Septimius Severus
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| Septimius Severus | ||
|---|---|---|
| Emperor of the Roman Empire | ||
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| Alabaster bust of Septimius Severus, at Musei Capitolini, Rome |
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| Reign | April 9, 193 - February 197 (in competition with others) February 197-209 (alone); 209 - February 4, 211 (with his 2 sons) |
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| Full name | Lucius Septimius Severus | |
| Born | April 11, 146 | |
| Leptis Magna | ||
| Died | February 4, 211 | |
| Eboracum | ||
| Predecessor | Didius Julianus | |
| Successor | Caracalla and Geta | |
| Wife/wives | Paccia Marciana, an African woman of Roman origin. Severus and Marciana married around 175 and she died before Severus married Domna. They had no children. | |
| Julia Domna | ||
| Issue | Caracalla and Publius Septimius Geta | |
| Dynasty | Severan | |
| Father | Publius Septimius Geta | |
| Mother | Fulvia Pia | |
 The Severan Tondo |
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| Septimius Severus alone | |
|---|---|
| Children | |
| Geta | |
| Caracalla | |
| Septimius Severus, with Geta and Caracalla | |
| Geta and Caracalla | |
| Caracalla alone | |
| Interlude, Macrinus | |
| Elagabalus | |
| Children | |
| Alexander Severus, adoptive | |
| Alexander Severus | |
Lucius Septimius Severus (b. Leptis Magna, April 11, 146 - d. York, February 4, 211) was a Roman general, and Roman Emperor from April 9, 193 to 211. He was the first emperor to be born in North Africa.
Contents |
[edit] Life
[edit] Rise to Power
Lucius Severus was born and raised at Leptis Magna (modern Libya, southeast of Carthage, modern Tunisia, North Africa). Severus came from a distinguished and wealthy local berber[1] family of Equestrian rank. Little is known of his father Publius Septimius Geta, he held no major political status but had two cousins who served as consuls under emperor Antoninus Pius. Fulvia Pia, his mother, was of Roman descent. Her family moved from Italy to North Africa and was of the Fulvius gens, an ancient and politically influential clan, which was originally of plebian status. His siblings were a younger Publius Septimius Geta and Septimia Pia. Severus’ maternal cousin was Praetorian Guard and consul Gaius Fulvius Plautianus.
Severus in 172 was made a Senator by then emperor Marcus Aurelius. In 190 Severus became consul, and in the following year received from the emperor Commodus (successor to Marcus Aurelius) the command of the legions in Pannonia.
On the murder of Pertinax by the troops in 193, they proclaimed Severus Emperor at Carnuntum, whereupon he hurried to Italy. The former emperor, Didius Iulianus, was condemned to death by the Senate and killed, and Severus took possession of Rome without opposition.
The legions of Syria, however, had proclaimed Pescennius Niger emperor. At the same time, Severus felt reasonable to offer Clodius Albinus, the powerful governor of Britannia who had probably supported Didius against him, the rank of Caesar, which implied some claim to succession. With its rearguard safe, he moved to the East and crushed Niger's forces at the Battle of Issus. The following year was devoted to suppressing Mesopotamia and other Parthian vassals who had backed Niger. When afterwards Severus declared openly his son Caracalla as successor, Albinus was hailed emperor by his troops and moved to Gallia. Severus, after a short stay in Rome, moved northwards to meet him. On 19 February 197, in the Battle of Lugdunum, with an army of 100,000 men, mostly composed of Illyrian, Moesian and Dacian legions, Severus defeated and killed Clodius Albinus, securing his full control over the Empire.
[edit] Emperor
Severus was at heart a soldier, and sought glory through military exploits. In 197 he waged a brief and successful war against the Parthian Empire in retailiation for the support given to Pescennius Niger. The Parthian capital Ctesiphon was sacked by the legions, and the northern half of Mesopotamia was restored to Rome.
His relations with the Roman Senate were never good. He was unpopular with them from the outset, having seized power with the help of the military, and he returned the sentiment. Severus ordered the execution of dozens of Senators on charges of corruption and conspiracy against him, replacing them with his own favorites. He also disbanded the Praetorian Guard and replaced it with one of his own, made up of 50,000 loyal soldiers mainly camped at Albanum, near Rome (also probably to grant the emperor a kind of centralized reserve). During his reign the number of legions was also increased from 25/30 to 33. He also increased the number of auxiliary corps (numerii), many of these troops coming from the Eastern borders. Additionally the annual wage for a soldier was raised from 300 to 500 denarii a year.
Although his actions turned Rome into a military dictatorship he was popular with the citizens of Rome having stamped out the moral degeneration and rampant corruption of the reign of Commodus. When he returned from his victory over the Parthians he erected the Arch of Septimius Severus in Rome.
According to the sources, however, after 197 Severus fell heavily under the influence of his prefect of praetorium, Gaius Fulvius Plautianus, who came to have the almost total control of most branches of the imperial administration. Plautianus's daughter, Fulvia Plautilla, was married to Severus's son, Caracalla. His excessive power came to an end in 205, when he was denounced by the Emperor's dying brother and killed. The two following praefecti, including the jurist Aemilius Papinianus, received however even larger powers.
Starting from 208 Severus undertook a number of military actions in defence of Roman Britain against barbarian incursions and undertook reconstruction of Hadrian's Wall before falling severely ill in Eburacum (York). He died there on 4 February 211.
Upon his death in 211, Severus was deified by the Senate and succeeded by his two quarrelsome sons, Caracalla and Geta, who were advised by his wife Julia Domna. The stability Severus had provided the Empire was soon gone.
[edit] Accomplishments
Though his military leanings were costly to the empire, Severus was the strong, able ruler that Rome needed at the time. He began a line of military emperors that would carry on for the following few rulers. However, although necessary from some point of view, his politics of expansion of the army's benefit were criticized by his contemporary Dio Cassius and Herodianus: in particular, they pointed out the increasing burden (in the form of taxes and vessations) the civilian population had to bear to maintain the new army.
Severus was also distinguished by his buildings. Apart from the triumphal arch in the Roman Forum carrying his full name, he also built the Septizodium in Rome and enriched greatly his native city of Leptis Magna (including another triumphal arch in occasion of his visit of 203).
[edit] Severus and Christianity
The reign of Severus provides an interesting example of the persecution meted out to Christians under the Roman Empire. Septimius made few laws against Christians, but allowed the enforcement of laws already long-established. There is no evidence of systematic persecution, and there is much evidence that not only was the Emperor not personally hostile to the Christians, but he even protected them against the populace. There were doubtless Christians in his own household, and in his reign the Church at Rome had almost absolute peace. On the other hand, individual officials availed themselves of the laws to proceed with rigor against the Christians. Naturally the emperor, with his strict conception of law, did not hinder such partial persecution, which took place in Egypt and the Thebaid, as well as in Africa proconsularis and the East. Christian martyrs were numerous in Alexandria (cf. Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, ii. 20; Eusebius, Church History, V., xxvi., VI., i.). No less severe were the persecutions in Africa, which seem to have begun in 197 or 198 (cf. Tertullian's Ad martyres), and included the Christians known in the Roman martyrology as the martyrs of Madaura. Probably in 202 or 203 Felicitas and Perpetua suffered for their faith. Persecution again raged for a short time under the proconsul Scapula in 211, especially in Numidia and Mauritania. Later accounts of a Gallic persecution, especially at Lyon, are legendary. In general it may thus be said that the position of the Christians under Septimius Severus was the same as under the Antonines; but the law of this Emperor at least shows clearly that the rescript of Trajan had failed to execute its purpose.
[edit] Severus and Pan-Africanism
Septimus Severus has been cited on numerous occasions by proponents of Pan-Africanism as "the first black emperor" in Roman history (the second being Macrinus). While there is no way of being absolutely certain of Severus' physical appearance, it can be assumed due to his Berber heritage that he at most had a decidedly mediterranean complexion, similar to the widely accepted modern view of the racial background of Hannibal Barca. Certainly, contemporary portraits depict him with dark skin. Other Romans who have been cited, perhaps incorrectly, as being "black" in the modern sense of the term by Pan-Africanists are Emperor Macrinus and Roman consul and general Lusius Quietus.
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ Marcel Le Glay. Rome : T2, Grandeur et chute de l'Empire p336. Librairie Académique Perrin, 2005. ISBN 978-2262018986
- Gilbert Meynier. L’Algérie des origines :De la préhistoire à l’avènement de l’Islam p74. La découverte, 2007. ISBN 978-2707150882
[edit] References
- Anthony Birley. Septimius Severus: The African Emperor, 1998. ISBN 0-415-16591-1
- Michael Grant. The Roman Emperors, 1985. ISBN 0-760-70091-5
- Michael Grant. The Severans: The Changed Roman Empire, 1996. ISBN 0-415-12772-6
[edit] External links
- Life of Septimius Severus (Historia Augusta at LacusCurtius: Latin text and English translation)
- Books 74, 75, 76, and 77 of Dio Cassius, covering the rise to power and reign of Septimius Severus
- De Imperatoribus Romanis Online encyclopedia of Roman Emperors
- Arch of Septimius Severus
- Coins issued by Septimius Severus
| Preceded by Didius Julianus |
Roman Emperor 193–211 with Caracalla (197–211) and Geta (208–211) |
Succeeded by Caracalla and Geta |
| Preceded by Didius Julianus |
Year of the Five Emperors 193 in competition with Pescennius Niger and Clodius Albinus |
Succeeded by – |
| Preceded by – |
Severan Dynasty 193–211 with Caracalla (197–211) and Geta (208–211) |
Succeeded by Caracalla and Geta |
