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PHOTOGRAPH © ISRAEL MUSEUM JERUSALEM, BY JOHN WILLIAMS AND SAUL PECKHAM

SEVERE SOVEREIGN. This bronze statue of the Roman emperor Hadrian was discovered in the Sixth Ferrata Legion’s military camp at Tel Shalem, Israel. Dating to 117-138 C.E., the statue depicts Hadrian, in armor, stretching out his arm to greet his troops. Its surviving portions measure nearly 3 feet tall. Hadrian is known for fiercely squashing the Bar-Kokhba Revolt in 135 C.E. However, not only was he involved in ending the revolt, but he was also partially to blame for starting it. It was his order of building a temple to Jupiter Capitolinus on the Temple Mount and rebuilding Jerusalem as Aelia Capitolina (“city of the Capitoline gods”) that sparked the revolt.