Hadrian ruled as emperor from 117 to 138, what is mostly recorded as glorious years, to debate whether ‘Hadrian was a good emperor’ to Rome would mean to look at his achievements and how they could compare to those achieved by emperors before him. Sources list Hadrian as a cultural and independent emperor, but to summarize his years of emperor as ‘good’ or ‘bad’, would mean to study and explore his ways of ruling and how he was influential to the people of Rome. This small assessment of Hadrian’s time as emperor is very limited, and though historical sources list his many great deeds for the city of Rome, but like every emperor, he had his weaknesses, and a number of arguments are clear, when labeling him simply ‘good’ or ‘bad’. Hadrian was emperor for twenty-one years and when most of his decisions were successful, politically and socially, every ‘good’ emperor makes mistakes.

Many historians compare Hadrian to the divine Augustus, in his manner of modesty, honesty, and a patron of most arts. Hadrian was introduced into the Imperial family of Trajan when his father died and Trajan’s wife took an interest in the orphaned boy. Hadrian was then educated pr

However, his fine architecture was not simply to provide his city fashionable comfort. Hadrian was known throughout most of his life as a military man, and he concentrated on keeping Rome’s frontiers safe from invasion. On a second tour of the Empire, Hadrian constructed a 130-km long wall, four meters high and about three meters thick. The wall was made of stone and marked the Northern boundary of Rome’s conquests in Britain, from Tyne to Solway. It was built to defend Roman Britain from the Scottish Picts in the North, and soldiers would stand on watch and signal any of the sixteen forts along the wall. Hadrian had a strong military background, and he was the first of all emperors to improve on Rome’s defense, rather than expansions, Hadrian’s wall being an obvious mark of that. After his second tour, and the completion of the wall, Hadrian returned to Rome, with no military conflicts to deal with, he settled on improving the Roman law. Hadrian’s decisions of defense were very profitable for Rome, security wise and politically, adding to the reasons that made him a ‘good’ emperor, successfully.

However his popularity only extended to those of his own religion. Like many of the Romans, Hadrian disliked the Jewish population and when he prohibited circumcision in 131, the Jewish rebelled. The rebellion was wide spread, and held guerilla attacks on Rome. However, these were quickly stopped by Hadrian’s powerful defense force and they were replaced by non- Jewish people.

Another mark of Hadrian’s reign was a strong economy. Hadrian gained much favor by dissolving all debts owed to the government on his crowning and providing them with buildings and roads, without increased tax. Hadrian’s profitable political tactics also led him to change Roman law. He authorized a reform of Roman law and appointed a distinguished jurist to institute a permanent code by which all magistrates had to abide. Previous t

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