Editing Hadrian (section)

==Early life==
[[File:Attica_06-13_Athens_24_Arch_of_Hadrian.jpg|thumb|[[Arch of Hadrian (Athens)|Hadrian's Arch]] in central [[Athens]], Greece.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kouremenos |first=Anna |date=2022 |title="The City of Hadrian and not of Theseus": a cultural history of Hadrian's Arch |url=https://www.academia.edu/43746490 |website=Academia.edu}}</ref>
Hadrian's admiration for Greece materialised in such projects ordered during his reign.]]
Publius Aelius Hadrianus was born on 24 January 76, in [[Italica]] (modern [[Santiponce]], near [[Seville]]), a Roman town founded by Italic settlers in the province of [[Hispania Baetica]] during the [[Second Punic War]] at the initiative of [[Scipio Africanus]]; Hadrian's branch of the gens Aelia came from Hadria (modern [[Atri, Italy|Atri]]), an ancient town in the [[Picenum]] region of Italia, the source of the name ''Hadrianus''. One Roman biographer claims instead that Hadrian was born in [[Rome]], but this view is held by a minority of scholars.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Mary T. Boatwright|editor1-last=Barrett|editor1-first=Anthony|title=Lives of the Caesars|date=2008|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|isbn=978-1-4051-2755-4|page=159|chapter=From Domitian to Hadrian}}</ref><ref>Alicia M. Canto, [https://www.academia.edu/1082511/It%C3%A1lica_sedes_natalis_de_Adriano._31_textos_hist%C3%B3ricos_y_argumentos_para_una_secular_pol%C3%A9mica_2004_ Itálica, ''sedes natalis'' de Adriano. 31 textos históricos y argumentos para una secular polémica], ''Athenaeum'' XCII/2, 2004, 367–408.</ref><ref>Ronald Syme, "Hadrian and Italica" (''Journal of Roman Studies'', LIV, 1964; pp.{{nbsp}}142–149) supports the position that Rome was Hadrian's birthplace. Canto argues that among the ancient sources, only the [[Historia Augusta]], ''Vita Hadriani'' 2,4, claims this. 25 other sources, including Hadrian's horoscope, state that he was born in Italica. See Stephan Heiler, "The Emperor Hadrian in the Horoscopes of Antigonus of Nicaea", in Günther Oestmann, H. Darrel Rutkin, [[Kocku von Stuckrad]], eds.,''Horoscopes and Public Spheres: Essays on the History of Astrology'', Walter de Gruyter, 2005, p. 49 {{ISBN|978-3-11-018545-4}}: Cramer, FH., ''Astrology in Roman Law and Politics'', Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society, 37, Philadelphia, 1954 (reprinted 1996), 162–178, footnotes 121b, 122 ''et al.,''[https://books.google.com/books?id=zv0UAAAAIAAJ Googlebooks preview] O.{{nbsp}}Neugebauer and H.{{nbsp}}B. Van Hoesen, "Greek Horoscopes" ''Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society,'' 48, 76, Philadelphia, 1959, pp. 80–90, 91, and footnote 19, [https://books.google.com/books?id=kEgnLpm06zQC googlebooks preview of 1987 edition]</ref>

Hadrian's father was [[Publius Aelius Hadrianus Afer]], a [[Roman Senate|senator]] of [[praetor]]ian rank, born and raised in Italica. Hadrian's mother was [[Domitia Paulina]], daughter of a distinguished Roman senatorial family based in Gades ([[Cádiz]]).<ref name="Royston Lambert-31">Royston Lambert, ''Beloved And God'', pp.{{nbsp}}31–32.</ref> His only sibling was an elder sister, [[Aelia Domitia Paulina]]. His [[wet nurse]] was the slave Germana, probably of Germanic origin, to whom he was devoted throughout his life. She was later freed by him and ultimately outlived him, as shown by her funerary inscription, which was found at [[Hadrian's Villa]] at [[Tivoli, Lazio|Tivoli]].<ref>''[[Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum|CIL]]'' VI 10909 ([Text http://www.edr-edr.it/edr_programmi/res_complex_comune.php?do=book&id_nr=EDR131420&partId=1] on the Epigraphic Database Roma)</ref>{{sfn|Morwood|2013|pp=5 & 43}}{{sfn|Opper|2008|p=34}} Hadrian's great-nephew, [[Gnaeus Pedanius Fuscus Salinator (consul 118)|Gnaeus Pedanius Fuscus Salinator]], from [[Barcelona|Barcino]] (Barcelona) would become Hadrian's colleague as co-consul in 118. As a senator, Hadrian's father would have spent much of his time in Rome.<ref>On the numerous senatorial families from Spain residing at Rome and its vicinity around the time of Hadrian's birth see R.&nbsp;Syme, 'Spaniards at Tivoli', in ''Roman Papers IV'' (Oxford, 1988), pp.{{nbsp}}96–114. Hadrian went on to build an Imperial villa at Tivoli (Tibur)</ref> In terms of his later career, Hadrian's most significant family connection was to [[Trajan]], his father's [[first cousin]], who was also of senatorial stock and a native of Italica. Although they were considered to be, in the words of [[Aurelius Victor]], ''advenae'' ("aliens", people "from the outside"), both Trajan and Hadrian were of Italic lineage and belonged to the upper class of Roman society. One author has proposed to consider them part of the "[[gens Ulpia|Ulpio]]-[[gens Aelia|Aelian]] dynasty".<ref>Alicia M. Canto, "La dinastía Ulpio-Aelia (96–192 d.C.): ni tan Buenos, ni tan Adoptivos ni tan Antoninos". ''Gerión'' (21.1): 263–305. 2003</ref>

Hadrian's parents died in 86 when he was ten years old. He and his sister became wards of Trajan and [[Publius Acilius Attianus]] (who later became Trajan's [[Praetorian prefect]]).<ref name="Royston Lambert-31"/> Hadrian was physically active and enjoyed hunting; when he was 14, Trajan called him to Rome and arranged his further [[Education in ancient Rome|education]] in subjects appropriate to a young Roman [[Aristocracy|aristocrat]].<ref>Anthony Birley, ''Restless Emperor'', pp. 24–26</ref> Hadrian's enthusiasm for [[Ancient Greek literature|Greek literature]] and culture earned him the nickname ''Graeculus'' ("Greekling"), intended as a form of "mild mockery".<ref>Anthony Birley, ''Restless Emperor'', pp. 16–17</ref>