Hadrian and the Triumph of Rome

Anthony Everitt writes well and gives the reader a great sense of the Age of Rome, however, he freely speculates on people and events far too much for my taste. I compare him with contemporary Roman historian, Adrian Goldsworthy, whom I admire tremendously, and Everitt falls short. I understand that......more

Yes, I will admit it. I pulled this book of my shelf and read it mainly because I wanted to know a little bit more about a populist dictator with an unhealthy obsession with building walls. It seemed, I don't know, relevant. But it was on my shelf to begin with because I have read all four of Anthony......more

Hadrian is one of the better Roman Emperors. He has two good ideas: 1. No more war of conquest. Indeed, he built a wall around the boundary of the empire to indicate the stop of expansion. The northern English part built by stone is a tourist attraction today. 2. His love of Greece prompted his prom......more

I enjoyed this a lot, although frankly there are some of the same problems that seem to be cropping up in a lot of ancient history that I read these days. What gives with the need to make things up? Everitt never hesitates; if there is no evidence that Hadrian visited someplace, like Xenophon's esta......more

This is a very good biography of one of Rome's greatest emperors, Hadrian. Following the militaristic reign of Trajan, Hadrian decided to abandon further plans of expansion. He recognised that the Roman Empire was too large to govern and that more military conquests would prove fatal for the empire.......more