Septimius Severus

Septimius Severus
Roman Emperor
Bust of Septimius Severus, National Gallery of Victoria .
Reign
First usurper and legitimate 1June 193 - 4 February 211 (~ 18 years)
Period	Severe
Predecessor (s)	Didius Julianus
Usurper (s)	Pescennius Niger ( 193 - 194 ) Clodius Albinus ( 197 )
Successor (s)	Geta and Caracalla
Biography
Birth	11 April 146 Leptis Magna ( Africa )
Original Name	Lucius Septimius Severus
Deaths	4 February 211 (65) Eboracum ( Britain )
Father	Publius Septimius Geta
Mother	Fulvia Pia
Spouse (s)	(1) Marciana (c. 175 - BC. 187 ) (2) Julia Domna ( 187 - 211 )
Descent	(1) Caracalla (in Julia Domna ) (2) Geta (to Julia Domna )
List of Roman Emperors

Septimius Severus ( 11 April 146 - 4 February 211 ) was a Roman emperor , who reigned from 193 to 211. With him begins the arrival in power of provincial Roman and non-descendant dynasty Severan which is the same name. It is the only emperor born in the province of Africa ^{An African origin}

He was born on 11 April 146 at Leptis Magna , a city located in Tripoli on the coast of Libya today. The side of his mother, Fulvia Pia, he descends from Italian immigrants (the Fulvii) probably married persons of Jamahiriya ^, . By his father, Publius Septimus Geta, he descends from a family of Libyan-Punic culture and Punic ^{, , ,} , who acquired citizenship from the ^first century. Both sides of his family are composed of notables. Thus, his paternal grandfather was warden of Leptis before becoming the first duumvir when the city became a Roman colony under Trajan.

The historian Dio Cassius described as a small man, thin, very bright and silent. He had a heavy accent that made him to be teased by his contemporaries. In his character we must distinguish his attachment to his family and his city of origin. It is a character who is interested in religious and intellectual life (it is probably introduced to the mysteries of Eleusis and an ardent devotee of Serapis ) . His origins and his rise to reflect the prosperity of Africa and the perfect integration of this province and its inhabitants in the Roman world.

A successful career in the reign of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus (163-180)

Through a cousin who attended the imperial court, he left in 164 Leptis Magna for Rome, and began a course honorum Senate brilliant. It is a lawyer speaks, besides Punic, Latin and Greek. Contrary to popular belief , not a military but an efficient and energetic administrator . He is serving as Commodus in Tarraconaise , Sardinia , Africa , Syria (about 180 where it attaches to Pertinax his superior), Lyon and Sicily. He lives in Athens from 183 to 185, in exile due to a conflict with Perennial favorite of the emperor.

Septimius Severus married his second wife (in 187 ) with Julia Domna , the daughter of the high priest of Emesa ( Syria ) Bassianus Julius , whom he has two son, Caracalla (born in Lyon in 188 ) and Geta (born in Rome in 189 ).

He acceded to the consulate in 190 then obtains the following year the post of legate of Pannonia Superior, with the support of Aemilius Laetus, the prefect of the praetorian guard , giving it the legation of three legions to defend the border. It is his first major military command.

The winner of the Civil War (193-197)

The interlude Pertinax

31 December 192, the emperor Commodus was murdered after a plot by his relatives. The conspirators, in an emergency, persuade Pertinax , the prefect of the city, take the purple after taking him to the Praetorians, then before the Senate. Helvius Pertinax is then confirmed by the Senate after giving donativum the Praetorians. But he quickly noted that the imperial boxes are empty and decides to remove the Praetorians and the power to impose stricter discipline. Three months later, on 28 March 193 he was assassinated during the mutiny of part of the Praetorian Guard.

The winner of Didius Julianus

Didius Julianus , pretender to the title of Augustus, is engaged in a real auction to the throne in competition with another suitor and had himself appointed by the originator Praetorians. The Senate accepts the one who wants to restore the tradition Commodian.

In 193 to Carnuntum in Upper Pannonia , Severus learns the murder of Commodus and Pertinax. The legions stationed on the Danube, jealous of the Praetorians, denounced the comedy. Considering themselves as the only true Roman citizens, they cheered their leader as emperor. Registering the support of the legions of the Rhine and Germany , Severus decides, in May, to march on Rome.

On June ^1, 193 it is 80 miles north of the capital. The same day the Senate condemns Didius Julianus to death, paving the way for Septimius Severus, who goes to Rome with his legions on June 9 193. A murderous Praetorian Didius Julianus. Severus asks the Praetorian Guard at a banquet in his camp. He identified the spot by his soldiers, disarmed the Praetorians and executes the murderers of Pertinax. He dismisses the strength of the Praetorian Guard, which are replaced by Pannonians.

The winner of Pescennius Niger

In the East, Niger Pescennius , legate of Syria , refused to cheer Septimius Severus. His army proclaimed emperor on April 9. He was soon supported by Egypt. It is a triple threat: military because he has 9 legions economy through support of Egypt and the diplomatic support that offered him the Parthian rulers. Severus reacts quickly, leaving Rome in July 193 and moves to the East where troops have been conducted since Illyria by Tiberius Claudius Candidus. He besieged Byzantine removed by P. Niger (it surrendered in 195 after a two-year seat), then won two victories over his rival at Cyzicus, end 193, then at Nicaea in early 194. He wins the rally of Egypt, the Saudi and Syria. The decisive battle took place at Issus spring 194. Pescennius Niger fled to Antioch , which is soon besieged by the troops of Septimius Severus, and probably fled to the Parthian kingdom. Captured it is executed.

Consolidated his power, Septimius Severus takes the name of Pertinax, proclaimed himself the son of Marcus Aurelius and creates a fictitious genealogy back to Nerva.

The winner of Clodius Albinus

In Britain, a more serious threat hangs over the legitimacy of Septimus. Clodius Albinus , legate of Britain , also of African descent, claims a share of power. His army is large and well-trained face the Scots. Septimus is skillfully combines Clodius Albinus granting him the title of Caesar and the consulate in the year 194. In 195 , after a campaign against the Parthians , Severus proclaimed public enemy Clodius Albinus. It crosses the Channel in 196 with his legions (40,000 men). The decisive battle took place in February 197 near Lugdunum ( Lyon ). Septimius and his legions are victorious. Clodius fled and killed himself. Septimus Severus is undress the body and trampled by his horse's severed head was sent to Rome, the body is thrown into the Rhone. The family of Clodius is not initially worried, but his widow and son were later murdered. 29 senators who had supported Clodius Albinus are eliminated.

Monarchy Severus (197-211)

Aureus of Septimius Severus

A hereditary monarchy

Septimius Severus insists immediately ensure its legitimacy:

• It makes a connection to the fictional and posthumous Antonine dynasty: in 195, he proclaimed himself the son of Marcus Aurelius and the brother of Commodus and exalts the memory of Pertinax which he claims to be the avenger (portraits resemble those of its "ancestors" and the inscriptions found in Africa trace their genealogy to Nerva ).
• It affirms the power of the imperial dynasty in power by combining his two son who hate Caracalla in 196 and Geta in 198, and his second wife Julia Domna from 193: pictures and names of the imperial family are spread everywhere, on coins and monuments of Rome like the bow of the Forum Boarium or Africa, especially with the bow quadrifrons of Leptis Magna.

The dynastic system set up by Septimius Severus seems to work: when the African branch off in favor of Macrinus , the dynasty quickly overcomes its sidelining by proposing the Syrian branch successively with Elagabalus and Severus Alexander.

A sacred monarchy

Bust of Septimius Severus at assimilated Serapis, after 204 BC. BC, Louvre

The emperor, dressed in the high priesthood and the power of the tribunes since the beginning of the principate , is considered a sacred person. This aspect is amplified under Septimius Severus, who intends to restore the prestige of the empire in modifying the nature of the imperial institution:

• The imperial household is qualified and anointed the Emperor is commonly called dominus dominus noster or.
• The emperor is depicted as a god during his lifetime but tradition is increasingly divided in the middle of. In Africa, Septimius Severus goes to be represented in the guise of Jupiter Capitoline and some inscriptions will equate to a god.

Septimius Severus showing a strong belief in astrology that has predicted fame and fortune and married his second wife a woman to whom the oracles have predicted she would marry a king, Julia Domna, the daughter of the high priest of Emesa du Soleil Syria. He had traveled to Athens where he was initiated into the mysteries of Eleusis.

A monarchy antisnatoriale

The relationship between Septimius Severus and the Senate are at the outset of bitterness following the footprints of senators executions and confiscations of property following the defeat of Clodius Albinus. Septimius Severus and his successors are appointed by the Senate but by the army: he respects the tradition in part on receiving the investiture of the Upper House.

This acceleration of the decline of the Senate goes along with the rise of the equestrian order, amplifying a trend already begun in the second century.

• The command of three new legions is entrusted to knights and not senators.
• Many procuratles are granted to knights.
• The praetorian prefecture of which the holder is confirmed as the second character of the Empire is entrusted to the forensic value ( Papinian and Ulpian ).

Septimius Severus as his successors, governs with the support of the army , the Council of the Prince and friends of the Emperor: it relies on a clan loyal African and Syrian who finish their career in the Senate.

The weight and position of the military component

The conditions of his coming to power to impose Severus to rely on the army reforms that he began preparing for the future and are anything but simple measures of expediency.

• It broadens recruitment to provincial (Thracians and Illyrians) and abolished the privileges of the Italians. These new soldiers are probably less Romanized but they are more loyal and good soldiers.
• He raises three new legions, the three Parthian, commissioned by the Knights. The emperor introduced a breach in the monopoly of the Senate leadership of the legions who prepares reforms Gallien.
• The officers from the ranks (and centurions centurion)

Living conditions of soldiers are enhanced to maintain the voluntary recruitment and to avoid conscription

• Balances are reported for the first time since Domitian, perhaps by half, causing an imbalance of finance and economy, such a revaluation has not been undertaken for a century.
• It also improves annona military formally establishing the institution. The purchase and maintenance of equipment and supplies is a matter for soldiers, transport is attributed to the state and establishes responsible Septimius Severus in the Imperial Mail.
• It adjusts the civil status of the military, giving them the right to marry and formalization of their children, what the previous status of liberalization by Claude prohibited. Indeed, until Claude soldiers could not leave the camp during their period of service (15 years for the Praetorians, 20 years for legionaries and auxiliaries for 30 years) and could not have family. Claude had reformed the system by allowing soldiers to leave the camp when they were off duty officer back to a family they did not, however, the right to marry or recognize their children before their retirement.
• He bases Military Colleges and creates additional three legions, which increases the size of the army by 10%. He finally gave new honor to the military, allowing officers to wear a gold ring, a privilege previously reserved for knights.

A civilian rule

While the military affirmation of the monarchy is undeniable, there is also a civilian consolidation of power that manifests itself in the entourage of the emperor.

Indeed, it has built up a large court constituted, besides Italians, less prosperous than during the previous two centuries, Africans but also of Orientals from Syria.

Their statutes are different; there account:

• Lawyers, such Plautianus more jurist praetorian prefect, belonging to a wealthy family of Leptis Magna.
• Of "lawyers consulted" as Ulpian , Paul , Papinian who work with the emperor to the laws and jurisprudence.
• Philosophers such as Philostratus revolve around the emperor. They gradually drop Stoicism a philosophy based on the presence of God in all things and the idea that man must control his impulses. Abstinence and universality of the gods, philosophy Neoplatonic begins to spread, much more austere and close to the Christian philosophy. The emperor appears in the center of this new court based on an extension of the Palatine palace.

The activity of civil Septimus is also expressed in his travels of 199 to 203. During a trip to the Orient, it cuts the Syria , whose wife is from, in two provinces and its purpose is to relieve the work too important to the governor but also prevent any attempt of coup by dividing the power each governor and thus their legions. In Africa, it formally establishes the province of Numidia and then visit the Egyptian , it pays homage to the embalmed body of Alexander the Great and up the Nile to Thebes. It proclaims the province Egypt free imperial cities, and grants the right to build institutions. We observe that Severus deploys a very important civil activity parallel to its military activity. It was only in 203 that Septimius Severus returned to Rome.

Septimius Severus did make several impressive buildings:

• In Rome, he embellishes the south side of the Palatine by the erection of a monumental fountain, the Septizodium dedicated to the seven major planets (planets, Moon and Sun), and the construction of a new wing of the palace Imperial. He also begin work on the Baths of Caracalla. It also restores a large number of buildings damaged by fire late in the reign of Commodus, including the Temple of Peace (in which he constructed a map of Rome monumental, the Forma Urbis ), theater Pompey, the portico of Octavia, and Arcus Neroniane , etc..
• His home town, Leptis Magna, is rewarded with remarkable monuments: Forum of Severus, Basilica Severian, port facilities.

Septimius Severus still takes a measure of organization for structuring the Roman Empire:

• he transferred to the praetorian prefects treatment appellate court cases, previously the exclusive domain of the emperor. This reform gives the praetorian prefects an increasingly more important in the civilian sector.
• in addition to the traditional distribution of wheat, he instituted for the common people of the free distribution of olive oil.

The end of a reign marred by quarrels of succession and hardness of the military campaigns

The Tondo Severiano : Septimius Severus, Julia Domna and Caracalla, Djemila medallion painted in Egypt, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin.

It seeks to consolidate his estate: he married his son Caracalla with Plautilla , daughter of Gaius Plautianus Flaccus, prefect of the Praetorian Guard, with whom he has befriended. The relationship between the couple, however, deteriorate rapidly.

Perhaps at the urging of Caracalla , Plautianus is accused of treason by the centurions in 205. Septimius Severus and murdered Plautilla is banned on the island of Lipari.

In 208 , Septimius Severus sailed with his two son Caracalla and Geta to the province of Britain to fight the Caledonians. Many battles take place until 209 , but decisive victory. To secure the northern border of the Roman Empire, it is consolidating the Hadrian's Wall over a length of about 130 km.

Weakened by gout , he retired to York where he died on 4 February 211 at age 65. According to some Roman sources, it would rule on his deathbed words that are still famous: "Maintain harmony, enrich the soldiers and make fun of the rest."

Progeny of Septimius Severus

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