Thomas Jefferson and Emperor Hadrian compared as intellectual polymaths. Thomas Jefferson authored the Declaration of Independence, Virginia State Capital, and designed the University of Virginia campus Jefferson was a gifted architect, lawyer, planter, and amateur archaeologist Emperor Hadrian was an accomplished poet in both Greek and Latin
Thomas Jefferson and Emperor Hadrian - both brilliant polymaths and architects who shared a love for Greek. Jefferson designed Monticello and U-Va; Hadrian built the Temple of Venus and Roma and his Tivoli villa dwarfed Pompeii. Two minds separated by centuries, yet remarkably parallel.
Key Facts
- Thomas Jefferson authored the Declaration of Independence, Virginia State Capital, and designed the University of Virginia campus
- Jefferson was a gifted architect, lawyer, planter, and amateur archaeologist
- Emperor Hadrian was an accomplished poet in both Greek and Latin
- Hadrian designed the Temple of Venus and Roma by the Colosseum
- Hadrian spent more than half his reign outside Italy and had a villa in Tivoli larger than the city of Pompeii
- Both Jefferson and Hadrian were gifted architects and both enjoyed Greek as their favorite language
Source: Comparing US Presidents and Roman Emperors by toldinstone