This is an odd if appealing amalgam, which the publisher describes as "part travelogue, biography and fictional memoir," recounting the life of second-century Roman emperor Hadrian when the empire was at its peak of power. The memoir is not Hadrian's (though he did in fact write an autobiography that has been lost to us), but that of Julia Balbilla, an aristocratic woman, poet and good friend of Hadrian's wife. Inspired by Marguerite Yourcenar's novel about the emperor, and attempting to flesh out the skimpy historical record and give readers a taste of real life during the Roman Empire, Speller, a classics scholar, entwines excerpts from the fictional diary with historical narrative to relate the life of Hadrian, "a great and brilliant emperor" and "a passionate and incessant traveler." Through the imagined words of Julia, Hadrian becomes a man of flesh and blood: "his hair was more brown than golden and the poetry rather better than the wits gave him credit for. It was the same with his alleged cowardice in the wars and his womanising." This is a pleasing introduction to the ancient world.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
"Wonderful and entrancing.... Anyone interested in the ancient world will want to read this book."--Literary Review
"A clear-headed and accessible narrative of Hadrian's wandering reign, informed and enlivened by some of the best modern work on the politics of the Roman Empire--which she manages to cast much more elegantly than most professional ancient historians themselves."--Mary Beard, Times Literary Supplement
"A pleasing introduction to the ancient world."--Publishers Weekly
"Cambridge-educated classicist Speller's first book, which is part biography and part travelog, examines the many facets of Hadrian's personality. What results is a fascinating and learned account of both his life and the ancient world during his supremacy. Hadrian was a 'passionate and incessant traveler' who, amazingly, spent half his reign abroad. Naturally, the book focuses on his travels, with particular emphasis on his sojourn in Egypt. The most famous attributes of his personality are also explored, such as his love of all thing Greek, his tragic homosexual relationship with the young Antonius, his alleged anti-Semitism, and his architectural achievements.... Lively and interesting."--Library Journal
"An engaging, thoughtful, knowledgeable and fascinating essay on Roman history, as well as a perceptive exploration of the Roman empire of the second century CE.... Speller has chosen a subject that well repays the kind of personal, psychological investigation she undertakes.... She skillfully synthesizes the appropriate scholarship and ancient sources to weave together an enthralling and informative narrative."--Mary T. Boatwright, author of Hadrian and the Cities of the Roman Empire and Hadrian and the City of Rome
See all Editorial Reviews
(
