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[[File: Hadrian One.jpg|200px250px|thumbthumbnail|left|A bust of Hadrian]]
Hadrian (76-138 AD) is regarded as one of the greatest Emperors in Roman history. He is widely credited with leaving an indelible mark on the Roman World, and his reign is seen as one of the high points of its history. Hadrian’s reign was to set the Roman world's pattern for the next two centuries or even more.
====The reign of Hadrian====
[[File: Hadrian Wall.jpg|200px|thumbthumbnail|left|A section of Hadrian’s Wall]]Hadrian was faced with several crises. Trajan’s military campaign had greatly overextended the Empire and especially the military. The conqueror of Dacia had found the Parthian Empire very difficult to conquer, and even though he had captured its capital and western provinces, it was still resisting the Roman occupation. At the time of Trajan’s death, Parthia's areas that he conquered were in open revolt, and many feared that the Roman legions would be cut-off. Many Roman legions had been diverted to the Parthian theatre, which left many provinces poorly guarded.
As a result, there were serious revolts in North Africa, Pictish incursions into Roman Britain, and a serious insurrection among Jews in North Africa, Cyprus, and Egypt. The Roman World was on the verge of a crisis. Hadrian, upon securing his position in Rome, moved first to Britannia (122 AD) and repelled the Pictish invaders , and ordered the building of a wall between the Picts and Romano-Britons, later named in his honor. His generals were able to subdue the Jews after much violence in the Eastern Mediterranean.
The situation in the east demanded his attention. The legions were still trying to quell the revolts in the former provinces of the Parthian Empire. It appeared that the Parthians were determined to re-conquer their western lands that had been lost to Trajan. Hadrian immediately went to Parthia and realizing the predicament of the Romans. He negotiated terms with the Parthian monarch.<ref> Speller, Elizabeth, Following Hadrian: a second-century journey through the Roman Empire (London, Review, 2003), p 34 </ref>
Hadrian was a cultured man and very cosmopolitan in outlook. However, he shared many of the same prejudices against the Jews as other members of the elite. It seems that Hadrian was determined to ensure that the Jews no longer were able to oppose Rome militarily.<ref> Faulkner, Neil. Apocalypse: The Great Jewish Revolt Against Rome (Stroud, Gloucestershire, Tempus Publishing, 2004), p 114</ref>
Moreover, they had to assimilate like other groups and tribes to the expected norms, especially when it came to religion. Hadrian provoked a revolt, and his repression of it could be termed a genocide. Hundreds of thousands died, and many more were enslaved. In the wake of the defeat of Simon Bar Kochba’s rebellion, the Jews no longer threatened Roman rule.
Hadrian, in the aftermath of the Second Jewish Revolt's defeat, prohibited the Torah, and Jews could not enter the re-named Jerusalem except on one day of the year. These measures and Judea's desolation led to a decline in the Jewish community in and around its traditional homeland. More Jews left to live elsewhere in the Empire, and so many left that some historians date the history of the Jewish Diaspora from the end of the Second Jewish Revolt. The movement of Jews out of Judea was to lead to dramatic religious changes. Judaism became a transportable religion focusing on local synagogues and the Bible, rather than the Temple in Jerusalem. Hadrian’s policies fundamentally changed the Jewish world.
Hadrian greatly strengthened the Roman Empire, and it is a testament to his achievements that his successor Antonius Pius was to have a very peaceful reign. Indeed Rome was not to fight a major war for over a generation after the death of Hadrian. Hadrian’s treatment of the Jews was not typical of his tolerant and peaceful reign. His impact on the history of the Jews and their religion was immense.
<youtube>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdJvowU3NOk</youtube>
====Recommended Reading====
