The name Αδριανός, is derived from the Ancient Greek poet of the same name (often Latinized as 'Adrianus'). We know of his existence in contemporary times only due to that great Byzantine encyclopædia of record, the Σοῦδα.

He was an epic poet, inspired, perhaps, by the muse Calliope. He wrote an epic, the Αλεξανδριάς (Eng. Alexandriad).

Today, however, we have but one fragment of a line of this great work, the rest having been lost to the mists of time.

I have always found this story curious. All that is left is a line, a single bit left for us to look at, the last shard of an empire of creativity and thought. It is a humbling story, evoking the same feelings of insignificance as we get when we look at the farthest reaches of the universe, or at that one impossible problem on a mathematics examination.

Ultimately, I do not think that Αδριανός knew which line would last for posterity, which moment of many would be preserved for the future. Among the many words he wrote, I doubt he spent much time pondering about the world millennia hence.

And, how often do we?

Mathematics is not my real métier.

Nonetheless, my mathematical research interests include the study of L-functions, analytic number theory, complex analysis, and statistical mechanics. Currently I am working on alternative constructions of analytic prime-counting functions.