Summer AD 124 – Hadrian tours Asia, visits Cyzicus and Troy and hunts a she-bear (#Hadrian1900) FOLLOWING HADRIAN

In the late spring of AD 124, Hadrian departed from Thrace (see here) and travelled back to Asia Minor, this time to the Roman province of Asia. He was accompanied by the sophist Antonius Polemo and his “soldiers and carriages.” The imperial party’s first destination was the peninsula of Cyzicus on the southern shore of the Propontis in ancient Mysia before continuing their journey as far south as Ephesus.

Cyzicus, like Nicaea and Nicomedia, was hit by a powerful earthquake, causing severe damage (see here). In response, Hadrian implemented large-scale restoration and beautification measures in the city, including constructing a temple dedicated to himself and paving the Agora with marble (Chronicon Paschale 475.10). As Hadrian entered the province, he was greeted by the city’s dignitaries and the proconsul, his friend Q. Pompeius Falco, who was approaching the end of his term in office. Falco, a military man who served as consul in 108, had already enjoyed a long career when he assumed the proconsulship of Asia in 123/4. He took up this post after being transferred to Britannia in 117 (CIL X, 6321). 

The province of Asia, established following Rome’s annexation of the Attalid Kingdom in 133 BC, consisted of the territories of Mysia, the Troad, Lydia, Ionia, Phrygia, and Caria in Western Asia Minor. It was one of the wealthiest in the Empire and remained peaceful for most of the Imperial period. Asia contained hundreds of largely self-governing Greek city-states lining the Asiatic coast of the Propontis, the Hellespont and the Aegean. They competed vigorously with each other for status and influence by appealing to the Imperial authorities for favours. One of the objects of those ambitions was the privilege to house a provincial temple of the imperial cult. A union of cities called the koinon represented the province, with ambassadors meeting annually in an assembly, where they decided on matters which affected all the cities.

By the time of Augustus, the province was governed by a Roman governor who had his headquarters in Ephesus but travelled to various cities, intervening in local politics and finances if necessary. Augustus’ reforms improved the economy and initiated a time of peace and prosperity that would last until the 3rd century AD. The first princeps also allowed the koinon of Asia to build a temple dedicated to him and the goddess Roma in Pergamon. Although no archaeological evidence of this temple has yet been found, it appears on the city’s coinage with a Corinthian façade on a stepped crepis in the Greek style and was presumably standing by 19 BC. This temple was to be the first in a series of provincial temples for the emperor’s cult. When the province was subsequently permitted to establish a second provincial temple in AD 26, this time for Tiberius, Livia and the Senate, eleven cities competed for the privilege (Tacitus, Annals 4.55-56). The Senate listened to the arguments of the key cities and narrowed it down to Sardis and Smyrna, ultimately assigning the temple to Smyrna.

A few decades later, under Nero, the imperial cult in Asia became institutionalised by designating cities that housed a provincial temple as neokoroi (‘temple wardens’). Numerous inscriptions on stones and coins publicly promoted the pride of cities that held a neokorate. The title neokoros first appeared on a coin issued at Ephesus under Nero during the proconsulship of M.’ Acilius Aviola in 65-66 (RPC I, 2626), and the first inscription appeared during the time of Domitian in 85 on the scene of the Ephesus theatre (Ephesos 274). The three major cities of Asia, Pergamon, Ephesus and Smyrna, eventually received more than one neokoria.

Hadrian granted Ephesus its second neokoria in the early 130s during his third visit to the city. The first citation of the title ‘twice neokoros’ for Ephesus is found on an inscribed base of a statue dated to 132, set up by chief priests of Asia in Ephesus in the Olympieion in Athens (IG II2 3297). During this journey in Asia, Hadrian, under the influence of M. Antonius Polemo, gave the second neokoria to Smyrna in Ionia. However, the provincial temple to Hadrian was to gain the title neokoros for Cyzicus in Mysia for the first time. Hadrian became the first emperor to grant three neokorates in the same koinon of Asia.

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Cyzicus was one of the most prosperous cities of Asia Minor during classical antiquity and was particularly attractive to the Romans. Referred to as the “noble city” by the Roman historian Florus, the city boasted a citadel, harbour, walls, and marble towers, earning it the title of the “glory of Asia” (Flor. 1.11.13). According to literary sources, Cyzicus was founded around 680 BC by a group of Greek colonists from the city of Miletus, making it one of the oldest Greek settlements in the region. However, the references to King Kyzikos, a Thessalian migrant who Jason accidentally killed in the legend of Argonauts, imply that the history of the city may go back to as early as the Late Bronze Age.

The southern and western parts of the city were situated on the low ground of the isthmus and the small plain at the base of the Acropolis hill. According to epigraphic evidence, Cyzicus had a theatre, a marketplace (Agora), a bouleuterion, a Doric colonnade (stoa), and a temple dedicated to Athena Polias. The town was surrounded by strong granite walls constructed and reconstructed over many years. Outside the walls, north of the city, stood an amphitheatre dating back to the 2nd century AD and a particularly significant monument, a temple dedicated to Hadrian, the city’s most important structure.

The exceptionally large amphitheatre was situated in the valley on both sides of the sloping hills beneath the Acropolis. Its elliptical shape may be traced from the few pilasters and arches rising from the thickly wooded slopes of the old cavea. A small stream flew through the building, presumably for use in naumachiae (naval spectacular displays) and for the cleansing of the arena. The amphitheatre was oval and surrounded by two by two tiers of arcading. There were originally thirty-two vomitorii (entrances). The central axis measured around 140 meters. Hadrianic inscriptions found among the ruins of the amphitheatre have allowed its dating in the reign of Hadrian.

Cyzicus experienced frequent earthquakes, with fifteen such occurrences between AD 29 and 1887. This included an earthquake during Hadrian’s reign around 120. According to John Malalas, the earthquake caught Hadrian’s attention and prompted the Emperor to help the city (Malalas 11.16). The Chronicon Paschale, a chronicle of world events up to about 630, states that Hadrian founded a temple there and paved a marketplace with marble (Chronicon Paschale 475.10).

The Temple’s history and overall character are well-documented in literary sources. The Byzantine chronicler John Malalas referred to the monument as “a very large temple, one of the wonders,” adorned with a massive bust of Hadrian on the roof and a marble stele inscribed “of Divine Hadrian”. Cassius Dio described it as “the largest and most beautiful of all temples,” noting that “in general, the details were more to be wondered at than praised” (Dio 70.4.1–2). Anthony Birley suggests that the temple of Hadrian was initially built by the kings of Pergamon in the 2nd century BC and dedicated to Zeus. However, no evidence from the excavation supports such an early origin. The foundations of the Cyzicus temple are entirely Roman, with vaulted substructures made of cement and agglomerate (Burrell, 2003).

The Temple stood in the western part of the city, facing east. It was a massive building with eight columns on the front (octastyle) and fifteen or seventeen on the sides. It belonged to the Corinthian order and was similar in size to the Artemision in Ephesus or the Temple of Apollo at Didyma, measuring 120 metres in length and 50 metres in width. The sixty columns surrounding the central part of the temple were over 2 metres in diameter and more than 21 metres high. The temple was adorned with the largest Corinthian capitals ever sculpted. One of these capitals, measuring 2.5 meters in height, 1.9 meters in diameter, and weighing 20 tons, was unearthed in 2013. However, extensive archaeological research consistently leads to new proposals for its layout. There is still no agreement on the temple’s design to this day.

The Temple of Hadrian was likely still under construction when it was destroyed by an earthquake near the end of Antoninus Pius’ reign (Cass. Dio 70.4.1). It was finally completed and dedicated in 166 or 167, and a panegyric (speech) was given by the orator Aelius Aristides in Cyzicus to celebrate the restoration of the temple (Oration 27). Aristides praised the temple extensively, emphasising its immense size, claiming it was “equal to the mountains” and so colossal that sailors no longer needed beacon fires to guide them to Cyzicus. Nicetas of Heraclea, an 11th-century clergyman and writer, even compared the temple to the Seven Wonders. An anonymous list from the 12th or 13th century also ranks the temple as the eighteenth among thirty beautiful and worthy things to see (Codex Vaticanus graecus 989).

You [Cyzicenes] have inscribed upon it [the temple] the name of the best emperor up to that time, your work has been completed in these times, whose lot again has been the fairest of the fair and for which most justly would so great a thank offering be erected to the gods, since it is not easy to find a greater. Aelius Aristides, Orations 27 (section 22)

Cyriacus of Ancona, an Italian traveller and antiquarian, visited the site of Cyzicus in 1431 and reported that thirty-one of its columns were still standing (half of the original total). However, the splendid ruin was being used as a stone quarry for nearby Bursa. Fifty-four years later, only twenty-six columns stood, and by the 19th century, the Temple’s superstructure was gone. Cyriacus of Ancona created detailed sketches of what remained of the Temple, which helped the archaeologists recognise the fragment of the Temple among the ruins and restore the plan of the building, together with the reverses of coins showing the Temple (RPC IV.2, 11185). With the new Temple that Hadrian allowed to be built for his cult, Cyzicus was granted the role of neokoros, temple warden of the imperial cult, joining Pergamon, Ephesus and Smyrna.

Cyzicus received further signs of imperial favour. The city was renamed Hadriane, and athletic competitions called Hadriania were initiated in which Aelius Aristides participated. Writing more than 300 years after Hadrian’s reign and the consecration of his temple, the church historian Socrates of Constantinople affirms that the people of Cyzicus considered Hadrian’ the thirteenth god’ and worshipped Antinous with heroic honours (Socr. hist. eccl 3,23). Additionally, Hadrian later received the title Olympios, a name associated with Zeus. He was honoured with statues and praised as ‘saviour and founder’.

Due to its size, Asia, the ‘land of five hundred cities’, as the province was described, was divided into smaller administrative units called “conventus.” In the early 2nd century AD, there were 14 of these, including Cyzicus. During the reign of Hadrian, the coins in Cyzicus were issued with images including Demeter, Cybele, Pluto and Proserpina, Heracles, Asclepius, Zeus, Tyche and the Hero Kyzicos, a variety of motifs (dolphin, oak wreath, jug, torch, galley) and the legends ΚΥ/ΖΙ or ΚΥΖΙΚΗΝΩΝ (RPC III 1498–1521). Cyzicus also issued coins for Sabina and Antinous, who was worshipped with heroic honours after his death. A single coin shows the Bithynian boy depicted as the hero Kyzikos, founder of Cyzicus (RPC III, 1528).

The nearby cities of Apollonia ad Rhyndacum and Miletopolis also benefited from Hadrian’s presence in the area. Both cities called him ‘Saviour and Founder’, revealing their gratitude (IMT LApollon/Milet 2363 & IMT LApollon/Milet 2195). Hadrian is credited with constructing or reconstructing a stoa in a fragmentary inscribed frieze from Apollonia, possibly after the major earthquake of AD 120 (IMT LApollon/Milet 2361). The blocks of this inscription, decorated with garlanded bucrania, can be seen reused within the Byzantine fortification walls of the city (Gülbay, 2016).

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After visiting Cyzicus, Hadrian travelled west along the coast and crossed the River Granicus, which allowed him to visit the site of Alexander’s first major victory. He then continued to Parium, where Augustus had established a colony. On municipal coins of this period, the city appears as Colonia Gemella Iulia Hadriana Pariana (in the form of the abbreviation C G I H P) with a reverse depicting a male figure, identified as a colony founder, ploughing (RPC III, 1542), a reference to the grant of new land attributed to Parium across the straits by Hadrian (Boatwright, 2000). In gratitude, Parium erected multiple dedications to Hadrian in the city itself, naming Hadrian as “Jupiter Olympius, the founder of the city” (conditor coloniae).

The history of Parium begins at the end of the 8th century BC after its colonisation, though the ancient sources do not agree on who colonised the city. Pausanias claims that Parium was colonised by Erythrai (Paus. 9.27.1), while Eustathios states Thasos colonised it, and Strabo mentions that it was colonised by Paros (Strabo 10.5.7), but also notes the involvement of Miletos and Erythrai (Strabo 13.1.14). The name of Parium (or Parion) was also a subject of debate. The city’s name may have three possible origins. It could have been named after the island of Paros or after Parios, the son of either Iason or Demetria from Erythrai. Another possibility is that it was named after Paris, the famous prince of Troy.

The city was well-known for its great artistic works by renowned Greek sculptors. The first of these masterpieces was the bronze statue of Herakles made by the early 5th-century BC sculptor Hegesias of Athens (Pliny, NH 34.78). The other two renowned works of sculpture were the marble statue of Eros by famous Athenian sculptor Praxiteles and a bronze statue of the Trojan prince Paris by the Greek sculptor Euphranor from the Isthmos near Corinth, a work praised by Pliny the Elder (34.77-78). Its reproduction on Roman coins of Parium from the reign of Antonine Pius to Aemilian, approximately from AD 140 to 253, also shows its famousness.

To him [Praxiteles] belongs, moreover, another Cupid, which is naked, at Parium, a colony on the Propontis, a work that matches the Venus of Cnidus in its renown, as well as in the outrageous treatment which it suffered. For Alcetas, a man from Rhodes, fell in love with it and left a similar mark of his passion upon it.” Pliny, NH 36.22 (translation taken from the Loeb edition).

Parion enjoyed enviable prosperity because of its port. It became part of the kingdom of Pergamon under the Attalid dynasty and later came under Roman control in 133 BC. Under Augustus, it thrived as a Roman colony. One of the city’s notable monuments was a colossal altar of Apollo built by the architect Hermokreon. Strabo, the only source of information about this monument, mentioned that it was located between Parium and Priapos and had a length of 1 stadium, 187m (Strabo 13.1.13).

The first systematic excavations began in 2005 to uncover the historical and archaeological heritage of Parium. Significant work is being carried out in six different areas of the ancient city and has revealed structures like a theatre, an odeon, an agora with shops and two Roman bath complexes. Excavations in the southern necropolis revealed over 100 graves dating from the 6th century BC to the 4th century BC. Sarcophagi, cist graves, wooden coffins, and ancient artefacts were found in the area. In 2017, ancient toys from the Hellenistic Period were discovered inside tombs belonging to children, who were believed to have been buried with the toys to accompany them on their journey to the afterlife.

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Hadrian then went to the neighbouring Troad, along the main coastal road that appears to have been repaired in preparation for the Emperor’s arrival. One Roman milestone dated to Hadrian’s eighth tribunician term (AD 124/125) has been found near Alexandria Troas (CIL III 466). This road ran from Cyzicus through Ilium (Troy), Alexandria Troas, Adramyttium and Pergamon, eventually reaching Smyrna and Ephesus. Driven by his passion for Homer, Hadrian felt compelled to visit Troy and the graves of the Homeric heroes. At Rhoeteum, Hadrian reconstructed the tomb of the Greek hero Ajax.

The 2nd/3rd century AD sophist Philostratus reported that the original tomb of Ajax stood on the seashore and had been washed away by the sea, revealing bones of gigantic size, allegedly nearly 5m in height (Philostr. 8.1). Hadrian reinterred the bones in an entirely new tumulus well above sea level with a statue of Ajax mounted on top. Pausanias, too, comments on seeing the individual bones of a giant man (Paus. 1.35.3-5). Hadrian also wrote an epigram on Hector’s tomb telling the hero that the famed city of Ilium lives on with its warlike inhabitants (Anth. Pal. 9.387). Notably, the Trojan hero appears on the reverse of coins from the city in Hadrian’s reign (RPC III, 1571).

Listen now, my friend. I had a grandfather who knew many of the things you do not believe. He used to say that the tomb of Ajax was destroyed by the sea near which it lies, and that bones appeared in it of a person eleven cubits tall. He also said that upon his arrival at Troy the emperor Hadrian embraced and kissed some of the bones, wrapped them up, and restored the present tomb of Ajax” Philostratus, On Heroes 8.1

The tumulus of Ajax is one of the heroes’ graves that has been identified almost with certainty. An oil lamp of Hadrianic date was discovered in the fill above the vaulted entrance, and the construction technique suggests it dates back to the 2nd century AD. In the late 18th century, the tumulus was described as having within it an outer circular vaulted passage, 3.5 m in width, connected to a central stone tower by a network of radiating walls. It had a diameter of more than 11 m and a height of 5 m (Körpe & Rose, 2017).

Hadrian’s visit to Troy marked the beginning of a new golden era for the ancestral home of the Romans, with repair, renovation, and rebuilding taking place throughout the Lower City. Possibly stimulated by the Emperor’s visit, the restoration and enlargement of two buildings were initiated in the Agora of Ilium: the Odeon and the bath/gymnasium directly in front of it. The Odeon, possibly originally an Augustan building, was embellished with an opulent two-storey scaenae frons (stage building) ornamented with a mix of coloured columns in the Ionic order and statues (Riorden, 2006).

One extant remaining Imperial statue from the Odeon shows Hadrian in military costume. The statue, excavated from the collapse of the scaenae frons in 1993, would have decorated the centre of the upper storey. This small theatre-like structure, used for musical performances and poetry recitations, perhaps served as a place to present Hadrian’s poem about Hector. The seating capacity was somewhere between 1700 and 2100 spectators.

The statue of Hadrian found in the Odeon (now in the Troy Museum) is a significant archaeological discovery highlighting the ties between Ilium and Rome and acknowledging Ilium’s privileged status. The statue, believed to be made from marble, is slightly larger-than-life and shows the Emperor in military costume wearing a paludamentum draped over the left shoulder and arm. The cuirass is decorated with a gorgoneion on the breastplate. The statue was probably commissioned by a local aristocrat, a woman named Aristonoe, who reportedly paid for the stage building and its sculptural decoration. Up to seven other statues would have adorned the scaenae frons of the Troy Odeon, possibly of Hadrian’s wife, Sabina, and other members of the Imperial family.

The Odeon appears to have been designed alongside the restoration and expansion of the Augustan bath complex, which was now supplied with water channelled from a source in the mountainous interior of the Troad via a new aqueduct. Between 20 and 30 km long, this aqueduct consisted of terracotta pipelines, an underground channel with a masonry cover, and several bridges. The most notable feature of the aqueduct is a tall, 87-m-long two-tier bridge that spans the Kemerdere Valley, about 11 km east of Troy. The engineers selected the narrowest point in the valley for the aqueduct to cross to the northwest side.

During Hadrian’s reign, Ilium expanded its range of Homeric and legendary coin types to include Hector (RPC III, 1571) and Ganymede (RPC III, 1572), as well as Aeneas, leaving Troy with Ascanius and Anchises with a miniature Lupercal (wolf left suckling twins) in exergue, which tied together the two key episodes in Roman legend (RPC III, 1570).

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Advancing towards the south along the coast, Hadrian visited Alexandria Troas, a city founded by Alexander’s generals in 310 BC and called Antigonia (Strabo, 13.1.26). It later became a prosperous colony of Roman soldiers, initially named Colonia Iulia (Alexandria) Troas under Julius Caesar and Colonia Augusta Troadensis, when Augustus refounded the Roman colony and brought more colonists. Alexandria had two artificial harbours and quite a lot of arable land, and thanks to its strategic geographical position, it became the region’s commercial hub. As the chief port in the Troad, the city thrived during Roman times and was exempted from all import and export taxes.

Strabo referred to Alexandria Troas as “one of the notable cities” of the Empire (Strabo 13.1.26). The remaining archaeological evidence suggests that it was once a significant city, potentially with a population of around 90,000 at its peak, 30,000 for the hinterland, and perhaps up to twice that number in the urbs itself. With its public buildings and harbour, the city covered an area of about 390 hectares with an approximately 7.1 kilometre-long city wall.

Hadrian generously supported this significant Roman colony, as evidenced by a votive inscription in which the citizens honoured Hadrian as the colony’s restorer (restitutor coloniae) in their city and the Olympieion at Athens “because of his many benefits both to individuals and to the city at large” (CIL III 7282). The Olympieion reportedly contained 129 bronze statues of Hadrian dedicated by various cities and thus functioned as a centre for the imperial cult. Three of those statues were dedicated by cities in the Troad or on the Troad: Alexandria Troas, Abydos (IG 3.472), and Sestos (IG 3.484).

Philostratus reports that the city received its first aqueduct in 135 when Herodes Atticus “was corrector of the free cities of Asia” and realised that the colony lacked abundant, free-flowing water. The young Herodes urged the Emperor to permit him to spend 3,000,000 drachmae on a water supply. The cost actually exceeded the approved budget considerably and ran to 7,000,000. Hadrian expressed his disapproval to Herodes’ father, after which he replied: “Do not, o Emperor, allow yourself to be irritated on account of so trifling a sum. For the amount spent in excess of the three million, I hereby present to my son, and my son will present it to the town.” (Philostr. soph. 548).

Atticus’s large-scale projects in Alexandria Troas also involved building a nymphaeum and an impressive bath-gymnasium complex. The ruins of the baths survive. However, the associated aqueduct, initially 8-9 km long, has been damaged because it was easily accessible as a source of building stone. Nineteenth-century drawings show regularly spaced piers running about one kilometre from Alexandria Troas east toward Mount Ida.

In 2003, three inscribed letters from Hadrian to the associations (Synod) of Dionysus artists were discovered in Alexandria Troas. Dated to the year 134, these letters deal with the new measures implemented by Hadrian to regulate Greek festivals. For example, he limited their lengths to no more than 40 days, created a new calendar of the main festivals, starting with the Olympian festival, and gave the participating professional artists and athletes new rights (see here).

I have set the beginning from the Olympian contests, since this contest is ancient and certainly the most prestigious of the Greek ones. After the Olympian contests shall be the Isthmian contests, and after the Isthmian the Hadrianeian, so that the contest begins on the next day after the festival at Eleusis ends, and this is by Athenian reckoning the first day of Maimakterion. There shall be forty days for the Hadrianeian contests, and the contest in Tarentum shall be held after the Hadrianeian contests in the month of January, with the Capitolian contests, as they have been completed up to now, preceding the contests in Neapolis. Then the Actian contests will take place, beginning nine days before the kalends of October, and ending within forty days.

Alexandria Troas was known for its significant granite quarries. One of these grey granite quarries of Marmor Troadense (Yedi Taşlar) is located 8 km south-southeast of the harbour of Alexandria Troas (to where the completed columns were transported). Columns made of this rock were widely used as building stones in ancient times and can be found throughout the Mediterranean region. They have been discovered at various sites, such as Palmyra and Baalbeck in the east and Arles and Tarragona in the west. Additionally, large sections of these columns were used in Asia Minor, for example, in the Agoras of Smyrna, Ephesus, and Italy, in locations like Rome, Ravenna, and Aquileia. The Yedi Taşlar quarry contains some sixty columns and column fragments of various sizes at different stages of completion. Some columns were ready for transport, while others were partially ready and still connected to the bedrock. They average 11.5 metres in length and 1.70 metres in diameter at their top.

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The next part of the journey was dedicated to exploring Mysia’s wooded mountainous hinterland and hunting. Hadrian was a great lover of the hunt, and he was so pleased with killing a she-bear that he established a town called Hadrianotherae (Αδριανού Θήραι), meaning literally ‘Hadrian’s Hunts’, on the spot of his successful hunt. The city later honoured its founder by minting bronze coins, one depicting the Emperor on horseback about to throw a spear at a fleeing bear and the other with the head of the slain animal. The head of the she-bear also appears on a coin of Antinous (RPC III, 1631) with the legend ΑΝΤΙΝΟΟϹ ΗΡΩϹ ΑΓΑΘΟϹ (Antinous Noble Hero).

Hadrianotherae stood on the road from Cyzicus to Pergamon, about its middle point. Its site has consequently long been placed in the neighbourhood of modern Balıkesir. The surrounding landscape was characterised by rugged mountains, the valley of the Caicus River, and dense forests filled with wildlife and served as a valuable timber resource.

… and in one locality he [Hadrian] founded a town called Hadrianotherae,​ because once he had hunted successfully there and killed a bear. HA Hadr. 20.13

He is said to have been enthusiastic about hunting. Indeed, he broke his collar-bone at this pursuit and came near getting his leg maimed; and to a city that he founded in Mysia he gave the name of Hadrianotherae. Dio Cassius 69.10.2

Bears were widespread in Asia Minor, and the area of Mysia was a traditional supplier of these predators for circus games. The region’s association with Hadrian’s hunting activities was so strong that at nearby Stratonicea-Hadrianopolis, the Emperor was worshipped as Zeus Kynegesios (Zeus the Hunter). The people erected a monument out of gratitude for Hadrian’s commitment to their protection between 130 and 138 (IMT Kaïkos 935).

The Emperor probably stayed in Stratonicea while travelling through Mysia’s upper Caicus (Kaikos) Valley. He granted the place the status of a city and the name Hadrianopolis. A bronze coin from Stratonicea-Hadrianopolis portrays a laureate Hadrian accompanied by the title Ἁδριανὸς Κτίστης (Hadrian the founder), while the reverse depicts Zeus (RPC III, 1780). The epithet refers to the city’s re-foundation, which now bore the double name Stratonicea-Hadrianopolis. A letter from the Emperor to the city in 127 refers to the recent foundation of the city under its double name (IGR 4.1156). Later, in 131, the Emperor was to establish two additional cities in the fertile plains of Mysia: Hadriania, located between the Macestus and Rhyndacus Rivers, and Hadriani at the foot of Mount Olympus.

Hadrian’s next visit would probably have been to Pergamon, although Birley notes there is no explicit record of his presence there in 124. However, he could not have been in this part of Asia without visiting the once centre of the Attalid kingdom. There was much for him to see and admire at Pergamon, especially its celebrated shrines of Zeus, Athena, and Asclepius. Hadrian likely began his ambitious remodelling of the sanctuary of Asclepius at this time, as well as the provincial temple dedicated to Trajan.

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Sources & references:

• Birley AR (1997), Hadrian The Restless Emperor, London, Roman Imperial Biographies
• Boatwright, M.T. (2000), Hadrian and the Cities of the Roman Empire, Princeton
• Rose, C.B. (2014). The Archaeology of Greek and Roman Troy, Cambridge University Press
• C. Brian Rose, Reyhan Körpe, The Tumuli  of Troy and the  in: Tumulus as Sema, Space, Politics, Culture and Religion in the First Millennium BC, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2016,  pp. 373-386 – 
• Riorden, E. (2006). A Hadrianic Theater at Ilion (Troy): a Paradigm Shift for Roman Building Practice and Its Aesthetic Aftermath, Second International Congress on Construction History, Queens’ College, Cambridge University (pdf)
• Riorden, E. (2007). The Odeion of Ilion: A Proposed Reconstruction and Some Implications. Studia Troica 17: 47–55.
• Aylward, W. (2006). The Aqueduct of Ilion (Troy) and the Supply of the City’s Nymphaeum and Bath. In Cura Aquarum in Ephesus: Proceedings of the Twelfth International Congress on the History of Water Management and Hydraulic Engineering in the Mediterranean Region, Ephesus/Selçuk, Turkey, October 2–10, 2004, edited by G. Wiplinger, 107–15. BABesch Supplement 12. Dudley, Mass.
• Aylward, W., G. Bieg, and R. Aslan. (2002). The Aqueduct of Roman Ilion and the Bridge across the Kemerdere Valley in the Troad. Studia Troica 12: 397–427.
• Yavuz, Vural. (2014). Antique quarries of marmor troadense (NW Turkey): Insights from field mapping and absolute dating. TURKISH JOURNAL OF EARTH SCIENCES. 23. 495-512. 10.3906/yer-1404-2.

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