Hadrian: A Portrait in Bronze

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Vigorous, muscular and armorclad, Emperor Hadrian—in the rare bronze sculpture featured on the cover of this issue—appears as the adept military leader who dominated the Mediterranean world from 117 to 138 C.E. His commanding appearance is recognizable from marble statues, reliefs, coins and even ancient texts. The portrayal of Hadrian in the Historia Augusta, a fourth-century C.E. compilation of imperial biographies, could be a description of this very statue: “He was tall of stature and elegant in appearance; his hair was curled on a comb, and he wore a full beard to cover up the natural blemishes on his face.” But it is extremely unusual to find such a well-preserved bronze statue of Hadrian, perhaps because this precious metal, unlike marble, can be melted down and reused.

An American tourist named Morton Leventhal discovered the statue in 1975, while searching for coins on the ancient mound of Tel Shalem, in the Jordan River Valley.^a When his metal detector went off, he dug down more than a foot before striking the larger-than-life head, torso and other fragments—a find estimated at the time to be worth three or four million dollars. He brought the pieces to a nearby kibbutz.

The find immediately prompted the Department of Antiquities (today the Israel Antiquities Authority) to excavate the site: Led by Gideon Foerster, a team of archaeologists uncovered not only more of the statue but also the second-century C.E. Roman fort where it had stood. Earthworks surrounded the stronghold of mudbrick buildings, strategically located above the road leading south through the Jordan Valley from Beth-Shean (Roman Scythopolis) to Jericho. Arrowheads and catapult stones attested to the compound’s military nature.

The discovery of the fort was not surprising, as a dedicatory inscription mentioning the Sixth Roman Legion had previously been found near the site. Nicknamed the Iron Legion, this division had been stationed in Syria until the Second Jewish Revolt (132–135 C.E.), when Hadrian ordered the troops south to assist the hard-pressed Tenth Legion. Foerster’s excavation revealed a second dedicatory inscription, apparently from a triumphal arch erected after Hadrian suppressed the revolt.

Piecing together the 42 fragments of the statue, conservators at the Israel Museum found that the emperor was originally depicted standing (the remains include a bronze left toe) with his right arm raised—perhaps posed as if greeting his troops. The statue was probably cast in several pieces in Rome and then shipped to the fort to be assembled (with lead serving as a bond) and erected in a shrine.

The statue depicts Hadrian wearing a muscle cuirass—leather armor that has been molded to match the musculature of his chest and abdomen. A tassled cingulum, or ceremonial sash, is tied loosely around his waist, and a paladumentum, or military cloak, falls over his shoulders.

Six naked warriors struggle in the battle depicted on Hadrian’s chest. Although the absence of distinctive garb or weapons makes the identification of these figures difficult, Foerster believes that one telling attribute—their hats—provides the key.^b As Foerster notes, the warriors may be divided into three pairs, fighting mano a mano. The combatants in the two outer pairs wear metal helmets with tall feathered plumes, typical of southern Italy.

The victor in the central pair, however, wears a cap molded from a soft material, such as wool or leather. In Roman art, this headgear, known as a Phrygian cap, often appears on Trojans and on many of Rome’s eastern enemies, such as the Persians. It is unlikely that Hadrian would have commissioned a statue depicting an adversary’s victory, so, based primarily on this cap, Foerster identifies the central figure as a Trojan hero: Aeneas, the legendary father of the Roman race who set out after the fall of Troy to found a new city. The close of Virgil’s Aeneid recounts the final duel between Aeneas and the Italian king Turnus. The cuirass relief, Foerster claims, captures the moment before Aeneas inflicts the deathblow, when the Trojan warrior has “brought the huge man to earth, his knees buckling.” Turnus turns toward Aeneas, begging for mercy: “Go no further out of hatred.” But Aeneas refuses to yield:

He sank his blade in fury in Turnus’ chest.

Then all the body slackened in death’s chill,

And with a groan for that indignity

His spirit fled into the gloom below.^c

This final stanza of the Aeneid provides an apt subject for the breastplate of Hadrian, who probably saw himself as a new Aeneas, unifying his empire by subjugating the local inhabitants, including the Jews.

Vigorous, muscular and armorclad, Emperor Hadrian—in the rare bronze sculpture featured on the cover of this issue—appears as the adept military leader who dominated the Mediterranean world from 117 to 138 C.E. His commanding appearance is recognizable from marble statues, reliefs, coins and even ancient texts. The portrayal of Hadrian in the Historia Augusta, a fourth-century C.E. compilation of imperial biographies, could be a description of this very statue: “He was tall of stature and elegant in appearance; his hair was curled on a comb, and he wore a full beard to cover up the natural blemishes on his […]