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Dromo's Den
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[Up] [Dromo's Den] Severus Biography SEVERUS, LUCIUS SEPTIMIUS (146-211 A.D.). A Roman Emperor from 193 to 211, born near Leptis Magna, on the north coast of Africa. He was commander of a legion in Gaul and governor successively of Gallia Lugdunensis, Pannonia, and Sicily. After the murder of Pertinax (q.v.) he was proclaimed Emperor, at Carnuntum and promptly marched upon Rome. His arrival before the city was the death signal for Julianus. After taking vengeance on the murderers of Pertinax and distributing an extravagant largess to his soldiers, Severus conquered Pescennius Niger at Issus (194 A.D.). A campaign in the East and a three years' siege of Byzantium, which was finally taken, were followed by a desperate struggle with Clodius Albinus, whom he conquered in 197. Severus returned to Asia and won a most brilliant success in 198 against the Parthians and took and plundered their capital, Ctesiphon. He returned to Rome in 202 and exhibited shows of unparalleled magnificence and distributed another extravagant largess to the citizens and the prętorians. A rebellion in Britain drew him to that country in 208, and at the head of an immense army he marched, it is said, to the extreme north of the island, encountering hardships to which no less than 50,000 of his soldiers succumbed. To safeguard the natives of southern Britain from the incursions of the Meatę and the Caledonians, Severus began the wall which bears his name. (See ROMAN WALL.) He died soon after at Eboracum (York). Consult: H. Schiller, Geschichte der römischen Kaiserzeit (Gotha, 1880-83); Fuchs, Geschichte des Kaisers L. Septimius Severus (Vienna, 1884); the article "Septimius, 13," in Friedrich Lübker, Reallexikon des klassischen Altertums, vol. ii (8th ed., Leipzig, 1914). The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. XX (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 747. |