Editing Hadrian (section)

===Greece (124–125)===

Hadrian arrived in Greece during the autumn of 124 and participated in the [[Eleusinian Mysteries]]. He had a particular commitment to Athens, which had previously granted him citizenship<ref>Anna Kouremenos and Giorgos Mitropoulos 2024. Romans at Besa : New Light on an Athenian Deme in the Imperial Period. In The Classical Quarterly. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/classical-quarterly/article/romans-at-besa-new-light-on-an-athenian-deme-in-the-imperial-period/91041B0F1ADCF24D12B8BC3037740300</ref> and an {{transliteration|grc|archonate}};<ref>Anna Kouremenos 2022. ''The Province of Achaea in the 2nd century CE: The Past Present''. London: Routledge {{ISBN|1032014857}}</ref> at the Athenians' request, he revised their constitution&nbsp;– among other things, he added a new [[phyle]] (tribe), which was named after him.<ref>Anthony Birley, ''Restless Emperor'', pp. 175–177</ref> Hadrian combined active, hands-on interventions with cautious restraint. He refused to intervene in a local dispute between producers of [[olive oil]] and the Athenian [[Ecclesia (ancient Athens)|Assembly]] and [[Boule (ancient Greece)|Council]], who had imposed production quotas on oil producers;<ref>Kaja Harter-Uibopuu, "Hadrian and the Athenian Oil Law", in O.M. Van Nijf&nbsp;– R.&nbsp;Alston (ed.), ''Feeding the Ancient Greek city''. Groningen – Royal Holloway Studies on the Greek City after the Classical Age, vol.&nbsp;1, Louvain 2008, pp. 127–141</ref> yet he granted an imperial subsidy for the Athenian grain supply.<ref>Brenda Longfellow, ''Roman Imperialism and Civic Patronage: Form, Meaning and Ideology in Monumental Fountain Complexes''. Cambridge U. Press: 2011, {{ISBN|978-0-521-19493-8}}, p. 120</ref> Hadrian created two [[Trust law|foundations]] to fund Athens' public games, festivals and competitions if no citizen proved wealthy or willing enough to sponsor them as a [[Gymnasiarch]] or [[Agonothetes]].<ref>Verhoogen Violette. Review of Graindor (Paul). ''Athènes sous Hadrien'', ''Revue belge de philologie et d'histoire'', 1935, vol.&nbsp;14, no.&nbsp;3, pp.&nbsp;926–931. Available at [http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/rbph_0035-0818_1935_num_14_3_1541_t1_0926_0000_2]. Retrieved 20 June 2015</ref> Generally Hadrian preferred that Greek notables, including priests of the imperial cult, focus on more essential and durable provisions, especially [[Munera (ancient Rome)|''munera'']] such as aqueducts and public fountains ([[Nymphaeum|''nymphaea'']]).<ref>Mark Golden, ''Greek Sport and Social Status'', University of Texas Press, 2009, {{ISBN|978-0-292-71869-2}}, p. 88</ref> Athens was given two ''nymphaea''; one brought water from Mount Parnes to the [[Ancient Agora of Athens|Athenia Agora]] via a complex, challenging and ambitious system of aqueduct tunnels and reservoirs, to be constructed over several years.<ref name="auto">Anthony Birley, ''Restless Emperor'', pp. 182–184</ref> Several were given to Argos, to remedy a water-shortage so severe and so long-standing that "thirsty Argos" featured in Homeric epic.<ref>Cynthia Kosso, Anne Scott, eds., ''The Nature and Function of Water, Baths, Bathing, and Hygiene from Antiquity Through the Renaissance''. Leiden: Brill, 2009, {{ISBN|978-90-04-17357-6}}, pp. 216f</ref>

[[File:L'Olympieion (Athènes) (30776483926).jpg|thumb|The [[Temple of Olympian Zeus, Athens]], completed under Emperor Hadrian in 131.]]
During that winter, Hadrian toured the [[Peloponnese]]. His exact route is uncertain, but it took in [[Epidaurus]]; [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] describes temples built there by Hadrian, and his statue&nbsp;– in [[heroic nudity]]&nbsp;– erected by its citizens<ref>[[Alexia Petsalis-Diomidis]], ''Truly Beyond Wonders: Aelius Aristides and the Cult of Asklepios''. OUP : 2010, {{ISBN|978-0-19-956190-2}}, p. 171</ref> in thanks to their "restorer". Antinous and Hadrian may have already been lovers at this time; Hadrian showed particular generosity to [[Mantinea]], which shared ancient, mythic, politically useful links with Antinous' home at Bithynia. He restored Mantinea's Temple of [[Poseidon|Poseidon Hippios]],<ref>Anthony Birley, ''Restless Emperor'', pp. 177–180</ref><ref>David S. Potter,''The Roman Empire at Bay, AD 180–395''. London: Routledge, 2014, {{ISBN|978-0-415-84054-5}}, p. 44</ref> and according to Pausanias, restored the city's original, classical name. It had been renamed Antigoneia since Hellenistic times, after the Macedonian King [[Antigonus III Doson]]. Hadrian also rebuilt the ancient shrines of [[Abae]] and [[Megara]], and the [[Heraion of Argos]].<ref name="Boatwright, p. 134">Boatwright, p. 134</ref><ref>K. W. Arafat, ''Pausanias' Greece: Ancient Artists and Roman Rulers''. Cambridge U. Press, 2004, {{ISBN|0-521-55340-7}}, pp. 162, 185</ref>

During his tour of the Peloponnese, Hadrian persuaded the [[Sparta]]n grandee Eurycles Herculanus&nbsp;– leader of the [[Euryclids|Euryclid]] family that had ruled Sparta since Augustus' day&nbsp;– to enter the Senate, alongside the Athenian grandee [[Tiberius Claudius Atticus Herodes (suffect consul 133)|Herodes Atticus the Elder]]. The two aristocrats would be the first from "Old Greece" to enter the Roman Senate, as representatives of Sparta and Athens, traditional rivals and "great powers" of the Classical Age.<ref>Birley, [http://uni-koeln.de/phil-fak/ifa/zpe/downloads/1997/116pdf/116209.pdf "Hadrian and Greek Senators"], ''[[Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik]]'' 116 (1997), pp. 209–245. Retrieved 23 July 2015</ref> This was an important step in overcoming Greek notables' reluctance to take part in Roman political life.<ref>Christol & Nony, p. 203</ref> In March 125, Hadrian presided at the Athenian festival of [[Dionysia]], wearing Athenian dress. The [[Temple of Olympian Zeus, Athens|Temple of Olympian Zeus]] had been under construction for more than five centuries; Hadrian committed the vast resources at his command to ensure that the job would be finished.<ref name="auto"/>