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00:00August, 177 AD. The Roman Empire, the most powerful political formation on the planet, is in crisis. Emperor Trojan is seriously ill. He returns to Rome along the Mediterranean coast. His empire is engulfed by fire, fire everywhere.
00:23The power of his empire, which stretched from England and Wales through Western Europe, the Balkans to the Middle East and North Africa, was undermined by the uprising.
00:33The British, the Mauritius, North Africa, the Jews, Cyprus, Egypt and Libya rebelled. The legions carried out a brutal massacre on them. On the Danube border, disorder, military campaign in Mesopotamia failed. On the territory of modern Iraq and Iran, scattered legions remained under the threat of complete destruction.
00:51On August 11, 117 AD, the Roman commander of the eastern legions in Syria heard that Emperor Trojan had died. He seized the opportunity, he proclaimed himself emperor and recalled troops from Mesopotamia, where they were on the verge of destruction.
01:10This was the first decisive decision of one of the greatest Roman emperors of all time. The glory of this man does not fade to this day. His name is equally revered in Britain and in the deserts of Syria and Palestine. Publius Eliadrian.
01:27Hadrian.
01:34Hadrian.
01:35Hadrian was not only one of the greatest Roman emperors. I have always considered him one of the most mysterious and outstanding figures in ancient history.
01:51Now at the British Museum in London, there is an exhibition that sheds light on some of the key moments in the biography of the famous emperor.
02:01Artifacts from all over the northern hemisphere are collected here. Many of them are presented for the first time. This is evidence that Hadrian not only built the wall, but also succeeded in uniting an empire that occupied the territory of 40 modern states.
02:17Together with a huge statue, these exhibits allow us to learn more about Hadrian. What kind of person, lover, soldier and architect he was. His vision provided Rome with a whole era of peace and prosperity.
02:31I'm going to try to get to the place where these exhibits were found. I want to learn about the empire of Hadrian, the emperor who traveled more lands and gained more power than any of the Roman emperors.
02:45I want to see the architectural structures of his era, the places that inspired him. My journey begins in Rome.
03:01I'm on the ground floor of a pizzeria on the outskirts of Rome. I'm barely able to answer the question about the place where the story of Hadrian, one of the greatest emperors who ever lived on earth, began.
03:14And yet, right here is the first information about his origin and the prelude to his ascension. This building was actually built on the site of an ancient garbage pit.
03:24This is Monte Testaccio, which is roughly translated as Mount of Shards. At its highest point, it's about 50 meters above the ground, and it covers an area of about 26,000 square meters.
03:41And the extraordinary thing is that this building is entirely made out of broken bits of rock. There are millions and millions of them.
03:53It's estimated that if you glue these pieces together, you get about 24 million whole amphorae.
04:00In these vessels, there is only one type of transport – olive oil.
04:05A staple of ancient Rome – olive oil.
04:0980% of the olive oil that was imported to the capital was produced in the Roman province of Betica, in the south of Spain.
04:18The owners of the olive groves in this region became the new elite of the court. Among them was Hadrian's family.
04:25Hadrian himself was born in 76 AD. He became an orphan early on, but by the will of fate, one of his relatives, the future emperor Trojan, was appointed his patron.
04:35The Trojan Column in Rome is a representation of the famous expansion of the empire along the Danube and in the lands of the Dacians, the territory of modern Romania.
04:44It was during these conquering campaigns that Hadrian earned the reputation of a brave commander, hardened in battle.
04:51But by becoming emperor, Hadrian did something unthinkable.
04:54He completely changed the policy of expansion of Trojan, reinforced the old northern borders and returned the lands conquered by sweat and blood for the glory of Rome.
05:06Some considered this act to be madness, others – treachery.
05:12To this day, there is no record of Hadrian's acceptance in Rome 11 months after his enthronement.
05:20But the beginning of his reign was not cloudless.
05:24Many did not trust his words that he was declared a legitimate successor to the emperor Trojan.
05:29It was said that it was he who put his hand to the execution of four influential politicians.
05:35Then Hadrian began to return the conquered lands to their former owners and refused future expansion.
05:42Such a policy could not reduce the approval of the Senate, the Romans and the Plebs.
05:46The fact is that conquests not only brought glory and were a reason for national pride, but also provided a flow of money and slaves to the city.
05:55Let's take, for example, the forum of Trojan.
05:58It was built on the funds obtained as trophies during the war in Dacia.
06:02Hadrian needed to work on his political image.
06:05In order to show himself as a generous ruler, he ordered to build here on the forum papers on tax debts amounting to 900 million sestari and burn.
06:15Then he decided to bring the people together, setting up a grain ration for everyone and personally giving each of them six gold bars.
06:23But even more important for the prosperity of the state was Hadrian's decision to follow the example of his idol, the first Roman emperor Augustus.
06:30Hadrian ordered the construction of magnificent temples and public buildings, many of which have survived to this day.
06:41Construction meant new jobs, and at the same time a source of income for the citizens.
06:47He conquered the location of people and became a legislator of trends.
06:51For the first time in many centuries, the beard, like Hadrian's, became a real fashion phenomenon.
06:56Hadrian was concerned.
06:58Perhaps he subordinated himself to the people of Rome, but he could not fully unite the entire empire.
07:03To achieve this, Hadrian went on a journey through all the provinces of the empire, from Europe to North Africa and the Middle East.
07:11First, he headed to the borders on the upper Danube and the Rhine.
07:15Here he began to gather powerful troops.
07:17In his biography, it is said that Hadrian, wanting peace more than war, trained his troops as if war was already knocking at the door.
07:27Then he sent legions to build a wall 550 kilometers long along the border of the Danube and the Rhine.
07:34Hadrian began to outline the physical boundaries of his empire.
07:39A Roman chronicler tells about his achievements.
07:43In his imperial manner, he went to Britain, where he established his order and built a wall 128 kilometers long, separating the Romans from the barbarians.
07:52And here it is, this is the most remarkable part of Hadrian's wall that has come to this day.
07:57It begins among those cliffs and goes beyond the horizon.
08:01Once it stretched for 117 kilometers from modern Newcastle to Solway Firth.
08:06It is interesting that Hadrian was keenly interested in architecture and engineering,
08:11and in his chronicles there are hints that he took an active part in the development of the project of the most impressive fortification structure of the Roman Empire.
08:32The encirclement of Hadrian in this journey was very impressive.
08:37Senators, military advisers, architects, engineers, as well as, for respectability, Empress Sabina, Hadrian's wife.
08:46This marriage was arranged by Troy, it was truly a terrible marriage.
08:50Hadrian preferred the society of men.
08:53He was tired of scandals and visits to his wife, who, it seems, did everything not to get pregnant from Hadrian,
08:58claiming that his abductions would stain the human race.
09:02There was no love here.
09:07His soldiers were much more devoted to Hadrian.
09:11The 6th Victory Legion was called to strengthen the northern borders of Britain,
09:15where, as stated in the chronicle, the Romans could not keep the British.
09:23Now they could.
09:24Probably this wall had a huge impact on the surrounding landscape and the minds of the local tribes.
09:30Its size was unimaginable.
09:32This is what Hadrian wanted to say.
09:34The land on this side of the wall no longer belonged to the British, but was part of the Roman Empire.
09:42This is the frontier, and you can cross it only with the permission of Rome.
09:49Hadrian would never return to Britain to look at the finished wall.
09:54He did not need it, because the problem was already solved.
09:57Now he was thinking about strengthening the borders in other parts of the Empire.
10:01The wall was constantly under construction and would change in the next 6 years.
10:05But the first stage of the construction, the creation of a physical barrier, was completed in the shortest time,
10:10and not by slaves, but by tens of thousands of disciplined legionaries, specially trained for such work.
10:17We have plenty of examples of the speeches of the ancient commanders,
10:20but to tell the truth, most of them were invented by historians and propagandists.
10:25But in the case of Hadrian, we have a record of his real speeches.
10:29They came to our days because they were carved on stone.
10:32And here is one of them.
10:34You have built a wall that usually takes time to create an earthen shaft,
10:38but the wall you have erected is made of huge heavy stones of all shapes and sizes.
10:43To lift and carry these heavy blocks and lay them so that the irregularities are not noticeable
10:47requires a lot of work and great precision.
10:50This is Hadrian's address to his people at the end of the construction of the wall.
10:55But he does not speak to the troops that built here, and not about this wall.
11:18It is hard to imagine that Hadrian's shaft was built against the background of such a landscape in Northern England.
11:24In fact, Hadrian spoke to his troops that built the stone wall here, in North Africa.
11:41I am in modern-day Tunisia.
11:43The Mediterranean Sea is 100 km in that direction, and the Sahara Desert lies to the south from here.
11:48The ascent here took a lot of effort.
11:51Look, this is the southern border of the Roman Empire.
12:13It looks very similar to Hadrian's shaft.
12:17They were built in the same technique.
12:20But there is one key difference between them.
12:23Hadrian's shaft extends along a single massif along the British coast,
12:27while in Northern Africa the Romans built many small sections
12:31for the protection of fertile lands inside and outside of the Roman Empire.
12:35For the rest of the border, deserts and mountains served as a natural barrier.
12:39It seems that Hadrian literally decided to surround the borders of his empire
12:43with stone fences stretching from the Black Sea along the Danube and the Rhine
12:47through Northern England to strategically important points in Northern Africa.
12:52It was all thought through.
12:55These walls had a psychological and military strategic purpose
12:59to mark and protect the borders of the empire.
13:02But here, in North Africa, they had another purpose.
13:06The wall controlled the flow of people.
13:09Especially today, when you look at the wall,
13:12you can see that there are a lot of people,
13:15a lot of people who have come from all over the world.
13:18The wall controlled the flow of people,
13:21especially the seasonal migration of nomadic tribesmen and their flocks.
13:27This order helped to maximize the productivity of these not so fertile lands.
13:35Hadrian did not just protect the peasants,
13:38but also freed them for seven years from rent and taxes.
13:41He was very popular, especially after it rained for the first time in five years.
13:46Soon, Northern Africa began to produce more olive oil and wheat than ever before.
13:56This is Sbetla in central Tunisia.
13:59In front of us are some of the most beautiful Roman ruins.
14:03Among them, there are clear evidence of how fertile the land had become.
14:11Take this, for example, a press for olive oil.
14:13Olives were put here, then they were pressed, and the oil flowed into a huge wheel.
14:19This oil was not intended for local use, but for export.
14:23Hadrian's policy was to promote peace and cooperation,
14:27not war and expansion.
14:31With Hadrian, North Africa flourished.
14:34This prosperity lasted for several centuries.
14:37The transformation of Roman provinces in North Africa from a semi-desert to fertile agricultural regions
14:43could last for decades, but Hadrian accelerated this process as much as possible.
14:53There is another reason to visit North Africa.
14:56There is evidence that one of the greatest Roman emperors, Hadrian,
15:01was firmly convinced that the Roman civilization was rooted in a key institution, the city.
15:11Throughout his reign, Hadrian tried to rebuild and rebuild about 400 imperial cities,
15:19as well as founded several new ones.
15:21In fact, he sought to root out the Roman image and way of life in the provinces,
15:25and at the same time, the values, order, and privileges.
15:31So, to attack a city meant a direct threat to the heart of the empire,
15:35and to everything that Hadrian valued.
15:37And this is exactly what happened here.
15:39The Jews, being an ethnic minority,
15:43were quite an impressive part of the population in the Roman provinces of North Africa and the Middle East.
15:48Two years before Hadrian ascended to the throne, the Jews raised an uprising.
15:53Blood-shedding rebellions began in Cyprus and Egypt,
15:55but they were nowhere as brutal as here, in Cyrene, the capital of the Roman province of Cyrenaica,
16:01on the territory of modern-day Libya.
16:08Roman historian Cassius Dion writes that in this province alone,
16:13220,000 Greeks and Romans suffered a terrible death.
16:17Many were tortured to death, others became victims of cannibalism.
16:22However, Cassius Dion has a habit of exaggerating real numbers
16:26and smacking the scenes of violence with abundant details.
16:30But it is clear that these uprisings became a serious threat to the integrity of the empire
16:34and the position of the emperor himself.
16:37The uprisings were suppressed by proven, cruel methods.
16:41Now Hadrian had a task to restore order.
16:46Hadrian issued an order to restore Cyrene
16:49shortly before his first major trip in 121 AD.
16:53Local archaeologist Abdul-Rahim Sharif tells and shows us evidence
16:58of how serious the damage was from these uprisings
17:01and how Hadrian restored the city after the bloody events.
17:11This is the largest Greek temple in North Africa.
17:15Slightly bigger than the Temple of Parthenon.
17:18A little bigger than the Temple in Athens?
17:21Yes, we also know that, as in other places, in Cyrenaica,
17:24it was destroyed by the Jews.
17:27They dug trenches under the columns,
17:30burned their fires, and at some point the buildings collapsed.
17:34But Hadrian rebuilt this temple.
17:38Some years ago, a very real evidence was found
17:42of how serious the destruction of the temple was.
17:46The burnt marble head of Zeus was split
17:50into over a hundred tiny fragments.
17:57Next, in dire need of restoration,
18:00public buildings were needed, for example, the baths,
18:03symbolizing civilized life.
18:06Here are the two-tiered mosaics,
18:09that is, two layers.
18:11The original was created during the time of Hadrian,
18:14and the second was restored by Hadrian.
18:17He restored the building again.
18:24The center of the province of Cyrenaica was also severely damaged.
18:30This is the Roman Forum, which was restored by Hadrian.
18:34Incredible scale! It's huge!
18:37On the other side you can see the Roman basilica,
18:41as well as the marble head of Hadrian.
18:44Hadrian is remembered in Libya
18:47as one of the most important emperors in history, right?
18:50Yes, the local population loves him,
18:53and calls him the restorer of Libya.
18:56He did great things, he was a great man.
18:59Hadrian continued to support Cyrene,
19:01because it was his first important architectural project
19:04outside of Rome.
19:07He not only built several houses,
19:10he became the author of the new idea of the city as such,
19:13strengthened the main concept,
19:16which united the civilized Greeks and the Romans
19:19and distinguished them from the barbarians.
19:21His cultivation of the province by creating cities
19:24was only gaining momentum
19:27when he crossed the Mediterranean
19:30and entered the territory of modern Turkey.
19:45I'm on the way up to Mount Aladag
19:48in southern Turkey.
19:51Now we are at an altitude of 1,500 meters.
19:54To be honest, it doesn't look like Newcastle or Cyrene at all,
19:57but I made this way,
20:00because here are the most historical evidences
20:03telling about Hadrian.
20:16This is Sagalassos.
20:18For over 20 years,
20:21archaeologists have been removing layer by layer,
20:24revealing for themselves the history of this city,
20:27complete earthquakes, epidemics, conquests
20:30and even the threat of complete desolation
20:33about 1,300 years ago.
20:36During the excavations, it became obvious
20:39that Hadrian's influence in this region
20:42is much greater than in any imperial city.
20:45By granting Sagalassos some privileges,
20:48it became a cultural center for the whole province.
20:53Hadrian himself told about this city like this.
20:56This is the first city in the province of Pisidia,
20:59a friend and ally of Rome.
21:02Soon the builders came here.
21:10The strangest thing about the history of Sagalassos
21:13is that the locals didn't need such a big city,
21:15but it became so for a reason.
21:18As in many other 130 cities across the empire,
21:21Hadrian arranged the Agones Games in Sagalassos,
21:24which attracted spectators and participants from all over Pisidia.
21:29Hadrian created a provincial center
21:32for sporting games and cultural events.
21:37He not only built a great theater here,
21:40but also temples,
21:42baths,
21:45everything that should have been in a modern,
21:48civilized Roman city.
21:56We know that it was during his first grand journey
21:59across the empire that Hadrian met a person
22:02who brought him great happiness and grief,
22:05which he could not even imagine.
22:08The name of this young man was Antinous.
22:11A Greek with classical beauty
22:14and passion for hunting,
22:17like his new mentor,
22:20Antinous became Hadrian's constant companion.
22:23Their relationship with each other
22:26was very different from that of Rome.
22:29For the citizens of the next city, Athens,
22:32the relationship between the experienced man
22:35and the beautiful young man
22:37was very noble.
22:55It's hard to overestimate the importance of Athens for Hadrian.
22:59Since his childhood, he has been obsessed with everything Greek.
23:02But if the journey across the empire
23:04was not a simple campaign
23:07for the reformation of the government
23:10and urban infrastructure in the province,
23:13in Athens, he finally felt at home.
23:16Hadrian called it the city of his soul.
23:21For over a thousand years,
23:24Athens has been a great city,
23:27but over the last few decades,
23:30there has been a decline.
23:33Hadrian decided to return the glory and wealth of Athens.
23:36The great ancient city
23:39was to become the heart of the Greek-Roman civilization.
23:42But for this, Athens had to pay a high price,
23:45learn to speak with a clear Roman accent.
23:53He built a gymnasium, a huge library,
23:56bridges, temples.
23:59Archaeologists have already found at least 95 inscriptions
24:02in Athens.
24:06But perhaps the most important
24:09and significant gift to the city
24:12is the Temple of Zeus Olympus.
24:19By the time Hadrian arrived here,
24:22the foundation of the temple had existed for 600 years.
24:25For several centuries,
24:28many attempts were made to complete the construction,
24:30but in vain.
24:33And here, at last,
24:36was a man who was able to do it, Hadrian.
24:39A benefactor, a healer, a savior, a ruler of the world,
24:42he dedicated countless temples to Zeus,
24:45the most powerful of all the Greek gods.
24:48But it was also a chance to strengthen
24:51and mark the special relationship between Zeus and Hadrian,
24:54the ruler of the heavens and the ruler of the earth,
24:57in the eyes of all the now living and future Athenians.
25:01Hadrian installed in the temple
25:04a huge statue of Zeus,
25:07adorned with gold and ivory.
25:10Out of modesty, he did not install
25:13his own statue next to Zeus,
25:16but made sure that four statues of himself,
25:19taller than a human, were installed in front of the entrance.
25:22Everyone who came to the temple had a clear idea of the composition,
25:25and it was Hadrian who built this staircase to heaven.
25:28What Hadrian achieved here in Athens,
25:31he applied to the entire empire in general.
25:34Respect for local culture, religion, traditions,
25:37and then their changes and assimilation in the Roman Empire,
25:40which he personified.
25:46The constant implementation of his own cult
25:49in different parts of the empire is best traced here,
25:52at the gates of Hadrian in Athens.
25:54There is an inscription here.
25:57Let me read it to you.
26:00This is Athens, the former city of Theseus.
26:03Theseus was one of the founders and legendary kings of Athens.
26:06But on this side,
26:09it says,
26:12this is the city of Hadrian,
26:15not Theseus.
26:18The archway, like the temple and all the other buildings
26:21that Hadrian created for the return of glory to Athens,
26:24is a constant reminder
26:27that this city was enslaved by the Roman Empire
26:30and by Hadrian himself.
26:33In return for his generosity,
26:36Hadrian wanted something else.
26:39In Athens, the superstitious and religious Hadrian
26:42had the opportunity to enter the ancient secret cult
26:45of the Eleusinian Games.
26:55The Eleusinian Mysteries
26:58is one of the most important religious rites of the ancient world.
27:01They were held in the temple complex in Eleusinia,
27:04near Athens.
27:07Upon his arrival in this place, Hadrian made a pilgrimage,
27:10traveling 20 kilometers from Athens.
27:13He performed the rite of purification and held a fast.
27:16Then he entered the central hall, the Telisterion,
27:19where he performed the sacred relics,
27:21the Eleusinogenic Trials.
27:24Some believe that the rites used psychotropic substances
27:27to achieve a transcendental state.
27:30We do not know exactly what happened here.
27:33It is surprising that for 2,000 years of the existence of this rite,
27:36no one has ever told what happened there.
27:39But we know that it was the most important moment in Hadrian's life.
27:42It was here, as he believed, that he learned the secret
27:45of the rebirth and eternal life.
27:48Now, in his late forties,
27:51the idea that he was growing old,
27:54especially in the presence of his young companion, Antinous,
27:57kept him from letting go of the obsessive idea
28:00of rebirth and gaining youth.
28:06Hadrian had been absent in Rome for four years.
28:09Millions of citizens constantly remembered the emperor,
28:12looking at the rapidly changing architectural landscape.
28:14After Hadrian's return in 125 AD,
28:17imperial site inspections began in the city.
28:24Especially here.
28:27This is the Pantheon.
28:30Perhaps Hadrian could be called
28:33the most outstanding architectural creation of Hadrian
28:36and one of the greatest buildings in the world.
28:39Michelangelo, looking at this building, said,
28:41this is an angel's plan.
28:44The Pantheon of Hadrian, the temple of all the gods,
28:47is simply magnificent.
28:50Its architectural elegance and the genius of Roman engineering
28:53make it perfect.
28:56In reality, it was an inverted concrete bowl,
28:5944 meters in diameter,
29:02covered with a compression spring,
29:05a great eyepiece at the top.
29:08Until the beginning of the last century,
29:11the Pantheon of Hadrian
29:14was the centerpiece of the Roman Empire.
29:17This building is so powerful
29:20that you do not notice one important detail
29:23that allows you to judge the character of Hadrian
29:26and the economic might of Rome.
29:29Each of these huge columns
29:32is made of a solid piece of gray granite
29:35weighing more than 60 tons.
29:38It was not brought from any local copy.
29:41We are about 1,500 miles away from Rome,
29:44in the center of the Eastern Desert, in Egypt.
29:47The Red Sea is 60 kilometers in one direction,
29:50the Nile is 120 kilometers in the other.
29:53This place is quite literally the middle of nowhere.
30:11It's very hard to believe,
30:14but Hadrian insisted
30:17that the columns for the Pantheon
30:20were brought from here,
30:23from the farthest corner of his empire.
30:26These columns,
30:29scorched by the Egyptian sun,
30:32were brought from Nedar Kamenolomen
30:35to Mons Claudianus.
30:42I have a strange feeling
30:45that the workers put together the tools
30:48and stopped cutting the columns out of stone
30:51just a few decades, not 1,800 years ago.
30:58Look at this beast.
31:01This is almost a finished column,
31:04but the quality control has not passed.
31:07I wonder
31:09if they were clearly cut out right on the spot,
31:12giving rough outlines,
31:15and only then brought to the valley
31:18for further processing.
31:21What a funny idea that his colleagues
31:24are carrying one of the most famous buildings in the world,
31:27and this poor man stayed here,
31:30and over 2,000 years they have seen
31:33at least 200 people, not more.
31:36Archaeologists have found
31:39about 130 quarries here,
31:42each of which has a descent
31:45to the now dry riverbed.
31:48Once the columns were unloaded here
31:51on such carriages, many with 12 wheels,
31:54and brought to Nile for 5 days.
31:57Then they were loaded onto ships
32:00and brought to Alexandria,
32:02and this was an incredible effort.
32:05The entire journey was more than 2,500 kilometers.
32:08I can't help but repeat
32:11how incredible efforts were made
32:14to make this happen.
32:17But whose efforts were they?
32:20Pictures from Hollywood movies come to mind,
32:23where thousands of unfortunate slaves
32:26knock these columns out of a piece of stone,
32:29and the army were stationed here,
32:32but not to beat the workers,
32:35but to protect them from bandits.
32:38The artisans themselves were the elite among the craftsmen,
32:41and received twice as much salary
32:44as their colleagues-artisans from the Nile Valley.
32:47There are a couple of reasons
32:50why we know so much about these people,
32:53and here is one of them.
32:55These are the remains of clay dishes for recording.
32:58But there is nothing on this piece.
33:01So, these skulls were called ostraca.
33:04Only about 9,000 of these fragments were found here.
33:07As well as the plates found near the fort of Vindolanda
33:10at the Adriatic Bay,
33:13they give a detailed idea
33:16of what the soldiers and craftsmen were like in this region.
33:19Archaeologists were even able to find out that they ate.
33:22Thanks to the dry conditions,
33:25the bones of animals and even small pieces of meat
33:28have been preserved for millennia.
33:31Apart from the donkey meat,
33:34their diet was very tasty and healthy.
33:37Grain bread, beer, lentils, fennel, onions, wine,
33:40olives, cabbage, lettuce, mint, basil,
33:43and even something exotic, artichokes, for example,
33:46cedar, hazelnuts, almonds, cucumbers and watermelons,
33:49as well as peppers from India and oysters from the Red Sea.
33:52There was plenty of water here,
33:55and the Romans knew how to get it.
34:00So, they lived well and received a large salary.
34:03This operation cost a lot of money.
34:06The question arises, what exactly did they do here?
34:09What was so special about these stones?
34:14Well, surprisingly, there was nothing special.
34:17Don't get me wrong, it's good, grainy granite.
34:21In fact, it scrubs up very beautifully.
34:23But good material could be obtained
34:26in Elba and in Turkey.
34:29This place was remarkable only because
34:32only Adrian could get here.
34:35He was the owner of these quarries.
34:38Only he had incredible resources
34:41that allowed him to deliver the material to Rome.
34:49It's hard to imagine what resonance
34:51these columns caused in Rome,
34:54but it was not on purpose.
34:57There was a small problem.
35:00Do you see the diagonal line on the facade?
35:03It was the original height of the portico.
35:06When the columns were brought here,
35:09they were three meters shorter than necessary.
35:12They had to rebuild the whole building.
35:15Now, when we got to know Adrian better,
35:18I'm sure he was dissatisfied.
35:22We don't know if he was satisfied
35:25with the results of his work in Rome.
35:28Anyway, by 128 AD,
35:31Adrian again decided to go on a journey.
35:36He wanted to make his presence
35:39in all parts of the empire
35:42more than any other emperor.
35:45It was his second grand journey
35:48that took at least three years.
35:51He was surrounded by his wife,
35:54Sabina, and his favorite companion, Antinous.
35:57One region demanded the presence
36:00and attention of Adrian more than the others.
36:03It was there that the bloody uprisings did not cease.
36:06The epicenter of these events
36:09was Judea in the Middle East,
36:12or rather, Jerusalem.
36:14Adrian, Halewai, Sheerakwu, Atzmotav.
36:17Pretty good!
36:20Ruth is trying to explain to me
36:23how the Jewish expression
36:26that is always used against Adrian
36:29is pronounced in Jewish historical chronicles.
36:32It goes like this,
36:35Adrian, may his bones rot!
36:39Now, how important it is for us to understand
36:41why Adrian so outraged the Jews
36:44that they cursed him,
36:47because we want to know
36:50what he was like as a ruler and as a man.
36:53At the beginning of his reign,
36:56Adrian sent Luzia Quieta,
36:59a cruel Jewish governor
37:02known for his repressions against the Jews,
37:05to resign.
37:08He earned the reputation of a ruler
37:11and the main shrine for them,
37:14the Temple of Solomon, destroyed by the Romans
37:1760 years before that.
37:20But the optimism of the Jewish people was not justified.
37:23It soon became clear that everything the Jews believed in
37:26was an anathema to Adrian.
37:29They believed in one God.
37:32Adrian believed in many.
37:35They considered themselves to be the only messengers of God.
37:38Adrian saw himself in this role.
37:42I have the impression,
37:45after everything I have seen,
37:48that Adrian dreamed of an empire equal to the provinces,
37:51connected with the civilized Roman values.
37:54He had nothing against small cultural features,
37:57if they did not interfere with the main policy
38:00of the unification of the empire,
38:03where he was the common father.
38:06No one could resist his ambitions.
38:08To make it clear,
38:11over the next two years,
38:14he published many edicts against the foundations of the Jewish faith.
38:17Under the fear of death,
38:20Adrian forbids circumcision.
38:23For him, it was eternal.
38:26For the Jews, it was a necessary condition of unification with God.
38:29Adrian went even further,
38:32banning Judaism as such.
38:35Well, before the restoration of the temple
38:38he decided to build a new Jerusalem,
38:41right on the ruins of the ancient city.
38:44But it had to be a Roman Jerusalem.
38:47He called his colony Elia Capitolina.
38:50Colony, because it is a Roman military colony,
38:53inhabited by former soldiers.
38:56Elia is his second name,
38:59which would strengthen his cult.
39:02And Capitolina, in honor of Jupiter,
39:05the most powerful of the Roman gods,
39:08is located on the Roman hill in Rome.
39:11The very name of the colony Elia Capitolina
39:14was an insult to the Jews,
39:17and it was going to be built right here,
39:20in the very center of the holy place.
39:23Moreover, he forbade the Jews from entering the city.
39:31As he set sail from Judea
39:34to his last destination, Egypt,
39:36Adrian probably did not realize
39:39that he had sown the fruits of death
39:42that threatened the stability of the empire,
39:45which he had been trying to strengthen for so long.
39:48In addition, he could not even imagine
39:51what personal tragedy awaited him at the end of the journey.
39:54Surprisingly, but even paying tribute
39:57to the economic significance of Egypt for Rome,
40:00only a few Roman emperors came here on their own.
40:03But Adrian, being an experienced traveler,
40:06traveled more than 800 kilometers to his first threshold.
40:09The main purpose of the visit of the emperors
40:12to 38 provinces was to see and be seen.
40:15Adrian was a very curious man.
40:18Surely, he was fascinated by stories
40:21about unusual religious rituals in Egypt,
40:24and, of course, by the magnificent architecture.
40:26I still find it impossible to believe
40:29that when they came here 2,000 years ago,
40:32the pyramids were already ancient.
40:56In many ways, Adrian and his entourage
40:59were not very different from us.
41:02They were travelers, tourists.
41:05And, like all tourists,
41:08they sometimes behaved not very decently.
41:11Including, they cut their names
41:14on ancient monuments,
41:17and, of course,
41:20they cut their names
41:22on ancient monuments.
41:25Wow!
41:28Look at that!
41:31There are lots of inscriptions.
41:34There are a couple of bits there from the 19th century
41:37that are pretty recent,
41:40but the rest are from ancient Greece and Rome.
41:43These two huge statues
41:46still guard the entrance to the Valley of the Kings.
41:49As a result of the earthquake
41:52that took place long before Adrian's era,
41:55one of these statues became a real wonder,
41:58which everyone who traveled across the Nile
42:01considered their duty to see.
42:04This is the singing statue of Memnon.
42:07At sunset, its stones heat up
42:10and make a sound similar to a rumbling,
42:13a rumble, or a sound of a broken string.
42:16Julia Balbilla, a poetess,
42:19was a saint of Adrian,
42:22and she must be somewhere here,
42:25on her left leg.
42:30It's fantastic!
42:33It's really incredible!
42:36I can't believe that I'm looking at a statue
42:39that's been around for 3,500 years,
42:42and at an inscription that's been around for 2,000 years.
42:45It's just incredible.
42:48Look for some key words.
42:50It's incredible.
43:06Here's Adrian. I found him.
43:09It's incredible.
43:14It was written to mark
43:17the actual pomposity of Adrian's visit.
43:20It says here,
43:23The ruler of Adrian, smiling,
43:26greeted Memnon and left behind
43:29a wish for prosperity,
43:32a testimony of what he saw and heard,
43:35declaring to all of humanity
43:38that he, Adrian, was a lover of the gods.
43:41We will never know what Adrian saw and heard,
43:44because over the years his engraving has been erased.
43:47But given the circumstances of his visit,
43:50we know how he felt.
43:54This should have been such a beautiful time
43:57for Adrian, who loved architecture, religion, history.
44:00But it wasn't.
44:03He was torn apart by grief.
44:06Despite what Memnon himself said to him,
44:09it seems that the gods turned away from him.
44:12A couple of days before that,
44:15his lover and faithful companion Antinous
44:17visited Adrian.
44:35Upon hearing of his death,
44:38Adrian, a warrior, a ruler, a peace-lover,
44:41lost his self-control and cried like a woman.
44:44He was completely alone
44:47with his wife, whom he hated.
44:50But he tried to stick to the planned course
44:53and founded a city, the only Roman city ever built in Egypt,
44:56called Antinopolis.
44:59Adrian did not stop there.
45:02He made Antinous a god.
45:05This even contradicted Roman customs,
45:08according to which it was possible to worship
45:11emperors and their closest relatives,
45:14but not lovers, especially not homosexuals.
45:17Antinous' death was not accidental.
45:20Perhaps it was not a murder, but a self-sacrifice,
45:23and so Antinous tried to give Adrian a new life,
45:26to save the honor and reputation of his emperor.
45:29Their relationship was clearly an object of gossip.
45:36His biographer wrote,
45:39as a result of Adrian's love for luxury
45:42and his pampering,
45:44Antinous became a young man's favorite plant
45:47and his all-consuming passion for his eternal companion Antinous.
45:50And he went on.
45:53We consider his relationship with people of a different age
45:56very suspicious.
45:59Adrian was a 54-year-old man.
46:02So what was it, a murder or a self-sacrifice?
46:05Adrian himself immediately declared it an accident,
46:08removing suspicion of the involvement
46:11in the death of a young man.
46:14He went down the Nile through the Mediterranean Sea to Athens
46:17to consecrate the new temple of Zeus,
46:20as another tragedy befell him.
46:23This time it was undoubtedly Adrian's fault.
46:28During his long absence in Egypt,
46:31the lack of attention of Adrian to religion
46:34and the needs of the Jewish people
46:37resulted in open persecutions
46:40by the new governor of Judea, Tenei Ruf.
46:42Something had to give.
46:45And in 132, the Jewish people,
46:48faced with the destruction of their culture,
46:51staged a bloody rebellion.
46:54It was headed by Shimon Bar Kokhba.
46:57He threatened the integrity of the empire
47:00that Adrian had been striving for so long.
47:13Shimon Bar Kokhba's rebels
47:16used the classic tactics of the partisans
47:19as well as the knowledge of the landscape.
47:22They attacked the Romans,
47:25then retreated to the mountains,
47:28which looked like a fortress.
47:31There are many caves and tunnels
47:34created by the rebels.
47:37They were widely used throughout Judea.
47:39It was impossible to stop the Roman legions
47:42in the open space.
47:45But by forcing them to fight on their own terms,
47:48they could cause them great trouble.
47:51Therefore, the Jews were able to cause them
47:54significant casualties.
47:57The intervention of the imperial troops began.
48:00Adrian hurried here from Greece.
48:03Troops were driven from Egypt and the northern borders.
48:06It is curious that Adrian appointed
48:09the governor of Britain, Julius Severus.
48:12The Roman Empire demonstrated its ability
48:15to dislocate a large number of people
48:18at great distances much faster than the enemy expected.
48:23Severus had no other choice
48:26but to defeat them in his own game,
48:29to isolate and destroy small groups of rebels,
48:32then attack their families and businesses,
48:35cut off their access to provisions.
48:37In order to save the city,
48:40they drowned the enemy by starvation,
48:43turning the city from a fortress into a prison.
48:46It was a long and merciless war,
48:49taken by exile.
48:52From the mountains,
48:55where the view of the Dead Sea opened,
48:58Bar Kokhba gave orders to his commanders
49:01throughout Judea in desperation,
49:04trying to delay the inevitable.
49:07This was the place of the Battle of Beth El Yechid,
49:10the ruin of the Jews.
49:13This is where the last remnants of the Jewish rebels were.
49:16The Romans besieged and attacked the fortress,
49:19mercilessly destroying everyone
49:22who dared to go against them.
49:26Jewish sources say
49:29that on August 9, 136,
49:32the Roman legionaries killed
49:34thousands of Jews
49:37until their horses plunged
49:40into the blood of the Jews.
49:43The local farmers did not need to fertilize the soil for another seven years.
49:46So much blood was shed.
49:49Here we see Adrian the Soldier,
49:52not a philosopher or an architect.
49:55Like other emperors,
49:58he used cruel methods,
50:01even genocide,
50:04where the Jews were sold into slavery
50:07for practically nothing.
50:10As another insult,
50:13Adrian erased the maps of the name of Judea
50:16and renamed these lands Syria-Palestine.
50:19For 1,800 years,
50:22the Jews were to enjoy any political autonomy
50:25until the foundation of the state of Israel
50:28in 1948.
50:35In 134, Adrian returned to Rome,
50:38where he was absent for almost six years.
50:41Before that, he spent 10-17 years
50:44away from Rome.
50:52Still grieving the loss of Antinous
50:55and still proud of his victory over the Jews,
50:58Adrian spent the next four years
51:01of his life in care.
51:04He never made a mistake.
51:07Now he was angry with his friends.
51:10Year by year, his paranoia intensified.
51:13Gradually, he turned away from his most loyal allies.
51:16Adrian spent more and more time
51:19in his huge estate in Tivoli.
51:22Staying true to his style,
51:25he built the largest villa ever built in the Roman period.
51:28Today, it is the most incredible example
51:31of classical architectural structures in the world.
51:35The original size of Adrian's villa in Tivoli
51:38demonstrates his ambition.
51:41It was two-thirds the size of Rome
51:44and was twice as large as modern London.
51:54If there is one of the most famous images of Tivoli,
51:57it is Canopus and Serapium.
52:00This is supposed to imitate
52:02the canal between Canopus in Egypt and Alexandria.
52:05Adrian loved this place.
52:08It was hedonistic.
52:11Here he was surrounded by the best examples
52:14of Greek, Roman, and Egyptian art.
52:17Here he held his so-called dinners.
52:20He and several of his chosen friends
52:23had their dinners here.
52:27At the very heart of the complex
52:29was the Maritime Theatre.
52:32It was Adrian's most personal and secluded place,
52:35his retreat within a retreat.
52:41This is it, Adrian's secluded island
52:44surrounded by the River River.
52:47This bridge used to be wooden,
52:50removable, and water-repellent.
52:53On the northern side,
52:56we see the grooves in the granite
52:59where the water used to flow.
53:02Here was everything you need,
53:05cold and hot baths, a toilet, a bedroom,
53:08an absolutely stunning reception area.
53:11I have an incredible feeling
53:14being in this gigantic palace,
53:17his personal microcosm.
53:20Looking at this place on the map,
53:23I decided that the palace was small,
53:26but now I understand that its size is perfect.
53:29Yes, yes, yes.
53:32This is the refrigerator room,
53:35the famous ice-cold lake.
53:38Adrian first chilled in the lake,
53:41then, going down this staircase,
53:44swam in the river, like in a giant pool.
53:47It's extraordinary.
53:50You get such an incredible sense
53:53of the presence of Adrian
53:56and his living quarters just through here.
53:59It's the most exclusive
54:02in the entire Roman Empire.
54:05I can't believe it.
54:08It's neither alien nor human.
54:11I've never been to a place like this before.
54:14You feel a direct connection
54:17with Adrian, an emperor and a mere mortal.
54:20This man was increasingly
54:22immersing himself in himself.
54:25He was desperately looking for a place
54:27where he could immerse himself in his personal space.
54:31From 136 A.D. onwards,
54:34Adrian's health, who had been on the throne
54:37for 19 years, began to deteriorate.
54:40The end was inevitable.
54:43No divine intervention could prevent it.
54:46Increasingly aware of his departure,
54:49Adrian wanted to change the landscape of Rome.
54:52He built a magnificent bridge over the Tiber,
54:54surrounded by giant statues.
54:57This bridge was built in the late Renaissance
55:00in the same style as Adrian's bridge.
55:03And on the far side,
55:06he built a massive building, his own mausoleum.
55:10At 50 meters,
55:13larger than any other mausoleum,
55:16it became the most massive structure in the city,
55:19higher than the Column of Troy and even the Pantheon.
55:21It was built on a completely barren bank of the Tiber,
55:24so it was impossible not to notice it.
55:27Adrian's popularity was declining.
55:30At the same time, his faith in the conspiracy
55:33that the people were preparing against him was growing.
55:36His obsession with persecution was growing.
55:39The emperor began to think that members of his family
55:42were also involved in the conspiracy.
55:45He executed his nephew, Fusco,
55:48and even forced his 90-year-old twin brother,
55:51Fusco, to leave the city.
55:54Fusco said,
55:57you gods know perfectly well that I am not guilty of anything.
56:00What about Adrian? Here is my last prayer.
56:03Let him pray for death, but he will not be able to die.
56:06The prayer of this elder was heard by the gods.
56:09Perhaps the fate of Adrian was predetermined long before that.
56:12On this, like a living statue of Adrian
56:15in the British Museum,
56:18there is a deep lateral fold on his ear.
56:21This is a sign of a heart disease.
56:24Suffering from edema, bleeding, and shortness of breath,
56:27Adrian hated life, which he tried so hard to prolong.
56:30He even attempted suicide a few times.
56:33But clearly, after the death
56:36of his unloved wife Sabina,
56:39Adrian proved that he was capable of much more.
56:42He not only appointed his successor Antonius Pius,
56:45but also two successors, Marcus Aurelius,
56:48another of the greatest emperors of Rome,
56:51who preserved peace and tranquility in Rome
56:54for several decades.
56:57Adrian died on July 10, 138, at the age of 62.
57:00Just a few days before his death,
57:03he wrote a very strange and mysterious epitaph.
57:06A reverent soul, a stranger,
57:09a guest and a friend in the human body.
57:12Where are you now, wandering?
57:15In the cold, darkness, without protection.
57:18Unable to play as before.
57:21Adrian's works were not as well presented
57:24as at the exhibition in the British Museum.
57:27Some of these artifacts were discovered very recently.
57:30Many have never been shown in Europe.
57:33For the first time, they provide us
57:36with the most complete view of Adrian's history.
57:39This story inspired me on the most extraordinary journeys
57:42that I have ever made.
57:45Now I am convinced even more than before
57:48that Adrian should be remembered not only as a man
57:51who ruled the empire.
57:54Not many people in history have ruled
57:57and united such a huge empire,
58:00left such an architectural legacy
58:03or visited so many of their subjects.
58:06Of course, few people managed to provide their state
58:09with such success and prosperity for all 75 years.
58:12But I believe that this is not all the legacy
58:15of Publius Alias Hadrianus.
58:17His rule of the empire was just ideal.
58:20Many generations followed his example.
58:23His empire, good or bad,
58:26was an example for imitation for 2,000 years.
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