62-23 193 AD Septimius Severus

Battle of Lugdunum

BACKGROUND

Commodus allowed his Guard in Rome and soldiers elsewhere to be abusive toward civilians. Concerned about opposition from military governors, he had their children cared for under his custody – in effect hostages. He had an enemies list of those he planned to execute, but others got to him first. He was assassinated twelve years after having succeeded his father.

The Senate then chose one of their own as emperor, Pertinex, who was assassinated after eighty-seven days. Another Senator, Julianus, bribed his way to a Senate declaration as emperor. Whenever Emperor Julianus appeared in public the Romans jeered him. When news of what was happening in Rome reached the military-governors in the provinces, a number of them became interested in replacing Julianus, and four years of civil war between rival military commanders followed.

The victorious commander was Septimius Severus. Like some other military commanders, he had been born outside Italy – in what today is Libya. He had spent most of his career in the provinces and had no sense of the people of Rome as privileged above others in the empire. Rome, in fact, was being swallowed by its empire. Severus deprived Rome's aristocracy of its traditional places in the city government of Rome and in the military.

The Year of the Five Emperors refers to the year 193 AD, in which there were five claimants for the title of Roman Emperor. The five were Pertinax, Didius Julianus, Pescennius Niger, Clodius Albinus and Septimius Severus.
The year 193 opened with the murder of Commodus on New Year's Eve, 31 December 192 and the proclamation of the City Prefect Pertinax as Emperor on New Year's Day, 1 January 193. Pertinax was assassinated by the Praetorian Guard on 28 March 193. Later that day, Didius Julianus outmanoeuvered Titus Flavius Sulpicianus (Pertinax's father-in-law and also the new City Prefect) for the title of Emperor.
Flavius Sulpicianus offered to pay each soldier 20,000 sestertii to buy their loyalty (eight times their annual salary; also the same amount offered by Marcus Aurelius to secure their favours in 161). Didius Julianus however offered 25,000 to each soldier to win the auction and was proclaimed Emperor by the Roman Senate on 28 March.
However, three other prominent Romans challenged for the throne: Pescennius Niger in Syria, Clodius Albinus in Britain, and Septimius Severus in Pannonia. Septimius Severus marched on Rome to oust Didius Julianus and had him decapitated on 1 June 193, then dismissed the Praetorian Guard and executed the soldiers who had killed Pertinax.
Consolidating his power, Septimius Severus battled Pescennius Niger at Cyzicus and Nicea in 193 and then decisively defeated him at Issus in 194. Clodius Albinus initially supported Septimius Severus believing that he would succeed him. When he realised that Severus had other intentions, Albinus had himself declared Emperor in 195 but was defeated by Septimius Severus at the Battle of Lugdunum on 19 February 197.
............................................................................................................

Septimius Severus, in full Lucius Septimius Severus Pertinax(born April 11, 145/146, Leptis Magna, Tripolitania [now in Libya]—died Feb. 4, 211, Eboracum, Britain [nowYork, Eng.]) Roman emperor from 193 to 211. He founded a personal dynasty and converted the government into a military monarchy. His reign marks a critical stage in the development of the absolute despotism that characterized the later Roman Empire.

The son of an equestrian from the Roman colony of Leptis Magna, Severus entered the Senate about 173 and became consul in 190. At the time of the murder of the insane emperor Commodus on Dec. 31, 192, he wasgovernor of Upper Pannonia (now in Austria and Hungary) and commander of the largest army on the Danube River. He remained inactive while thePraetorian Guards murdered Commodus’s successor, Publius Helvius Pertinax (March 193) and auctioned off the imperial title to Marcus Didius Julianus. Then on April 13 Severus was proclaimed emperor by his troops. Declaring himself the avenger of Pertinax, he marched on Rome. Julianus was murdered at Rome on June 1, and Severus entered the city without resistance several days later.

Severus replaced the Praetorian Guard with a new 15,000-man guard from his own Danubian legions. He temporarily pacified his rival in Britain, Decimus Clodius Albinus, by naming him caesar (junior emperor). In 194 he marched east and decisively defeated another rival, Gaius Pescennius Niger, governor of Syria. Severus then headed westward to confront Albinus, who had declared himself emperor. Albinus committed suicide following his crushing defeat near Lugdunum (now Lyon, France) in February 197. Returning to Rome, Severus executed about 30 of Albinus’s senatorial supporters. To justify his usurpation, he declared himself the adoptive son of the emperor Marcus Aurelius (ruled 161–180) and claimed descent from the emperor Nerva (ruled 96–98). He also named Caracalla, his son by his Syrian wife, Julia Domna, as coemperor and thus successor. Late in 197 Severus marched east to turn back an invasion of Mesopotamia (now in Iraq) by the Parthians, and two years later Mesopotamia was annexed to the empire.

By 202 Severus was back in Rome, where he spent the next six years making major changes in the structure of the imperial government. Since his power rested on military might rather than constitutional sanction, he gave the army a dominant role in his state. He won the soldiers’ support by increasing their pay and permitting them to marry. To prevent the rise of a powerful military rival, he reduced the number of legions under each general’s control. At the same time Severus ignored the Senate, which declined rapidly in power, and he recruited his officials from the equestrian rather than the senatorial order. Many provincials and peasants received advancement, and the Italian aristocracy lost much of its former influence.

The victorious commander was Septimius Severus. Like some other military commanders, he had been born outside Italy – in what today is Libya. He had spent most of his career in the provinces and had no sense of the people of Rome as privileged above others in the empire. Rome, in fact, was being swallowed by its empire. Severus deprived Rome's aristocracy of its traditional places in the city government of Rome and in the military.