It’s the birthday of Hadrian (76-138), known not so much for his contributions to contemporary literature as for being one of the least worst of the Roman emperors. (Not kidding, this is a thing. You can read about Five Good Emperors at britannica.com. Hadrian is the third.)

Hadrian was born in either Italica (that’s a place in Spain, but doesn’t it sound like a font?) or Rome and spent several years in Italica after his father died in 85. One of Hadrian’s guardians, Trajan, was adopted by the emperor Nerva and therefore became the next emperor; Hadrian married Trajan’s great-niece and rose through the ranks very handily as a military tribune, quaestor (some kind of magistrate), praetor, governor, and consul.

Then Hadrian’s career sort of halted for ten years. Politics happened. Possible machinations. But when Trajan died, he had adopted Hadrian, or possibly Trajan’s wife Plotina conspired to make this happen, as she’d always gotten on well with Hadrian. (That’s her actual name: Plotina. Who possibly, you know, plotted. You can’t make this stuff up.) Anyway, Hadrian became emperor in 117.

(Fun fact: After Nerva, the first of the Five Good Emperors, all the rest of the Good Emperors were adopted. No bloodlines involved.)

After a few senators were executed at the beginning of Hadrian’s reign, which Hadrian claimed was not his idea, things stabilized. Hadrian did emperor things: after a few years in Rome, he journeyed about inspecting troops, dealing with difficult Parthians (those Parthians), and generally ushered in a time of peace. He was a huge fan of the Greeks and saw that their temple of Olympian Zeus was completed. He also brought back the beard as a popular fashion statement. (No, I’m serious.)

Hadrian also wrote poetry (though not brilliantly) and loved architecture, quarreling with a major architect, Apollodorus of Damascus, and possibly putting him a teensy bit to death, but nobody’s perfect.

In 136, Hadrian adopted Lucius Ceionius Commodus, 36, to be his heir, and Lucius turned out to be a complete disaster but fortunately died before Hadrian did, so Hadrian then adopted the senator Antoninus and made *him* adopt Annius Verus (18), thinking Antoninus would die and Annius Verus succeed him quickly. However, Antoninus lived and reigned from Hadrian’s death in 138 until 161 as the fourth Good Emperor, and then Annius Verus became the fifth, known as Marcus Aurelius.

Marcus Aurelius died in 180 and it’s all been downhill ever since.

Have a thoughtful sort of Thursday and stay scrupulously honest to the data.