Part one.
We know from the Historia Augusta that Hadrian «was so fond of traveling that he wanted to personally inform himself about everything he had read about every part of the world». Cassius Dio recounts that the emperor «personally observed and investigated absolutely everything», while Tertullian reports that «he wanted to explore every curiosity».
Hadrian visited the major cities and provinces throughout the empire for many years, as can be seen from the beautiful maps of his travels created by Simeon Netchev for the World History Encyclopedia.
Hadrian did not travel for pure pleasure, but because he wanted to personally assess the state of the empire itself, consolidate its borders, understand the causes of rebellions, and monitor the discipline and efficiency of the army.
During his travels, the emperor forged political alliances to reaffirm Rome's supremacy everywhere. Particularly significant in this regard is a colossal statue of him preserved in the Archaeological Museum of Istanbul (Turkey), which depicts him as a ruthless ruler crushing a submissive subject with one foot.
Equally important was the religious aspect of his travels: political and religious power at the time were inextricably linked, and the support of the local clergy and aristocracy was crucial. Hadrian was initiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries, consulted the Oracle of Delphi, and restored or built new temples whose architecture showed the greatness of Rome, especially in Athens.
In 117 AD, when he became emperor upon the death of Trajan, Hadrian was in Antioch. Instead of returning directly to Rome, he extended his journey by crossing the Danubian Limes to negotiate peace with the king of the Sarmatian tribe of the Roxolani, who threatened the security of the borders. He traveled through Cilicia and Cappadocia, then passed through Ancyra (present-day Ankara) and Juliopolis in Bithynia, finally reaching Rome in 118 AD.
Based on ancient sources, coins, and epigraphic evidence, three long journeys of the emperor have been identified. The first lasted from 121 to 123 AD, when he traveled to the western provinces of Gaul and Germania, all the way to Britain. During the second journey (123-125 AD), he visited the eastern provinces, as he did in the third, between 128 and 134 AD.
During those same years, construction of Hadrian's Villa in Tivoli began, as we know from brick stamps, the vast majority of which date to 123 AD, which means that the emperor had ordered a huge quantity of bricks for its construction. In 125 AD, The Villa must have been almost completed, because in that year Hadrian wrote a letter to the inhabitants of Delphi, from which we deduce that the Villa was already functioning as an imperial residence.
First Journey: 121-125 AD
In 121 AD, Hadrian set out on his first great journey, which lasted until 125 AD.
He began by visiting Gaul, specifically Massalia and Lugdunum (Marseille and Lyon in France), and then continued on to Mogontiacum (Mainz), the capital of Upper Germany. There, he inspected the military garrisons along the Rhine-Danube frontiers, also visiting Raetia and Noricum.
He lived and ate with the soldiers (as Tiberius had done before him), and his aim was to maintain discipline among the soldiers with specific training programs, which were essentially the real or invented tasks that the rebellious legionaries of Pannonia complained about, as we know from Tacitus.
Hadrian then traveled to Britain to counter the revolts of the Celtic peoples and strengthen the borders, as we know from the Historia Augusta: «Hadrian was the first to build an 80-mile-long wall, from sea to sea, to separate the barbarians from the Romans». That is the famous Hadrian's Wall, one of the largest fortifications of all time, with camps, towers, and walls.
In 122 AD, he returned to Gaul and reached Tarraco (Tarragona, Spain), but was forced to leave to face the threat of the Parthians, avoiding war through diplomacy. He visited Cappadocia, Pontus, and Galatia, before arriving in Bithynia (where he met Antinous).
He later visited Nicaea and the major cities of Asia, namely Cyzicus, Ilium, Pergamon, Smyrna, and Ephesus (now in Turkey)
He spent the winter of 124/125 AD in Athens, he visited the Peloponnese, particularly Argos and Sparta, before going to Delphi, where he consulted the oracle. Finally, he returned to Rome.