The Imperial Court of Miracles: Imperial Collecting at the Court of Emperor Hadrian (117-138 CE)

In this thesis I analyse several things. First, Phlegon of Tralles. Phlegon lived in the second century CE and came from the town of Tralles in the province of Asia, in what is now Turkey. He was a freedman serving at Hadrian’s imperial court and wrote several works attributed to different genres, namely history and paradoxography. I also analyse and summarise each of his surviving writings. One of these writings includes a quote in which Phlegon mentions a centaur specimen held in the imperial storages. This gives rise to the matter of what the ‘imperial storages’ were, to which I return in the chapter regarding Hadrian and his collection. In the chapter on Phlegon, I also detail his inclusion within paradoxography and why this genre is often neglected by modern academic literature. Further, in this chapter I also discuss the ‘Keepers of the Wonders’, a group serving under several emperors and curating and caring for those emperors’ collections. I also detail why such persons were...Show moreIn this thesis I analyse several things. First, Phlegon of Tralles. Phlegon lived in the second century CE and came from the town of Tralles in the province of Asia, in what is now Turkey. He was a freedman serving at Hadrian’s imperial court and wrote several works attributed to different genres, namely history and paradoxography. I also analyse and summarise each of his surviving writings. One of these writings includes a quote in which Phlegon mentions a centaur specimen held in the imperial storages. This gives rise to the matter of what the ‘imperial storages’ were, to which I return in the chapter regarding Hadrian and his collection. In the chapter on Phlegon, I also detail his inclusion within paradoxography and why this genre is often neglected by modern academic literature. Further, in this chapter I also discuss the ‘Keepers of the Wonders’, a group serving under several emperors and curating and caring for those emperors’ collections. I also detail why such persons were employed, and why this knowledge of the natural historical world is often present in rulers. Second, I analyse Hadrian. I place him in the context of other emperors (specifically Augustus, Trajan, and Marcus Aurelius), detail his personality and rule, and analyse his collection of art and nature historical artefacts. Then, I move on to Hadrian’s collection. In this subchapter, I define what I consider to be ‘Hadrian’s collection’ and analyse and speculate on its contents. In chapter four, I place Hadrian’s collection in context; I compare it to those collections owned by wealthy Romans of the late Republic and early Empire, and to those collections belonging to other emperors, these being Augustus, Tiberius, and Claudius. I also compare it to later European ‘cabinets of curiosities’. In this chapter I also return to the matter of why ‘the past’ and the natural world are sources of wonder and curiosity which appear to be present throughout every human culture.Show less

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The Imperial Court of Miracles: Imperial Collecting at the Court of Emperor Hadrian (117-138 CE)