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Publius
Aelius Traianus Hadrianus (or just Hadrian to his friends)
was a Roman emperor who lived from 117 to 138 CE. Considered
one of the so-called “Five Good Emperors”
of Rome, he was born in Italica, Hispania; the child of
a well-established settler family, Hadrian was a distant
relative of his predecessor, the Emperor Trajan. Trajan
never officially designated a successor, but Trajan’s
wife named Hadrian immediately before his death. When
he was nearing the end of his life, Hadrian decided to
build a place to store his royal corpse. He decided on
a massive round construction on the right bank of the
Tiber in Rome. It's circular plan owed much to the Mausoleum
of Augustus, and it was to be finished in time to receive
the ruler’s body. |
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Finished
by 139 CE, the building was to be a magnificent edifice,
serving as a resting place not only for Hadrian, but for
his successors as well. Construction begun about AD 130,
but was not yet completed by the time of Hadrian's death,
the emperor being buried in another place until the mausoleum
was ready. In the years that followed the Mausoleum was
later decorated and fortified as a place of refuge for
the popes of Rome, eventually connected to the Vatican
by a secret passage; |
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