Lucius Septimius Severus

Lucius Septimius Severus (146-211), Roman emperor (193-211), who accentuated the military and despotic character of the imperial office. He was born in Lepcis Magna (near the modern city of Al Khums, Libya). After receiving a law education in Rome, Severus held a number of military and political titles. He became quaestor militaris, a revenue collector for the military, 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 by purchasing the throne from the Praetorian Guard. He 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, who was a rival for the throne, and captured the ancient city of Byzantium. In 197 Severus defeated the Roman general Decimus Clodius Albinus, who had been proclaimed emperor by his legions. After successfully defeating the Parthians of Persia who had invaded Mesopotamia in Asia, Severus sailed to Britain to quell a revolt there in 208. He traveled with his army to the north of the island, where he led an expedition against the Caledonians and reestablished Hadrian's Wall as the northern boundary of Roman Britain. He died at York and was succeeded by his son, Caracalla.

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