elSever Severan
193-211
Lucius Septimius Severus (
Severus I ... (April 11, 145/146-February 4, 211) was a
Roman general, and
Roman Emperor from April 14, 193 to 211. He was born in what is now the
Libyan part of Rome's historic
Africa Province. Died on tour in Briton. He came from a wealthy, distinguished family of
equestrian rank that was of colonial heritage and undoubtedly a mixture of
Punic,
Berber and Roman blood.
His mother, Fulvia Pia's family moved from Italy to
North Africa and was of the
Fulvius gens, an ancient and politically influential clan, which was originally of
plebeian status. His siblings were a younger
Publius Septimius Geta and Septimia Octavilla. Severus’s maternal cousin was
Praetorian Guard and consul
Gaius Fulvius Plautianus.
In 172, Severus was made a
Senator by the then emperor
Marcus Aurelius. In 187 he married secondly
Julia Domna. In 190 Severus became
consul, and in the following year received from the emperor
Commodus (successor to Marcus Aurelius) the command of the
legions in
Pannonia.
On the murder of
Pertinax by the troops in 193, they proclaimed Severus Emperor at
Carnuntum, whereupon he hurried to Italy. The former emperor,
Didius Julianus, was condemned to death by the Senate and killed, and Severus took possession of Rome without opposition.
Severus was at heart a soldier, and sought glory through military exploits. In 197 he waged a brief and successful war against the Parthian Empire in retaliation for the support given to Pescennius Niger. The Parthian capital Ctesiphon was sacked by the legions, and the northern half of Mesopotamia was restored to Rome.
His relations with the Roman Senate were never good. He was unpopular with them from the outset, having seized power with the help of the military, and he returned the sentiment. Severus ordered the execution of dozens of Senators on charges of corruption and conspiracy against him, replacing them with his own favorites.
He also disbanded the Praetorian Guard and replaced it with one of his own, made up of 50,000 loyal soldiers mainly camped at Albanum, near Rome (also probably to grant the emperor a kind of centralized reserve). During his reign the number of legions was also increased from 25/30 to 33. He also increased the number of auxiliary corps (numerii), many of these troops coming from the Eastern borders. Additionally the annual wage for a soldier was raised from 300 to 500 denarii.
Although his actions turned Rome into a military dictatorship, he was popular with the citizens of Rome, having stamped out the rampant corruption of Commodus's reign. When he returned from his victory over the Parthians, he erected the Arch of Septimius Severus in Rome.
According to Cassius Dio,[9] however, after 197 Severus fell heavily under the influence of his Praetorian Prefect, Gaius Fulvius Plautianus, who came to have almost total control of most branches of the imperial administration. Plautianus's daughter, Fulvia Plautilla, was married to Severus's son, Caracalla. Plautianus’s excessive power came to an end in 205, when he was denounced by the Emperor's dying brother and killed.
Starting from 208 Severus undertook a number of military actions in Roman Britain, reconstructing Hadrian's Wall and campaigning in Scotland.
He reached the area of the Moray Firth in his last campaign in Caledonia, as was called Scotland by the Romans.[11]. In 210 obtained a peace with the Picts that lasted practically until the final withdrawal of the Roman legions from Britain [12], before falling severely ill in Eboracum (York).
Death
He is famously said to have given the advice to his sons: "Be harmonious, enrich the soldiers, and scorn all other men" before he died at Eboracum on February 4, 211
Upon his death in 211, Severus was deified by the Senate and succeeded by his sons, Caracalla and Geta, who were advised by his wife Julia Domna.
211 Caracalla
born Lucius Septimius Bassianus (April 4, 188 – April 8, 217. Caracallus ), and later called Marcus Aurelius Antoninus and Marcus Aurelius Severus Antoninus, was the eldest son of Septimius Severus and Roman Emperor from 211 to 217. He was one of the most nefarious of Roman emperors. Caracalla's reign was notable for:
"Caracalla was the common enemy of mankind," - He spent his reign traveling from province to province so that each could experience his rapine and cruelty. Caracalla was proclaimed co-emperor with his brother Publius Septimius Antoninius Geta. However since both of them wanted to be the sole ruler, tensions between the brothers were evident in the few months they ruled the empire together (they even considered dividing the empire in two, but were persuaded not to do so by their mother). In December 211, Caracalla had Geta, the family of his former father-in-law Gaius Fulvius Plautianus, his wife Fulvia Plautilla (also his paternal second cousin), and her brother assassinated. He persecuted Geta's supporters and ordered a damnatio memoriae by the Senate against his brother.
Caracalla tried to murder Geta during the festival of
Saturnalia without success. Later in December he arranged a meeting with his brother in his mother's apartments, and had him murdered in her arms by
centurions. Following Geta's assassination, Caracalla
damned his memory and ordered his name to be removed from all inscriptions. The now sole emperor also took the opportunity to get rid of his political enemies, on the grounds of conspiracy with the deceased.
Cassius Dio [1] stated that around 20,000 persons of both sexes were killed and/or proscribed during this time.
In 213 Caracalla went north to the German frontier to deal with the
Alamanni who were causing trouble in the
Agri Decumates. The emperor managed to win the sympathy of the soldiers with generous pay rises and popular gestures, like marching on foot among the ordinary soldiers, eating the same food, and even grinding his own flour with them.
When the inhabitants of
Alexandria heard Caracalla's claims that he had killed Geta in self-defense, they produced a satire mocking this claim, as well as Caracalla's other pretensions. Caracalla responded to this insult savagely in 215 by slaughtering the deputation of leading citizens who had unsuspectingly assembled before the city to greet his arrival, and then unleashed his troops for several days of looting and plunder in Alexandria. According to historian Cassius Dio, over 20,000 people were killed.
216 AD, Caracalla tricked the Parthians into believing that he accepted a marriage proposal and slaughtered the wedding guests after the wedding celebrations.
While travelling from
Edessa to begin a war with
Parthia, he was assassinated while urinating at a roadside near
Harran on
April 8, 217 by Julius Martialis, an officer in the imperial bodyguard.
Herodian says that Martialis' brother had been executed a few days earlier by Caracalla on an unproven charge; Cassius Dio .. Caracalla was succeeded by the Praetorian Prefect of the Guard,
Macrinus, who almost certainly was part of the conspiracy against the emperor.
217
GENERAL Marcus Opellius Macrinus (ca. 165 - June 218) was
Roman emperor for fourteen months in 217 and 218. Macrinus was the first emperor to become so without membership in the senatorial class and the first emperor of
Berber descent
218
Elagabalus 3 Julias & Elagabalus the Crowned Cousin Love Child
Surviving members of the
Severan dynasty, headed by
Julia Maesa (Caracalla's aunt) and her daughters
Julia Soaemias and
Julia Mamaea. Having been evicted from the imperial palace and ordered to return home by Macrinus, the Severan women plotted from their home near
Emesa in
Syria to place another Severan on the imperial throne. They used their hereditary influence over the cult of
sun-deity Elagabalus (the Latinised form of
El-Gabal) to proclaim Soaemias' son
Elagabalus (named for his family's patron deity) as the true successor to Caracalla. The rumor was spread, with the assistance of the Severan women, that Elagabalus was in fact Caracalla's illegitimate son, and thus the child of a union between first cousins.
235
Alexander Severus, was the last
Roman emperor (11 March 222–235) of the
Severan dynasty. Alexander Severus succeeded his cousin,
Elagabalus upon the latter's assassination in 222 AD, and was ultimately assassinated himself, marking the
epoch event for the
Crisis of the Third Century—nearly fifty years of disorder, Roman civil wars, economic chaos, regional rebellions, and external threats that brought the Empire to near-collapse.
On May 18, Elagabalus was proclaimed emperor by the Legio III Gallica at its camp at Raphana. A force under his tutor Gannys marched on Antioch and engaged a force under Macrinus on June 8, 218. Macrinus, deserted by most of his soldiers, was soundly defeated in the battle, and fled towards Italy disguised as a courier. He was captured near Chalcedon and later executed in Cappadocia. His son Diadumenianus, sent for safety to the Parthian court, was captured at Zeugma and also put to death.
Macrinus' short reign, while important for its historical "firsts", was cut short due to the inability of this otherwise accomplished man to control or satisfy the soldiery. In his death at the hands of Roman soldiers, Macrinus reinforced the notion of the soldiers as the true brokers of power in the third-century empire and highlighted the importance of maintaining the support of this vital faction. His reign was followed by another seventeen years of rule under the Severan emperors Elagabalus and Severus Alexander.
Alexander Severus succeeded his cousin, Elagabalus upon the latter's assassination in 222 AD, and was ultimately assassinated himself, marking the epoch event for the Crisis of the Third Century—nearly fifty years of disorder, Roman civil wars, economic chaos, regional rebellions, and external threats that brought the Empire to near-collapse.
Alexander Severus was the heir apparent to his cousin, the eighteen-year-old Emperor who had been murdered along with his mother by his own guards—and as a mark of contempt, had their remains cast into the Tiber river. He and his cousin were both grandsons of the influential and powerful Julia Maesa, who had arranged for Elagabalus' acclamation as Emperor by the famed Third Gallic Legion. A rumor of Alexander's death circulated, triggering the assassination of Elagabalus. Alexander's reign was marked by troubles. In military conflict against the rising Sassanid Empire, there are mixed accounts, though the Sassanid threat was checked. However, when campaigning against Germanic tribes of Germania, Alexander Severus apparently alienated his legions by trying diplomacy and bribery, and they assassinated him.
235
GENERALGaius Iulius Verus Maximinus (c. 173–238), also known as Maximinus Thrax (i.e. Maximinus the Thracian) and Maximinus I, was Roman Emperor from 235 to 238. Maximinus is described as the first barbarian who wore the imperial purple and the first emperor never to set foot in Rome. He was the first of the so-called barracks emperors of the 3rd century; his rule is often considered to mark the beginning of the Crisis of the Third Century.
Maximinus was in command of the recruits from Pannonia, who were angered by Alexander's payments to the Alemanni and his avoidance of war. The troops, among whom included the Legio XXII Primigenia, elected the stern Maximinus, killing young Alexander and his mother at Moguntiacum, also a site where many Christians were martyred (Mainz) in 235. The Praetorian Guard acclaimed him emperor, and their choice was grudgingly confirmed by the Senate, who were displeased to have a peasant as emperor. His son Maximus became caesar.
Queen Mom
Julia Domna (170–217) was a member of the Severan dynasty of the Roman Empire. Empress and wife of Roman Emperor Lucius Septimius Severus and mother of Emperors Geta and Caracalla, Julia was among the most important women ever to exercise power behind the throne in the Roman Empire. ... Caracalla had Geta murdered in her arms.
Julia was of Syrian origin from the ancient city of Emesa. Her ancestors were Kings Priest of the famous temple of Baal. The family lost its kingdom to Rome but continued domination of the temple of Baal. The family had an enormous wealth and was promoted to Roman senatorial aristocracy. She was the youngest daughter of high-priest Gaius Julius Bassianus and her eldest sister was Julia Maesa.
GrandMadamomma
Julius Bassianus, priest of the sun god Heliogabalus, the patron god of Emesa (modern Homs) in the Roman province of Syria. Grandmother of both the Roman emperors Elagabalus and Alexander Severus, she figured prominently in the ascension of each to the title at the age of fourteen.
Like her younger sister Julia Domna, she was among the most important women to exercise power behind the throne in the Roman empire.
Julia Maesa was married to Syrian noble Julius Avitus and had two daughters Julia Soaemias and Julia Avita Mamaea each one mother of an emperor. Following the accession to the throne of her brother in law Septimius Severus, Julia Maesa moved to Rome to live with her sister. After the murder of her nephew, the emperor Caracalla, and the suicide of Julia Domna, she was compelled to return to Syria. But the new emperor Macrinus did not proscribe her and allowed her to keep her money.
Once back in Syria and possessed of ample funds, Maesa engaged in a plot to overthrow Macrinus and place one of her grandsons, Elagabalus son of Julia Soaemias, in his place. In order to legitimise this pretension, mother and daughter fomented the rumor that the 14 year old boy was Caracalla's illegitimate son. The two Julias were successful, mainly due to the fact that Macrinus was of an obscure origin without the proper political connections, and Elagabalus became emperor.
For her loyalty and support, Elagabalus honored Julia Maesa with the title Augusta avia Augusti (Augusta, grandmother of Augustus). When the teenager proved to be a disaster as emperor scorning Roman values with both religious and sexual scandals (even taking the liberty of marrying a Vestal virgin among a rumored five wives during his brief four years reign), Julia Maesa decided to promote instead her fourteen year-old grandson Alexander Severus.
She convinced Elagabalus to adopt Alexander as his heir and he was murdered shortly afterwards by the praetorian guard alongside his mother, both being thrown into the Tiber river in contempt after being dragged from the palace and through the streets, when a rumor circulated that Alexander had died.
Julia Maesa died in an uncertain date around 226 and like her sister Domna before her, was deified
Severus and Christianity
Christians were persecuted during the reign of Septimius Severus. Severus allowed the enforcement of policies already long-established, which meant that Roman authorities did not intentionally seek out Christians, but when people were accused of being Christians they could either curse Jesus and make an offering to Roman gods, or be executed. Furthermore, wishing to strengthen the peace by encouraging religious harmony through syncretism, Severus tried to limit the spread of the two quarrelsome groups who refused to yield to syncretism by outlawing conversion to Christianity or Judaism. Individual officials availed themselves of the laws to proceed with rigor against the Christians.
.................................
Traditionally, born in the purple[1] was a term used to describe members of royal families although the term was later expanded to include all children born of prominent or high ranking parents[2]. The parents must be prominent at the time of the child's birth so that the child is always in the spotlight and destined for a prominent role in life. A child born before the parents become prominent would not be "born in the purple."
In this sense, the parent's prominence predetermines the child's role in life. A royal child, for instance, is denied the opportunity to an ordinary life because of his parent's royal rank.[3] An example of this usage can be seen in the following discussion comparing the German Kaiser Wilhelm II with his grandfather, Wilhelm I, and his father, Friedrich III:
Latin irasci to become angry, be angry, from ira ... hot temper and easily provoked anger
A - B - R - A - C - A - D - A - B - R - A
A - B - R - A - C - A - D - A - B - R
A - B - R - A - C - A - D - A - B
A - B - R - A - C - A - D - A
A - B - R - A - C - A - D
A - B - R - A - C - A
A - B - R - A - C
A - B - R - A
A - B - R
A - B
A
The first known mention was in the 2nd century AD in a poem called De Medicina Praecepta by Serenus Sammonicus, physician to the Roman emperor Caracalla, who prescribed that the sufferer from the disease wear an amulet containing the word written in the form of an inverted cone. Other Roman emperors, including Geta and Alexander Severus, were followers of the medical teachings of Serenus Sammonicus and are likely to have used the incantation as well.
ABRACADABRA, when phonetically pronounced from right to left, reads in Hebrew ארבע-דאח-ארבע. The Hebrew word דאח is the word אחד with rearrangement of the letters. This was done to confuse the daemon or for various witchery reasons. The evil, dark forces and the daemons kingdom in the Jewish Kabbalah are represented by the number 9 (the Hebrew word תשעה) or the Hebrew letter ("טית "ט). Since the ABRACADABRA word has to diminish a letter a day for nine (9) days it has to have enough letters. The Hebrew word תשעה is too short because it has only four letters. Therefore, the Hebrew word ארבע-אחד-ארבע was created. The Hebrew word ארבע is the Hebrew word for the number 4 (four) and the Hebrew word אחד is the Hebrew word for the number 1 (one). Therefore, ארבע+אחד+ארבע equal 4+1+4=9 and it represents the dark forces and daemons kingdom.
Lucius Aurelius Verus (161–169) 
Lucius Aurelius Verus (161–169) 
