The African Emperor E-Book

Simon Elliott

• Herausgeber: Icon Books
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 495

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025

Beschreibung

Septimius Severus was Rome's black emperor. Born in the blistering heat of a North African spring in Leptis Magna AD 145, he died in the freezing cold of a northern British winter in York in AD 211. A giant of an emperor, whose career can be counted in superlatives, Severus was in power at the height of Rome's might. He led the largest army to ever campaign in Britain, comprising 50,000 men, part of a Roman military establishment which peaked at 33 legions under his rule. Born into the richest family, in the richest part of the Roman Empire, Severus monumentalised his rule across the empire. He visited - and often fought in - every region. Where he did, he left a mighty legacy in the built environment, for example in Rome where much of the Forum Romanum and most of the imperial palaces are Severan. In North Africa, his hometown of Leptis Magna is all Severan, as are the Roman cities at the Atlas mountains. In London, the land walls that still define the City's Square Mile were delineated under his rule. Visitors to the under croft at York Minster can stand where he died. Septimius Severus was one of the greatest warrior emperors, a hard man who almost died in battle several times and whose attitude is reflected in his deathbed advice to two sons: 'Be of one mind with your family, enrich the soldiers, and despise the rest.'

Leseprobe

 

 

Published in the UK and USA in 2025 byIcon Books Ltd, Omnibus Business Centre,39–41 North Road, London N7 9DPemail: [email protected]

ISBN: 978-183773-172-5eBook: 978-183773-173-2

Text copyright © 2025 Simon Elliott

The author has asserted his moral rights.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, or by any means, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

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To Sara, loving wife and my partner on the Severan journey! All my love, always!

Contents

Introduction

1Identity and Race in the Roman World

2The World of Septimius Severus

3Early Life and the Rise to Power

4AD 193: ‘The Year of the Five Emperors’

5Civil War

6Imperator: Severus in the East and Egypt

7Imperator: Severus in Rome and North Africa

8Imperator: Arrival in Britain

9Imperator: The Severan Campaigns in Britain

Conclusion: The Severan Legacy

List of References

Bibliography

Introduction

‘No: we are not going to leave a single one of them alive, down to the babies in their mothers’ wombs – even they must die. The whole people must be wiped out of existence, with none to shed a tear for them, leaving no trace.’1

Writing in the Mediterranean and after the event, these are the words contemporary historian Cassius Dio has hardman Roman Emperor Septimius Severus say before his final, apocalyptic campaign against lowland Scotland in AD 210.2 Here, Dio, who knew Severus, paraphrases Agamemnon in Homer’s Iliad, having the ageing emperor order a genocide. Hard data in the archaeological record from this time showing large scale settlement decline, and the abandonment of huge swathes of agricultural land in lowland Scotland, now shows this really occurred. Such was Severus’ attitude to any who stood in his way, and this is his story.

Severus was the Roman Empire’s African emperor, born in the heat of a Libyan spring in Leptis Magna in AD 145. His story arc is truly astonishing, ending in death in the freezing cold of a northern British winter in York in February AD 211. His career is one of superlatives. Ruling at the height of Roman military power, he commanded more legions than any other emperor. Further, under his rule, permanent Roman territory was expanded to its greatest extent. Given this martial prowess, I argue here he was the most powerful person ever born in Africa based purely on military and political agency.

The legions certainly played a key role in his story. Across its vast territory around the Mediterranean and northwestern Europe, the Roman Empire was always at war. Even in times of relative peace, which were few in Severus’ reign, conflict could always be found. He understood this better than most, in his case from the very beginning of his reign when he rose to power at the point of a sword in AD 193, last man standing in the ‘Year of the Five Emperors’. Severus never forgot his military roots, famously telling his squabbling sons Caracalla and Geta on his deathbed to ‘be of one mind, enrich the soldiers, and despise the rest’.3

Throughout his life, Severus stayed true to his African heritage. Dark skinned, he ensured he was portrayed this way in contemporary portraiture. While in his time this was unimportant in what was a largely Mediterranean empire, in our world today it is. I address this directly here. Further, even in politest Roman society amid the patricians of Rome, he insisted on keeping his strong Punic accent. Then, once in power, he swiftly promoted North Africans at every opportunity to key positions of authority. This is not surprising given, as I have seen in my own frequent research trips across the region, this was the richest part of the empire, with a proud cultural heritage to match anything in Rome, Athens or Alexandria. Severus used his North African upbringing as the template for what I style ‘the Severan reset’, which was the first major post-Augustan reformation of the Roman world. This established the Severan dynasty which lasted almost half a century. Such was the scale of this reorganisation, which some go further and call a hostile takeover, that it was not repeated again until the accession of Diocletian over 90 years after Severus became emperor, and that in extremis after the ‘Crisis of the Third Century’.

Meanwhile, Severus was not a shy man, monumentalising his rule across the empire at every opportunity. He visited, and fought in, every region. When he did, he left a mighty legacy in the built environment. Many of these sites I have visited personally, following in his travels. Intriguingly, given the popular focus on the likes of Julius Caesar, Trajan and Hadrian, this urban Severan legacy often hides in plain sight, with few aware of it. Yet the high-profile examples are many in number. Think of forum Romanum in Rome where much is Severan, the lovely Temple of the Vesta just one example. Then, standing imposingly above the forum, most of the imperial palace on the Palatine Hill is Severan. From there, shimmering in a heat haze in summer, the distant Baths of Caracalla are also Severan, designed to be his great public legacy in the imperial capital. Elsewhere in Europe, the presence of Severus is writ large from east to west. Even in far off London, provincial capital of troublesome Britannia, the land wall that still defines the City today is Severan, while in York one can actually stand where he perished in the legionary fortress praetorium, now the undercroft of today’s Minster. Meanwhile, in his native North Africa, every city and town I have visited has a highly visible Severan phase, whether in the soaring snow-capped Atlas Mountains or along the arid Saharan fringe.

The story of Severus also features a dramatis personae fit to dazzle any historical epic. Think of Marcus Aurelius, the philosopher emperor, and Commodus, his mad and bad son. Then Publius Helvius Pertinax, the son of a slave who became Roman emperor and was Severus’ friend and mentor. Next, Decimus Clodius Albinus and Pescennius Niger, British and Syrian governors respectively, and Severus’ former brothers in arms in the Marcomannic Wars. Both were destined to fight him tooth and nail for the throne in epic confrontations across the empire. Also, Didius Julianus and Flavius Sulpicianus, scandalous bidders for the imperial throne when auctioned by the Praetorian Guard, truly one of the lowest points in Roman history. Then, last but not least, his own family. Foremost was Julia Domna, his second wife and love of his life. She was a leading figure across the Roman world in her own right, and together they were the power couple of their age. Finally, their two sons, the psychotic Caracalla and unfortunate Geta, destined to live a spiral of bitter rivalry ending in the most sanguineous way.

SOURCE MATERIAL

In terms of the data used in the research for this book, I have accessed the widest possible range. For primary references, we are well served with three of the best available sources of the high Principate. These are Cassius Dio with his Roman History, Herodian with his History of the Roman Empire, and the anonymous Historia Augusta. Although the level of detail in all is often patchy and inaccurate, their accessibility makes them invaluable here, especially when cross-referenced with each other, the work of later writers and modern archaeological research.

We also have several later Latin chroniclers who briefly mention aspects of the Severan story. These include Flavius Eutropius with his Breviarium, Aurelius Victor with his De Caesaribus, Jerome with his Commentaries and Paulus Orosius with his Seven Books of History Against the Pagans. Meanwhile, in terms of the many fine modern references, various aspects of Severus’ life are well recorded. All of these works are detailed in the bibliography.

In terms of other archaeological data, much new information has emerged in recent years which significantly improves our understanding of the reign of Severus and of his many military campaigns. This is particularly the case in the east where he fought the Parthians, in North Africa where he campaigned against the Garamantes, and in Britain. Here, recent work on the indigenous Maeatae and Caledonian peoples of the far north has greatly added to our knowledge of the expeditio felicissima Brittannica.

CHRONOLOGY

Most of the key background information to help the reader fully engage with the story of Severus is detailed in Chapter 2. However, from the outset an understanding of the chronology of the Roman world is essential given this forms the template for the wider narrative. Here, I reference four main periods of Roman history. First, the Roman Republic, lasting from the overthrow of Rome’s last king Tarquin the Proud in 509 BC to the Senate’s acknowledgment of Augustus as the first emperor in 27 BC. Next, the Principate phase of the Roman Empire which lasted from Augustus’ accession to that of Diocletian in AD 284. The name Principate is derived from the term princeps (chief or master), referencing the emperor as the leading citizen of the empire. While princeps was not an official title – emperors often assumed it was on their accession – it clearly was a conceit which allowed the empire to be explained away as a simple continuance of the preceding Republic. The Severan dynasty sits within this period of empire.

The final phase of the Principate is today called the ‘Crisis of the Third Century’, a time when the empire was faced with multiple external and internal threats, including the devastating plague of Cyprian. The crisis lasted from the assassination of the last of the Severan emperors, Severus Alexander in AD 235, through to Diocletian’s accession. The new emperor was then faced with a series of immediate challenges, tackling them with a fundamental reform of the empire on a scale to match the earlier Severan reset. This featured a new, far more overtly imperial system of administration, which today we call the Dominate. This new title was based on the word dominus, or lord, with the emperor now the equivalent of an eastern potentate. The Dominate lasted through to the end of the empire in the west in AD 476, when the last western emperor Romulus Augustulus abdicated.

However, the empire in the east continued to thrive, and from that point is often called the Byzantine Empire. Some argue the name should be used earlier, some later, but I find AD 476 an elegant date to make the switch. It should be noted this is not a name the eastern Romans themselves would have recognised. As far as they were concerned, they were still Roman, even if Greek speaking. This Byzantine phase is relevant to this work given Severus’ long-term legacy in the east and North Africa.

NOMENCLATURE

A final piece of housekeeping here concerns nomenclature. In the first instance, when using personal names, I have tried to keep their use as simple as possible. For example, Septimius Severus is always referred to as Severus, although when more than one member of the Septimii are referenced, I clarify which at the point of use. Meanwhile, his eldest son was named Lucius Septimius Bassianus at birth, then later renamed Marcus Aurelius Antoninus by Severus, though he is better known by his nickname Caracalla after a type of Gallic hooded tunic he favoured. For the most part I use that here, clarifying when necessary to avoid confusion. Other personal naming issues I cover in the narrative itself.

More broadly regarding the use of classical and modern names, in the main text I have again attempted to ensure my research is as accessible as possible to the reader. For example, I have used the modern name where a place is mentioned, referencing its Roman name at that first point of use where applicable. Meanwhile, where a classical name for a position or role is well understood I use that, for example legate for a senior military leader. Further, when an emperor is first detailed in the main narrative, I have listed the actual dates of his reign at the point he is first mentioned.

Finally, some key definitions for readers unfamiliar with the Roman military of the Severan period:

•Guerrilla Warfare: irregular warfare fought by asymmetrically inferior combatants using unconventional tactics (see below).

•Legate: a senior Roman military officer, today of general rank, usually commanding a legion or larger formation.

•Legion: at the time of Severus, the premier Roman military formation, comprising 5,500 legionaries.

•Legionaries and Auxiliaries: for the majority of the Roman Republic, and the Principate phase of empire, the elite Roman warrior was the legionary, a heavily armed and armoured infantryman, who most often formed the main line of battle. From the time of Augustus, supporting troops were then organised into formal units known as auxiliaries, often lesser in quality to the legionaries but still a match for most opponents the Romans faced. Auxiliaries provided both foot troops and most of the cavalry in Principate Roman armies.

•A cohort is a sub-unit of legionaries or auxiliaries, or an entire unit of foot auxiliaries, while an ala is a unit of auxiliary cavalry. A vexillation refers to a detached sub-unit of legionaries and could be any size.

•Symmetric and Asymmetric Warfare: in the first instance, war between evenly matched belligerents. In the second, conflict where one is so dominant that the other is forced to use unconventional strategies and tactics, for example guerrilla warfare. By way of example, Severus’ conflicts with the Parthians in the east can be described as symmetrical given both sides were often evenly matched, while his campaigns against the natives in the far north of Britain forced the latter to respond asymmetrically.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Lastly, I thank the many people who have helped make this new biography of Severus possible. Specifically, I would like to thank, as always, Professor Andrew Lambert of the War Studies Department at KCL, Dr Andrew Gardner at UCL’s Institute of Archaeology and Dr Steve Willis at the University of Kent for their ongoing encouragement and guidance. Also, Rebecca Jones, former Head of Archaeology and World Heritage at Historic Environment Scotland, Dr Sam Moorhead of the British Museum, Professor Sir Barry Cunliffe of the School of Archaeology at Oxford University, and Professor Martin Millett at the Faculty of Classics, Cambridge University. Next, Darius Arya for his hospitality and forensic insight into Severan Rome over a number of visits and detailed conversations. Moving on, my patient proofreaders Professor John Lambshead and my lovely wife Sara. All have contributed greatly and freely, enabling this work on Severus to reach fruition. Finally, of course, I would like to thank my family, especially my tolerant wife Sara once again and children Alex (a teacher of history) and Lizzie.

Thank you all.

Dr Simon Elliott FSA

July 2023

1

Identity and Race in the Roman World

Severus’ origins are the subject of much debate today in the context of current discussions on ethnicity. This is because he was both African and dark-skinned. In that context, he is often referred to in the modern world as the ‘black emperor’. Therefore, considering the subject here in the first chapter hopefully removes the issue as a point of dispute, at the very least allowing the reader to make their own minds up about his family origins when presented with the hard facts.

ROMAN SOCIETAL STRUCTURE

Given Severus’ aristocratic origins and his dramatic rise to power, an understanding of the structure of Roman society is very important. At the very top were the aristocracy, comprising three broad classes, the senior being the Senatorial class. These were said to be endowed with vast wealth (with a minimum property value of 1 million sersterces at the time of Severus), high birth and ‘moral excellence’, there being around 600 senators at the time Severus became emperor. Members of this class were patricians, a social political rank, all those below including other aristocrats plebeians.

Next were the equestrian class, of which Severus’ grandfather and father were members. Equestrians had slightly less wealth but usually had a reputable lineage. They numbered some 30,000 in the late second century AD. Finally, among the aristocrats were the curial class, with the bar set slightly lower again.

Below this were the freemen middle classes of the empire, who were free in the sense that they had never been slaves. Freemen included the majority of smaller scale merchants, artisans and professionals in Roman society. All of the above classes were also full cives Romani citizens of the Roman Empire if they came from Italy.

Freemen born outside of Italy in the imperial provinces were called peregrini (in Latin meaning: ‘one from abroad’) until Caracalla’s AD 212 constitutio Antoniniana edict that made all freemen of the empire citizens. As such, in the late second century AD peregrini made up the vast majority of the empire’s inhabitants.

Further down the social ladder there were freedmen, former slaves who had been manumitted by their masters either through earning enough money to buy their freedom or for good service. Providing the correct process of manumission was followed, freedmen could then become citizens/peregrini, though with less civic rights than a freeman, which included not being able to stand for the vast number of public offices – except one, the priestly office of Augustalis. Their children were freemen, as with Publius Helvius Pertinax, Severus’ mentor and the first emperor in the AD 193 ‘Year of the Five Emperors’. His father, Helvius Successus, was a manumitted former slave who later made a fortune running a logging business in the Po Valley. Meanwhile, at the bottom of society were slaves.

RACE AND ETHNICITY IN THE ROMAN WORLD

First, a health warning. Discussing race and ethnicity in the Roman world is a divisive subject. However, it is a crucial part of the story of Severus given the modern debate (which did not exist at all in his own world) about his origins in Africa, and specifically his own ancestry as he was dark skinned. Therefore, it cannot be ignored. What I set out here are the facts as I see them based on hard data.

First, some definitions. To start, where does the word race originate as we use it to discuss ethnicity today? It is first detailed in Middle English, the version of common English used in much of Britain between 1150 AD and 1500 AD, as an appropriation of the Italian razza, meaning breed. Next, the word racism. Here, I define it as discrimination and prejudice (overt or otherwise) by a culture, institution, community or person against other peoples based on their membership of a particular race or ethnic group.

Finally, in terms of definitions, the word Ethiopian (in Roman vulgar Latin, Aethiop). The use of this term in classical and late antique literature is problematic given it has multiple meanings. To the classical Greeks it could reference either those specifically from Nubia (today, the far south of the Republic of Egypt and the Republic of Sudan), those from the Levant and anywhere to its east, or anyone not Greek, dependent on the author. To the Romans it could similarly reference anyone from Nubia, or anyone with an especially dark skin originating outside the empire, though here it was used purely as a geographic descriptor rather than a reference to Roman racial superiority based on skin colour (see below). Therefore, when I use the word Ethiopian in the book I will be very specific about its context.

That the Romans were racist is self-evident. However, racism in their world was very different to racism in ours. Today in the west we associate racism with skin colour, this through the prism of the shocking experiences of over 12 million Africans during the colonial slave trade in the period of western imperial dominance. To be sure, in the same time period slavery of many other kinds was sadly extant across the world. It still is. Racism in the Roman world was very different. There, it was not driven by skin colour. Indeed, in his wide-ranging review of the lack of colour prejudice in the ancient world, Frank M. Snowden highlights that from the third millennium BC onwards, when we have the first Egyptian references to meeting dark-skinned Nubians, there is little or no mention of any discrimination based on this difference.1 Providing further context, he adds:2

‘The very striking similarities in the total picture that emerges from an examination of the basic sources – Egyptian, Greek, Roman, and early Christian – point to a highly favourable image of blacks and to white-black relationships differing markedly from those that have developed in more colour-conscious societies.’

Simon Hornblower and Tony Spawforth reach the same conclusion:3

‘It is difficult to discern any lasting ascription of general inferiority to any ethnic group in antiquity [in contemporary literature] solely on the basis of body type.’

This should come as no surprise. The Roman Empire was Mediterranean in nature, with most of its inhabitants having tanned, brown or darker skin, not white as is often portrayed today in popular culture. That is a legacy of recent western colonial history which centred on now faded empires who culturally appropriated the world of Rome to contextualise their own colonial activities around the globe. In short, if it was good for the Romans, it was good for them, though in this case with white skin being a key differentiator for their self-perceived cultural dominance. However, in this interpretation of their Roman role models, they were flat wrong. Indeed, given the fact the Roman Empire was Mediterranean-centred, the individuals who would have stood out most were those with north-European white skin. One need only note Pope Gregory I’s reaction to seeing north European boys in the slave market in Rome in the late sixth century AD, as narrated by Bede:4

‘We are told that one day some merchants who had recently arrived in Rome displayed their wares in the market-place. Among the crowd who thronged to buy was Gregory, who saw among other merchandise some boys exposed for sale. These had fair complexions, fine cut features and beautiful hair [often translated as fair hair]. Looking at them with interest, he enquired from what country and what part of the world they came. “They come from the island of Britain,” he was told, “where all the people have this appearance.” He then asked whether the islanders were Christians, or whether they were still ignorant heathens. “They are pagans,” he was informed. “Alas!” said Gregory with a heartfelt sigh: “How sad that such bright faced folk are still in the grasp of the authors of darkness, and that such graceful features conceal minds void of God’s grace! What is the name of this race?” “They are called Angles,” he was told. “That is appropriate, for they have angelic faces, and it is right that they should become joint-heirs with the angels in heaven.”’

Notably, angels are usually portrayed in late antique art with alabaster white skin and blond hair. More importantly, it is traditionally the memory of this event that prompted the Pope to send St Augustine and his 40 companion monks to Britain in AD 597 to convert the English peoples in Britain to the Roman church.

Instead, Roman racism was driven by something very different that had nothing to do with skin colour. This was whether you were a Roman or a barbarian. No matter what your origins across the empire, if you were a Roman citizen (or perigrini outside of Italy until the AD 212 constitutio Antoniniana under Caracalla) then you were ‘in’. If not, then you were ‘out’, often in the most dehumanising of ways. Thus, Roman racism was more akin to what we today would call xenophobia.

It is useful here in the context of Roman race and ethnicity to understand how the Romans used the word barbarian. Unsurprisingly, it was a cultural appropriation from the Greek world. The word originated as βαρ-βαρα, an onomatopoeic ancient Greek term referencing the (to them) incomprehensible ‘bar bar babbling’ sound made by those speaking a non-Greek language.7 The earliest written form appeared in Mycenaean proto-Greek, where it was scripted as ρα-ρα-ro. The term then later appeared in Homer’s Iliad as βαρβαρόφωνος in the context of the Carians, a Luwian people from south-western Anatolia fighting as Trojan allies.5 Academically, this is called linguistic discrimination.

By the beginning of the sixth century BC, barbarian was being used by the Athenians and their Attican allies to deride their various polis rivals in the Peloponnese, though it soon came to be used by all Greeks as a term of abuse for the Achaemenid Persians after the onset of the Greco-Persian Wars. In this context, it is most overtly visible today through the work of the Athenian tragedian Aeschylus, in particular his The Persians which was first performed in 472 BC. This play, based on his own experiences fighting in the Greek naval victory at Salamis in 480 BC, is threaded with references to the Persians in a negative context. For example, in one line we have a leading protagonist say:6

‘Alas! In truth a vast sea of troubles has burst upon the Persians and their entire barbarian race.’

In The Persians, Aeschylus extended the distinction between Greeks and Persians from the latter’s lack of competence in Greek, as detailed the origin of the word barbarian, to an additional absence of moral responsibility. This included a lack of logos (the ability to think and speak clearly), and of control regarding cruelty, sex and food. Writing over a century later, Aristotle then made the difference between the Greeks and barbarous Persians one of the key themes in his ThePolitics.7

Barbarian was later adopted by the Romans as the Latin barbarus after their conquest of the later Hellenistic kingdoms in the eastern Mediterranean; they used it to describe all of those living outside the borders of land under Roman control. Given the Romans often portrayed such non-Romans with beards in their literature and artwork, it is from barbarus we have the Latin name for beard, barba. Meanwhile, by the mid-first century BC, the Roman statesman and scholar Cicero was using barbarian to derogatively describe those living in the mountainous interior of Sardinia, this having such an impact at the time that the region is still called Barbagia today.8 Further, writing shortly afterwards, the Greek-speaking historian Diodorus Siculus then picked up Aeschylus’ commentary on the lack of control among the barbarians, with his focus specifically on the Gallic proclivity for alcohol. In his Library of History he says:9

‘Great drinkers are the Gauls. They drink wine at full strength: and when drunk either pass out or act crazy. Small wonder the Italian merchants rate them as their most valued customers, plying the drink upriver by the boatload and overland by the cartload. And great is their reward, for the price of one amphora is one slave.’

Barbarian was then first used by the Romans to describe the Germans at the end of the first century BC. By this time, barbaricum was in regular use to detail the vast tracts of dense forest north of the Rhine and Danube, and Roman commentators were describing all of those living north of the limes (fortified frontier) here in a similar negative way. Harry Sidebottom summarises this distinctly one-sided narrative well, saying that to the Romans:10

‘… northern barbarians were huge, unpleasantly pale, lazy, drunken and violent. Ferocious in the first rush of battle – lacking discipline and thus true courage – they quickly became dispirited. Their sexuality was shameless: given the chance they were dedicated gang rapists, while their wives openly coupled with other men, and youths were equally flagrant in soliciting passive male-male sex. Naturally stupid, indeed lacking rational faculties, they were incapable of improvement or civilisation.’

For this description of those living north of the Roman frontier in Europe, read a similar Roman attitude to those living to its east and south, too. For example, St Paul later employed barbarian to describe non-Greek speakers originating outside Roman territory in the New Testament,11 while a century later Lucian of Samosata used the term to satyrically describe himself given that, as a native of Commagene in northern Syria, his family had only been ‘Roman’ for a few decades.12

A key issue to note here regarding the Roman attitude to barbarians was that they often had no voice of their own. Here, as Thomas Williams explains:13

‘While the Roman Empire bequeathed words by the hundred thousand, those outside its borders left none. Nor have barbarian oral traditions survived from this time. So classical authors became the spokesmen for the barbarians by default; and it could be rightly said that they have hijacked our way of seeing their world.’

Further, as Williams continues, not only are the Roman and post-Roman sources heavily biased against the barbarians, they are often only interested in them as worthy opponents for the Romans to overcome. Thus, we usually only ever hear of their martial prowess, and very rarely of their other key behaviours. This has led to a paucity of primary source references regarding other aspects of their culture. Peter Heather picks up on this theme when considering how the behavior of barbarians in the classical and late antique world was reported at the time. He says:14

‘Barbarians were expected to behave in certain ways and embody a particular range of negative characteristics, and Roman commentators went out of their way to prove this was so.’

Thus, given Roman racism was driven by cultural identity rather than skin colour, it is no surprise to see individuals of all skin tones and ethnicities thriving across the empire in all its phases. Again, one should note here this was a Mediterranean empire, so why would they not. Think of the imperial trouble-shooter Quintus Lollius Urbicus in the mid-second century AD, who played a leading role in putting down the Bar Kokhba Third Jewish Revolt in the AD 130s and was later, as governor of Britannia, to drive the frontier there north from Hadrian’s Wall on the Solway Firth-Clyde line to the Antonine Wall on the Clyde-Forth line. Urbicus was a dark-skinned Numidian Berber. Meanwhile, Marcus Opellius Macrinus, the usurper who as Praetorium Prefect arranged the assassination of Severus’ eldest son Caracalla and was then briefly emperor, was also a Berber. Born in Cherchell (Roman Caesarea) in modern Algeria, he was either Numidian or Mauritanian by origin.

For another multicultural example we can look to Philip the Arab (full name Marcus Julius Severus Philippus), who reigned from AD 244 to 249 amid the turmoil of the Crisis of the Third Century and who was indeed Arabian. He was born at the beginning of the third century AD in Shahba, now a thriving Syrian city but then a small oasis town later renamed Philippopolis after him once he became emperor. This lay 90km southeast of modern Damascus in the province of Arabia Petraea. His family were rich equestrians with long-standing links to the long distance trading networks in the region, this the source of the family wealth, with some contemporary writers also hinting at familial links with the Severans given their proximity to Julia Domna’s family in Emesa to the north. Originally perigrini, living on the very edge of the empire, they had become full citizens after Caracalla’s constitutio Antoniniana, with Philip taking full advantage. Although his rise through the ranks of the regional administration and military was initially steady, his career took an unlikely upward turn in AD 243 when he became Praetorian Prefect for the young Gordian III during the latter’s campaign against the Sassanid Persians in the Euphrates valley. This was at the suggestion of Philip’s older brother Priscus, who was an important court official. Then, when Gordian died in mysterious circumstances in February AD 244 (either assassinated, slain in battle or dying of an illness, depending on the source), Philip was quickly elevated to the throne, no doubt to his surprise.

In the modern world, Philip often gets a bad press, most frequently for the peace forced on him by the Persians at the point he became emperor. Some believe this negative view may be through the prism of antiquarian prejudice given his Arabian origins, which sadly still influence views of his rule today. However, his five-year reign was one of comparative stability. He proved to be a good administrator, who invested heavily in public building programmes, for example redeveloping the water supply system in Rome to cater for the growing population there. Further, he also showed a martial nature not often referenced, for example provoking a war with the Goths north of the Danube in AD 245 to try to attain some of the military acclaim earlier achieved by Severus, Caracalla and Maximinus Thrax. Here, he was clearly aware that while he had acquired victory epithets after his withdrawal from Persia at the beginning of his reign, and had even had medallions and coins minted celebrating success there, all were aware that was far from the case given the onerous peace agreement forced on the Romans to allow their secure withdrawal from Persian territory.

On a final note regarding Philip. Prior to his becoming emperor, the most frequent references in contemporary literature to Rome and the Arabs were in the context of their Ghassanid allies, who were frequent collaborators when fighting the Persians. The fact no ancient or late antique writer pays any attention whatsoever to Philip’s Arab origins again shows the cosmopolitan, multicultural nature of the Roman Empire at the time.

This is no better illustrated than with the startlingly lifelike Fayum mummy portraits from Egypt. These are naturalistically painted funerary images rendered on wooden boards in the style of panel paintings attached to upper class inhumation burials in Roman Egypt. Dating from the first century BC to the third century AD, the largest collection to survive were found in cemeteries in the Fayum Basin, a large oasis immediately west of the Nile River 100km south of modern Cairo. These portraits are remarkable in the context of race and ethnicity in the Roman world given they feature individuals with all types of skin colour, and from many different backgrounds.

However, we have one final example of classical portraiture to consider here, and this directly related to Severus and his family. This is the astonishing Severan Tondo, a tempera egg-based painting on a 30.5cm diameter circular wooden panel (hence tondo, a renaissance name for a circular work of art). Dating to around AD 200, it depicts Severus on the viewer’s right, Julia Domna the viewer’s left, and below them Caracalla at right and Geta at left. All are resplendent in sumptuous ceremonial garments and regalia. In particular, Severus and his two sons hold sceptres and wear gold wreaths decorated with precious stones.

The Severan Tondo, now on display in the Altes Museum in Berlin, is noteworthy for three reasons. First, that it survived at all. The origins of the tondo are unknown, though some speculate that given the distinctive artwork it originated in the same Egyptian workshops that produced the Fayum mummy portraits. Severus certainly travelled through Egypt around the time the tondo was made while returning from his second eastern campaign against Parthia, this detailed in Chapter 6. Though its provenance is undisputed, it then only reappeared in the twentieth century AD through the antiquities trade when it became part of the Antikensammlung collection in Berlin. From there, it then eventually found its modern home in the Altes Museum.

Second, the tondo presents one of the most striking examples of damnatio memoriae anywhere in the Roman Empire. This was an official action by the Senate, usually on behalf of a sitting emperor, in which an individual, group, military unit or organisation was deemed never to have existed. As such, it was one of the most extreme forms of Roman punishment given it officially wiped someone’s existence from memory, with their images and names being removed from any sculpture or inscription throughout the empire. In this case the subject was Severus’ younger son Geta, who was murdered either by, or on the orders of, Caracalla within a year of their father’s death (see Conclusion). Geta was then the subject of a particularly well observed damnatio memoriae, manifest on the Severan Tondo with Geta’s face being systematically erased.

Finally, and most importantly for this chapter, the Severan family is shown in full life-like colour, with Severus having dark brown skin and, by way of contrast, Julia Domna having alabaster white skin, with Caracalla also shown as fair. The artist here would have gone to great lengths to make the image as accurate as possible, so there is no doubting at the very least this is what he thought Severus looked like, noting he may even have seen him in real life if this was painted at the time the emperor was travelling through Egypt.

Here we have the prime evidence often referenced when discussing Severus and his skin colour, leading to the modern debate about whether he was ‘black’ or not. Interestingly, our key primary sources do not mention his skin colour, despite other contemporary references to his appearance, emphasising again that this was unremarkable in his world. However, whether Severus was ‘black’ or not is certainly an important subject now given today’s usual definition of racism based on skin colour, as I discuss above. Here, I simply set out the facts and allow people to draw their own conclusion about his origins and appearance.

Severus clearly had dark skin, based on the tondo image, and was North African given he was born in Leptis Magna in modern Libya. Further, as detailed in full in Chapter 3 where I discuss the Septimii family tree, we factually know his paternal great-grandfather was called Septimius Macer prior to the family adopting the cognomen Severus. Macer is a Carthaginian or Punic name, reflecting Leptis Magna’s origins as a Phoenician colony. Thus, Severus’ forebears on his father’s side were Levantine from Phoenicia, centuries before his birth. In the generations afterwards, there is no evidence of interbreeding with the local Berbers, though given the proximity of the Garamantes to the south and Numidians to the west this cannot be ruled out. However, there is no evidence of any familial connections with sub-Saharan Africa to the south, or Nubia to the east.

We also have astonishing contemporary insight into the multicultural composition of the Roman army in the mid-third century AD, and this from the perspective of their mortal enemies. This is in the context of the conflicts along the frontier there with the Sassanid Persian king Shapur I (AD 240 to AD 270), whose lengthy monumental rock relief inscription at Naqsh-e Rostam in Fars province, Iran, records his victories over the Romans in graphic detail. Naqsh-e Rostam, 13km northwest of Persepolis, was the necropolis for the earlier Achaemenid Persian kings. Below their fine tombs near ground level are eight huge rock reliefs, most with accompanying inscriptions, featuring some of the leading Sassanid Persian kings, who, centuries later, were keen to gain legitimacy (even in death) through association with their Achaemenid forebears. The most famous shows the Shapur I in all his regal finery mounted on a huge stallion with the Roman emperor Valerian, captured in AD 260 and then brutalised by the king in the most humiliating way, bowing to him in submission. Meanwhile, Philip the Arab, earlier forced into the peace agreement detailed above after succeeding Gordian III, is shown holding Shapur’s horse. Finally, to emphasise Shapur’s superiority over the Romans, Gordian III himself lies beneath the figures in death.

The relief’s inscription details Shapur’s many achievements, and within it there is a description of the various races which comprised the eastern Roman army of Valerian when campaigning against Shapur in AD 260. It says:15

‘When I moved against Harran [Carrhae] and Urha [Edessa] and besieged them, Valerian caesar came against me. And there were with [him] from the land of Germany, from the land of Raetia, from the land of Norica, from the land of Dacia, from the land of Pannonia, from the land of Moesia, from the land of Spain, from the land of Africa, from the land of Thrace, from the land of Bithynia, from the land of Asia, from the land of Pamphylia, from the land of Isauria, from the land of Lyconia, from the land of Galatia, from the land of Lycia, from the land of Cilicia, from the land of Cappadocia, from the land of Phrygia, from the land of Syria, from the land of Phoenicia, from the land of Judaea, from the land of Arabia, from the land of Mauretania, from the land of Germany [again], from the land of Rhodes, from the land of Osrhoene [the eastern frontier city state], and from the land of Mesopotamia, an army of 70,000 men. And on this side of Harran and Urha there was a great battle with Valerian caesar, he being captured by my own hand, and the rest, the praetorian prefects and the Senators and the officers who were the leaders of this army, were all captured and led into Persia. And the land of Syria, the land of Cilicia, and the land of Cappadocia were burned, laid waste, and plundered.’

The level of detail here is astounding, with Roman troops originating from all parts of the empire, including in the west, the latter most likely auxiliary cavalry.

Finally, here, for completeness when considering racism in the Roman world, the origins of citizens and perigrini are often referenced in contemporary literature based on their place of origin within the empire, both positively and negatively. For example, Dio says of Caracalla:16

‘… he belonged to three races and he possessed none of their virtues at all, but combined himself in all of their vices; the fickleness, cowardice and recklessness of Gaul, the harshness and cruelty of Africa, and the cunning of Syria.’

Meanwhile, the northern Roman provinces in Gaul were nicknamed Gallia Comata, meaning ‘long haired Gaul’.

In the same context, people’s appearance (or that of their forebears) was also used as a descriptor in the Roman world, including skin colour and tone, with names a prime example. Here, the cognomen nickname was particularly important. For example, two of the senior figures in this book, Clodius Albinus and Pescennius Niger (both key protagonists challenging Severus for the throne in the AD 193 ‘Year of the Five Emperors’), provide excellent examples. This is because the former name literally means white Clodius, and the latter black Pescennius.

The Historia Augusta says the North African Albinus was so named because of his extraordinary white complexion.17 Meanwhile, the same source also says that the Italian-born Niger’s cognomen, also shared with his brother, originated with their father Annius Fuscus.18 The latter means brown, dimly lit or dark in Latin, and although Fuscus was notably white (and corpulent), he had a very red face and ‘black’ neck, the cognomen somehow translating into Niger during his sons’ generation. Meanwhile, later, we also have the excellent example of Flavius Valerius Constantius Chlorus, caesar and augustus in the west a century and more later (AD 293–AD 305, and AD 305–AD 306), and father of Constantine I. Here, his cognomen referenced his pale skin.

Meanwhile, by way of counterpoint, other physical features could also be the source of a Roman individual’s name. A prime example here can be found today in the excellent Colchester Museum and Castle where the tombstone of the first-century AD auxiliary cavalryman Longinus Sdapeze is on display. A dupliciarus double-paid trooper (so junior officer), his unit was raised in Thrace. Of relevance here, some believe Longinus references his height, or that of a forebear which then became part of the familial name, in the same context we today would use the nickname lofty.

However, and crucially in the context of this work, while the above name references were regarding appearance, none were in a negative and discriminatory context. It was simply a normal part of Roman nomenclature. Further, all those so described were still Roman, so far superior to anyone from outside the empire, no matter what their regional traits, appearance or social rank. Indeed, by way of example, the only time the colour black is referenced negatively in terms of skin colour or tone in contemporary literature is very occasionally in the context of superstition, with the colour sometimes (though not always) associated with death and ill favour. One famous episode here in terms of superstitious negativity involves Severus himself, as fully narrated in Chapter 8 in the context of his final campaigns in Britain.

2

The World of Septimius Severus

Septimius Severus ruled at the height of the Principate, the first phase of the Roman Empire which lasted from 27 BC, with the accession of Augustus, to AD 284, with the accession of Diocletian. Under his rule, Roman military power peaked. It also saw the empire expand to its greatest extent (except for a very short period under Trajan). With his reset of the empire, he also laid the groundwork for the later major reforms of the imperial administration in the Dominate phase of empire.

DYNASTIES OF THE PRINCIPATE

The Principate phase of the Roman Empire featured a number of distinct dynasties and phases, these being:

•The Julio-Claudian Dynasty, from the accession of Augustus in 27 BC to the death of Nero in AD 68.

•The ‘Year of the Four Emperors’ in AD 69, with Vespasian the ultimate victor.

•The Flavian Dynasty, from Vespasian’s accession through to the death of his younger son Domitian in AD 96.

•The Nervo-Trajanic Dynasty, from the accession of Nerva in AD 96 to the death of Hadrian in AD 138.

•The Antonine Dynasty, from the accession of Antoninus Pius in AD 138 to the assassination of Commodus in AD 192.

•The ‘Year of the Five Emperors’ in AD 193, with Pertinax the first incumbent and Severus the ultimate victor.

•The Severan Dynasty, from the accession of Severus to the assassination of Severus Alexander in AD 235.

•The ‘Crisis of the Third Century’, from the death of Severus Alexander to the accession of Diocletian in AD 284. This was a period when the empire was under great stress from a multitude of issues that collectively threatened its very survival. These included civil war and multiple usurpations, the first deep and large scale incursions into imperial territory by Germans and Goths over the Rhine and Danube, the deadly Plague of Cyprian, and the emergence in the east of the Sassanid Persian Empire, which presented the Romans with a fully symmetrical threat (meaning one that could match Rome’s own military might) for the first time. Collectively, they caused a major economic crash. The steps taken by Diocletian to drag the empire out of this chaos, in what is often styled his reformation, were so drastic that from that point we talk of the Dominate Empire.

THE PROVINCIAL STRUCTURE OF THE PRINCIPATE

By the time Severus became emperor in AD 193, the Roman Empire had grown to cover a vast geographic area. It encompassed the entire Mediterranean basin, much of northwestern Europe and the Levant, and was spread over three continents. It stretched all the way from Hadrian’s Wall in the north of far-flung Britain to the limes of distant Arabia. This was a distance of around 4,200km as the crow flies. The empire’s population in Severus’ day was around 65 million people, some 21 per cent of the entire world’s population.

At this time the empire was divided into 44 provinces of varying sizes, some huge, some far smaller. The word itself provides interesting insight into the Roman attitude to its empire, with Philip Matyszak explaining the Latin provincia referenced land ‘for conquering’.1 There were two kinds of province in the Principate. These were senatorial provinces dating back to the Roman Republic which were left to the Senate to administer, and whose governors were officially called proconsuls and remained in post for a year, and imperial provinces established with the onset of the Principate which remained under the direct supervision of the emperor. He personally chose the governors for these, they often being styled legati Augusti pro praetor to officially mark them out as deputies of the emperor. Senatorial provinces tended to be those deep within the empire where less trouble was expected, and these are highlighted below.

The provinces of the Principate empire broadly broke down into seven regions, namely Britannia, Gaul and Germany, Spain, the Danube and Italy, Greece and Asia Minor, the East, and North Africa. I detail them all here given each played a key role in the story of Severus.

Britannia encompassed the main island of Britain up to the line of Hadrian’s Wall, built around the time of this emperor’s visit in AD 122. The impressive frontier fortification ran west to east along the Solway Firth-Tyne line. For much of its 117km length, it tracked the earlier Flavian Stanegate Road. From around AD 142, the northern border actually moved further north to the line of the Clyde-Firth of Forth, the fortification built there known as the Antonine Wall. However, this was abandoned after only eight years of occupation in the early AD 160s, with the border once more moving back south to Hadrian’s Wall.

Britannia was the wild west of the Roman Empire. A marginal province at best, it was always a place of difference, the never conquered far north requiring an exponentially large military presence. This was some twelve per cent of the empire’s entire military complement in what was only four per cent of its geographic area. This radically altered the geography of the province, with the south and east a fully functioning part of the empire but the north and west a heavily militarised zone with the entire economy there geared to maintaining the military presence. Given Britannia was also far from Rome, the combination made the province a hotbed for usurpers and troublemakers in the later empire.

Britain was difficult to invade in the first place, with Gaius Julius Caesar himself failing (if his intention was to stay, unlikely) in 55 BC and 54 BC, and the great Augustus and mad Caligula (AD 37 to AD 41) both planning but abandoning conquest. Even the Aulus Plautius-led invasion of Claudius was problematic, the troops wary of crossing terrifying Oceanus until shamed into boarding the invasion fleet by one of the emperor’s senior freedmen, Tiberius Claudius Narcissus. In this story, when the legionaries refused to clamber onto the invasion vessels in northwestern Gaul, the former slave himself boarded a ship. Shouting ‘Io Saturnaila’, referencing the end of year role-reversing winter festival, the chastened soldiery followed and the invasion proceeded.

The story of Roman Britain through to the time of Severus is also one of many famous individuals well recorded in the primary sources. Think Caratacus, who opposed Plautius’ invasion in the reign of Claudius; Vespasian, who conquered the southwest in the late AD 40s; Boudicca, who nearly destroyed the province in AD 60–1; her nemesis Gaius Suetonius Paulinus; the Brigantian Queen Cartimandua; and the North African Berber Lollius Urbicus, who drove the border north to the Antonine Wall in the mid-second century AD. A highlight of my own travels around the Roman Empire was finding his family tomb high in the Atlas Mountains at the town of Tidis (Roman Castellum Tidditanorum) in modern Algeria.

By the time Severus became emperor, Roman Britain was at the height of its provincial success, such as it was. The province was threaded with a well-built system of military trunk roads linking its major settlements – these colonia veteran settlements, municipium mercantile towns and civitas capital county towns. A prime example was Watling Street that started at the imperial gateway of Richborough (Roman Rutupiae) on the east Kent coast, resplendent with its Flavian carrara marble-clad monumental arch. From there it headed west to the provincial capital of London (Roman Londinium, where the governor was based), then on to municipium of St Albans (Roman Verulamium) and thence to the far off civitas capital of Wroxeter (Roman Viriconium) in the Welsh Marches. Here, it branched north and south, to the legionary fortresses at Chester (Roman Deva Victrix) and Caerleon (Isca Augusta). Meanwhile, Ermine Street linked London with the colonia at Lincoln (Roman Lindum Colonia, originally a legionary fortress) and the legionary fortress and canaba civilian settlement at York (Roman Eboracom, later itself to become a colonia military settlement). Its extension, Dere Street, then headed even further north, through the fort and small town at Corbridge (Roman Coria), then through Hadrian’s Wall before traversing the Scottish Borders, reaching the Firth of Forth at Inveresk. Another key route was the Fosse Way, linking Lincoln with the southwestern civitas capital of Exeter (Roman Isca Dumnoniorum, also originally a legionary fortress), passing through Cirencester (Roman Corinium) on the way. The Fosse Way crossed Watling Street at modern High Cross in Leicestershire, one of the major transport intersections of Roman Britain. This was a very militarised province, with its conquest and later military establishment literally etched across its landscape in the form of roads, fortifications and, in most cases, civilian settlements, which often developed into towns in their own right.

When Severus arrived in Britain in AD 208, there were three long established legions in the province. These were legio II Augusta at Caerleon in southeastern Wales, legio XX Valeria Victrix at Chester and legio VI Victrix at York, the latter replacing the earlier incumbent legio IX hispana in the early second century AD. Vexillations (companies) of each rotated through postings to the north, either along Hadrian’s Wall and the Stanegate forts immediately to its rear (for example Vindolanda), or mounting incursions into the unconquered far north. They were joined on the border, and on campaign, by numerous auxiliary cavalry and infantry units. All were supported by the Classis Britannica provincial regional navy. This was headquartered in northwestern Gaul at Boulogne-sur-Mer (Roman Gesoriacum), also operating from bases around the coast of Britain including Dover (Roman Dubris), Caerleon and Chester on the west coast, and South Shields (Roman Arbeia) on the east coast.

The economy of Roman Britain was dominated by agriculture, as with the rest of the empire. Much new land was reclaimed during the occupation that helped to greatly increase agricultural output, for example in the Fenlands around The Wash on the east coast. Agricultural yield was also increased by the introduction of new farming technology and techniques. The surplus from this farming boom helped the population to grow to some 3.5 million by the time of Severus, up from around 2 million in the Late Iron Age (LIA) immediately prior to the arrival of the Romans.

Industry also featured in the province, including the iron industry in the Weald and the ragstone quarrying industry of the upper Medway Valley, both still in full production during his reign. These two vast metalla were among the largest industrial enterprises anywhere in the empire. The former provided all of the iron utilised by the military in the north, while the latter supplied all of the stone used to build and maintain the new urban environment in the south east, including London, where Severus later ordered the building of its land wall at the end of the second century AD. Other industries that flourished under the Roman occupation of Britain included indigenous pottery manufacturing, glass making, mosaic manufacture, brewing, mill and quern stone manufacture and textile production. It was the latter that provided the Roman world with its best-known British exports, the birrus rain-proofed hooded cloak and the tapetia fine quality woollen rug.

Compared to the rest of the empire, Britain made little contribution to its political life, except through the numerous usurpation attempts (including that of Decimus Clodius Albinus against Severus). We know of no native British senator, and indeed the most famous Romano-Britons were religious figures, namely St Alban (who may have a Severan association), St Patrick, and the controversial theologian Palagius, accused by St Augustine of Hippo of denying that good deeds required divine intervention.

As will be later seen, Severus had a problematic relationship with Britain, culminating in his shock and awe campaigns to conquer the far north in AD 209 and AD 210. It was also he who initiated the division of the province into two, Britannia Superior with its capital remaining in London, and Britannia Inferior with its new capital in York, though this was likely completed under Caracalla.

Moving on to Gaul and Germany, the rich provinces there illustrated how quickly indigenous territories could be culturally assimilated into the Roman way of life. Real Roman interest in the region began in the mid-second century BC through mercantile engagement with the Greek colony of Marseille (Greek and Roman Massilia), with a treaty being signed to protect the town from Gauls to the north and Carthaginians in the western Mediterranean. Further Roman interest there led to the creation of a new province in 122 BC along the Mediterranean coast called Transalpine Gaul (also called Provincia Nostra, translating as ‘our province’), this later being renamed Gallia Narbonensis after its regional capital of Narbonne, founded by the Romans in 118 BC.

The province then became the springboard for Caesar’s conquest of Gaul in 58 BC when he became its governor, along with Cisalpine Gaul (the far north of Italy either side of the Po River). In pursuit of glory and wealth, Caesar lost no time in campaigning north, and by the end of the decade had reduced the Gallic kingdoms there to Roman vassalage. From that time they became new Roman provinces, these revised by Augustus in 22 BC, with more territory to the north and east being added later. By the time Severus became emperor, there were nine provinces in the region, these being:

•Germania Inferior in the Rhine Delta and lower Rhine valley.

•Germania Superior in the upper Rhine valley.

•Gallia Belgica, broadly the area of modern Belgium.

•Gallia Lugdunensis, a broad strip through modern central France ranging from Brittany in the west to the provincial capital of Lyon (Roman Lugdunum) in the east. It was here Severus served as provincial governor, and where he also married Julia Domna and where Caracalla was born.

•Gallia Aquitania along the Bay of Biscay.

•Gallia Narbonensis in modern Provence, a Senatorial province.

•Three small provinces bordering Gallia Narbonensis and Italy, from north to south Alpes Graiae et Poeninae, Alpes Cottiae and Alpes Maritimae.

This large region featured distinct cultural and economic differences across its wide geography. The far north and east were more militarised given the provinces there featured the limesGermanicus separating the world of Rome from barbaricum