Roman fragments offer glimpse of emperor Hadrian’s daily events calendar

Some of the daily activities of the Roman emperor Hadrian, who built monuments including the Pantheon during his more than two-decade reign, have been revealed after the discovery of fragments of marble slabs in Ostia Antica, an archaeological park close to Rome that was once the city’s harbour.

The details were inscribed on fasti ostienses, a type of calendar chronicling events involving emperors and other officials in ancient Rome which were drafted by the pontifex Volcani, the highest local religious authority.

One of the two newly recovered fragments, which experts say matches perfectly with another previously found at the site, dates to AD128, during the reign of Hadrian. The inscription refers to events that took place that year, including 10 January, when Hadrian received the title pater patriae, or father of his country, and his wife, Sabina, that of Augusta. According to the inscription, Hadrian celebrated the occasion by offering a congiar dedit, or donation of money, to the people.

Another date, 11 April of the same year, refers to Hadrian’s trip to Africa before he returned to Rome between July and August. Before a subsequent trip to Athens, he consecrated (the inscription reads “consecravit”) a building in Rome that experts believe could be either the Pantheon or the Temple of Venus and Roma, possibly on 11 August. This would have marked his 11th anniversary as emperor.

The fragments were found in the forum of Porta Marina, a large rectangular building where fasti ostienses were carved into columns, during recent excavations at Ostia Antica that involved teams of archaeologists from the University of Catania and Polytechnic University of Bari.

Alessandro D’Alessio, the director of the archaeological park, said the “extraordinary discovery” sheds more light on the activities of Hadrian, including the buildings he constructed in Rome, while helping to better understand the story of ancient Ostia.

Gennaro Sangiuliano, Italy’s culture minister, said the excavations, which have also revealed extensive sections of a mosaic floor that will eventually be open to the public, gave additional insight into life in Ostia and Rome.

Fragments of fasti ostienses were first discovered at the site in 1940 and 1941 and then again between 1969 and 1972, including one that joins the recently rediscovered fragment. The combined slab chronicles the AD126-128 period. Some of the calendar fragments, which range between AD49 and AD175, are on display at the Vatican Museums.