Marcia Otacilia Severa

Otacilia Severa, wife of Philip I the Arab. Lunense marble, 244–249. From the Via dei Fori Imperiali, 1933. (Centrale Montemartini, Rome)

Marcia Otacilia Severa or Otacilia Severa was the Empress of Rome and wife of Emperor Marcus Julius Philippus or Philip the Arab, who reigned over the Roman Empire from 244 to 249. She was a member of the ancient gens Otacilia, of consular and senatorial rank. Her father was Otacilius Severus or Severianus, who served as Roman Governor of Macedonia and Moesia, while her mother was a member of gens Marcia or was related to the gens. According to sources she had a brother called Severianus, who served as Roman Governor of Lower Moesia between 246–247.

History

In 234, Severa married Philip who at that time probably served in the Praetorian Guard under Emperor Alexander Severus and they had three children:

In February 244, the emperor Gordianus died in Mesopotamia, it is suspected in the sources that he was murdered, and there is a possibility that Severa was involved in the conspiracy. Her husband Philip became the new emperor and he gave his young predecessor a proper funeral and his ashes were returned to Rome for burial.

Philip gave Severa the honorific title of Augusta and had their son made heir of the purple.

Severa and Philip are generally considered as the first Christian imperial couple, because during their reign the persecutions of Christians had ceased and the couple had become tolerant towards Christianity but their beliefs has not been proven. It was through her intervention, for instance, that Bishop and Saint Babylas of Antioch was saved from persecution.

In 249, the Danubian armies proclaimed Decius Augustus and in August, Philip died in battle near Verona and Decius became the sole emperor. Severa was in Rome at that time and when the news of her husband’s death arrived, their son was murdered by the Praetorian Guard still in her arms. Severa survived her husband and son and lived later in obscurity.

silver antoninianus of Octalia Severa
Silver Antoninianus of Octalia Severa. Ruler/Emperor: Octalia Severa; City/Region: Rome; Denomination: AR Antoninianus; Composition: Silver; Date: AD 247; Obverse: OTACILIA SEVERA AVG, diademed and draped bust right on crescent; Reverse: CONCORDIA AVGG, Concordia seated left with patera and cornucopiae, altar before; Reference: RIC 126, RSC 17
Otacilia Severa

It is mentioned in the Roan scripts of Malta V.118 of the museum of Valletta that she had set sail to the land of Aliya Shamsan to live in the birthplace of Phillip.

See also

Sources

Further reading

Royal titles
Preceded by
Tranquillina		 Empress of Rome
244–249 		Succeeded by
Herennia Etruscilla
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