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. 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; this passage was made
by Pope Nicholas III, and it ran to St.
Peter's Basilica by a covered corridor
called Passetto di Borgo. The Mausoleum
became to be known as the “Castel
Sant'Angelo”, and was used as a
fortress and prison until 1870. The castle
was involved in numerous sieges, including
that of Pope Clement VII by the forces
of the Holy Roman Empire in 1527. Today
it has been made into a museum, and is
one of the historic gems of Rome, even
if it known secretly as “Hadrian’s
Mole”.
|
|
