The future emperor Hadrian, quaestor in 101, had served ion 102 as Trajan's companion in the Emperor's first war in Dacia on the Danube.

Hadrian in 105 had become tribune of the plebs and, exceptionally, had advanced in 106 to the praetorship.

No less exceptional than the speed of promotion was Hadrian's service as praetor while in the field with the emperor during his second war in Dacia.

He was in 107 briefly governor of Lower Pannonia.

An admirer of Greek culture who maintains a strong interest in literature and philosophy, Hadrian is pleased to be elected in 112 as archon at Athens, and a surviving inscription commemorating this office is set up in the Theater of Dionysus.

His tenure is a portent of the philhellenism that is to characterize his reign, and it suggests that in a time of political inactivity Hadrian had devoted himself to the nation and culture of his beloved Greeks.

Hadrian's star somehow rises again, however, and before the Emperor dies in 117 he returns to favor.