Buildings and People: Hadrian's Library

The Library of Hadrian is of rectangular plan, measuring aproximately 119×89 metres. It had an internal enclosure was embellished with a portico of 100 columns, in the form of a garden with a large pool in the centre. In the east part were the halls were the books were and the amphitheaters, while smaller halls served as reading rooms.
In each one of the north and south side there were 3 “exedrae“, niches of semicircular and rectangular shape, which were probably used for lectures.
The ancient writer Pausanias, while visiting Athens, briefly describes the Library as one of the most important buildings of Hadrian in the city:

[Hadrian constructed more buildings in Athens, like the temple of Hera and Zeus Panhellenios, the common sanctuary of all the gods (Pantheon), but of great importance is the one with the one hundred columns made of phrygian stone (the library). In the same material the stoas and the walls are made.]

The Library of Hadrian in Athens: The Library of Hadrian was an impressive monument in ancient Athens. Only a few remains have survived to this day, though.

It is located outside the metro station of Monastiraki and on the northern side of the Acropolis. This library was constructed by the Roman Emperor Hadrian in 132 AD and the building followed a typical Roman Forum architectural style.

It had only one entrance, a high surrounding wall at its long sides and an inner courtyard with a central pool and garden surrounded by marble columns. At the eastern end of the collonade, there was a series of rooms that constituted the actual library, where papyrus books were stored. These rooms also served as lecture halls and reading rooms.

The library was seriously damaged during the Herulian invasion of 267 AD and was repaired in 407-412 AD. In the Byzantine times, three Christian churches were built at that site, whose remains have partly survived.

The Library of Hadrian was the emperor's "payback" to the neighboring Roman Agora, which was a construction of Caesar and Augustus. In order to build the library, around 24 blocks had to be demolished.

Architecturally, the library was rectangular in shape, measuring 119 meters long and 89 meters wide.
On the north and south sides there were three platforms each - one rectangular and two semi-circular.
The eastern side housed the rooms with the scrolls and texts, as well as the amphitheaters.
The most impressive facade of the building seems to have been the western one. This is where the entrance to the complex was located. The façade was made of Penteli marble. In the middle of it, there was the entrance propylon with four columns of Corinthian style made of Phrygian marble, while to the left and right of the propylon, there were 7 more columns of Corinthian style made of Karystos marble.

Inside the complex laid a courtyard that had been transformed into a garden with a peristyle of 100 columns. From the garden, one could see a magnificent temple (Pantheon) that Hadrian had erected and dedicated to the worship of all the gods.

The Library suffered considerable damage in 267 AD due to the disastrous raid of the Heruli. It was probably repaired by the vice-regent of Illyrians, Herculius (407-412 AD).

In the 12th century AD, a small Christian church dedicated to Archangel Michael was built by the Chalkokondylis family.
The temple was demolished in 1843, but it is preserved on the Roman wall of the facade.

The western façade

The one and only entrance to the building was located in its western side.
The façade was embellished with a propylon constructed with four corinthian columns made of pink marble from Phrygia and with columns made of green cipollino rock, quarried and transported from the island of Euboea from imperial property quarries. Upon each column must have stood Nikae and gods statues, sculpted in white marble from the Penteli mountain of Attica.

The garden and the portico

While entering the building from the Propylon, the visitors found themselves inside a portico, in front of the big rectangular garden.
Unlike the adjacent busy and loud, commercial, forum of Ceasar and Augustus, Hadrian’s forum, adorned with a garden and a 60 meter long pool, would be a quiet and peaceful island within the hustle and bustle of the city.
The enclosure was embellished with a portico of 100 columns made of Phrygian marble (pavonazzetto), pink with blueish veins. The quarries, located in Phrygia -today in Turkey- were imperial property.
The Pantheon, a colossal temple dedicated by Hadrian to the worship of all gods, concealed behind the enclosure of the forum, would be viewed from inside the garden. Today, the nail holes on the walls reveal the courses of the revetment slabs; these were also made of Phrygian marble. An equally luxurious ceiling would have matched the colorful architecture of the portico.

The Bibliostasion

In the eastern part of the building, there was a series of rooms. The central and biggest of them is considered to be the “Bibliostasion”; that means the place were the books were kept inside niches with wooden cupboards (armaria). Ιt is debated whether the great eastern hall was the actual library or a hall adorned with statues of the imperial family dedicated to the cult of the emperor. Quite possibly, both functions were housed in the same space.

[… and there are rooms there adorned with gilded roofs and with alabaster stone, as well as with statues and paintings. In them are kept books…]

The exedrae
The exedrae were tree on each of the north and south sides. They were niches in the wall (two semicircular and one rectangular) and their entrance was embellished with columns, probably of pergamine order. Each of the exedrae is approximately 10 meters wide. Clear nail holes on the extant masonry indicate that the same courses of Phrygian slabs also ran on the interior surfaces of the exedrae.

The principal facade with the entrance from the side of what is now known as Monastiraki Square from Areos Street, formed a portico of 12 m (39 ft) wide with four Corinthian columns in projection on the two lateral sides, of which only the half exists, known as Stoa of Hadrian. Each side was adorned with seven monolithic columns in smooth shaft with marble from Karystos and Corinthian capitals of white marble from Mt. Penteli. These columns rest on particular socles and are crowned by a horizontal entablature (the horizontal superstructure in classical and neoclassical buildings that rests on the columns and consists of architrave, frieze and cornice) with projections. In the South and North ends the lateral walls of the great rectangle advance and form two projecting antae, ornamented with pilasters. All this was part of a Propylaeon.

Byzantine Athens is known from the writing of its archbishop, Michael Choniates, who lived in the town from ad 1182 until 1204, when Athens came under the control of Frankish rulers. Choniates’ sermons, petitions and letters provide a vivid account of social and economic conditions in the years preceding the Frankish conquest.1 In his first sermon, delivered in the Parthenon, then the church of Panagia Athiniotissa, Choniates glorified the city as the mother of eloquence and wisdom and urged the Athenians to preserve the noble customs of their ancestors, the most honored of all the Greeks.2 His admiration for the city’s past shows the importance of classical antiquity in the education of Byzantine scholars and clerics.3 However, it is clear from Choniates’ writings that the city did not live up to its former glory. In another sermon he expressed his disappointment at its present condition: “O city of Athens, to what depths of ignorance thou hast sunk, though the mother of wisdom”.4 In many occasions he lamented the decline of the land and the people. Choniates paints a picture of poverty and desolation; Athens was plagued by piracy, rapacious tax collectors and corrupt governors. His numerous petitions and letters to provincial governors and imperial officials were appeals “seeking relief from present evils and redress for past injustices”.5 The archbishop also complained about the encroachment of the richer inhabitants of the city upon the peasants’ holdings.6

7 Bouras Charalambos 2003, p. 224.
8 Megaw dates this church to the last quarter of the 11th century; see Megaw Arthur H. S., “The Chron (...)
9 Kapnikarea was named after a collector of the kapnikon tax, probably the founder or a donor, see Pa (...)
10 Known as Moni Petraki, dated to the 10th century, see Bouras Charalambos 2003, p. 229.
11 Known as the Russian church, dates to the first half of the 11th century, see Megaw Arthur H. S., “ (...)
12 This was the classical fortification known as the Themistoklean wall which was repaired by Justinia (...)
13 Agios Nikolaos belonged to the aristocratic family of Rangavas, see Bouras Charalambos 2003, p. 229

3Choniates’ testimony has served as the primary source for reconstructing the economic and political conditions in Attica in the late 12th century. However, some scholars wonder whether the bleak picture he presents was a rhetorical device intended to emphasize the contrast with the city’s glorious past.7 Here, the architectural and material evidence of Middle Byzantine Athens provides additional information about conditions in the city. From the 10th to the 12th centuries, a number of extant churches were built in the area outside the Late Roman wall, including Agioi Apostoloi in the ancient Agora, Agioi Asomatoi at Kerameikos, Kapnikarea, Agioi Theodoroi,8 and Panagia Gorgoepikoos (fig. 1). These were small, ornate churches, most likely founded by members of the local aristocracy and/or imperial officials, although specific information is lacking in most cases.9 There were also churches associated with monasteries, such as the katholikon of the Asomatoi Monastery10 and the large church of Sotira Lykodemou.11 The location of these churches indicates that the town was expanding in the area between the Late Roman wall and the outermost fortifications.12 A few other existing churches also date to this period; these were built inside the area of the Late Roman wall and include Agios Ioannis Theologos, Agia Aikaterini, Metamorphosis, and Agios Nikolaos Rangavas.13 The building of a relatively large number of churches in the 11th and 12th centuries indicates relative prosperity and the presence of local aristocratic families with substantial resources.

Fig. 1. — Map of Athens, ad 565-1205. The star symbol marks churches mentioned in the text (Travlos Ioannes, Πολεοδομικὴ ἐξέλιξις τῶν Ἀθηνῶν, ἀπὸ τῶν προᾯστορικῶν χρόνων μέχρι τῶν ἀρχῶν τοῦ 19^ου αἰῶνος, Athens, 1993², pl. VIII).

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14 For possible dates of the conversion, see Frantz Alison, “From Paganism to Christianity in the Temp (...)
15 For an overview of the architectural changes associated with the conversion of the Parthenon to a C (...)
16 See Bouras Charalambos 2003, p. 226.
17 Setton Kenneth 1944, p. 201.
18 Kaldellis Anthony (n. 15).
19 See Soteriou Georgios (n. 15), p. 43-44; Setton Kenneth 1944, p. 201-202; Lesk Alexandra, A Diachro (...)
20 Travlos identifies three successive churches at the Propylaia, see Travlos Ioannes 1993², p. 138, n (...)
21 See Soteriou Georgios (n. 15), p. 48-49; Travlos Ioannes 1993², p. 142. For Christian burials at th (...)
22 Also known as the temple of Demetra and Kore; it was depicted by Stuart James, Revett Nicholas 1762 (...)
23 Travlos Ioannes 1993², p. 139, n. 2, plan on p. 141. See also, Camp John, The Archaeology of Athens(...)
24 See Travlos Ioannes 1993², map VII.
25 Ibid., p. 151.

4In addition to these Middle Byzantine churches, the ancient temples on the Acropolis and the lower town had been converted into Christian churches.14 The Parthenon, as mentioned previously, became the church of Panagia Athiniotissa, the town’s cathedral, where Michael Choniates delivered his sermons.15 During the time of Choniates, additions and modifications were made to the temple.16 Choniates mentions that he beautified it further, he provided new vessels and furniture, increased its property in land and in flocks and herds, and augmented the number of the clergy.17 Recent research has emphasized the importance of the Christian Parthenon as a site of pilgrimage and worship in the Byzantine period.18 The Erechtheion was also a church, most likely dedicated to the Theotokos.19 The third important structure, the Propylaia, served as the residence of the archbishop and its south wing housed a church dedicated to the Taxiarchai.20 In the lower town the Hephaisteion had become the church of Agios Georgios in the Kerameikos and in the 12th century was used as the katholikon of a monastery.21 Another ancient temple, the temple of Artemis Agrotera on the banks of the Ilissos was the church of Panagia stin Petra.22 In addition, there were several early Christian basilicas located throughout the town. On the south side of the Acropolis there was a basilica at the Theater of Dionysos, another at the Asklepieion, and a third one built over the Odeion of Herodes Atticos. Below the Areopagos there was an early Christian church dedicated to Dionysios, the patron saint of Athens. The quatrefoil building or “Tetraconch” within the Library of Hadrian, probably one of the earliest Christian churches of Athens, had been re-built as a three-aisled basilica.23 Another three basilicas were located near the Olympieion and the Ilissos River.24 Many of these early churches were repaired in the Middle-Byzantine period. Travlos estimates that by the mid-12th century there were at least 40 churches in the town of Athens.25