Even today, Hadrian’s Wall is a recognized architectural icon from ancient Rome. However, as often occurs, it is sometimes hard to distinguish between an affluent period in the country’s history and the deserts of the reputation which Hadrian has gained. Did the man make the success, or did the success make the man? As the literature demonstrates, it was a combination of the two.

The head of Askleipos, which now rests in the Roman National Museum, was likely produced near the end of Hadrian’s reign and clearly demonstrates the sophistication of Roman artistic skill during the Classical Revival, and the work was chiseled very deeply, despite the enormity of the scale (Marvin 364-365). Even in entirely new art, Hadrian emphasized a philosophical and artistic return to the Early Classicism which has flourished before war overtook domestic policies in Rome (365). Nonetheless, Hadrian’s penchant for the eastern culture that he had encountered during Trajan’s reign makes the original and restored art of this period iconic (Faulkner). The scale of sculptures, the chiseling practices, and the style of depicting hair are typical indicators (Marvin 375).

While Hadrian was great, he was not original. The Colosseum had been built under Flavias and had embodied the same Roman ingenuity as influenced by the east (Goldman 63-64). Hadrian’s contributions still displayed a tempered understanding of both art and military practicality which somewhat dampened the full vision.  However, the knowledge of the Roman agriculture complicated the understanding of architecture. For generations, much of the architecture was built upon ground which was fertile due to flooding or livestock herding. Unprotected and unaided, the lowlands near the shores would often flood and degrade the architectural achievements of hundreds of years. This would continue in the new millennium for at least 700 years (Ammerman 633-638).

It is possible that the massive restoration and preservation of statues began during Hadrian’s reign; scholars have observed characteristics typical of Hadrian’s artistic period in the pre-existing statue of Caserta statue and in replicas of the Polykleitan Herakles (Marvin 86). This is not unlikely, since Trajan, Hadrian’s uncle, was involved in many conquests and built his reign on military prowess. Hadrian merely built a large, intimidating wall to discourage the ‘barbarians’. Hadrian sought to expand the horizons within Rome and believed that war had overextended its boundaries and its propensity for dictatorial excess (Faulkner).

All in all, Hadrian was a forward thinker. He identified the destructive pattern of Roman domestic and foreign policy and reinvigorated local culture. While he may have been short-sighted regarding the challenges of building in certain areas, he persevered with little information and a keen intellect. Many of the surviving Roman antiquities have Hadrian’s rule to thank. For everything which we can attribute to him and the countless contributions which we can only guess at, Hadrian did more than revive; he saved Rome from the Romans. That being said, the artistic, historic, and symbolic contributions of Augustus Caesar have been overshadowed by his memory in the same way that he strove to live up to the reputation of his adopted father, Julius Caesar (Kellum 210-215).