What did the Romans ever do for us? Hadrian’s Wall

Hadrian, the third of the five “good emperors”, ruled the Roman empire from 10 August AD 117 to 10 July, AD 138. Born near modern-day Seville in Spain, he was an enlightened intellectual but also a military man who led the second Roman war against the Jews in Jerusalem.

A lover of travel, he journeyed to every outpost of the empire, and was particularly devoted to Greece. He was artistic, with a passion for both architecture and poetry. He was also believed to be homosexual, and named a city after his lover, a Greek youth named Antinous, after he drowned during a trip along the Nile.

However Hadrian is perhaps best known for the 73-mile long Hadrian’s Wall, which was the most heavily fortified border in his empire and sections of which still stand today. It was constructed under his orders after a visit to Britain, to keep the empire intact and “separate the Romans from the Barbarians”.

Hadrian died, aged 62, of heart failure. His famous wall was designated a Unesco World Heritage Site in 1987.