Trajan’s portraits depict him as ageing, but always with a full head of hair and a typical Roman hairstyle that is reminiscent of, although not identical to, those of Augustus and Alexander the Great.

Public Building Programs

Public building programs were prevalent under the emperors of the Nervan-Antonine dynasty. During this period of peace, stability, and an expansion of the empire’s borders, many of the emperors sought to cast themselves in the image of the first imperial builder, Augustus. The projects these emperors conducted around the empire included the building and restoration of roads, bridges, and aqueducts. In Rome, these imperial building projects strengthened the image of the emperor and directly addressed the needs of the citizens of the city.

Trajan’s Forum

Trajan’s Forum was the last of the imperial fora to be built in the city. The forum’s main entrance was accessed from the south, near to the Forum of Augustus as well as the Forum of Caesar (which Trajan also renovated). The Forum of Augustus might have been the model for the Forum of Trajan, even though the latter was much larger. Both fora were rectangular in shape with a temple at one end. Both appear to have a set of exedra on either side.

Trajan built his forum with the spoils from his conquest of Dacia. The visual elements within the forum speak of his military prowess and Rome’s victory. A triumphal arch mounted with an image of the emperor in a six-horse chariot greeted patrons at the southern entrance.

In the center of the large courtyard stood an equestrian statue of Trajan, and additional bronze statues of him in a quadriga lined the roof of the Basilica Ulpia, which transected the forum in the northern end. This large civic building served as a meeting place for the commerce and law courts. It was lavishly furnished with marble floors, facades, and the hall was filled with tall marble columns.

The Basilica Ulpia also separated the arcaded courtyard from two libraries (one for Greek texts, the other for Latin), the Column of Trajan, and a temple dedicated to the Divine Trajan.

Trajan’s Markets

Trajan’s markets were an additional public building that the emperor built at the same time as his forum. The markets were built on top of and into the Quirinal Hill. They consisted of a series of multi-levelled halls lined with rooms for shops, administrative offices, or apartments. The markets follow the shape of Trajan’s forum.

A portion of them are shaped into a large exedra, framing one of the exedra of the forum. Like Trajan’s forum, the markets were elaborately decorated with marble floors and revetment, as well as decorative columns to frame the doorways.

Art of the Hadrian Era

Hadrian, Trajan’s adopted son and heir, peacefully became emperor in 117 CE. He was a great lover of Greek culture and wore a closely trimmed beard in the style of Classical Greek statesmen, such as the Athenian Pericles. Hadrian set a fashion for beards among Romans, and most emperors after him also wore a beard. Prior to Hadrian, nearly all Roman men were clean-shaven.

Architecture under Hadrian

Hadrian was a great lover of architecture and the buildings he designed reflect attributes of his character. Like Trajan before him, the emperor Hadrian had a long and successful career as an emperor of Rome, reigning from 117 to 138 CE.

Hadrian’s time as emperor was marked with peace and relative stability throughout the empire. He was an active general in the military, both before and after becoming emperor, despite a lull in military conflicts during his reign. He worked to strengthen Rome’s borders by building fortifications, outposts, and walls.

The most famous of these is Hadrian’s Wall in Britannia that marked the northern boundary of the empire on the isle. Hadrian also travelled extensively, enjoying new cultures, inspecting troops, and promoting military readiness.

Ostia

During Hadrian’s reign, the port city of Ostia grew significantly, reaching over 75,000 inhabitants by the third century CE. Located at the mouth of the Tiber on the Tyrrhenian Sea, Ostia was the main port city of Rome. The city was first founded during the third century BCE, as one of Rome’s earliest colonies.

The ruins of Ostia are from the city’s imperial period when it was at the height of its prosperity. Since Rome was settled inland, Ostia was always an important component of the capital city, especially as the empire expanded and relied on its provinces for survival. Merchant vessels and large ships filled with grains, building materials, and other goods to sell in Rome docked at Ostia, where the goods were eventually transferred upriver.

Insulae

Ostia was a typical Roman city, including a large central forum, bathhouses, temples, a theatre, barracks for firemen, and apartment buildings. The two central streets of the city, the cardo and decumanus, ran north-south and east-west through the city, intersecting at the forum—the center of the city’s civic and religious activities.

The citizens of Ostia lived in apartment houses or insulae, which stood six or seven stories high. The insulae of Ostia demonstrate the cramped and noisy living style that was common in Roman cities. Shops, known as tabernae, occupied the ground level of the insulae, while the upper stories housed apartments.

Roman apartments varied in size from larger homes located on the lower floors with private dining and cooking areas, as well as private toilets, to small, cramped rooms with communal cooking areas and toilets on the upper floors.

Religion

Excavations at Ostia reveal a variety of temples and meeting sites for cults and rituals. This reflects the relative religious diversity within the Roman Empire. Common features throughout the Empire include the Capitolium, the temple dedicated to Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva, in the forum at the center of the city.

Across from the Capitolium in the forum stands a temple dedicated to Augustus and Roma. Within close proximity is the Temple to Hercules, and throughout the city are temples dedicated to gods related to shipping and commerce, as well temples built by guilds such as the shipbuilders or the rope makers for their patron gods.

On the city’s outskirts, there is also a large sanctuary to the goddess Cybele or Magna Mater, attesting to her popularity in the city. The god Mithras was also popular among the Ostians and worshiped solely by men in the form of a mystery cult. Over 15 mithraea have been discovered in the city. These mithraea are nearly all built underground to replicate the cave central to the myths of Mithras. Hadrian’s general religious tolerance is reflected in this religious diversity, including the presence of a Jewish synagogue.

Hadrian’s Mausoleum

Hadrian also built a large mausoleum for himself and his family on the right bank of the Tiber River in Rome. Its original design seems to have purposely recalled the Mausoleum of Augustus, located across the river on the Campus Martius. The Mausoleum of Hadrian was a large cylinder topped by a garden and quadriga statue. A central room housed the ashes of Hadrian and his family, as well as several of the emperors who succeeded him. While Hadrian’s Mausoleum still stands today, it was later converted into a residence and fortress under the Roman popes and now serves as a museum.