Publio Elio Traiano Adriano e Flavio Claudio Giuliano: doti di comando e capacità politiche e militari di due imperatori James Morwood, Adriano Tommaso Gnoli, Le guerre di Giuliano imperatore

Abstract

[James Morwood, Adriano, Società editrice il Mulino, Bologna, 2015, pp. 150] The volume of James Morwood, divided into 12 chapters, is constructed with accuracy and with an efficient use of the narrative form of flashbacks. The author performs inextricable links between the public and the private dimension of the emperor, from the sovereign sexual sphere, resulting from the «cold falsity» of his marriage to Sabina and the overwhelming passion for the young greek Bithynian: Antinous. Morwoord a snapshot on the transition from a young age to the age of puberty emperor in contemporary Rome, with the assumption of a role and the burden of embodying the civis, expression of belonging to a civilization projected the conquest and management of the world then known. Adriano makes his entry into the life of the young Roman, also in the excesses (food, hunting, travel), and then log on to maturity with his wealth of experience and curiosity. In the path chosen by the author is analyzed, therefore, the Hadrian policy towards Jews and Christians: the former because agitate turmoil in the Middle East empire, the latter because with their beliefs undermine the bases with an erosion even more dangerous for its stability and even for its existence. The work is commendable and deserves to be read.

[Tommaso Gnoli, Le guerre di Giuliano imperatore, Società editrice il Mulino, Bologna, 2015, pp. 195]. The emperor Julian in the short period of government (361-363) is pursuing a challenging military campaign: regarding the west it deals with Franks and Alamanni at the east, having become emperor, he fought against the Persians in a disastrous mission. Tommaso Gnoli’s book recounts with historical acumen the key stages of an involving military campaign of the late antique Roman Empire.