The Emperor Who Holds Up a Mirror to Our Times ; the Exhibition On Hadrian at the British Museum, Starting Next Week, Reveals He Was Both a Political Pragmatist and a Master of Spin, Says One Historian

Evening Standard - London › July 18, 2008

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Summary

SHOULD anyone doubt that we are living in a golden age for museums and exhibitions, the British Museum's magnificent new show on the Roman emperor Hadrian should put them right.

Painstakingly constructed and utterly compelling, this latest blockbuster is testament to the sheer ambition of London's premier museum under the inspired leadership of Neil MacGregor.

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Extract

The Emperor Who Holds Up a Mirror to Our Times ; the Exhibition On Hadrian at the British Museum, Starting Next Week, Reveals He Was Both a Political Pragmatist and a Master of Spin, Says One Historian

But its achievement goes beyond even that for not only does it shed new light on one of history's greatest empires, it offers plenty of lessons for Hadrian's modern-day successors.

Our fascination with the Romans has deep roots: the Victorians saw them as forerunners of Britain's global emp...

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