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Septimius Severus - Roman Emperor: 193-211 A.D. -
Bronze 16mm (1.8 grams) Struck in the Roman Provincial city of Nicaea in
Bythinia 193-211 A.D.
AV KA CEΠ CEVHPO, laureate head right.
NIKAIEΩN around altar with with flame of fire atop.
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Authenticity.
İznik (which derives from the former
Greek name
Νίκαια, Nicaea) is a city in
Turkey which is
primarily known as the site of the
First and
Second Councils of Nicaea, the first and seventh
Ecumenical councils in the early history of the
Christian church, the
Nicene
Creed, and as the capital city of the
Empire of Nicaea. It served as the interim capital city of the
Byzantine Empire between 1204 and 1261, following the
Fourth Crusade in 1204, until the recapture of
Constantinople by the Byzantines in 1261.
The city lies in a fertile basin at the eastern end of
Lake İznik,
bounded by ranges of hills to the north and south. It is situated with its west
wall rising from the lake itself, providing both protection from siege from that
direction, as well as a source of supplies which would be difficult to cut off.
The lake is large enough that it cannot be blockaded from the land easily, and
the city was large enough to make any attempt to reach the harbour from
shore-based siege weapons very difficult.
The city is surrounded on all sides by 5 km (3 mi) of walls about 10 m
(33 ft) high. These are in turn surrounded by a double ditch on the land
portions, and also include over 100 towers in various locations. Large gates on
the three landbound sides of the walls provide the only entrance to the city.
Today the walls are pierced in many places for roads, but much of the early
work survives and as a result it is a major tourist destination. The town has a
population of about 15,000. It has been a district center of
Bursa Province since 1930. It was in the district of
Kocaeli
between 1923-1927 and was a township of
Yenişehir
(bounded to Bilecik before 1926) district between 1927-1930.
History
Early
history, Roman and Byzantine Empires
The Lefke Gate, part of Nicaea's city walls.
The place is said to have been colonized by
Bottiaeans,
and to have originally borne the name of Ancore (Steph.
B. s. v.) or Helicore (Geogr. Min. p. 40, ed. Hudson); but it was
subsequently destroyed by the
Mysians. A
few years after the death of
Alexander the Great,
Macedonian king
Antigonus — who had taken control of much of
Asia Minor upon the death of Alexander (under whom Antigonus had served as a
general) — probably after his victory over
Eumenes, in
316 BC, rebuilt the town, and called it, after himself, Antigoneia (Greek:
Αντιγόνεια). (Steph. B. l. c.; Eustath. ad
Horn. II. ii. 863) Several other of Alexander's generals (known together as the
Diadochi
(Latin; original Greek
Διάδοχοι/Diadokhoi
"successors")) later conspired to remove Antigonus, and after defeating him the
area was given to
Thessalian
general
Lysimachus (Lysimakhos) (circa 355 BC-281 BC) in 301 BC as his share
of the lands. He renamed it Nicaea (Greek:
Νίκαια, also
transliterated as Nikaia or Nicća; see also
List of traditional Greek place names), in tribute to his wife Nicaea, a
daughter of
Antipater. (Steph. B., Eustath., Strab., ll. cc.) According to another
account (Memnon, ap. Phot. Cod. 224. p. 233, ed. Bekker), Nicaea was founded by
men from
Nicaea near
Thermopylae, who had served in the army of Alexander the Great. The town was
built with great regularity, in the form of a square, measuring 16 stadia in
circumference; it had four gates, and all its streets intersected one another at
right angles, so that from a monument in the centre all the four gates could be
seen. (Strabo
xii. pp. 565 et seq.) This monument stood in the gymnasium, which was
destroyed by fire, but was restored with increased magnificence by the
younger Pliny (Epist. x. 48), when he was governor of
Bithynia.
The city was built on an important crossroads between
Galatia and
Phrygia, and
thus saw steady trade. Soon after the time of Lysimachus, Nicaea became a city
of great importance, and the kings of Bithynia, whose era begins in 288 BC with
Zipoetes, often resided at Nicaea. It has already been mentioned that in the
time of Strabo it is called the metropolis of Bithynia, an honour which is also
assigned to it on some coins, though in later times it was enjoyed by
Nicomedia.
The two cities, in fact, kept up a long and vehement dispute about the
precedence, and the 38th oration of
Dio
Chrysostomus was expressly composed to settle the dispute. From this
oration, it appears that Nicomedia alone had a right to the title of metropolis,
but both were the first cities of the country.
The theatre, restored by Pliny, but now fallen once again into
dilapidation.
The younger Pliny makes frequent mention of Nicaea and its public buildings,
which he undertook to restore when governor of Bithynia. (Epist. x. 40, 48,
etc.) It was the birthplace of the astronomer
Hipparchus
(ca. 194 BC), the mathematician and astronomer
Sporus (ca. 240) and the historian
Dio Cassius (ca. 165).[1]
It was the death-place of the comedian
Philistion. The numerous coins of Nicaea which still exist attest the
interest taken in the city by the emperors, as well as its attachment to the
rulers; many of them commemorate great festivals celebrated there in honour of
gods and emperors, as Olympia, Isthmia, Dionysia, Pythia, Commodia, Severia,
Philadelphia, etc. Throughout the imperial period, Nicaea remained an important
town; for its situation was particularly favourable, being only 40 km (25 mi)
distant from Prusa
(Pliny
v. 32), and 70 km (43 mi) from
Constantinople. (It.
Ant. p. 141.) When Constantinople became the capital of the
Eastern Empire, Nicaea did not lose in importance; for its present walls,
which were erected during the last period of the Empire, enclose a much greater
space than that ascribed to the place in the time of Strabo. Much of the
existing architecture and defensive works date to this time, early 300s.
Nicaea suffered much from earthquakes in 358, 362 and 368; after the last of
which, it was restored by the emperor
Valens. During
the Middle Ages it was for a long time a strong bulwark of the
Byzantine emperors against the
Turks.
Nicaea
in early Christianity
The Hagia Sophia in Nicaea.
In the reign of
Constantine, 325, the celebrated
First Council of Nicaea was held there against the
Arian
heresy, and the
prelates there defined more clearly the concept of the
Trinity and
drew up the
Nicene
Creed. The
doctrine of the Trinity was finalized at the Council of Constantinople in
381 AD which expressly included the Holy Ghost as equal to the Father and the
Son. The first Nicene Council was probably held in what would become the now
ruined mosque of Orchan. The church of Hagia Sophia was built by
Justinian
I in the middle of the city in the 6th century (modelled after the larger
Hagia
Sophia in Constantinople), and it was there that the
Second Council of Nicaea met in 787 to discuss the issues of
iconography.
Crusades
The city saw a long period of peace under Byzantine rule, which lasted until
the rise of the
Seljuk Turks. In 1077 they took the city, which changed hands several times
in the next year until it was firmly in their control by 1078. Here they formed
their capital. This event was instrumental in starting the
First
Crusade at Byzantium's request in 1095, and armies from Europe along with
smaller units from Byzantium converged on the city in 1097. After the European
armies
laid siege to the city and penetrated the walls, they were surprised to
awake the next morning to see the Greek flags of Emperor
Alexios I Komnenos flying over the city. Robbed of their chance to plunder
the city, the crusaders and Byzantines were soon at odds. In the peace which was
afterwards concluded the city was ceded to the Byzantines.
The twelfth century saw a period of relative stability and prosperity at
Nicaea. The
Komnenian emperors Alexios, John and Manuel campaigned extensively to
strengthen the Byzantine presence in Asia Minor. Major fortifications were
constructed across the region, especially by John and Manuel, which helped to
protect the city and its fertile hinterland. There were also several military
bases and colonies in the area, for example the one at Rhyndakos in Bithynia,
where the emperor John spent a year training his troops in preparation for
campaigns in southern Asia Minor.
Constantinople later fell in 1204 to the European armies in the
Fourth Crusade, who set up the
Latin
Empire of Constantinople. They had poor control over the area, and a number
of Byzantine successor states sprang up as well, including
Epirus and
Trebizond. However it was Nicaea that formed the core of the successor
Byzantine Empire after
Theodore Lascaris (who became Theodore I) founded the
Empire of Nicaea (western Asia Minor) there. Building on the strong military
infrastructure built up in the area over the last century, Theodore I and his
successors slowly expanded their domains, and in 1259
Michael VIII Palaeologus usurped the throne. He captured Constantinople from
the Latins in 1261, and restored the Byzantine Empire.
Ottoman
Empire
In 1331, the city was conquered and incorporated into the
Ottoman Empire by
Orhan I. Many
of its public buildings were destroyed, and the materials were used by the
Ottomans in erecting their mosques and other edifices. With the
fall of Constantinople in 1453, the town lost an important degree of its
importance, but later became a major center with the creation of a local faďence
pottery-making
industry in the 17th century (known as the
İznik Çini, Çin meaning China in – Chinese porcelain stood in
great favour with the Sultans.) İznik tiles were used to decorate many of the
mosques in
Istanbul designed by
Sinan. However,
this industry also moved to Istanbul, and İznik became a mainly agricultural
minor town in the area when a major railway bypassed it in the 19th century.
Currently the style of pottery referred to as the İznik Çini is to some extent
produced locally, but mainly in
Kütahya,
where the quality – which was in decline – has been restored to its former
glory.
Ruins
The ancient walls, with their towers and gates, are in relatively good
preservation. Their circumference is 3,100 m (10,171 ft), being at the base from
5 to 7 m (16 to 23 ft) in thickness, and from 10 to 13 m (33 to 43 ft) in
height; they contain four large and two small gates. In most places they are
formed of alternate courses of Roman tiles and large square stones, joined by a
cement of great thickness. In some places columns and other architectural
fragments from the ruins of more ancient edifices have been inserted. As with
those of Constantinople, the walls seem to have been built in the 4th century.
Some of the towers have
Greek inscriptions. The ruins of mosques, baths, and houses, dispersed among
the gardens and apartment buildings that now occupy a great part of the space
within the Roman and Byzantine fortifications, show that the Ottoman era town
center, though now less considerable, was once a place of importance; but it
never was as large as the Byzantine city. It seems to have been almost entirely
constructed of the remains of the Byzantine era Nicaea, the walls of the ruined
mosques and baths being full of the fragments of ancient Greek, Roman and
Byzantine temples and churches. In the northwestern parts of the town, two moles
extend into the lake and form a harbour; but the lake in this part has much
retreated, and left a marshy plain. Outside the walls are the remnants of an
ancient aqueduct.[2]
The Church of the Dormition, the principal church of Nicaea, was probably the
most important Byzantine cathedral in
Asia Minor. It was decorated with very fine mosaics from the 9th century.
The church was destroyed in 1922,[3]
during the
Turkish War of Independence.
Excavations are underway in the Ottoman [kiln]s where the historic İznik
tileware were made. The Hagia Sophia is also undergoing restoration.
Contemporary
Influence
There is a prominent Turkish restaurant in London named after the city. İznik
ceramic pottery and tiles feature centrally in the décor which is Ottoman in
theme.[4]
This style of décor is very common in Turkish restaurants throughout the capital
and in other cities around the globe.
İznik remains a
titular
see of the
Roman Catholic Church, Nicaenus; the seat has been vacant since the
death of its last bishop in 1976.[5]
It is also a titular
metropolitan see of the
Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. The current incumbent is the
former
Archbishop of Finland, Metropolitan Johannes (Rinne).[6]
Notable
people
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[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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