Septimius Severus - Roman Emperor: 193-211 A.D. -
Silver Denarius 16mm (3.2 grams) Laodicea ad Mare mint: 197 A.D.
Reference: RIC 493, BMC 464
LSEPTSEVPERTAVGIMPVIIII - Laureate head right.
PMTRPVCOSIIPP - Fortuna standing left, holding rudder on globe and cornucopia.
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In
Roman mythology, Fortuna (equivalent to the
Greek goddess
Tyche) goddess of fortune, was the
personification of
luck; hopefully she brought good luck, but she could be represented veiled
and blind, as modern depictions of
Justice are
seen, and came to represent the capriciousness of life. Atrox Fortuna
claimed the lives of
Augustus'
two hopeful grandsons, educated to take up princely roles,[1]
for she was also a goddess of
fate. Her
father was Jupiter, and though she had no lovers or children of her own, Fortuna
was propitiated by mothers.
Fortuna had a retinue that included
Copia,
"bounty", among her blessings. Under the name Annonaria she protected
grain supplies. In the Roman calendar,
June 11
was sacred to Fortuna, with a greater festival to Fors Fortuna[2]
on the 24th.[3]
Roman writers disagreed whether her cult was introduced to
Rome by
Servius Tullius.[4]
or
Ancus Marcius.[5]
Fortuna had a temple in the
Forum
Boarium and a public sanctuary on the
Quirinalis, as the tutelary genius of
Roma herself,
Fortuna Populi Romani, the "Fortune of the Roman people", for Fortuna, the
embodiment of the chaotic chance event as modern historians would see it, was
closely tied by the Romans to
virtus,
strength of character; flaws in the main public actors brought on the calamities
of ill fortune, as Roman historians like
Sallust saw
her role: "Truly, when in the place of work, idleness, in place of the
spirit of measure and equity, caprice and pride invade, fortune is changed
just as with morality".[6]
At an
oracle in
Praeneste connected with the Temple of Fortuna Primigena the future was
chosen by a small boy choosing
oak rods with
possible futures written on them.
All over the Roman world, Fortuna was worshipped at a great
number of shrines under various titles that were applied to her according to the
various circumstances of life in which her influence was hoped to have a
positive effect. Fortuna was not always positive: she was doubtful (Fortuna
Dubia); she could be "fickle fortune" (Fortuna Brevis), or downright
evil luck (Fortuna Mala).
She is invoked in a variety of domestic and personal
contexts, demonstrating her importance across the Empire. For example, Fortuna
is dedicated to in an amulet from a cupboard in room VII in the
House of Menander in
Pompeii,
where she is linked with the syncretised Egyptian Goddess
Isis to become
Isis-Fortuna[7].
She is also very closely related to the God
Bonus Eventus[8],
who is often represented as some form of counterpart to Fortuna. Both Fortuna
and
Bonus Eventus appear on small artefacts such as
amulets and
intaglio
engraved gems across the Roman world.
Her name seems to derive from Vortumna, "she who
revolves the year", however the earliest reference to
the Wheel of Fortune, emblematic of the endless changes in life between
prosperity and disaster, occurs in
Cicero, In
Pisonem, ca. 55 BCE.
In
Seneca's tragedy Agamemnon, a chorus addresses Fortuna in terms that
would remain almost proverbial, and in a high heroic ranting mode that
Renaissance writers would emulate:
"O Fortune, who dost bestow the throne’s high boon with
mocking hand, in dangerous and doubtful state thou settest the too exalted.
Never have sceptres obtained calm peace or certain tenure; care on care
weighs them down, and ever do fresh storms vex their souls. ...great
kingdoms sink of their own weight, and Fortune gives way ‘neath the burden
of herself. Sails swollen with favouring breezes fear blasts too strongly
theirs; the tower which rears its head to the very clouds is beaten by rainy
Auster....
Whatever Fortune has raised on high, she lifts but to bring low. Modest
estate has longer life; then happy he whoe’er, content with the common lot,
with safe breeze hugs the shore, and, fearing to trust his skiff to the
wider sea, with unambitious oar keeps close to land."[9]
Lucius 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[1]
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.[2]
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,[3]
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.[4]
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.[5].
In 210 obtained a peace with the
Picts that lasted
practically until the final withdrawal of the Roman legions from Britain
[6],
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[7].
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.[8]
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..
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