Septimius Severus
–
Roman Emperor
: 193-211 A.D. –
Bronze 17mm (3.31 grams) of
Augusta Traiana
in
Thrace
AV KA CĐ„ CĐ„VHPOC,
Laureate head right.
AVΓOVCTH TPAIANHC, Nude Dionysus standing left, holding kantharos and thyrsos
with panther at his feet to left.
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Authenticity.
Dionysus
is the god of the
grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness, fertility, theatre and
religious ecstasy in
Greek mythology
. Alcohol, especially
wine, played an important role in Greek
culture
with Dionysus being an important reason for this life style. His name, thought
to be a theonym
in
Linear B
tablets as di-wo-nu-so (KH
Gq 5 inscription), shows that he may have been worshipped as early as c.
1500–1100 BC by
Mycenean Greeks
; other traces of the
Dionysian-type cult have been found in ancient
Minoan Crete
. His origins are uncertain, and
his cults took many forms; some are described by ancient sources as Thracian,
others as Greek. In some cults, he arrives from the east, as an Asiatic
foreigner; in others, from
Ethiopia
in the South. He is a god of
epiphany
, “the god that comes”, and his
“foreignness” as an arriving outsider-god may be inherent and essential to his
cults. He is a major, popular figure of
Greek mythology
and
religion
, and is included in some lists of the
twelve Olympians
. Dionysus was the last god to
be accepted into Mt. Olympus. He was the youngest and the only one to have a
mortal mother. His festivals were the driving force behind the development of
Greek theatre
. He is an example of a
dying god
.
The earliest cult images of Dionysus show a mature male, bearded and robed.
He holds a fennel
staff, tipped with a pine-cone and known
as a thyrsus
. Later images show him as a
beardless, sensuous, naked or half-naked androgynous youth: the literature
describes him as womanly or “man-womanish”. In its fully developed form, his
central cult imagery shows his triumphant, disorderly arrival or return, as if
from some place beyond the borders of the known and civilized. His procession
(thiasus)
is made up of wild female followers (maenads)
and bearded
satyrs
with
erect penises
. Some are armed with the
thyrsus, some dance or play music. The god himself is drawn in a chariot,
usually by exotic beasts such as lions or tigers, and is sometimes attended by a
bearded, drunken Silenus
. This procession is presumed to be the
cult model for the human followers of his
Dionysian Mysteries
. In his
Thracian
mysteries, he wears the bassaris
or
fox-skin, symbolizing a new life. Dionysus is represented by city
religions as the protector of those who do not belong to conventional society
and thus symbolizes everything which is chaotic, dangerous and unexpected,
everything which escapes human reason and which can only be attributed to the
unforeseeable action of the gods.
Also known as Bacchus, the name adopted by the
Romans
and the frenzy he induces, bakkheia.
His thyrsus is sometimes wound with ivy and dripping with honey. It is a
beneficent wand but also a weapon, and can be used to destroy those who oppose
his cult and the freedoms he represents. He is also called Eleutherios
(“the liberator”), whose wine, music and ecstatic dance frees his followers from
self-conscious fear and care, and subverts the oppressive restraints of the
powerful. Those who partake of his mysteries are possessed and empowered by the
god himself. His cult is also a “cult of the souls”; his maenads feed the dead
through blood-offerings, and he acts as a divine communicant between the living
and the dead.
In Greek mythology, he is presented as a son of
Zeus and the mortal
Semele
, thus semi-divine or
heroic: and as son of Zeus and
Persephone
or
Demeter
, thus both fully divine, part-chthonic
and possibly identical with
Iacchus
of the
Eleusinian Mysteries
. Some scholars believe
that Dionysus is a
syncretism
of a local Greek nature deity and a
more powerful god from
Thrace
or
Phrygia
such as
Sabazios
or
Zalmoxis
.
Stara Zagora is considered one of the oldest settlements in Bulgaria. It was
founded by the
Thracians
under the name Beroe (meaning
iron) about
6th
–5th
century BCE, with the
Neolithic
dwellings and the copper mine near
the city being the oldest preserved ones in
Europe
. The area has been a mining region since
antiquity.
A city was founded by
Phillip II of Macedon
at 342 BC. Under the
Roman Empire
, the town was renamed to Ulpia
Augusta Traiana in honour of emperor
Trajan
.
Lucius Septimius Severus (or rarely 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
Berber
part of
Rome’s historic
Africa Province
.
Septimius Severus was born and raised at
Leptis
Magna
(modern Berber
, southeast of
Carthage
,
modern Tunisia
).
Severus came from a wealthy, distinguished family of
equestrian
rank. Severus was of
Italian
Roman ancestry on his mother’s side and of
Punic
or
Libyan
-Punic
ancestry on his father’s. Little is known of his father,
Publius Septimius Geta
, who held no major political status but had two
cousins who served as consuls under emperor
Antoninus Pius
. 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.
The legions of
Syria
, however, had proclaimed
Pescennius Niger
emperor. At the same time, Severus felt it was reasonable
to offer
Clodius Albinus
, the powerful governor of Britannia who had probably
supported Didius against him, the rank of Caesar, which implied some claim to
succession. With his rearguard safe, he moved to the East and crushed Niger’s
forces at the
Battle of Issus
. The following year was devoted to suppressing Mesopotamia
and other Parthian vassals who had backed Niger. When afterwards Severus
declared openly his son
Caracalla
as successor, Albinus was hailed emperor by his troops and moved to Gallia.
Severus, after a short stay in Rome, moved northwards to meet him. On
February
19
, 197
,
in the
Battle of Lugdunum
, with an army of 100,000 men, mostly composed of
Illyrian
,
Moesian
and
Dacian
legions,
Severus defeated and killed Clodius Albinus, securing his full control over the
Empire.
Emperor
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,
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.
The two following praefecti, including the jurist
Aemilius Papinianus
, received however even larger powers.
Campaigns in Caledonia (Scotland)
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..
In 210 obtained a peace with the
Picts
that lasted
practically until the final withdrawal of the Roman legions from Britain,
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
. The stability Severus provided the Empire was soon gone under their reign.
Accomplishments and Record
Though his military expenditure was costly to the empire, Severus was the
strong, able ruler that Rome needed at the time. He began a tradition of
effective emperors elevated solely by the military. His policy of an expanded
and better-rewarded army was criticized by his contemporary
Dio Cassius
and
Herodianus
: in particular, they pointed out the increasing burden (in the
form of taxes and services) the civilian population had to bear to maintain the
new army.
Severus was also distinguished for his buildings. Apart from the triumphal
arch in the Roman Forum carrying his full name, he also built the
Septizodium
in Rome and enriched greatly his native city of
Leptis
Magna
(including another triumphal arch on the occasion of his visit of
203).
Severus and Christianity
Christians were
persecuted
during the reign of Septimus 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. Naturally the emperor, with his strict conception of
law, did not hinder such partial persecution, which took place in
Egypt
and the
Thebaid
, as
well as in
Africa proconsularis
and the East. Christian
martyrs
were
numerous in Alexandria
(cf.
Clement of Alexandria
, Stromata, ii. 20;
Eusebius
, Church History, V., xxvi., VI., i.). No less severe were
the persecutions in Africa, which seem to have begun in 197 or 198 (cf.
Tertullian’s
Ad martyres), and included the Christians known in the
Roman martyrology
as the martyrs of
Madaura
.
Probably in 202 or 203
Felicitas
and
Perpetua
suffered for their faith. Persecution again raged for a short time
under the proconsul
Scapula
in
211, especially in
Numidia
and
Mauritania
.
Later accounts of a Gallic
persecution, especially at
Lyon, are
legendary. In general it may thus be said that the position of the Christians
under Septimius Severus was the same as under the
Antonines
;
but the law of this Emperor at least shows clearly that the
rescript
of
Trajan
[
neededclarification] had failed to execute its purpose.
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