ADRIAN (Imperator Caesar Traianus Hadrianus Augustus), Roman emperor. — Publius of Adriano was born at Italica (in Baetica) in 76 AD into a good family; he was Trajan’s cousin and was adopted by him as a son. Cultured and valiant, he united in a fine synthesis the fruits of Greek and Roman civilization, but he was dissolute, selfish, and ambitious. During his reign (117–38) he undertook many inspection tours throughout the provinces of the empire, providing for the defense of the frontiers with grand works; he reformed the administration, rapidly steering the State toward absolutist forms and diminishing the importance of Rome in favor of the provinces. Among his artistic constructions, the Mausoleum (today Castel S. Angelo) and the villa at Tivoli stand out.
A determined opponent of Judaism, he waged a harsh three-year struggle against the insurgents in Palestine led by Simon Bar-Kokhba (132–35); he built a temple to Jupiter on the ruins of the Temple of Jahweh and founded a colony in place of the destroyed Jerusalem (Aelia Capitolina); no fewer than 580,000 Jews were killed, and severe sanctions were imposed on the rest, many of whom were sold into slavery. Toward Christians, however, he showed tolerance: following Trajan’s example, he replied to a magistrate, Gaius Minucius Fundanus, proconsul of Asia, that anonymous denunciations should not be pursued and that no one should be condemned unless a specific crime had been committed. This act, recorded by St. Justin (I Apologia, 68) and noted by Melito (cf. Eusebius, Hist. eccl., IV, 26, 10), later reproduced by Eusebius (ibid., IV, 9), was at times considered spurious, but now its authenticity is no longer doubted; it offered Christians the chance to defend themselves and forbade the imposition of mob pressure on weak and uncertain magistrates. A. was personally skeptical, being an aesthete; he defended the State’s official cult only out of a sense of duty. He died on 10 July 138, much hated because in his later years he had become suspicious and cruel.