Severus, Lucius Septimius

Severus, Lucius Septimius (146-211), Roman emperor (193-211), who accentuated the military and despotic character of the imperial office. He was born April 11, 146, in Lepcis Magna (near the modern city of Homs, Libya). After receiving a law education in Rome, Severus held a number of military and political titles. He became quaestor militaris in the province of Baetica in Spain in 172 and by 190 he was governor of Pannonia, a Roman province in central Europe. When the Roman emperor Lucius Aelius Commodus was murdered in 192, the Roman consul Publius Helvius Pertinax became emperor. He, in turn, was slain a year later, and Severus, determined to avenge his death, returned to Rome with his army.

Severus became emperor after the murder of Didius Severus Julianus, who had succeeded Pertinax by purchasing the throne from the Praetorian Guard. Severus punished the murderers of Pertinax and disbanded the praetorian troops, reorganizing the guard on entirely new principles. In 194, he defeated the Roman governor of Syria, Gaius Pescennius Niger, a rival for the throne, and captured the ancient city of Byzantium. He fought in Gaul with the Roman general Decimus Clodius Albinus, who had been proclaimed emperor by his legions after the death of Pertinax and who was conquered by Severus in 197. After his brilliant success against the Parthians of Persia who had invaded Mesopotamia in Asia, Severus sailed to Britain to quell a revolt there in 208. He travelled with his army to the north of the island, where he led an expedition against the Caledonians and re-established Hadrian's Wall as the northern boundary of Roman Britain. He died at York on February 4, 211, and was succeeded by his son, Caracalla.

Severus's reign marks a period of both juridical and military reform. He allowed ex-officers to hold civil service jobs, improved the soldiers' conditions, created a new imperial treasury, and reduced the power of the Senate and the Italian aristocracy.