by
Damien F. Mackey
“The
Panhellenion was devised with a view to associating the Roman Emperor with the
protection of Greek culture and of the "liberties" of Greece –
in this case, urban self-government. It allowed Hadrian to appear as the
fictive heir to Pericles, who supposedly had
convened a previous Panhellenic Congress …”.
Some Commonalities
The famous beard
We read about it, for instance, in the
book, Rethinking Revolutions Through Ancient Greece (ed. Simon Goldhill, Robin Osborne):
But if Hadrian's beard is
not that of a philosopher, what are we to make of it?
Susan Walker has recently refined her answer to this question to describe the
beard ‘as worn in the style of Pericles’. …. Pericles’ short, curly beard and moustache
put her on safer ground art-historically than those who favour a philosophical
reading …. Historiographically it lends him an identity that complements his
building in Athens. But the more one pursues the implications of this hypothesis,
the more one is made to doubt it. If one reads Plutarch to get a sense of
Pericles’ reputation under Hadrian, one encounters an icon whose physical
appearance is similar to Pisistratus. …. In some ways this is eminently
suitable: Pisistratus is a prolific builder in Athens and inaugurates the
Olympeion that Hadrian is to finish. …. But were Hadrian attempting to
instigate a revolution, there is danger in even the slightest whiff of tyranny.
Rest-assured, there is little additional evidence to support a Pericles-Hadrian
parallel, at least not compared to stronger associations with a bearded Zeus or
Jupiter ….
[End of quote]
Under Pericles
The Eleusinian mysteries attracted many
initiates in Athens from about the seventh century BC, and the epics of Homer prove
that, even that early, Greeks believed that the Eleusinian rites granted the
initiates happiness after death. The citizens of Athens adopted the Mysteries
of Eleusis as a feature of the state cult, then, at the time of Pericles, other
Greek cities were admitted and later everyone who could speak Greek and had
shed no blood or had subsequently been purified.
Under Peisistratus
Since religion
was closely interwoven with the structure of the Greek polis,
or city-state, many of [Peisistratus’] steps were
religious reforms. He brought the great shrine of Demeter at Eleusis under
state control and constructed the first major Hall of the Mysteries
(Telesterion) for the annual rites of initiation into the cult. Many local
cults of Attica were either moved to the city or had branch shrines there.
Artemis, for instance, continued to be worshiped at Brauron, but now there was
also a shrine to Artemis on the Acropolis.
Above all, Athena now
became the main deity to be revered by all Athenian citizens. Peisistratus
constructed an entry gate (Propylaea) on the Acropolis and perhaps built an old
Parthenon under the temple that now stands on the crest of the Acropolis. Many
sculptured fragments of limestone from Peisistratid buildings have been found
on the Acropolis, and the foundations of a major, unfinished temple can still
be seen.
Under Hadrian
In September 128 [sic], Hadrian attended the
Eleusinian mysteries again. This time his visit to Greece seems to have
concentrated on Athens and Sparta – the two ancient rivals for
dominance of Greece. Hadrian had played with the idea of focusing his Greek
revival around the Amphictyonic League based in Delphi, but by now he had
decided on something far grander.
Panhellenion and
Olympeion
Peisistratus
Rethinking
Revolutions Through Ancient Greece: “Pisistratus is a prolific builder in Athens and inaugurates the
Olympeion that Hadrian is to finish”.
Dedicated to
Olympian Zeus, the Olympieion was situated on the bank of the river
Ilissus southeast of the Acropolis. It was built on the site of an ancient
Doric temple, the foundation of which had been laid out by the tyrant
Pisistratus, but construction was abandoned several decades later in 510 BC
when his son Hippias, whose rule had become increasingly despotic, was expelled
from Athens and a democracy established (he would return twenty years later
with the Persians at Marathon, Thucydides, Peloponnesian War, VI.54ff).
Aristotle cites the temple and the pyramids of Egypt as examples of how rulers
subdue their populations by engaging them in such grandiose projects. Kept poor
and preoccupied with hard work, there was not the time to conspire (Politics,
V.11). Over three centuries later, in 174 BC, Antiochus IV Epiphanes (king of
Syria and the "vile person" of Daniel 11:21) commissioned the Roman
architect Cossutius to begin work again on the same ground plan. He did so
"with great skill and taste," says Vitruvius, constructing a temple
"of large dimensions, and of the Corinthian order and proportions" (On
Architecture, VII, Pref.15, 17). Of all the works of Antiochus, the Temple
of Jupiter Olympius or Olympian (as the Romans called it) was the "only
one in the world, the plan of which was suitable to the greatness of the
deity" (Livy, History of Rome, XLI.20). But when the king died a
decade later, the temple still was "left half finished" (Strabo, Geography,
IX.1.17), although it extended at least to the architrave of the columns still
standing at the southeastern corner.
Pericles
Plutarch writes that Pericles “introduced a bill
to the effect that all Hellenes wheresoever resident in Europe or in Asia,
small and large cities alike, should be invited to send deputies to a council
at Athens.” The aim was to discuss matters of common interest—restoration of
the temples the Persians had burned down, payment of vows to the gods for the
great deliverance, and clearing the seas of pirates.
Hadrian
More than half a millennium later [sic] Hadrian picked it
up where it had fallen. During his previous visit, his attention had been
caught by the synedrion, or council, at Delphi for the Amphictyonic
League, but it did not include enough Greek cities. He decided to launch a new
Panhellenion along Periclean lines. As before, a grandly refurbished Athens was
to be the headquarters and Greek cities would be invited to send delegates to
an inaugural assembly. Member communities had to prove their Greekness, both
culturally and in genetic descent, although in practice some bogus pedigrees
were accepted.
The enterprise had a somewhat antiquarian
character. So far as we can tell from the fragmentary surviving evidence,
Hadrian aimed at roughly the same catchment area as Pericles had done—in
essence, the basin of the Ionian Sea. Italy and Sicily were excluded once
again, and there was no representation of Greek settlements in Egypt, Syria, or
Anatolia. The emperor made a point of visiting Sparta, presumably to ensure
that it did not stay away as it had done in the fifth century.
A renaissance of old glories was reflected in the
development of archaized language; so, for example, Spartan young men (epheboi)
suddenly took on an antiquated Doric dialect in their dedications to Artemis
Orthia, a patron goddess of the city. It seems clear that one of the purposes
of Hadrian’s policy was to recruit the past to influence and to help define and
improve the decadent present.
Hadrian began to call himself the “Olympian,”
echoing the example of Pericles as well as reflecting the completion of the
Olympieion, the vast temple to Olympian Zeus. He was soon widely known
throughout the Hellenic eastern provinces as “Hadrianos Sebastos Olumpios,” Sebastos
being the Greek word for Augustus, or indeed “Hadrianos Sebastos Zeus
Olumpios.”
What did the Panhellenion actually do? It
administered its own affairs, managed its shrine not far from the Roman Agora
and offices, and promoted a quadrennial festival. It also assessed
qualifications for membership. But Hadrian was careful to give it no
freestanding political powers. All important decisions were referred to him for
approval. Rather, the focus was cultural and religious, and a connection was
forged with the Eleusinian Mysteries. In essence, the task was to build
spiritual and intellectual links among the cities of the Greek world, and to
foster a sense of community. The Panhellenion also furthered the careers of
delegates, who were usually leading members of Greek elites (but not
necessarily Roman citizens), and created an international “old-boy network” of
friends who advanced one another’s interests. ….
Part Two: Hadrian “a second Pericles”
“Even Athens may
have reflected with complacency on the loss of her liberty,
while she revered
a second Pericles in Hadrian”.
James Bowling Mozley
Ronnie Leslie will, for his part, describe the emperor Hadrian as “a new Pericles”
in his article “Hadrian’s
Second Jewish Revolt: Political or Religious?”
But see
my series arguing against the traditional view that there was a Second Jewish Revolt
during the C2nd AD:
Ronnie Leslie writes:
…. Right from the start Hadrian
made it clear that he was his own man in his administration of the empire; he
resumed the policy of the early emperors, dedicating his
time to maintaining peace
throughout the empire. However, this
policy did not last long;
one of his very first decisions
was the abandonment of the eastern territories which Trajan had just conquered
during his last campaign. Such a
withdrawal, and the surrender of territory for which the Roman army had just
paid for in blood, would hardly have been popular. Hadrian may be sharply contrasted with his
predecessor Trajan, who owed his elevation to his successful wars in the Rhine
region. After Trajan’s death, Hadrian
called upon the eastern armies; however, the troops were demoralized by
Trajan’s death, which in turn acted as a signal to Rome’s enemies in every
province. ….
Hadrian spent the better part
of his reign away from the capital exploring every province of the empire. …. On
his travels he grew deeply devoted to Greek studies, so much so that some
Romans called him the little Greekling. …. Throughout his twenty-one
year reign, Hadrian’s infinity
for Greek culture are seen throughout his administration as
well as religious
ideology. He had been so fascinated by
the culture of Greece that he introduced Greek customs and even grew a beard
which was traditionally Greek. …. Furthermore, his court assumed more and more
a Hellenic characteristic. He was
constantly surrounded by Greek playwrights and sophists; his favorite was
Antinous … with whom he had become acquainted with in Asia Minor and brought to
Rome. He seemed to have viewed himself
as a new Pericles; thus, most of his attention of the empire was exclusively
focused on the east, particularly Athens.
….
[End of quote]
“From the 450s until 429 the most
famous Athenian politician was Pericles, so much so that this era is often
known nowadays as the age of ‘Periclean Athens’. The Emperor Hadrian was well
aware of Pericles’ example. Among his special favours for Athens, Hadrian may
even have modelled his ‘Panhellenic’ role for the city on a project which
biographers had ascribed to Pericles himself”.
And also this one, a supposed “renaissance of old glories”:
….
Plutarch writes
that Pericles “introduced a bill to the effect that all Hellenes wheresoever
resident in Europe or in Asia, small and large cities alike, should be invited
to send deputies to a council at Athens.” The aim was to discuss matters of
common interest—restoration of the temples the Persians had burned down,
payment of vows to the gods for the great deliverance, and clearing the seas of
pirates. The Greek colonies of Sicily and Italy were not invited, for they had
not been directly involved in the war. Nothing came of the project owing to
opposition from the Spartans, then the great military rival of Athens. Pericles
let the idea drop.
More than half a
millennium later Hadrian picked it up where it had fallen. During his previous
visit, his attention had been caught by the synedrion, or council, at
Delphi for the Amphictyonic League, but it did not include enough Greek cities.
He decided to launch a new Panhellenion along Periclean lines. As before, a
grandly refurbished Athens was to be the headquarters and Greek cities would be
invited to send delegates to an inaugural assembly. Member communities had to
prove their Greekness, both culturally and in genetic descent, although in
practice some bogus pedigrees were accepted.
The enterprise
had a somewhat antiquarian character. So far as we can tell from the
fragmentary surviving evidence, Hadrian aimed at roughly the same catchment
area as Pericles had done—in essence, the basin of the Ionian Sea. Italy and
Sicily were excluded once again, and there was no representation of Greek
settlements in Egypt, Syria, or Anatolia. The emperor made a point of visiting
Sparta, presumably to ensure that it did not stay away as it had done in the
fifth century.
A renaissance of
old glories was reflected in the development of archaized language; so, for
example, Spartan young men (epheboi) suddenly took on an antiquated
Doric dialect in their dedications to Artemis Orthia, a patron goddess of the
city. It seems clear that one of the purposes of Hadrian’s policy was to
recruit the past to influence and to help define and improve the decadent
present.
Hadrian began to
call himself the “Olympian,” echoing the example of Pericles as well as
reflecting the completion of the Olympieion, the vast temple to Olympian Zeus.
He was soon widely known throughout the Hellenic eastern provinces as
“Hadrianos Sebastos Olumpios,” Sebastos being the Greek word for
Augustus, or indeed “Hadrianos Sebastos Zeus Olumpios.”
