[Prev Page][Contents][Next Page]

The Severi

Septimius Severus (193-211)

Caius Pescennius Niger was proclaimed emperor by the troops of Syria, and Publis Septimius Severus was proclaimed by his troops in Pannonia. Severus was the closer and marched almost at once on Rome. Julianus got the Senate to declare him a public enemy and fortified the city against “tyrants.” But Severus had agents working in the city and slowly support swung around to him. Even the Praetorians were talking to him.  Julianus saw his support slip away and barricaded himself in the palace. The Senate reversed itself and now proclaimed Julianus the traitor and Septimius Severus the savior of the state. Julianus was murdered by a soldier in the palace on 1 June 193.

Severus knew he was on thin ice and presented himself according to tradition. He dismounted and entered the city gate on foot, in civilian attire. He gave a donative to his soldiers to keep them happy. He went to the Senate and swore not to put any of its members to death (an oath Hadrian had swore, too). He would not encourage informers and he asked for the deification of Pertinax.

The Praetorian Guard he handled differently. Before he even entered Rome, he called the Guard to him unarmed. He had his soldiers surround them and then he dismissed them in shame. A little later, as emperor, he reconstituted the Guard, increasing it to 15,000; but he drew its members from the frontier legions now, initially all from the Danube regions. He was determined to remove the influence of the Praetorians on the selection process.

Next, Severus secured his position in the West, for he knew that sooner or later he would have to deal with Niger. After making some arrangements, he left Rome in early July 193, marching back through Pannonia and into Thrace. He avoided the fortified city of Byzantium and crossed into Asia, meeting Niger on the plains of the Issus River in April 194. It was a hard-fought battle, but Severus won. Niger fled, first to Antioch and then to Parthia, which wanted nothing to do with him. He was overtaken and killed near the Euphrates River.

But the new emperor had more rivals to face. All the way back in Britain a new claimant emerged. It took some time to re-group, but in 197 Severus defeated the claimant Albinus in Gaul.

Four years of civil war took a heavy toll. When Severus returned to Rome in June 197, he had twenty-nine senators executed, seizing all their property for himself. He felt betrayed by the Senate and henceforth relied solely on the support of the army. He increased pay by one-third and allowed soldiers to marry local women.

By late July, Severus was headed back East, to fight Parthia. He was brilliantly victorious. Again Ctesiphon fell to Roman troops, and this time the city was sacked and burned, its citizens massacred. He spent a couple of years arranging matters and conquering local kings. He went to Egypt and to Antioch, and did not return to Rome until 202. That the emperor could be away five years and not endure a rival speaks as eloquently as anything of how effective Severus had been in cowing the Senate.

After dealing with some troubles in Africa, the emperor spent much of the rest of his reign in Campania, ruling the empire with a small court and enjoying the rural life of Italy.  His reign is a watershed in the history of the Empire.

He all but eliminated Italian military influence in Italy by establishing a legion there drawn from the Danube and by his reconstitution of the Praetorian Guard. From now on, Italy was clearly just another province. For imperial administration he drew heavily from Syria, the home of his influential wife, Julia Domna. He also drew from Africa, his own native province. He reduced senatorial influence wherever he could. The creation of the res privata principis from the estates of executed senators gave him vast personal wealth that was at the same time the private fisc of the emperor. Personal finance and state finance were forever mingled. Traditional law courts supervised by the Senate yielded to imperial tribunals. Legists began to argue that the decisions of emperors had the force of law, without need of anyone’s approval. Witih Severus the title dominus came to be generally used for the emperor.

None of these things were utterly new, but Severus gave them extra force and did so as a matter of policy. Moreover, what Septimius Severus wrought was never undone by later emperors. Once again, bloody civil wars had brought forth a commander who changed the course of Roman history.