Blaundos was founded around 280 B.C. as a military colony for Macedonian soldiers in the army of the Seleucid Empire, the Greco-Macedonian Hellenistic state formed by Alexander the Great’s general and successors, Seleucus. The rulers of the Seleucid dynasty made a point of seeding their territories with military colonies, spreading Greek culture and ensuring quick access to seasoned soldiers throughout the empire, which at its peak stretched from the Aegean Sea to what is now Pakistan.
Hadrian Olympios was an epithet used in Greek cities after Hadrian completed the Temple of Olympian Zeus (aka the Olympieion) in Athens in 132 A.D. Hadrian was a huge devotee of Greek culture and instituted an official program of Panhellenism (advocating for a united Greece) starting in 125 A.D. He encouraged the creation of the Panhellenion, a regional leagues of Greek cities, and instituted/revived games and sacrifices. The program culminated with the opening of the Olympieion 638 years after construction had begun under the last tyrant of Athens, Hippias.
After Hadrian dedicated the new/old temple, he adopted “Panhellenios” as one of his titles and Athens raised numerous statues of him, including one colossus behind the Olympieion. The remains of more than 90 altars dedicated to Hadrian have been found in Athens alone, and Greek cities everywhere erected their own statues and altars to the philhellenic emperor. The epithet “Olympios” was far more popular than “Panhellenios,” associating the emperor with the king of the gods and mirroring the imperial cult with the traditional Olympian pantheon. In fact, Hadrian Olympios became the most frequently used name for the emperor in the entire Greek world.
* This article was originally published here
