Vespasian and Hadrian: The Healing Emperors

Trevor S. Luke (The Florida State University)

In the Vita Hadriani, the author describes how Hadrian, ill and suicidal, healed two blind people. If it were not for healings performed by Vespasian in Alexandria, Hadrian the healer would stand unique among Roman emperors. The healings of both emperors have been identified as forerunners of the royal touch, the purported ability of medieval monarchs to cure scrofula (Bloch 34). Unlike the healings of these later monarchs, the healings of the emperors remain uncontextualized. In this paper I re-examine the evidence pertaining to the healings of Vespasian and Hadrian in order to explicate the cultural and historical context that makes them intelligible.

After the legions of the East acclaim Vespasian emperor, he travels to Alexandria, where Ti. Alexander has made extensive preparations for his formal reception (Joseph. BJ 4.618; Henrichs 61). This adventus was an elaborate, scripted affair that included sacrifices to the chief deities of the city (MacCormack 17-89). Located at the highest point in the city of Alexandria, the sanctuary of Sarapis was an ideal terminus for the processional route of Vespasian’s adventus. The Hellenistic Sarapis, long associated with ruler cult, was renowned for his ability to heal. As in the Asclepius cult, incubation played an important role in Sarapic cures. Vespasian’s healings, and his vision of Basilides at the Sarapeum, are to be understood within the context of his participation in that cult during his arrival.

Before their Judaean triumph, Vespasian and Titus spend the night in the Iseum Campense, the sanctuary of Sarapis’ consort Isis (Joseph. BJ 7.123). Now that the assocation of the emperor with the healing cult of Sarapis had found its way to Rome, the foundation was laid for future healings by emperors in the capital. Evidence relating to the reigns of Titus and Trajan demonstrates that the association between the emperor and the exercise of healing powers in Rome took hold (Suet. Tit. 8; Plin. Pan. 22). Whether this power was located in the emperor alone or practiced in connection with specific cults is an important question. Hadrian’s healings suggest that established cult practices still played a crucial role (SHA Hadr. 25.1-2). The role of cult in such wonders would tend to qualify the extent to which they should be attributed to the unique qualities of monarchy (Veyne 321).

Select Bibliography

Bloch, M. 1973. The Royal Touch: Sacred Monarchy and Scrofula in England and France. Translated by J. E. Anderson. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

Henrichs, A. 1968. “Vespasian’s Visit to Alexandria.” ZPE 3: 51-80.

MacCormack, S. G. 1981. Art and Ceremony in Late Antiquity. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Veyne, P. 1990. Bread and Circuses: Historical Sociology and Political Pluralism. Translated by B. Pearce. London: Alan Lane, The Penguin Press.