Hadrian (BBC documentary)
Encyclopedia
Hadrian is a Bafta Cymru
-winning 2008
BBC Television
documentary film
in which Dan Snow
follows the travels of the Roman Emperor
Hadrian
.
to tie in with the exhibition Hadrian: Empire and Conflict at the British Museum
.
describes the film as, a breathless, whistle-stop tour of the Roman Empire, and complimented Snow for having, contagious bounding enthusiasm, a real passion for his subject, as well as the authority and gravitas to make you sit up and listen, but he is however critical of the cameraman’s dizzying, habit of circling presenters, and the presenter’s, prancing around in the desert, wearing a silk-scarf in the style of, The English Patient
or Indiana Jones
.
Andrew Billen writing in The Times
described the film as a, really rather good account, but described Snow as, a bit too public school for my liking, a bit keen on showing us his biceps, and, a bit too Bear Grylls
with his flowing desert scarf, concluding that he was unsure, whether to be pleased or sad that Hadrian died a long and lonely death.
a vivid indication of the importance of Hadrian’s family olive oil business in Baetica
. The Emperor Trajan was appointed guardian to the orphaned Hadrian who achieved his reputation leading the Emperor’s wars of Imperial expansion. Snow visits Trajan's Markets where Hadrian asserted his authority to rule following the death of his guardian. Reversing the expansionist policies of his predecessor Hadrian defined the Empire’s northern borders with a wall along the Danube
-Rhine frontier and Hadrian's Wall
, visited by Snow, in Northern England
. Snow also visits the wall that defined the southern borders and the nearby city of Sbeitla
in Tunisia
which shows the prosperity this brought to the region.
Snow sees Hadrian’s commitments to the cities of the Empire in the monumental constructions of Cyrene
in Libya
and Sagalassos
in Greece
built to enforce Roman cultural domination. Hadrian found solace is his close companionship with Antinous
and his spiritual heartland of Athens
, where he was initiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries
and built the Temple of Olympian Zeus visited by Snow, in Greece
. Snow visits the remote Mons Claudianus
in Egypt
where Hadrian quarried the great granite columns for his most impressive monument the Pantheon
. Hadrian decrees the construction of Aelia Capitolina
on the ruins of Jerusalem exiling the resident Jews
.
Snow follows Hadrian’s tour of Egypt
to the Great Pyramid
at Giza and the Valley of the Kings
where following the drowning of his beloved Antinous in the Nile
the Emperor founded the city of Antinopolis
and deified the young boy. Hadrian’s repressive policies in Judea resulted in the Bar Kokhba revolt which the Emperor had Julius Severus
quash by besieging the guerrillas’ mountain base, visited by Snow, in Israel
. Snow visits the massive Villa Adriana at Tivoli
where the isolated and paranoid Hadrian spent his final years on personal building projects. Hadrian constructed his own monumental mausoleum Castel Sant' Angelo, visited by Snow, where he was finally interred after rebuilding the Empire and ensuring its stability.
BAFTA Cymru
BAFTA Cymru is the Welsh branch of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.Formed in 1991, they hold an annual awards ceremony to recognise achievement by performers and production staff in Welsh-made films and television programmes...
-winning 2008
2008 in television
The following is a list of events affecting American television in 2008. Events listed include television show debuts, finales, cancellations, and new channel launches.-January:-February:-March:-April:-May:-June:-July:-August:...
BBC Television
BBC Television
BBC Television is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The corporation, which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927, has produced television programmes from its own studios since 1932, although the start of its regular service of television...
documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
in which Dan Snow
Dan Snow
Daniel Robert Snow is an English television presenter. He has presented and appeared in many popular history-related programmes for the BBC and is the "History Hunter" for The One Show.-Early life and background:...
follows the travels of the Roman Emperor
Roman Emperor
The Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman State during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office although at any given time, a given title was associated with the emperor...
Hadrian
Hadrian
Hadrian , was Roman Emperor from 117 to 138. He is best known for building Hadrian's Wall, which marked the northern limit of Roman Britain. In Rome, he re-built the Pantheon and constructed the Temple of Venus and Roma. In addition to being emperor, Hadrian was a humanist and was philhellene in...
.
Production
The film was produced by BBC WalesBBC Wales
BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the British Broadcasting Corporation for Wales. Based at Broadcasting House in the Llandaff area of Cardiff, it directly employs over 1200 people, and produces a broad range of television, radio and online services in both the Welsh and English languages.Outside...
to tie in with the exhibition Hadrian: Empire and Conflict at the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
.
Reviews
Sam Wollaston writing in The GuardianThe Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
describes the film as, a breathless, whistle-stop tour of the Roman Empire, and complimented Snow for having, contagious bounding enthusiasm, a real passion for his subject, as well as the authority and gravitas to make you sit up and listen, but he is however critical of the cameraman’s dizzying, habit of circling presenters, and the presenter’s, prancing around in the desert, wearing a silk-scarf in the style of, The English Patient
The English Patient
The English Patient is a 1992 novel by Sri Lankan-Canadian novelist Michael Ondaatje. The story deals with the gradually revealed histories of a critically burned English accented Hungarian man, his Canadian nurse, a Canadian-Italian thief, and an Indian sapper in the British Army as they live out...
or Indiana Jones
Indiana Jones
Colonel Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr., Ph.D. is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Indiana Jones franchise. George Lucas and Steven Spielberg created the character in homage to the action heroes of 1930s film serials...
.
Andrew Billen writing in The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
described the film as a, really rather good account, but described Snow as, a bit too public school for my liking, a bit keen on showing us his biceps, and, a bit too Bear Grylls
Bear Grylls
Edward Michael "Bear" Grylls is an English adventurer, writer and television presenter. He is best known for his television series Man vs. Wild, known as Born Survivor in the United Kingdom...
with his flowing desert scarf, concluding that he was unsure, whether to be pleased or sad that Hadrian died a long and lonely death.
Synopsis
Snow begins his journey at Monte TestaccioMonte Testaccio
Monte Testaccio is an artificial mound in Rome composed almost entirely of testae , fragments of broken amphorae dating from the time of the Roman Empire, some of which were labelled with tituli picti...
a vivid indication of the importance of Hadrian’s family olive oil business in Baetica
Hispania Baetica
Hispania Baetica was one of three Imperial Roman provinces in Hispania, . Hispania Baetica was bordered to the west by Lusitania, and to the northeast by Hispania Tarraconensis. Baetica was part of Al-Andalus under the Moors in the 8th century and approximately corresponds to modern Andalucia...
. The Emperor Trajan was appointed guardian to the orphaned Hadrian who achieved his reputation leading the Emperor’s wars of Imperial expansion. Snow visits Trajan's Markets where Hadrian asserted his authority to rule following the death of his guardian. Reversing the expansionist policies of his predecessor Hadrian defined the Empire’s northern borders with a wall along the Danube
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
-Rhine frontier and Hadrian's Wall
Hadrian's Wall
Hadrian's Wall was a defensive fortification in Roman Britain. Begun in AD 122, during the rule of emperor Hadrian, it was the first of two fortifications built across Great Britain, the second being the Antonine Wall, lesser known of the two because its physical remains are less evident today.The...
, visited by Snow, in Northern England
Northern England
Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North or the North Country, is a cultural region of England. It is not an official government region, but rather an informal amalgamation of counties. The southern extent of the region is roughly the River Trent, while the North is bordered...
. Snow also visits the wall that defined the southern borders and the nearby city of Sbeitla
Sbeitla
Sbeitla is a small town in north-central Tunisia. Nearby are the Roman ruins of Sufetula, containing the best preserved Forum temples in Tunisia...
in Tunisia
Tunisia
Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...
which shows the prosperity this brought to the region.
Snow sees Hadrian’s commitments to the cities of the Empire in the monumental constructions of Cyrene
Cyrene, Libya
Cyrene was an ancient Greek colony and then a Roman city in present-day Shahhat, Libya, the oldest and most important of the five Greek cities in the region. It gave eastern Libya the classical name Cyrenaica that it has retained to modern times.Cyrene lies in a lush valley in the Jebel Akhdar...
in Libya
Libya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
and Sagalassos
Sagalassos
Sagalassos is an archaeological site in southwestern Turkey, about 100 km north of Antalya , and 30 km from Burdur and Isparta...
in Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
built to enforce Roman cultural domination. Hadrian found solace is his close companionship with Antinous
Antinous
Antinoüs or Antinoös was a beautiful Bithynian youth and the favourite of the Roman emperor Hadrian...
and his spiritual heartland of Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
, where he was initiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries
Eleusinian Mysteries
The Eleusinian Mysteries were initiation ceremonies held every year for the cult of Demeter and Persephone based at Eleusis in ancient Greece. Of all the mysteries celebrated in ancient times, these were held to be the ones of greatest importance...
and built the Temple of Olympian Zeus visited by Snow, in Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
. Snow visits the remote Mons Claudianus
Mons Claudianus
Mons Claudianus was a Roman quarry in the eastern desert of Egypt. It consisted of a garrison, a quarrying site and civilian and workers quarters.Granodiorite was mined for the Roman Empire where it was used as a building material...
in Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
where Hadrian quarried the great granite columns for his most impressive monument the Pantheon
Pantheon, Rome
The Pantheon ,Rarely Pantheum. This appears in Pliny's Natural History in describing this edifice: Agrippae Pantheum decoravit Diogenes Atheniensis; in columnis templi eius Caryatides probantur inter pauca operum, sicut in fastigio posita signa, sed propter altitudinem loci minus celebrata.from ,...
. Hadrian decrees the construction of Aelia Capitolina
Aelia Capitolina
Aelia Capitolina was a city built by the emperor Hadrian, and occupied by a Roman colony, on the site of Jerusalem, which was in ruins since 70 AD, leading in part to the Bar Kokhba revolt of 132–136.-Politics:...
on the ruins of Jerusalem exiling the resident Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
.
Snow follows Hadrian’s tour of Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
to the Great Pyramid
Great Pyramid of Giza
The Great Pyramid of Giza is the oldest and largest of the three pyramids in the Giza Necropolis bordering what is now El Giza, Egypt. It is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and the only one to remain largely intact...
at Giza and the Valley of the Kings
Valley of the Kings
The Valley of the Kings , less often called the Valley of the Gates of the Kings , is a valley in Egypt where, for a period of nearly 500 years from the 16th to 11th century BC, tombs were constructed for the Pharaohs and powerful nobles of the New Kingdom .The valley stands on the west bank of...
where following the drowning of his beloved Antinous in the Nile
Nile
The Nile is a major north-flowing river in North Africa, generally regarded as the longest river in the world. It is long. It runs through the ten countries of Sudan, South Sudan, Burundi, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and Egypt.The Nile has two major...
the Emperor founded the city of Antinopolis
Antinopolis
Antinopolis was a city founded at an older Egyptian village by the Roman emperor Hadrian to commemorate his deified young beloved, Antinous, on the east bank of the Nile, not far from the site in Upper Egypt where Antinous drowned in 130 AD...
and deified the young boy. Hadrian’s repressive policies in Judea resulted in the Bar Kokhba revolt which the Emperor had Julius Severus
Sextus Julius Severus
Sextus Julius Severus was an accomplished Roman General of the 2nd century.Julius Severus served as Governor of Moesia; he was appointed Governor of Britain around 131.In 133 he was transferred to Judea, to help suppress the Bar Kochba rebellion there...
quash by besieging the guerrillas’ mountain base, visited by Snow, in Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. Snow visits the massive Villa Adriana at Tivoli
Tivoli, Italy
Tivoli , the classical Tibur, is an ancient Italian town in Lazio, about 30 km east-north-east of Rome, at the falls of the Aniene river where it issues from the Sabine hills...
where the isolated and paranoid Hadrian spent his final years on personal building projects. Hadrian constructed his own monumental mausoleum Castel Sant' Angelo, visited by Snow, where he was finally interred after rebuilding the Empire and ensuring its stability.
External links
- The Cult of Hadrian by Vanessa Thorpe in The ObserverThe ObserverThe Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
- A Very Modern Emperor by Mary BeardMary Beard (classicist)Winifred Mary Beard is Professor of Classics at the University of Cambridge and a fellow of Newnham College. She is the Classics editor of the Times Literary Supplement, and author of the blog "", which appears in The Times as a regular column...
in The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...