Ancient Roman and Greek Coins:

Septimius Severus
April 11, 145 – February 4, 211

Septimius Severus AE23 of Alexandria Troas
Obverse: SEVERVS PIVS AVG, laureate draped bust right
Reverse: COL AVG TROA, she wolf and twins right
 
 

Early life

Family and education:
          Born on 11 April 145 at Leptis Magna (in present-day Libya) as the son of Publius Septimius Geta and Fulvia Pia, Septimius Severus came from a wealthy and distinguished family of equestrian rank.  He had Italian Roman ancestry on his mother's side and descended from Punic - and perhaps also Libyan - forebears on his father's side.
          Severus' father, an obscure provincial, held no major political status, but he had two cousins, Publius Septimius Aper and Gaius Septimius Severus, who served as consuls under the emperor Antoninus Pius (reigned 138-161).  His mother's ancestors had moved from Italy to North Africa: they belonged to the gens Fulvia, an Italian patrician family that originated in Tusculum.  Septimius Severus had two siblings: an older brother, Publius Septimius Geta, and a younger sister, Septimia Octavilla. Severus's maternal cousin was Praetorian prefect and consul Gaius Fulvius Plautianus.
          Septimius Severus grew up in the town of Leptis Magna.  He spoke the local Punic language fluently, but he was also educated in Latin and Greek, which he spoke with a slight accent.  Little else is known of the young Severus' education, but according to Cassius Dio the boy had been eager for more education than he had actually got.  Presumably Severus received lessons in oratory: at age 17 he gave his first public speech.

Public service:
          Sometime around 162 Septimius Severus set out for Rome seeking a public career.  At the recommendation of his relative Gaius Septimius Severus, the emperor Marcus Aurelius (reigned 161-180) granted him entry into the senatorial ranks.  Membership of the senatorial order was a prerequisite to attain positions within the cursus honorum and to gain entry into the Roman Senate.  Nevertheless, it appears that Severus' career during the 160s met with some difficulties.
          It is likely that he served as a vigintivir in Rome, overseeing road maintenance in or near the city, and he may have appeared in court as an advocate.  At the time of Emperor Marcus Aurelius he was the State Attorney (Advocatus fisci).  However, he omitted the military tribunate from the cursus honorum and had to delay his quaestorship until he had reached the required minimum age of 25.  To make matters worse, the Antonine Plague swept through the capital in 166.
          With his career at a halt, Severus decided to temporarily return to Leptis, where the climate was healthier.  According to the Historia Augusta, a usually unreliable source, he was prosecuted for adultery during this time but the case was ultimately dismissed.  At the end of 169 Severus was of the required age to become a quaestor and journeyed back to Rome.  On 5 December, he took office and was officially enrolled in the Roman Senate.
          Between 170 and 180 the activities of Septimius Severus went largely unrecorded, in spite of the fact that he occupied an impressive number of posts in quick succession.  The Antonine Plague had severely thinned the senatorial ranks, and with capable men now in short supply, Severus' career advanced more steadily than it otherwise might have.  After his first term as quaestor, he was ordered[by whom?] to serve a second term in the province of Baetica (in present-day southern Spain) under Publius Cornelius Anullinus, but circumstances prevented Severus from taking up the appointment.
          The sudden death of his father necessitated a return to Leptis Magna to settle family affairs.  Before he was able to leave Africa, Mauri tribesmen invaded southern Spain.  Control of the province was handed over to the Emperor, while the Senate gained temporary control of Sardinia as compensation.  Thus, Septimius Severus spent the remainder of his second term as quaestor on the island of Sardinia.
          In 173 Severus' kinsman Gaius Septimius Severus was appointed proconsul of the Africa Province.   The elder Severus chose his cousin as one of his two legati pro praetore.  Following the end of this term, Septimius Severus travelled back to Rome, taking up office as tribune of the plebs, with the distinction of being candidatus of the emperor.

Marriages:
          Septimius Severus was already in his early thirties at the time of his first marriage.  In about 175, he married a woman from Leptis Magna named Paccia Marciana.  It is likely that he met her during his tenure as legate under his uncle.  Marciana's name reveals that she was of Punic or Libyan origin but virtually nothing else is known of her.  Septimius Severus does not mention her in his autobiography, though he later commemorated her with statues when he became Emperor.  The Historia Augusta claims that Marciana and Severus had two daughters but their existence is nowhere else attested.  It appears that the marriage produced no surviving children, despite lasting for more than ten years.
          Marciana died of natural causes around 186.  Septimius Severus was now in his forties and still childless.  Eager to remarry, he began enquiring into the horoscopes of prospective brides.  The Historia Augusta relates that he heard of a woman in Syria who had been foretold that she would marry a king, and therefore Severus sought her as his wife.
          This woman was an Emesan Syrian woman named Julia Domna.  Her father, Julius Bassianus, descended from the royal house of Samsigeramus and Sohaemus, and served as a high priest to the local cult of the sun god Elagabal.  Domna's older sister was Julia Maesa, later grandmother to the future emperors Elagabalus and Alexander Severus.
          Bassianus accepted Severus' marriage proposal in early 187, and the following summer he and Julia were married.  The marriage proved to be a happy one and Severus cherished his wife and her political opinions, since she was very well-read and keen on philosophy.  Together, they had two sons, Lucius Septimius Bassianus (later nicknamed Caracalla, b. 4 April 188) and Publius Septimius Geta (b. 7 March 189).

Rise to power:
          In 191 Severus was made governor of Pannonia Superior by Commodus at the advice of Quintus Aemilius Laetus, prefect of the Praetorian Guard.  However, Commodus was assassinated the following year.  Pertinax was acclaimed emperor, but he was then killed by the Praetorian Guard in early 193.  In response to the murder of Pertinax, Severus was proclaimed Emperor at Carnuntum by his legion XIV Gemina.  Nearby legions, such as X Gemina at Vindobona, soon followed.  Having assembled an army, Severus hurried to Italy.
          Pertinax's successor in Rome was Didius Julianus, who had bought the emperorship in an auction.  Julianus was condemned to death by the Senate and killed, and Severus took possession of Rome without opposition.  He executed Pertinax's murderers and dismissed the rest of the Praetorian Guard, filling its ranks with loyal troops from his own legions.
          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.  While campaigning against Byzantium he ordered the covering of the tomb of his fellow Carthaginian Hannibal with fine marble.
          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 19 February 197, in the Battle of Lugdunum, with an army of about 75,000 men, mostly composed of Pannonian, Moesian and Dacian legions and most likely a number of Auxiliaries, Severus defeated and killed Clodius Albinus, securing his full control over the Empire.

Emperor

War against Parthia:
          In early 197 Severus departed Rome and travelled to the east by sea.  He embarked at Brundisium and probably landed at the port of Aegeae in Cilicia, travelling to Syria by land.  He immediately gathered his army and crossed the Euphrates.  Abgar IX, King of Osroene but essentially only the ruler of Edessa since the annexation of his kingdom as a Roman province, handed over his children as hostages and assisted Severus' expedition by providing archers.
          At this time King Khosrov I of Armenia, also sent hostages, money and gifts.  Severus travelled onwards to Nisibis, which his general Julius Laetus had prevented from falling into enemy hands.  Afterwards, Severus returned to Syria for a time to plan a much more ambitious campaign.
          The following year he led another, more successful campaign against the Parthian Empire, reportedly 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 annexed to the Empire.  However, like Trajan nearly a century before, he was unable to capture the fortress of Hatra even after two lengthy sieges.  During his time in the east he also expanded the Limes Arabicus, building new fortifications in the Arabian Desert from Basie to Dumata.

Relations with the Senate and People:
          Severus' relations with the 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 a large number of Senators on charges of corruption and conspiracy against him and replaced them with his own favourites.
          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 204, when he was denounced by the Emperor's dying brother.  In January 205, Caracalla accused Plautianus for plotting to kill him and Severus.  The powerful prefect was executed while he was trying to defend his case in front of the two emperors.  One of the two following praefecti was the famous jurist Aemilius Papinianus.  However, executions of senators did not stop: Cassius Dio records that many of them were put to death, some after being formally tried.

Military reforms:
          Upon his arrival at Rome in 193, Severus discharged the Praetorian Guard, which had murdered Pertinax and had then auctioned the Roman Empire to Didius Julianus.  Its members were stripped of their ceremonial armour and forbidden to come within 100 miles of the city on pain of death.  Severus replaced the old guard with 10 new cohorts recruited from veterans of his Danubian legions.
          Around 197, he increased the number of legions from 30 to 33, with the introduction of the three new legions I, II, and III Parthica, and he garrisoned Legio II Parthica at Albanum, only 20 kilometers from Rome.  He gave his soldiers a donative of a thousand sesterces (250 denarii) each, and raised the annual wage for a soldier in the legions from 300 to 400 denarii.

Reputed persecution of Christians:
          At the beginning of Severus' reign, Trajan's policy toward the Christians was still valid, that is, Christians were only to be punished if they refused to worship the emperor and the gods, but they were not to be sought out.  Therefore, persecution was inconsistent, local, and sporadic. Faced with internal dissidence and external threats, Severus felt the need to promote religious harmony by promoting syncretism, and by possibly issuing an edict that punished conversion to Judaism and Christianity.
          A number of persecutions of Christians occurred in the Roman Empire during the reign of Septimius Severus and are traditionally attributed to Severus by the early Christian community. This is based on the decree mentioned in the Augustan History, an unreliable mix of fact and fiction.  Early church historian Eusebius describes Severus as a persecutor, but the Christian apologist Tertullian states that Severus was well disposed towards Christians, employed a Christian as his personal physician and had personally intervened to save several high-born Christians known to him from "the mob".  Eusebius' description of Severus as a persecutor likely derives merely from the fact that numerous persecutions occurred during his reign, including those known in the Roman martyrology as the martyrs of Madaura and Perpetua and Felicity in the Roman province of Africa, but these were probably as the result of local persecutions rather than empire-wide actions or decrees by Severus.

Military activity

Africa (202):
          The expansion of the African frontier during the reign of Severus (medium tan).  Severus even briefly held a military presence in Garama in 203 (light tan).
          In late 202 Severus launched a campaign in the province of Africa.  The legate of Legio III Augusta Quintus Anicius Faustus had been fighting against the Garamantes along the Limes Tripolitanus for five years, capturing several settlements from the enemy such as Cydamus, Gholaia, Garbia, and their capital Garama – over 600 km south of Leptis Magna.
          During this time the province of Numidia was also enlarged: the empire annexed the settlements of Vescera, Castellum Dimmidi, Gemellae, Thabudeos, Thubunae and Zabi.  By 203 the entire southern frontier of Roman Africa had been dramatically expanded and re-fortified. Desert nomads could no longer safely raid the region's interior and escape back into the Sahara.

Britain (208):
          In 208 Severus traveled to Britain with the intention of conquering Caledonia.  Modern archaeological discoveries have made the scope and direction of his northern campaign better understood.  Severus probably arrived in Britain possessing an army over 40,000, considering some of the camps constructed during his campaign could house this number.
          He strengthened Hadrian's Wall and reconquered the Southern Uplands up to the Antonine Wall, which was also enhanced.  Severus built a 165-acre camp south of the Antonine Wall at Trimontium, probably assembling his forces there. Severus then thrust north with his army across the wall into enemy territory.  Retracing the steps of Agricola of over a century previous, Severus rebuilt and garrisoned many abandoned Roman forts along the east coast, including Carpow which could house up to 40,000 soldiers.
          An interesting story from around this time is when Severus' wife, Julia Domna, criticised the sexual morals of the Caledonian women, the wife of Caledonian chief Argentocoxos replied: "We fulfill the demands of nature in a much better way than do you Roman women; for we consort openly with the best men, whereas you let yourselves be debauched in secret by the vilest".
          Cassius Dio's account of the invasion reads "Severus, accordingly, desiring to subjugate the whole of it, invaded Caledonia.  But as he advanced through the country he experienced countless hardships in cutting down the forests, levelling the heights, filling up the swamps, and bridging the rivers; but he fought no battle and beheld no enemy in battle array.  The enemy purposely put sheep and cattle in front of the soldiers for them to seize, in order that they might be lured on still further until they were worn out; for in fact the water caused great suffering to the Romans, and when they became scattered, they would be attacked.  Then, unable to walk, they would be slain by their own men, in order to avoid capture, so that a full fifty thousand died.  But Severus did not desist until he approached the extremity of the island.  Here he observed most accurately the variation of the sun's motion and the length of the days and the nights in summer and winter respectively.  Having thus been conveyed through practically the whole of the hostile country (for he actually was conveyed in a covered litter most of the way, on account of his infirmity), he returned to the friendly portion, after he had forced the Britons to come to terms, on the condition that they should abandon a large part of their territory."
          By 210, Severus' campaigning had made significant gains, despite Caledonian guerrilla tactics and purportedly heavy Roman casualties.  The Caledonians sued for peace, which Severus granted on condition they relinquish control of the Central Lowlands.  This is evidenced by extensive Severan era fortifications in the Central Lowlands.
          The Caledonians, short on supplies and feeling their position becoming desperate, revolted later that year along with the Maeatae.  Severus prepared for another protracted campaign within Caledonia.  He was now intent on exterminating the Caledonians, telling his soldiers: "Let no one escape sheer destruction, No one our hands, not even the babe in the womb of the mother, If it be male; let it nevertheless not escape sheer destruction."

Death (211):
          Severus' campaign was cut short when he fell fatally ill.  He withdrew to Eboracum and died there in 211.  Although his son Caracalla continued campaigning the following year, he soon settled for peace.  The Romans never campaigned deep into Caledonia again: they soon withdrew south permanently to Hadrian's Wall.
          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 (York) on 4 February 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.

Assessment and legacy:
          Though his military expenditure was costly to the empire, Severus was a strong and able ruler.  According to Gibbon, "his daring ambition was never diverted from its steady course by the allurements of pleasure, the apprehension of danger, or the feelings of humanity."  His enlargement of the Limes Tripolitanus secured Africa, the agricultural base of the empire where he was born.  His victory over the Parthian Empire was for a time decisive, securing Nisibis and Singara for the Empire and established a status quo for Roman dominance in the region until 251.  His policy of an expanded and better-rewarded army was criticized by his contemporaries Cassius Dio 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.
          In order to maintain his enlarged military he debased the Roman currency drastically.  Upon his accession he decreased the silver purity of the denarius from 81.5% to 78.5%. However, the silver weight actually increased, rising from 2.40 grams to 2.46 grams.  Nevertheless, the following year he debased the denarius substantially because of rising military expenditures.  The silver purity decreased from 78.5% to 64.5% — the silver weight dropping from 2.46 grams to 1.98 grams.  In 196 he reduced the purity and silver weight of the denarius again, to 54% and 1.82 grams respectively.  Severus' currency debasement was the largest since the reign of Nero, compromising the long-term strength of the economy.
          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).  The greater part of the Flavian Palace overlooking the Circus Maximus was undertaken in his reign.