c.
200 BC version c. 100 AD version
by
Damien F. Mackey
“The name of Hadrian’s host at Athens has not survived, but we can make a guess.
Already we have
considered, in a set of articles, such suspicious likenesses, or “mirror image”
reflections, between the Roman loving Seleucid, Antiochus IV ‘Epiphanes’ and the
emperor Hadrian the Grecophile:
Antiochus 'Epiphanes' and Emperor Hadrian. Part One: "… a mirror image"
Antiochus
'Epiphanes' and Emperor Hadrian. Part Two: "Hadrian … a second Antiochus"
as to wonder - with
quite some conviction - whether (from a revisionist’s perspective):
“Hadrian simply was
Antiochus!”
Does not Hadrian
even replace Antiochus ‘Epiphanes’ in certain Rabbinic traditions as the foreign
tyrant king of the Maccabees?: “The tyrant in the
rabbinic versions, however, is not Antiochus Epiphanes but
Hadrian: “Hadrian came and seized upon a widow …” (S.
Eliyahu Rab. 30); “In the days of the shemad [the Hadrianic
persecutions]…” (Pesiq. R. 43)”.
Again, in Part One of this particular set:
Antiochus IV
'Epiphanes' Doubled
we came across another
C2nd BC (conventional dating) “King Antiochus IV ‘Epiphanes’ of Commagene (Armenia) and
Cilicia Tracheia”, who was, suspiciously like the Seleucid king Antiochus IV
‘Epiphanes’ of the same era, “born to a king Antiochus III”.
Now, supposedly
three centuries later than this, we encounter a third Antiochus ‘Epiphanes’
(with some suspiciously late Republican Roman name elements, too: Gaius Julius) who we find to have been
contemporaneous with the emperor Hadrian. And, again, “in whom
Greek, oriental, and Roman cultural attitudes mingled”.
Although this new
Antiochus is considered to have been a person separate from Hadrian, but a friend
of the emperor’s, ‘their’ contemporaneity is, in our new context of Hadrian as
potentially Antiochus IV ‘Epiphanes’ himself, most intriguing.
The following is a
conventional account of our ‘new’ Antiochus during Hadrian’s visit to Athens: https://erenow.com/biographies/hadrian-and-the-triumph-of-rome/14.html
XII
CALL OF THE EAST
….
In 112 Hadrian
made his way to Athens for an extended stay. This is his first recorded visit,
although (as has been seen) it is possible that his father took him there when
a young child. Also, he may have been in Athens a few years before, during the
fallow period after his consulship. A man of some importance in the state,
Hadrian doubtless journeyed in style with a considerable entourage; it was the
done thing for elite wives to accompany husbands on their travels, so the
little-loved Sabina was probably present.
….
After the short
ride from Piraeus—or possibly walk, for he enjoyed exercise—Hadrian arrived at
his destination. Once through the city gates, Hadrian found himself in a broad
avenue, the Panathenaic Way; on either side were colonnades, with statues of
famous men and women along their front, as the street passed through an
industrial district, the Kerameikos, or Potters’ Quarter, and led into the
Agora, or marketplace.
….
Hadrian was well
aware that Athens had long lost its political importance, but it was a cultural
center with a thriving intellectual life: a rough modern analogy would be Paris
in the first half of the twentieth century. This was what appealed to him. Civic
buildings also contained countless works of art. In the Propylaea, the grand
(and still very beautiful) marble gateway up to the Acropolis, there was a
picture galley. On every corner there were shrines, temples, statues, and
altars. It was as if the city was a vast open-air museum celebrating the
achievements of Greek civilization.
The rich and
well connected did not expect to stay at the various inns and hostels that
could be found in most cities. A local worthy—perhaps a friend or
acquaintance—or government official would offer generous hospitality. The name
of Hadrian’s host at Athens has not survived, but we can make a guess. One
possibility is Gaius Julius Antiochus Epiphanes Philopappus. He was one of a
breed of rootless multimillionaires in whom Greek, oriental, and Roman cultural
attitudes mingled.
His name
contains his history: “Gaius Julius” signifies Roman citizenship, but he was of
Asiatic origin, being the grandson of Antiochus IV, the last king of Commagene,
a region of ancient Armenia just to the east of Cilicia … one of the wealthiest
of Rome’s tributary kings. ….
….
His grandson was
evidently fond of him, for his cognomen Philopappus means “lover of his
grandfather.” He spent most of his time in Athens, where he became an Athenian
citizen and a member of the Besa deme, or district. A generous patron of
the arts, he funded cultural and athletic events. Philopappus took care to keep
his lines open to senior government officials; he became a Roman senator and
was a suffect consul in 109.
This was a man
who enjoyed living lavishly and prominently—as his other cognomen,
Epiphanes, or “illustrious,” indicates. He became a celebrity in the modern
sense of the word, famous for nothing in particular except for conspicuous
expenditure. The Athenians nicknamed him King Philopappus. Hadrian became a
good friend of his and Sabina made much of his sister, a poet and bluestocking,
Balbilla. The siblings will have been of special interest to him, for magic had
been a family tradition: two of their ancestors were celebrated astrologers ….
There had been
no emergency—political, military, or personal—forcing Hadrian to take to sea
during the perilous winter months, so we may assume that he traveled in late
spring—say, from May onward. He was well received, for almost immediately the
Athenians offered him citizenship, which he accepted without demur, and, as
with Philopappus, made him a member of the Besa deme. They then awarded
him their highest honor, appointing him archon, or chief magistrate: only a
handful of leading Romans had been so distinguished …. The official year ran
from summer to summer and Hadrian took office immediately.
The new archon
was soon hard at work, helping to ensure that the Panathenaic Games of 112 were
a success. Philopappus was doubtless on hand to offer support (we know he was
interested, for at some stage in his career he was appointed agonothetes,
or games producer). The games were held every four years in the year preceding
an Olympiad, in the height of the summer. Both body and mind were tested to the
extreme.
….
Hadrian, the inveterate Grecophile, is here even described as looking just
like a Greek, like “a true Hellene and Ionian”:
He devoured the
pursuits and customs of the Athenians, having mastered not merely rhetoric, but
other disciplines too, the science of singing, of playing the harp, and of
medicine: [he was] a musician, geometrician, painter, and a sculptor from
bronze or marble who was next to Polycleitus and Euphranor [in artistry].
Indeed, like those things in a way, he, too, was refined, so that human affairs
hardly ever seem to have experienced anything finer.
Now in his
mid-thirties, Hadrian was in the prime of life. He was tall and very strongly
built, but elegant in appearance, with carefully curled hair. According to Dio
Cassius, he was “a pleasant man to meet and possessed a certain charm.”
His features
were reasonably good-looking, with a strong nose, high cheeks, and puckered eyebrows.
He looked about him with an alert, even suspicious gaze. Flatterers said that
his eyes were “languishing, bright, piercing and full of light,” signs of a
true Hellene and Ionian. ….
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