Historia Augusta
A collection of lives of the Roman emperors from Hadrian to the late third century, written in Latin in the fourth century. Its life of Hadrian is one of the two narrative sources for his reign, and it is used with caution.
The Historia Augusta presents itself as the work of six authors writing under Diocletian and Constantine. Most historians now think that it was written by one author late in the fourth century, and that many of its documents and some of its details are invented, especially in the later lives. The early lives, among them that of Hadrian, are thought to rest on better sources.
It is cited here for the birth dates of Hadrian and Antoninus Pius, for the terms of Antoninus’s adoption, and for one sentence about the Jewish war: that the Jews went to war under Hadrian “because they were forbidden to practice circumcision” (Hadrian 14.2). Cassius Dio gives a different cause, and the notice stands alone. It was written some two centuries after the event.
Cited in
- AD 132 to AD 135, estimated date