1 janv. 118 - Hadrian Withdraws from Caucasia and Mesopotamia

Description:

Most of Hadrian's military activities were consistent with his ideology of Empire as a community of mutual interest and support. He focused on protection from external and internal threats; on "raising up" existing provinces, rather than the aggressive acquisition of wealth and territory through subjugation of "foreign" peoples that had characterised the early Empire. Hadrian's policy shift was part of a trend towards the slowing down of the empire's expansion, such expansion being not closed after him (the Empire greatest extent being achieved only during the Severan dynasty), but a significant step in this direction, given the empire's overstretching. While the empire as a whole benefited from this, military careerists resented the loss of opportunities.