It had been fashionable among the Romans…
126 CE
It had been fashionable among the Romans to be clean-shaven since the time of Scipio Africanus.
Also, all Roman Emperors before Hadrian, except for Nero (also a great admirer of Greek culture), had been clean shaven.
Most of the emperors after Hadrian will be portrayed with beards.
Their beards, however, will not worn be worn out of an appreciation for Greek culture but because the beard has, thanks to Hadrian, become fashionable.
This new fashion will last for two centuries, until the reign of Constantine the Great, and will be revived again by Phocas at the start of the seventh century.
As a cultural Hellenophile, Hadrian is familiar with the work of the philosophers Epictetus, Heliodorus and Favorinus.
At home he attends to social needs.
Hadrian mitigates but does not abolish slavery, has the legal code humanized and forbids torture.
He builds libraries, aqueducts, baths and theaters.
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Southwest Europe
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