Roman emperor Hadrian was BOTD in 76 AD. Born in the Roman province of Italica in modern-day Spain, his father was a senator and cousin of Emperor Trajan. Hadrian married Trajan’s grand-niece Vibia Sabina, and was nominated by Trajan as his successor. He became Emperor in 117, after the murder of four senators who opposed him. He abandoned Trajan’s attempts to expand the Roman Empire, preferring to invest in military borders (including the construction of Hadrian’s Wall in northern England) and unify the Empire’s disparate population. His most significant military campaign was the Second Roman-Jewish War, in which he crushed a Jewish revolt in Jerusalem, renaming it after himself and ordered its rebuilding in Greek classical style. He visited nearly every province of the Empire, personally subsidising the construction of various building projects including the rebuilding of the Parthenon. A lover of Greece, he made Athens the cultural capital of the Empire, ordering the construction of many temples, and engaging in Greek love with his teenaged lover Antinous. After Antinous’ early death, the heartbroken Hadrian deified him and founded a cult devoted to his worship. His marriage to Sabina was unhappy and childless, and he named his adopted son Antoninus Pius as his heir. After years of illness, he died at his villa at Baiae (in modern-day Naples) in 138, aged 62. He is now considered one of Ancient Rome’s most successful rulers, and a model for hot daddy bears everywhere.