London Arts & Letters  

Latest Posts  |  Archive  | 

Reluctant History Students, Hail British Museum's 'Hadrian'

by Zoe Strimpel
Thu, 24 Jul 2008 at 8:23 PM

Print

Send

RSS

Share:

All hail "Hadrian: Empire and Conflict," the British Museum's replacement for the Terracotta Army bonanza. And yes, it's good. Very good. And I speak as one for whom an interest in history has always been — sad to say — forced.

The masterstroke of the curators is to keep it simple, paired with a knack for storytelling. You're absorbed before you can say "Roman Empire": Just the map at the entrance showing how utterly huge it was does the trick. The plaques and inscriptions are short and sweet and don't try to throw in the entire Classical kitchen sink. And the interplay between words and pieces is seamless; for example, a display showing the complex relationships in Hadrian's immediate family makes its point by sitting four busts of the people in question in a row, connected by arrows with "wife/sister" or whatever between, and the story in neat boxes below.

It is quick and easy to absorb, and it sets you up for the rest of the show, in which family (of course) and Hadrian's lover Antinous play a big part. There are superb sections on Hadrian's role in Judea (roughly where modern-day Israel is), where his stifling of Jewish customs and finally expulsion of the Jews led to one of the most brutal uprisings Hadrian's army faced. And of course, the strongest hook for British audiences is Hadrian's Wall: the big fortification in the north of England, marking the northernmost perimeter of the Empire. Anyone visiting London should definitely visit the exhibit. Especially if they're reluctant history students and wish it wasn't so.

London Arts & Letters Homepage