In the Sala Paolina of the St Angel Castle, frescoed in the first half of the XVI century at the behest of Pope Paul III, there is the bearded figure, with the typical lorica of the roman generals, of a man who changed the face of Rome: the emperor Hadrian. Follow me to discover one of the most famous roman emperors.

It is not a coincidence that he is here, considering the fact that what is today known as the St Angel Castle was the mausoleum built for the emperor and his remains. Subsequently, and over of the centuries, the tomb became a fortress. A building which symbolizes the history of Rome, still standing here. But going back to Hadrian, it is nice to know how he was almost predestined, from a certain point of view, a young man who burned all the stages of the cursus honorum to reach, at the end, the top of the social ladder. He was a man that left a good memory of himself in Romans: an art lover, a man who appreciated theatre and music, a person who was able to abandon the obsession with conquest of new lands in favour of a strengthening of defences. A man, however, who was able to raze entire towns when it was necessary.

Hadrian was also the star of a relationship, a mysterious one, with a boy younger than him. His name was Antinous, who, at the end, and after his tragic death, will be even deified. But let's start from the beginning, from when the infant Hadrian was born at Gades, a town of modern Spain. A non-italic, therefore, a child born not in Rome but on the outskirts of the Empire, in 76 a.D. His luck was that he had illustrious and importan relatives like his uncle, Trajan, that will be emperor before him. Another fortune was that of having access to education, training and instruction of the first order, under the watchful eye and careful of Plotina, his aunt and the Trajan's wife. At this time, probably, the young Hadrian improved his true passion for the Greek world, for their way of seeing life, of understanding art and philosophy. An imprint of mind that will remain even when Hadrian becomes emperor.

But even a lucky boy like Hadrian lived difficult moments when, for example, he become a man of confidence of Trajan being governor of Pannonia (and close advisor to his uncle). It is the reason why he will follow the emperor in his long campaigns of war. Already in this moment, probably, Hadrian opted for other strategies, to a policy more to the conservation of the borders and to conquer. An ideology that created difficulties to Hadrian, especially at the 117 a.D. when Trajan died. Other members of the imperial court tried to don't support Hadrian, but in the end, however, is to be elected emperor, and immediately understand which way to follow Rome: makes peace with the King of the Chosroes, who, for years, Trajan has tried to fight. To know how, reading the Historia Augusta, Hadrian became emperor thanks to his skills (nothins strange in the ancient roman world), as we can read: "a great opinion affirmed that he had corrupted Trajan's freedmen, had cured young people and that he often deceived them in those times when he was most familiar in the courtroom".

Then Hadrian did other things, like the burning, in Rome, of the tabellae, the books of the treasury where were collected the list of the debts of the citizens. A tombstone amnesty, really! A step, performed by others, to make it clear that Rome was to live in peace, especially after the numerous wars of conquest, or less, in which the legionaries were put to the test. A peace between the citizens and the State, a peace guaranteed by the second. In this perspective we have to insert its very long journey that will take him away from Rome for 11 years (between 120 a.D. and the 131 a.D.). A way to show the figure of an emperor, who resides not far away and unattainable, in her house in golden, in Rome. Look with your own eyes the conditions of the limes, the border between the empire and the world, between civilization and barbarism. He went to his beloved Greece, and enjoy the classic beauty, you will then go into Bithynia (modern Turkey), in that he met a young man named Antinous, who followed Hadrian in all his travels.

A lot has been speculated about the real nature of their relationship: perhaps there was something tender between these two people, with twenty years of difference, but perhaps there was a sort of platonic love, and seen that Antinous was thought to be a young highly educated with which Hadrian seemed to take pleasure in having dense and continuous dialogues on the morality, ethics or philosophy. Everything, however, ended when, in the 130 a.D., during the trip to Egypt, Antinous dies. What we know is that, while the boat of the imperial sailing on the Nile, the young man fell into the water to be devoured by crocodiles. Accident? Suicide? Ritual homicide perpetrated just by Hadrian? The killing is the work of men close to the emperor, who did not want to Antinous as his successor? All hypotheses are still open. What we do know is that Adrian deified his protégé, erecting temples here and there in his honor and in his memory. Capable to commission large buildings in the Eternal City, such as the Temple of Venus and Rome,  Hadrian wanted to the imposing walls of a defensive move to protect the Empire (Hadrian's wall in England), but also be brutal when needed (about 600,000 Jews were killed by his legions to eradicate a large rebellion in 132 a.D.). A man who was also deifeid after his death, as the temple in Rome is suggesting us. Really nice to be able to attempt, with what we have, to know the true soul of a man who lived nearly two thousand years ago, right?