Beyond Crazy Woman’s Wall

A Modest Proposal in Honor of Hadrian and the Ancient Scots

Original artwork by the author.

While I don’t have a favorite American president, I do have a favorite Roman Emperor. It’s Hadrian.

I love him for a lot of reasons, first among them his deep and abiding love for his 19-year-old lover, Antinous. Hadrian was so distraught over his drowning in the Nile that he deified him.

The cover of Beloved and God, Royston Lambert’s book about the love affair between the Emperor Hadrian and the teenaged Antinous.

Hadrian loved all things Greek; he was the first Roman emperor to wear a beard (in keeping with the Greeks…or perhaps to cover acne?). He had a great love of learning and of beauty.

And of course, there was his wall.

Photo by Frank on Unsplash

Though I’ve not seen it in person, I feel as if I am somewhat intimate with Hadrian’s Wall, which was built in the second century AD and still stands, running from east to west and unofficially dividing the UK into north and south.

I love Hadrian, but he was brutal. Perhaps less brutal than other emperors, but brutal nonetheless. And calculating.