50BC - 350AD Ancient Rome Chariot Reverse Bronze Coin Ancient Grades g. Hadrian was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. A member of the Nerva-Antonine dynasty and one of the so-called "Five Good Emperors", known for his travels throughout the empire and the civil and military constructions of his reign. Later historians regarded Hadrian as a "benevolent dictator"; his own Senate found him remote and authoritarian. He has been described as enigmatic and contradictory, with a capacity for both great personal generosity and extreme cruelty and driven by insatiable curiosity, conceit, and ambition.