Septimius Severus - Roman
Emperor 193-211 A.D. Authentic Ancient Coins to Buy and History
Buy Septimius Severus Ancient Coins from a trusted
ancient coin dealer. Septimius was a Roman general, and Roman Emperor
from April 14, 193 to 211. He was born in what is now the Berber part of
Rome's historic Africa Province.
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L ucius
Septimius Severus (or rarely Severus I) (April 11,
145/146-February 4, 211) was a
Roman general, and
Roman Emperor from April 14, 193 to
211. He was born in what is now the
Berber part of Rome's historic
Africa Province.
Septimius Severus was born and raised at
Leptis Magna (modern
Berber, southeast of
Carthage, modern
Tunisia). Severus came from a wealthy,
distinguished family of
equestrian rank. Severus was of
Italian Roman ancestry on his mother's
side and of
Punic or
Libyan-Punic ancestry on his father's.
Little is known of his father,
Publius Septimius Geta, who held no
major political status but had two cousins who served as consuls under
emperor
Antoninus Pius. His mother, Fulvia
Pia's family moved from
Italy to
North Africa and was of the
Fulvius gens, an ancient and
politically influential clan, which was originally of
plebeian status. His siblings were a
younger
Publius Septimius Geta and Septimia
Octavilla. Severus’s maternal cousin was
Praetorian Guard and consul
Gaius Fulvius Plautianus.
In 172, Severus was made a
Senator by the then emperor
Marcus Aurelius. In 187 he married
secondly
Julia Domna. 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 Julianus, 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 it was 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 his 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
February 19,
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.
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 retaliation 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.
Although his actions turned Rome into a military
dictatorship, he was popular with the
citizens of Rome, having stamped out the rampant corruption of
Commodus's reign. When he returned from his victory over the Parthians,
he erected the
Arch of Septimius Severus in Rome.
According to Cassius Dio, however, after 197 Severus
fell heavily under the influence of his Praetorian Prefect,
Gaius Fulvius Plautianus, who came to
have almost total control of most branches of the imperial
administration. Plautianus's daughter,
Fulvia Plautilla, was married to
Severus's son, Caracalla. Plautianus’s 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.
Campaigns in Caledonia (Scotland)
Starting from 208 Severus undertook a number of
military actions in
Roman Britain, reconstructing
Hadrian's Wall and campaigning in
Scotland.
He reached the area of the
Moray Firth in his last campaign in
Caledonia, as was called Scotland by the Romans.. In 210 obtained a
peace with the
Picts that lasted practically until the
final withdrawal of the Roman legions from Britain, before falling
severely ill in
Eboracum (York).
Death
He is famously said to have given the advice to his
sons: "Be harmonious, enrich the soldiers, and scorn all other men"
before he died at Eboracum on
February 4,
211. Upon his death in 211,
Severus was
deified by the Senate and succeeded by
his sons,
Caracalla and
Geta, who were advised by his wife
Julia Domna. The stability Severus
provided the Empire was soon gone under their reign.
Accomplishments and Record
Though his military expenditure was costly to the
empire, Severus was the strong, able ruler that Rome needed at the time.
He began a tradition of effective emperors elevated solely by the
military. His policy of an expanded and better-rewarded army was
criticized by his contemporary
Dio Cassius and
Herodianus: in particular, they pointed
out the increasing burden (in the form of taxes and services) the
civilian population had to bear to maintain the new army.
Severus was also distinguished for 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 on the occasion of his visit of 203).
Severus and Christianity
Christians were
persecuted during the reign of Septimus
Severus. Severus allowed the enforcement of policies already
long-established, which meant that Roman authorities did not
intentionally seek out Christians, but when people were accused of being
Christians they could either curse
Jesus and make an offering to
Roman gods, or be executed.
Furthermore, wishing to strengthen the peace by encouraging religious
harmony through
syncretism, Severus tried to limit the
spread of the two quarrelsome groups who refused to yield to syncretism
by outlawing
conversion to Christianity or
Judaism. 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[clarification
needed] had failed to execute its purpose. | 
