Hadrianos Olympios Panhellenios

Abstract

In the multitude of testimonies pertaining to the cults and honors for Hadrian that can be connected to the physical presence of the “restless emperor”, the case of Greece is rather anomalous if one compares the sheer number and importance of cultic (and honorific) attestations for him with the relative scarcity of the evidence on imperial cult in the province of Achaea. In this chapter I argue that the abundance of evidence that “old Greece” provides for the worship of Hadrian can be linked to the philhellene emperor’s personal inclination toward this region. I will concentrate primarily on the ways Hadrian’s proverbial philhellenism is reflected in the worship that he received in Greece. I will focus on Athens, not only because this city has yielded most of the evidence on the cult of Hadrian in the province of Achaea, but also because one can argue that his worship in Athens reveals a direct expression of the emperor’s privileged link with the city. Indeed, the sheer number and types of testimonies of the cult of Hadrian in Athens may be seen as a direct reflection of the city’s pivotal role in the emperor’s Panhellenic program. Athens’ connection with its glorious past as well as its ongoing cultural primacy in Roman Greece and the Graeco-Roman Empire in general played a central role in the realization of the new imperial policy. After presenting an overview of the available evidence from cult places, festivals, and priesthoods, I shed light on the main features of this imperial cult against the background of key concepts of Hadrian’s relationship with the Greek world.