THE SEVERAN DYNASTY
Many consider the period that followed the death of Emperor Marcus Aurelius
As the beginning of the fall of the Roman Empire
Truth must be told
Marcus Aurelius
lived by following the stoic philosophy
Such wisdom allowed him to overcome several challenges:
A newly revived Parthian empire
Marcomannic wars
Plagues, a rebellion led by Avidius Cassius, etc.
Even with these great accomplishments
His legacy was forever stained by his son Commodus
By putting an end to the age of "Adoptive emperors"
Started by Nerva
in 96 A.D.
Commodus was chosen by Marcus Aurelius himself as his successor
Overall
he is considered to be amongst the worst Caesars of Roman history
His principate
from 180 to 193 A.D
represented the prelude of one of the crises
that almost brought the Roman empire to its knees
it is usually referred as
"The crisis of the 3rd Century" (military anarchy from 235 -284 A.D)
Nevertheless
The decadence under Commodus didn't officially start the crisis
After his death (by assassination)
193 A.D was proclaimed as
the year of the five emperors
Two of them (Pertinax & Didius Julianus)
had two separate principates that combined
lasted only for five months
Following their premature departures
A new struggle for power ensued
amongst many generals who sought the throne
Clodius Albinus, Pescennius Niger
and Septimius Severus
Basically, 3 contenders for 1 throne
After four years of Civil war
Septimius Severus came out victorious
proclaimed emperor in 193 A.D
he successfully defeated his adversaries in 197 A.D
Shortly after
he gave birth to one of the most controversial imperial dynasties
"The Severan Dynasty"
Before we start listing and analysing the many changes
brought by the creator of this new Roman dynasty
Let's discover his origins
Septimius Severus was born in Leptis Magna
a city located in north Africa
He was the first Roman emperor
to descend from both Punic and Libyan forebears
this was the umpteenth demonstration
of how Rome was a multi-ethnic civilization
The Nerva-Antonine dynasty played a key role
in his ascension to power
Under a direct order from Marcus Aurelius
Septimius became a senator in 169 A.D
Under Commodus's rule in 190 A.D
he became governor of Pannonia Superior
As mentioned earlier
he was one of the 3 generals (the others were Clodius Albinus and Pescennius Niger)
who fought
in order to gain absolute power
After having been proclaimed emperor
by his loyal troops
Septimius Severus saw himself as the avenger of the Antonine dynasty
His main purpose
was to avenge Commodus death
and to punish severely
the praetorian guard
As soon as he came into power
Septimius Sever brought an end to the long series of principates
and gave the start to the "dominate"
As "dominus" instead of "princeps"
the emperor had full control
and was no longer opposed by the senate
Following this incredible turn of events
the emperors that succeeded Severus (and Severus himself)
could establish a dictatorship
Since they treated the empire as if it had been their private property
Throughout his dominate
Septimius Severus distinguished himself in various fields
positively and negatively
Among some of his negative decisions:
the numerous amount of Christian persecutions
and the inflation of the Roman currency
On the plus side:
military reforms and his foreign policy
As a matter of fact
It was in this field that Septimius superior skills as a general emerged
compared to others
Remarkable were his campaigns
which were deemed successful
Against one of Rome's greatest foes:
the Parthian empire
To honour his achievements
a great monument was built in his name:
"The Arch of Septimius Severus"
Built between 202-203 A.D
the arch of Septimius Severus has a height of 23 metres
and a width of 25 metres
It is currently placed
inside the Roman forum
As I previously mentioned
the arch was meant to pay tribute
to his successful campaigns led against the Parthian empire
in 195 & 198 A.D
These victories allowed the Roman empire
even if only for 50 years
to re-establish their control over Mesopotamia
previously conquered by the Optimus Princeps
Trajan
There are quite a lot of episodes narrated on this arch
The Parthian army's surrender
The siege of the Parthian's capital
Ctesiphon
plus several clashes between the Roman and Parthian army
Intriguing is the detail on the 4th line of the inscription
where it reads:
"patri patria optimis fortissimisque
principibus
This inscription replaces the original text
which could be traced through the recesses obtained to block the metal letters
the text stated:
ET
P(ublio)
SEPTIMIO L(uci) FIL(io)
GETAE
NOBILISS(imo) CAESARI)
It was dedicated to GETA
Caracalla's brother
it was cancelled and replaced
After Geta's assassination
and "damnatio memoriae"
"damnatio memoriae" is precisely where we were headed
How was the legacy of Septimius Severus
handled?
Were Caracalla and Geta able to continue
their father's good work
and accomplishments achieved in almost 20 years?
"Be harmonious, enrich the soldiers, scorn everybody else."
These were the last words pronounced by Septimius Severus on his deathbed
in 211 A.D
in Eboracum, Britannia
This advice was meant for his two sons (Caracalla & Geta)
which were also his heirs
Just like Marcus Aurelius
Septimius Severus decided to pass the torch to his offspring
And just like Marcus Aurelius's decision
this turned out to be an unwise decision
As mentioned early on
during his reign, Septimius Severus
fully focused on making it seem as if the Severan Dynasty was directly connected to the Nerva-Antonine Dynasty
For example
when he decided to change his first born's name
"Lucius Septimius Bassianus"
into "Marcus Aurelius Antoninus"
Later on in his life
Lucius was nicknamed "Caracalla"
due to a Gallic hooded tunic
that he frequently wore
and that later on was distributed to all his subjects
Nowadays
one of the first (if not the first) things
that is associated with this Severan emperor
is Geta's assassination
Fratricide
isn't just a popular topic in the bible
for ex. Cain and Abel
but was also quite redundant in Roman age
Oftenly in history
we tend to divide historic figures into two categories:
victims and butchers
Truth is
there was bad blood between the two brothers
their diarchy lasted shortly
and was a complete and utter failure
Barely a year since its beginning
On February 1st (212 A.D)
under Caracalla's orders
Geta was assassinated by small group of Centurions
One of the many rumours
is the belief that the two brothers wanted to divide the empire into two parts
As a matter of fact
this was merely a prelude to the decision that was later made by Theodosius I in 395 A.D
What truly astonished everybody
was Caracalla's decision to condemn his brother to a fate called
"damnatio memoriae"
what is the definition of "damnatio memoriae"?
It is a Latin phrase literally meaning "condemnation of memory", meaning that a person must not be remembered.
It was one of the worst punishments
that a person could suffer in Ancient Roman era
Everything took place post-mortem
and it meant the complete effacement of a person's name and legacy
and any traces that could remind others of their presence in life
As a result
his name would not be remembered by future generations
To a degree
it was as if this person had never existed
Some of the most famous individuals that were condemned to "damnatio memoriae" were:
Caligula
Nero
Elagabalus
Domitian
Also Commodus was condemned to oblivion
However, unlike other emperors
this punishment was revoked by Septimius Severus
After disposing of Geta
Caracalla was free to rule Rome by himself
However
his reign didn't last as much as his father's
In his 6 years as Dominus
Caracalla became known for macabre episodes
for ex. the massacre of Alexandria of Egypt
One of his desires was to emulate the deeds of Alexander the Great
Also, he raised the soldiers salaries
(following one of his father's advices)
he was known for having taken away much power and privileges
from the Roman senate
But above all
he was known for the famous "Constitutio Antoniniana"
an edict issued by the emperor himself
in 212 A.D
which declared that all free men in the Roman Empire were to be given Roman citizenship
with the sole exception of the dediticii
In the past
but also recently
these topics have already been heavily discussed
thus they will not be part of our journey into the Roman empire
under Caracalla's rule
We would like to conclude
this chapter dedicated to the 2nd emperor of the Severan Dynasty
by telling you about one of the most majestic buildings
that the ancient world has ever seen
We are referring to the everlasting
"Baths of Caracalla"
Inaugurated in 216 A.D
until Diocletian's baths
these baths were recognised as one of the most impressive structures
of the Roman imperial age
These baths could have hosted a grand total of 1600 people at the time!
while the daily turnout
was somewhere around 6000-8000 citizens
At their peek
the baths were composed by thousands of marble tanks
In addition to that
located within the complex
one could also find:
Museums
Libraries
Study rooms
Gardens
Mosaics
Galeries
Gyms
Even a huge olympic-size swimming pool!
Caracalla didn't neglect the slightest detail
In fact
for the water system
a branch was created from the well known Acqua Marcia
known as
Acqua Antonina
This specific water in question
crossed the Appian Way
by leaning on the Arch of Drusus
It is easy to imagine
how this structure provided an enormous benefit
to the residents who lived near the Aventine hill
the Caelian hill and the Circus Maximus
In addition to the internal & external beauty
the baths are also endowed with underground vaults
which can be visited
Located in the undergrounds
there are several service rooms
which back then
allowed a practical management of the thermal complex
Of course
this was all hidden from the public eye
Located in the north-west area
resides the biggest Mithraeum of the Roman era
A "mithraeum"
is a small underground temple erected by Mithras worshippers
which was a very popular religion in the Greco-Roman world
The baths decay was long and slow
which began shortly after the fall of the Western Roman Empire
When a Goth king named Vitiges
in 537 A.D
decided to shut down all Roman aqueducts
As a result
the baths were no longer supplied with their precious source of water
As for Caracalla
he was murdered while he was travelling to Parthia
Probably by one of his centurions or private guards
near Carrhae
a city well known to the Roman armies since 53 B.C
due to the massacre of Marcus Licinius Crassus army
Certainly
we can all absolutely agree
with tranquility and certainty
that the son was merely his father's shadow
How did one of the most important imperial dynasties conclude?
Were Eliagabalus and Alexander Severus
successful in bringing back prosperity and stability?
Or did they make things worse?
Find out on the next chapter called:
"The downfall of the Severan Dynasty"
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