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Following Hadrian @followinghadrian.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

#MosaicMonday – Mosaic depicting the capture of wild animals for Roman spectacles, including bears and wild boar. Originally measuring 15 × 9 m, it was discovered in 1904 in the Horti Liciniani in Rome and dates to the early 4th century AD. 📍 Centrale Montemartini, Rome.

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Following Hadrian @followinghadrian.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

#ArtefactSunday – Two ivory Roman folding-knife handles carved in the form of gladiators. The figure on the left represents a secutor, with his distinctive enclosed helmet and rectangular shield. Dated to the 3rd century AD; the gladiatorial type and date of the second handle are uncertain.

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Following Hadrian @followinghadrian.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

#RomanSiteSaturday – Diocletianopolis (Bulgaria) was a flourishing Roman spa town renowned for its mineral springs. At least four public baths are known, the largest of which covers c. 3,000 m². Its impressive Late Roman walls, towers, and monumental southern gate still survive.

The remains of the Roman thermal baths at Diocletianopolis.

The extensive bath complex was supplied by the town's natural hot mineral springs and included bathing rooms, pools, and a nymphaeum dedicated to the deities of the springs.

The Late Roman fortifications of Diocletianopolis (modern Hisarya), Bulgaria. Built in the late 3rd and early 4th centuries AD, the walls were constructed of stone masonry with bands of brick and extended for more than 2.3 km around the ancient city.

The monumental southern gate of Diocletianopolis, popularly known as Kamilite (“The Camels”) after the distinctive shape of its surviving twin arches. The gate formed part of the Late Roman fortifications built around the city in the late 3rd and early 4th centuries AD.

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Following Hadrian @followinghadrian.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

#AmphitheatreSaturday – Hidden beneath Guildhall Art Gallery are the remains of Londinium’s Roman amphitheatre. Built in the early 2nd century AD, it hosted gladiatorial combats and other spectacles. Rediscovered in 1988, its remains can now be explored beneath modern London.

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Following Hadrian @followinghadrian.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

#PortraitThursday – The Antinous Mondragone, a colossal 95 cm-high marble head of the deified Antinous, c. AD 130. Part of an acrolithic cult statue, its 31 drilled holes that once secured a metal headdress. Its idealised features recall Dionysus and Apollo. 📷 Louvre, photographed at Bavay, France.

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Following Hadrian @followinghadrian.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Happy #WorldRhinoDay! 🦏 Here's a two-horned African rhinoceros depicted on the Nilotic mosaic from the Sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia at Praeneste. Palestrina Museo Archeologico.

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Following Hadrian @followinghadrian.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

#MosaicMonday – Beautiful mosaic depicting a Nereid riding a sea-bull, from the Cossar area of ancient Aquileia. The scene, which includes a flying Eros, has also been interpreted as Europa riding Zeus in bull form. Late 1st century BC–early 1st century AD. Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Aquileia.

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Following Hadrian @followinghadrian.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

If Portraits of Hadrian is a book you would consider buying, I would be very grateful if you could register your interest here 👉 forms.gle/gPmUJvoTsfdC...

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Following Hadrian @followinghadrian.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

#ArtefactSunday – Silver dish decorated with a bust of Hadrian in high relief. The emperor is shown bearded and bare-headed, wearing a light military cloak (chlamys) over his left shoulder. Dated to around AD 130. Private Collection.

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Following Hadrian @followinghadrian.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

#RomanSiteSaturday – The Porte de Mars at Reims, ancient Durocortorum, is the largest surviving monumental Roman arch, measuring 32.4 m long. Built around AD 200, it features three passageways and reliefs depicting Romulus and Remus with the she-wolf and Leda and the Swan.

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Following Hadrian @followinghadrian.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

#AmphitheatreSaturday – The magnificent Pula Arena in Croatia, one of the best-preserved Roman amphitheatres. Built of local limestone, it measures 132 × 105 m and could accommodate around 23,000 spectators. Its four distinctive external towers contained cisterns for rainwater.

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Following Hadrian @followinghadrian.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Happy birthday to Hadrian's adopted son and heir, Antoninus Pius! worldhistory.org/Antoninus_Pi... Antoninus Pius built a temple to the deified Hadrian in Rome's Campus Martius and dedicated it in AD 145. followinghadrian.com/2015/01/21/t...

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Following Hadrian @followinghadrian.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

#OnThisDay in AD 96, Domitian was murdered in the Imperial Palace. The Senate proclaimed Nerva as the new emperor. Hadrian was 20 years old.

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Following Hadrian @followinghadrian.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

#TheatreFriday - The Theatre of Myra in Demre, Turkey, is a large, well-preserved ancient Roman theatre. Originally built during the Hellenistic period, it was expanded in the 2nd century AD and can hold about 10,000 spectators. At the foot of a mountain, it sits near dramatic Lycian rock-cut tombs.

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Following Hadrian @followinghadrian.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

#FrescoFriday – Fresco depicting a Cupid hunting deer, from the cryptoporticus of the House of the Deer (Casa dei Cervi) at Herculaneum. Armed with a spear, the winged Cupid pursues two fleeing deer with hunting dogs.

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Following Hadrian @followinghadrian.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Happy birthday to Trajan, Hadrian's adoptive father! Trajan was born in AD 53 in Italica, Hispania Baetica. During his 19-year reign, Trajan sought to extend the empire's boundaries to the east, implemented significant socio-economic reforms, and undertook a vast building program.

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Following Hadrian @followinghadrian.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

#MosaicMonday - Mosaic depicting a theatrical mask and Dionysus attributes: thyrsus, kantharos, and panther with a tympanum. Dated 60–50 BC, later reused in the Imperial Palace at Hadrian's Villa and now incorporated into the 18th-century pavement of the Gabinetto delle Maschere, Vatican Museums.

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Following Hadrian @followinghadrian.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

If you enjoy following my travels and research on the Roman world, you can subscribe to the Following Hadrian blog. You’ll receive an email whenever I publish a new article. 🔗 followinghadrian.com/subscribe/ #FollowingHadrian #RomanHistory #Archaeology #Hadrian1900

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Following Hadrian @followinghadrian.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

#ArtefactSunday – Gilded bronze thunderbolt from the colossal gilded statue of Jupiter that crowned the Great Jupiter Column of Mogontiacum (Mainz), c. AD 59–67. Recovered fragments include a sandalled foot, a finger, body pieces, an eagle's claw, and a thunderbolt. lupa.at/32960

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Following Hadrian @followinghadrian.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

#PortraitThursday — Colossal marble head of Hadrian from Sagalassos, c. AD 120–125. Found in the Roman baths in 2007, it belonged to an acrolithic statue nearly 5m tall. Remarkably, traces of red pigment survived on Hadrian’s carefully arranged curls when the head was excavated.

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Following Hadrian @followinghadrian.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

#ReliefWednesday - Marble relief depicting Antinous as Silvanus, harvesting grapes with a dog at his side. Antinous wears a pine wreath and the exomis (Greek tunic) and carries a pruning hook. The maker's name is inscribed on the altar: 'Antonianos of Aphrodisias made this'.

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Following Hadrian @followinghadrian.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

#CoinWednesday - This bronze coin of Hadrian from Ephesus shows a laureate head of the emperor on the obverse and a stag on the reverse. The stag is fitting for Ephesus, linked to Artemis, the city's patron goddess and deity of the Artemision. Coin from my collection.

RPC III, 2070
https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/3/2070

Obverse: Laureate head of Hadrian facing right. The Greek legend is given by RPC as ΑΥ(Τ) ΚΑΙ ΤΡΑ(Ι) ΑΔΡΙΑΝΟϹ (Ϲ)(Ε), expanded as Autokrator Kaisar Traianos Hadrianos Sebastos — “Emperor Caesar Trajan Hadrian Augustus.”

Reverse: A stag standing to left, with the inscription ΕΦΕ / ϹΙΩΝ (Ephesiōn), “of the Ephesians.”

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Following Hadrian @followinghadrian.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

#EpigraphyTuesday – Statue base honouring Publius Aelius Liberalis, a freedman of Hadrian whose remarkable career culminated in the post of procurator annonae Ostiensis, overseeing the grain supply at Ostia. CIL, XIV 2045. Museo Nazionale Romano - Baths of Diocletian, Rome.

P(ublio) AELIO AVG(usti) LIB(erto)
LIBERALI
PROCVRATORI ANNONAE
OSTIENSIS PROCVRATORI
PVGILLATIONIS ET AD NAVES
VAGAS TRIBVNICIO COLLEGI
MAGNI DECVRIALI DECVRIAE
VIATORIAE CONSVL(aris) DECVRIALI
GERVLORVM PRAEPOSITVS MENSAE
NVMMVL(ariae) F(isci) F(rumentarii) OST(iensis) ORNATO ORNA
MENTIS DECVRIONATVS COL(oniae) OST(iensis)
PATRONO
LAVRENTIVM VICI AVGVSTANOR(um)

To Publius Aelius Liberalis, freedman of the emperor,
procurator of the grain supply at Ostia; procurator of the pugillatio and of the naves vagae; tribunicius of the collegium magnum; member of the sixth decury of messengers (viatores); member of the decury of consular messengers; member of the decury of geruli; supervisor of the money-changing table [at Ostia]; honoured with the insignia of a decurion of the colony of Ostia; their patron.
The Laurentes of the vicus Augustanorum [set this up].

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Following Hadrian @followinghadrian.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

#MosaicMonday - Mosaic depicting four charioteers with their horses, representing the four factions of the Roman circus: the Greens (Prasina), Reds (Russata), Whites (Albata) and Blues (Veneta). Dated to the 3rd century AD. Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, Rome.

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Following Hadrian @followinghadrian.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

#ArtefactSunday - An anthropomorphic Roman bronze balsamarium (ointment container) in the form of Antinous, dressed in fawn skin (nebris, an attribute of the god Dionysos). Dated to the 2nd century AD. Formerly in the Mougins Museum of Classical Art, France.

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Following Hadrian @followinghadrian.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

#RomanSiteSaturday - The Sacred Area of Largo di Torre Argentina is one of Rome’s most important Republican-period archaeological complexes. Discovered during demolition work in 1926, it preserves four temples, conventionally labelled A–D because their precise identifications remain uncertain.

Temple A. Based on the architectural forms of its oldest construction phase, Temple A is dated to the 3rd century BC. Together with Temple C, it is generally considered one of the oldest sacred buildings on Campus Martius. The building can probably be identified with the temple the consul Gaius Lutatius Catulus had built in honour of Juturna following the triumph over the Carthaginians in 241 BC. The original structure, which stood on a high tuff podium with four columns along the front, was accessed via an impressive staircase with 18 steps. Later reconstruction works, which involved raising the podium, replacing two columns, and raising the others, can be dated to the reign of Domitian after the fire of AD 80.

Temple B dates to the late 2nd/early 1st century BC, with 90 BC considered the probable year of construction. Temple B has a circular plan and is set on a high podium reached by a staircase flanked by two tuff walls. Most scholars identify it with the temple of Fortuna Huiusce Diei, dedicated by the consul Quintus Lutatius Catulus after the Battle of Vercellae in 101 BC, which ended the war against the Cimbri. Over time, this temple underwent numerous transformations. It was originally peripteral, with a central cella surrounded by 18 tuff columns. At the beginning of the 1st century BC, the temple became speudoperipteral. The cella was enlarged and covered with peperino.

Temple C dates to the end of the 4th or the beginning of the 3rd century BC. The sanctuary appears to have been one of the oldest in the Campus Martius. The building was probably dedicated to the goddess Feronia, whose cult was introduced to Rome after the consul Manius Curius Dentatus conquered the Sabines in 290 BC. The original plan had four columns at the front and five on the sides. It stood on a high podium of tuff opus quadratum, reached by a staircase of 20 steps. Later, a large raised platform was built in front of the temple, and an altar in the centre bears a dedicatory inscription by Aulus Postumius Albinus. Under Domitian, after the fire in AD 80, the cellar was restored with brick-lined walls and a mosaic floor.

Temple D is the southernmost and largest cult building in the Area Sacra at Largo Argentina. Its origins date back to the early 2nd century BC at the earliest. The temple, dedicated to the Nymphs or, according to other hypotheses, to the Lares Permarini, protectors of seafarers, is preserved mainly beneath the current Via Florida. The facade, which probably had six columns, was aligned with the other sacred buildings. Very little is known about the original building, as it was enlarged and completely renovated at the end of the 1st century AD.

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Following Hadrian @followinghadrian.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

#WorldBeardDay 🧔🏽‍♂️ Hadrian was the first Roman emperor to wear a full beard. This has usually been seen as a mark of his philhellenism. However, the Historia Augusta claims he wore a beard to conceal facial blemishes. Nevertheless, after Hadrian, beards became fashionable.

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Following Hadrian @followinghadrian.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

My 50th birthday in Rome last Saturday 🎂

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Following Hadrian @followinghadrian.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

#InternationalDogDay 🐶 Cave Canem - ‘Beware of the dog’. Roman mosaic from Pompeii.

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Following Hadrian @followinghadrian.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

For #InternationalDogDay 🐶, this incredible mosaic floor from Alexandria depicting a dog seated next to a gilded vessel. This Ptolemaic mosaic was made using the opus vermiculatum technique (small, closely set tesserae). Bibliotheca Alexandrina Antiquities Museum.

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Following Hadrian @followinghadrian.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

#ReliefWednesday - The Chatsworth Relief shows Praetorian soldiers with containers of unpaid debt records. Hadrian's early reforms included cancelling personal debts to the imperial fiscus and Senate treasuries, and forgiving 900 million sesterces in unpaid taxes accumulated over fifteen years.

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Following Hadrian @followinghadrian.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

#EpigraphyTuesday - Building inscription from Carnuntum, with traces of red paint, recording the construction of a gate and a 100-foot section of wall by the iuventus (collective body of young men) devoted to Jupiter Dolichenus for Hadrian's safety. Carnuntum Archaeological Museum, Austria.

AE 1936 132
https://edh.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/edh/inschrift/HD024465

Pro sal(ute) Imp(eratoris) C/aes(aris) Tra(iani) Hadri(ani) Aug(usti) / p(atris) p(atriae) porta(m) et muru(m) per / pedes lon(gum) C altu(m) p(edes) VII / iuvent(us) colen(s) Iove(m) Doli/chen(um) inpe(n)sa sua fec(it)

"For the safety of Emperor Caesar Trajan Hadrian Augustus, father of the country, the youth devoted to Jupiter Dolichenus built, at their own expense, a gate and a wall 100 feet long and 7 feet high."

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Following Hadrian @followinghadrian.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

#MosaicMonday - Mosaic depicting Orpheus playing his lyre. From a Roman villa in Vienne, dated to the 2nd century AD. Musée Gallo-Romain de Saint-Romain-en-Gal, France.

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Following Hadrian @followinghadrian.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

#ArtefactSunday - The Minerva Bowl, a silver cup from the Hildesheim Treasure, the largest collection of Roman silver found outside the Roman provinces, 1st century BC - 1st century AD (Augustan period). Altes Museum, Berlin.

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Following Hadrian @followinghadrian.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

#AmphitheatreSaturday - The Amphitheatre of Durrës (ancient Dyrrachium) is a huge 2nd-century AD Roman arena in the centre of Durrës, Albania. Built under Trajan or Hadrian, it is the largest Roman amphitheatre in the Balkan Peninsula. It held up to 20,000 people.

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Following Hadrian @followinghadrian.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

#PortraitThursday - Marble portrait bust of Antinous. Excavated in Patras in 1856 alongside a second, almost identical bust of Antinous. Crafted around AD 130–138, shortly after Antinous drowned in the River Nile and was deified by Hadrian. National Archaeological Museum of Athens.

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Following Hadrian @followinghadrian.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Today is #WorldPhotographyDay 📷, a great opportunity to remind scholars in Classics that all my photographs of archaeological sites and museums are available on Flickr under a Creative Commons license. 👉 www.flickr.com/photos/carol...

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Following Hadrian @followinghadrian.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

On 18 August, we remember Khaled al-Asaad, the heroic Syrian archaeologist who was murdered by ISIS on 18 August 2015 for refusing to reveal the hidden treasures of Palmyra. 🙏 #OnThisDay www.theguardian.com/world/2015/a...

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Following Hadrian @followinghadrian.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

#MosaicMonday - Mosaic floor with a round emblema featuring Berenice II of Egypt, wife of Ptolemy III, with naval attributes. She wears military clothing and a warship prow on her head. Found in Thmuis, Ptolemaic period. Alexandria National Museum, Egypt.

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Following Hadrian @followinghadrian.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

#ArtefactSunday - Jointed ivory doll wearing a gold necklace, bracelets and anklets; its hairstyle imitates that of the empress Julia Domna. Found in a tomb of a little girl at Tibur (Tivoli, near Rome). Dated ca. AD 200. Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, Rome.

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Following Hadrian @followinghadrian.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

For #WorldLizardDay 🦎, a bronze lizard sculpture from the Hellenistic era with blue glass eyes. Beneath the lizard, a hollow in the block contains an object, possibly the remains of the tamed lizard, making this object a memorial. Cinquantenaire Museum, Brussels.

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Following Hadrian @followinghadrian.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

#MosaicMonday - Mosaic depicting the Judgment of Paris from Antioch on the Orontes, the former capital of the kingdom of Syria, where Hadrian became Emperor #OnthisDay in AD 117. Dated AD 115-150. This mosaic adorned a dining room in the house of a wealthy Antiochian family. Louvre Museum, Paris.

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Following Hadrian @followinghadrian.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Hail the new Emperor! Today marks the 1909th anniversary of Hadrian's accession (his dies imperii). Three days after Trajan's death at Selinus, Hadrian was proclaimed emperor by the legions in Antioch #OnthisDay in AD 117 at the age of 41. followinghadrian.com/2017/08/11/1...

followinghadrian.com

11 August AD 117 – Hadrian is proclaimed emperor in Antioch (#Hadrian1900) FOLLOWING HADRIAN

On 11 August AD 117, news of Trajan’s death in Selinus reached Hadrian, who was 41 and serving as the provincial governor of Syrian Antioch. The Syrian army immediately proclaimed its legate …

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