I enjoyed the Hadrian exhibition; it was not so eye-catching as the The First Emperor, but that was a once in a lifetime chance to see some of the Terracotta warriors. This was a more low-key display, but with some thoughtful links to the present day. One of his first actions as Emperor was to withdraw the over-extended Roman forces from Iraq. However he also ruthlessly suppressed the last major Jewish revolt, killing and enslaving a large proportion of the population and renaming Judea to Syria Palaestina, a name still echoing down the centuries today.
On a lighter note he was very interested in architecture, and the instigator of the Pantheon, which inspired the Reading Room at the British Museum where the exhibition was displayed. So there was the neat juxtaposition of looking at designs and drawings of the Pantheon then looking up to see an actual descendant.
The next exhbition they're having is about Babylon which looks interesting so perhaps another visit later in the year.
