusias advert Hypium was constructed on a pure slope on the high of a hill that overlooks the plain south of the settlement. It’s a outstanding constructing that boasts a semicircular orchestra, a stage constructing with three doorways and 6 home windows, and a cavea consisting of three sections – ima, media and summa – and 6 vaulted entrances on the jap and western ends. The stage constructing, which is a single-storey construction, measures 50 meters in size, 12 meters in width, and 6 meters in top and has a rectilinear form. It was completely constructed utilizing limestone blocks in opus isodomum, just like the analemma wall. The theatre displays each Greek and Roman influences and was constructed in direction of the top of the first century BC. It was expanded throughout the Roman interval. The reduction of a defend and wreath on the west aditum maximus (entrance to the orchestra) means that it might have been used for sports activities competitions or gladiator reveals. The pancratiast Aelius Aurelius Menandros, a citizen of Aphrodisias, gained the boys’s pancration within the mid-2nd century AD in Prusias advert Hypium and lots of different cities in Bithynia (IAph 2007, 12.920), indicating that the theatre was additionally used for boxing and wrestling.

Based on the architectural parts and epigraphic proof, the theatre underwent a large-scale renovation within the 2nd century AD, and the stage constructing dates again to the Hadrianic interval. An architrave block mentions M. Iulius Proclus because the donator of the proscenium, however solely one-third of the unique c. 47.5 m lengthy inscription is preserved. Nevertheless, M. Iulius Proclus is similar individual talked about on the bottom of a statue devoted to Hadrian (I.Prusias 34). Consequently, the stage constructing may been devoted to Hadrian, along with the Roman Senate and other people.

The theatre of Prusias advert Hypium was an intricately adorned constructing. Through the previous 4 years of excavations, archaeologists have uncovered quite a few architectural fragments adorned with carved reliefs. In 2022, a marble block depicting the mythological story of Actaeon being devoured by his searching canine was found within the theatre’s orchestra. Many different extremely adorned architectural fragments, together with entablatures with tragedy and comedy masks that had been as soon as a part of the theatre stage construction, had been additionally discovered. In 2023, a lion mosaic was unearthed in an oblong room linked to the portico in the course of the theatre axis. Lastly, a well-preserved portrait head of Alexander the Nice, relationship again to the 2nd century, was found (see here).

Hadrian might have visited different locations in Bithynia, corresponding to Apamea-Myrlea, Cius, and Prusa advert Olympum (Bursa). Apamea was the patria of Lucius Catilius Severus (stuff. 110, cos. II 120). After Hadrian acceded to the throne in Antioch, he appointed Severus as governor of Syria so he may return to Rome (see here). Birley means that Severus may have sailed dwelling to welcome Hadrian in individual. Apamea, situated on the jap shore of the Sea of Marmara, additionally serving as a port, was the one Roman colony in all of Bithynia, thus named Colonia Iulia Concordia Apamea, established throughout the reign of Julius Caesar or Augustus. Apamea acquired the privileges of a free metropolis, and provincial officers weren’t allowed to intervene in its affairs. Nevertheless, Pliny visited Apamea and consulted Trajan to have town’s accounts and expenditures audited (Plin. Ep. 10.47). Trajan insisted on the examination being performed “with out prejudice to their present privileges” (Plin. Ep. 10.48).

There may be little data out there in regards to the structure of Apamea. Nevertheless, it’s identified that the native council constructed a small public bathtub known as Balineum Hadrianum in honour of Hadrian, Sabina, and the Senate. An inscription from the yr 128/9 AD confirms that Hadrian donated public funds to the venture. The inscription reads balineum Hadrianum pecunia publica dedicauit (CIL III 6992).

There was a rivalry between Nicomedia and Nicaea to develop into “first metropolis” of their province. Equally, there was a long-standing battle between Apamea and Prusa. Prusa was established by King Prusias, with the steerage of Hannibal, who had taken refuge with the Bithynian king. Town was well-sited on the foot of Bithynian Mount Olympus (right now’s Uludağ) and was well-known for its scorching baths that bore the identify “royal waters” and had been nonetheless appreciated within the Byzantine age. The Acropolis was a rocky plateau c. 600 m throughout, bounded by steep slopes on three sides and the fourth by the rising flank of the mountain. Partitions additional strengthened the pure defences of the Acropolis.

Pliny made important contributions to the embellishment of Prusa by establishing new public buildings. Amongst these had been the baths that he discovered “in a uncared for and dilapidated state” and wanted to be rebuilt to swimsuit “the dignity of town” (Plin. Ep. 10.23). In a letter to town of Prusa (IK Prusa ad Olympum 4), Hadrian writes a few controversy over its scorching springs. The dispute probably concerned monetary questions corresponding to the difficulties Pliny handled (Boatwright, 2000). A bronze coin of the late Severan interval minted in Prusa reveals two water nymphs of the springs reclining in entrance of a constructing that will signify the façade of the thermal bathtub (RPC VI, 3027).

One may also postulate a go to to Cius (later renamed Prusias advert Mare) on the very jap tip of the gulf within the Propontis, known as the Gulf of Cius. Town was based by Ionians from Miletus and have become an necessary buying and selling centre as a result of its strategic location on the commerce routes main eastward to the Sangarius and southeastward into Phrygia. In 202 BC, town was destroyed by Philip V of Macedon throughout the Second Macedonian Conflict (200-197 BC) together with Apamea. Nevertheless, it was rebuilt by Prusias I. Inscriptions and cash point out that Cius appointed a Bithyniarch, who was the chief priest answerable for the imperial cult and the Koinon. This Bithyniarch erected a statue of Hadrian and a temple (IK Kios 12) and renamed town Hadriane (RPC III, 1050).

A member of Hadrian’s entourage on the time was the well-known sophist and trainer of rhetoric, Marcus Antonius Polemon, who mentions the subsequent journey in his Physiognomica (preserved solely in Arabic translation). Polemo wrote, “I as soon as accompanied the best of emperors on his travels, and we set out from Thrace to Asia with troopers and carriages escorting the emperor” (Birley, 1997). This passage suits Hadrian’s journey of AD 124 and clearly signifies that Hadrian crossed the Sea of Marmara to Thrace earlier than coming into Asia, the place his presence is well-documented in historical data.

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References & sources:

• Birley A.R. (1997), Hadrian The Stressed Emperor, London, Roman Imperial Biographies pp. 157-161.
• Boatwright, M.T. (2000), Hadrian and the Cities of the Roman Empire, Princeton
• Value, S. (1998), Rituals and Energy. The Roman Imperial Cult in Asia Minor, 2, Cambridge
• Marek, C. (2002), Die Phylen von Klaudiupolis, die Geschichte der Stadt und die Topographie Ostbithyniens’, Museum Helveticum 59: 31–50.
• Kritsotakis, D. (2008). Hadrian and the Greek East: Imperial Coverage and Communication (PhD Ohio State College). Columbus. (link)
• Smith, R. (2018), Antinous: boy made god. Oxford: Ashmolean Museum.
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• Fernoux, H. (2004) Notables et élites des cités de Bithynie aux époques hellénistique et romaine (IIIe siècle av. J.-C. – IIIe siècle ap. J.-C.), Essai d’histoire social (Assortment de la Maison de l’Orient et de la Méditerranée 31, Serie Épigraphique et Historique 5), Paris.
• Chingyuan, Wu (2018), The Native Affect Of The Koinon In Roman Coastal Paphlagonia, Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 3204. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/3204
• Hervás, RG. (2018), Competing for the emperor: video games and festivals in honour of Hadrian, ARYS. Antigüedad: Religiones y Sociedades, 177-205
• Fauconnier, B. (2023). In Athletes and Artists within the Roman Empire: The Historical past and Organisation of the Ecumenical Synods (pp. iii–iii). title-page, Cambridge: Cambridge College Press.
• Emre Okan, Ahmet Bilir, Doğuş Çalışkan (2022). Historic Theater of Prusias Advert Hypium: New Excavations, First Knowledge. Höyük, (9), 33-66. doi:10.37879/hoyuk.2022.033