Severus (Lucius Septimius Severus)

Severus or Septimius Severus (Lucius Septimius Severus) , 146-211, Roman emperor (193-211), b. Africa. He was campaigning in Pannonia and Illyria when the emperor Commodus was murdered. His successor, Pertinax , lasted three months before he too was assassinated. The Pretorian guards arranged the succession of the weak Didius Julianus . With the empire in disarray, Severus marched on Rome. Proclaimed emperor, Severus went to the East to overthrow Pescennius Niger, the governor of Syria, who had also been proclaimed emperor by his legions. Severus defeated (194) the pretender. He took (196) Byzantium and subdued the rebellious Arabs of Mesopotamia. Returning to the West, he defeated (197) Clodius Albinus, another pretender, in Gaul and, returning eastward, attacked and expelled (198) the Parthians from Mesopotamia. In 208, Severus went to Britain. From there he harassed Scotland, but he died at York before completing his plans for a large invasion. Severus built a strong army, increasing the number of legions while eliminating the large commands that had been common for Rome, thus protecting himself against being overthrown while he protected Rome. He ruled with vigor and, when he found it useful, a calculated cruelty. Caracalla succeeded him.

Bibliography: See study by A. R. Birley (1971).

Septimius Severus Roman emperor 193–211. Lucius Septimius Severus was born at Lepcis Magna in north Africa. Consul in 190, he was governor of Pannonia Superior on the Danube when he was proclaimed emperor on the assassination of Commodus. He was opposed by the governor of Britain, Clodius Albinus, whom he killed at the battle of Lyons in February 197. After a series of wars against the Parthians, Severus' attention was drawn back to Britain by trouble with the Scottish tribes. He took the field with his sons Caracalla and Geta in 208 and reconquered the Lowlands. Increasing ill‐health led to his death early in 211 at York.

Severus, Septimius (full name Lucius Septimius Severus Pertinax) (146–211) Roman emperor (193–211). He was active in reforms of the imperial administration and of the army, which he recognized as the real basis of imperial power. In 208 he took an army to Britain to suppress a rebellion in the north of the country, and later died at York.