Birthday Greetings # 36

Happy birthday to Septimus Severus, Roman emperor.  Septimus was born in Libya (which seems to be getting bit of a run in my blog of late) to mixed Roman and Punic heritage.  His family was wealthy and moderately distinguished (although there were a couple of consuls among them).  Deciding to pursue what modern politicians euphemistically call "a career in public service" Severus went to Rome and through the good offices of a relative attempted to get some good offices.

Promotion was slow at first but after a fortuitous plague which gutted the ranks of the higher orders (it probably gutted the ranks of the lower orders as well but Septimus wasn't competing with them for jobs) his career really took off.  A series of increasingly important positions proved he was at least as capable as anyone else who had survived the plague and in 191 the emperor Commodus appointed him commander of the legions in Pannonia.  He was still there when his troops proclaimed him emperor in place of the guy who replaced the guy who replaced Commodus.  This was only two years later.  The life expectancy of the average Roman emperor was about twenty five minutes.

Severus marched on Rome but the whole thing turned into an anticlimax as the Senate murdered the incumbent emperor without waiting for him and all he had to do on arrival was settle in.  Oh yes and beat the other guy that various people in Rome had invited to become emperor.  The trouble with the Roman empire (as later emperors would realise) was that it was so damned big that news took a fair while to get from one place to another.  With emperors coming and going before the mint had even finished issuing the commemorative coinage it was very easy to rise in revolt against somebody who was already dead.  Severus beat his challenger (one Niger by name) and followed it up with a whirlwind campaign against the Parthians which he more or less won.  A couple of years later he came back and definitely won just in case anybody had had any doubts about the results of the previous war.  The fact that he had to come back indicates that one of the people with doubts was himself.

Naturally this wasn't the end of his troubles. Clodius Albinus, the governor of Britannia, had been making emperor like noises and Severus had appointed him caesar, with a distinct hint of a possible succession while he was dealing with Niger.  This kept Albinus off his back at a crucial moment but when he thought he was safe Severus made his son Caracalla co-emperor effectively scotching any hopes Albinus might have had.  Albinus responded in a mature and considered fashion; he stripped Britain of troops and invaded Gaul.  Another battle followed at which Albinus was killed and Severus finally settled down to rule the empire in, well, peace is not exactly the term but possibly "in war with people who weren't Romans".

The Senate of Rome hated him because he killed a lot of senators on various conspiracy and corruption charges.  The common people of Rome loved him for pretty much the same reasons.  The army was also quite fond of him due to his morale boosting action of increasing their pay by two thirds.  Also quite a bit of the army that might have been inclined to dislike him was now dead.  Naturally he had to fall under the influence of a senior official who was also a member of his extended family.  This was pretty much de rigeur for emperors of the time and the elite of Rome lived in fear of this favourite and son in law by marriage.  Unfortunately for him the son in question was Caracalla who started as he meant to go on by accusing the guy of treason (accurately) and having him murdered in the imperial palace.  Sadly for the senate this didn't actually slow down the rate of senatorial executions.

The reign of Severus was quite active in a military sense.  There was a successful war in Africa and the southern part of Scotland (then called Caledonia in deference to the fact that the Scots wouldn't turn up for several centuries) between Hadrian's wall and the Antonine wall was reoccupied and generally pacified.  One can't help thinking that part of his method of keeping the army under control was to make sure it was fully employed.  But Severus overreached himself when he decided to conquer the rest of Scotland (sorry, Caledonia) for reasons which nobody has been quite able to decipher.  The Caledonians resorted to guerrilla warfare which caused his army huge losses without him ever being able to bring them to battle.  Still guerrilla war is as tough on the guerrillas as it is on their enemies and the Caledonians sued for peace.  A year later they changed their minds and Severus decided on a new tactic called genocide.  Fortunately for the Caledonians he sickened and died before he could really carry it out.

Septimus Severus was emperor for about eighteen years which was longer than the previous three combined.  With two sons he felt confident that he had ensured lasting stability for Rome in the form of a reliable dynasty.  His last advice to his two sons was famously "stick together, favour the army, to hell with everybody else".  Sage advice, sadly his hopes for a long and distinguished dynasty foundered on the fact that his eldest son, Caracalla, turned out to be a homicidal maniac.