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39-480: Severans can refer to: the Severan dynasty , a lineage of Roman emperors the followers of Severus of Antioch See also [ edit ] Severians (disambiguation) Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Severans . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change

78-530: A Libyan - punic family of equestrian rank. He rose through military service to consular rank under the later emperors of the Antonine dynasty . He married Syrian noblewoman Julia Domna and had two children with her: Caracalla and Geta . Julia Domna also held a prominent political role in government during her husband's reign. Severus was proclaimed emperor in 193 by his legionaries in Noricum during

117-484: A rapid rate of turnover in the imperial succession. The praetorians thus came to destabilize the Roman state, contrary to their purpose. The praetorian prefect became a major administrative figure in the later empire, when the post combined in one individual the duties of an imperial chief of staff with direct command over the guard also. Diocletian greatly reduced the power of these prefects as part of his sweeping reform of

156-687: The Alamanni . The Baths of Caracalla in Rome are the most enduring monument of his rule. He was assassinated en route to a campaign against the Parthians by a member of the Praetorian Guard . The younger son of Septimius Severus, Geta was made co- augustus alongside his father and older brother Caracalla. Unlike the much more successful joint reign of Marcus Aurelius ( r.  161–180 ) and his brother Lucius Verus ( r.  161–169 )

195-533: The 3rd century. His prosecution of the war against a Germanic invasion of Gaul led to his overthrow by his own troops, whose regard the 27-year-old had lost during the affair. His death was the epochal event beginning the troubled Crisis of the Third Century , where a succession of briefly-reigning military emperors, rebellious generals, and counter-claimants presided over governmental chaos, civil war , general instability and great economic disruption. He

234-544: The Jews." Severus continued official persecution of Christians , who did not assimilate their beliefs to the official syncretistic creed. Severus died while campaigning in Britain. He was succeeded by his sons Caracalla and Geta, whom he had elevated as co-emperors in the years preceding his death. The growing hostility between the brothers was initially buffered by Julia Domna's mediation. The eldest son of Severus, he

273-577: The army of Elagabalus near Antioch . Despite a good fight by the Praetorian Guard, his soldiers were defeated. Macrinus managed to escape to Chalcedon but his authority was lost. He was betrayed and executed after a reign of only 14 months. Marcus Opelius Diadumenianus (known as Diadumenian ) was the son of Macrinus , born in 208. He was given the imperial rank of caesar in 217, when his father became augustus . After his father's defeat outside Antioch, he tried to escape east to Parthia but

312-404: The background. The tetrarchy reform of Diocletian ( c.  296 ) multiplied the office: there was a praetorian prefect as chief of staff (military and administrative)—rather than commander of the guard—for each of the two Augusti, but not for the two Caesars. Each praetorian prefect oversaw one of the four quarters created by Diocletian, which became regional praetorian prefectures for

351-495: The emperor's acclamation by the Third Gallica Legion. On March 6, 222, when Alexander was 14, a rumour went around the city's troops that Alexander had been killed, ironically triggering his ascension as emperor. Elagabalus was said to have initiated the rumour or attempted to murder Alexander. The 18-year-old Elagabalus and his mother were taken from the palace, dragged through the streets, murdered and thrown in

390-485: The empire's administrative and military structures. In addition to his military functions, the praetorian prefect came to acquire jurisdiction over criminal affairs, which he exercised not as the delegate but as the representative of the emperor. By the time of Diocletian he had become a kind of grand-vizier as the emperor's vice-regent and 'prime minister.' Constantine removed active military command in 312. The prefect remained as chief quarter-master general responsible for

429-535: The establishment of the post in 2 BC by Augustus until the abolishment of the Guard in 314. The list is presumed to be incomplete due to the lack of sources documenting the exact number of persons who held the post, what their names were and what the length of their tenure was. Likewise, the Praetorians were sometimes commanded by a single prefect, as was the case with for example Sejanus or Burrus , but more often

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468-464: The highest civil office of the empire. With the fall of the western part of the Empire into the hands of warlords, these, in order to have support in their new domains, recognized the supremacy of the emperor of the eastern part, reuniting at least de iure the Empire under him, the prefectures were maintained as a way of delimiting the new viceroyalties : This recognition would be maintained until

507-614: The highest-level administrative division of the Empire. The prefects again functioned as the chief ministers of the state, with many laws addressed to them by name. In this role, praetorian prefects continued to be appointed by the Eastern Roman Empire (and the Ostrogothic Kingdom ) until the reign of Heraclius in the 7th century AD, when wide-ranging reforms reduced their power and converted them to mere overseers of provincial administration. The last traces of

546-406: The imperial household until, under Caracalla, he was made prefect of the Praetorian Guard. On account of the cruelty and the treachery of the emperor, Macrinus became involved in a conspiracy to kill him and ordered the Praetorian Guard to do so. On April 8, 217, Caracalla was assassinated travelling to Carrhae . Three days later, Macrinus was declared augustus . His most significant early decision

585-403: The link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Severans&oldid=1191146620 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Severan dynasty The dynasty's control over the empire

624-486: The logistical supply of the army. The prefect was the chief financial officer whose office drew up the global imperial budget. His office drew up the state liturgical obligations laid on the richer inhabitants of the Empire. He ceased to be head of administration which had to be shared with the master of the offices attached to the palace. Constantine in 331 confirmed that from the sentence of the praetorian praefect there should be no appeal. A similar jurisdiction in civil cases

663-624: The political unrest that followed the death of Commodus and secured sole rule over the empire in 197 after defeating his last rival, Clodius Albinus , at the Battle of Lugdunum . Severus fought a successful war against the Parthians , campaigned with success against barbarian incursions in Roman Britain and rebuilt Hadrian's Wall . In Rome, his relations with the Senate were poor, but he

702-403: The post was open to senators also, and if an equestrian was appointed he was at the same time raised to the senate. Down to the time of Constantine, who deprived the office of its military character, the prefecture of the guards was regularly held by tried soldiers, often by men who had fought their way up from the ranks. In course of time the command seems to have been enlarged so as to include all

741-480: The prefecture disappeared in the Byzantine Empire by the 840s. The term praefectus praetorio was often abbreviated in inscriptions as "PR PR" or "PPO". Under the empire the praetorians or imperial guards were commanded by one, two, or even three praefects (praefecti praetorio), who were chosen by the emperor from among the equites and held office at his pleasure. From the time of Alexander Severus

780-531: The previous century, relations were hostile between the two Severan brothers after their father's death. Geta was assassinated in their mother's apartments by order of Caracalla, who then ruled as sole emperor. Marcus Opelius Macrinus was born in 164 at Caesarea in Mauretania (now Cherchell , Algeria ). Although coming from a humble background not dynastically related to the Severan dynasty; he rose through

819-482: The restoration of the Severan dynasty and persuaded soldiers from the Gallic Third Legion , which was stationed near Emesa, by using her enormous wealth as well as the claim that Caracalla had slept with her daughter and that the boy was his bastard to swear fealty to Elagabalus. He was later invited alongside his mother and daughters to the military camp, clad in imperial purple and crowned as emperor by

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858-638: The rise of Justinian I , who ended the Ostrogothic and Vandal domains, but continued to recognize the Franks (as they were both Catholics) and the Visigoths (due to the lack of strength to continue the Recuperatio Imperii , but managing to establish a pro-Byzantine king, Athanagild , and the conquest of Spania ). The following is a list of all known prefects of the Praetorian Guard, from

897-481: The river Tiber by the Praetorian Guard, which proclaimed Alexander Severus as Augustus. Ruling from the age of 14 under the influence of his mother, Julia Avita Mamaea , Alexander restored to some extent the moderation that had characterised the rule of Septimius Severus . The rising strength of the Sasanian Empire ( r.  226–651 ) heralded perhaps the greatest external challenge that Rome faced in

936-600: The scenes included Julia Maesa, sister of Julia Domna, and Maesa's two daughters Julia Soaemias , mother of Elagabalus , and Julia Avita Mamaea , mother of Severus Alexander. Also of interest, Publia Fulvia Plautilla , daughter of Gaius Fulvius Plautianus , the Prefect Commander of the Praetorian Guard, was married to but despised by Caracalla, who had her exiled and eventually executed. Praetorian prefect The praetorian prefect ( Latin : praefectus praetorio ; Greek : ἔπαρχος/ὕπαρχος τῶν πραιτωρίων )

975-399: The soldiers. His reign in Rome has long been known for being outrageous although the historical sources are few and in many cases not to be fully trusted. He is said to have smothered guests at a banquet by flooding the room with rose petals, married his male lover (who was later referred to as the "empress's husband") and married a Vestal Virgin called Aquilia Severa . Dio suggests that he

1014-446: The title of caesar from his cousin, which enraged the Praetorian Guard. Elagabalus, his mother, and other advisors close to him were assassinated in a Praetorian Guard camp mutiny. Born Marcus Julius Gessius Bassianus Alexianus in around 208, Alexander was adopted as heir apparent by his slightly older and very unpopular cousin, Elagabalus, at the urging of Julia Maesa , who was the grandmother of both cousins and who had arranged for

1053-462: The troops in Italy except the corps commanded by the city praefect ( cohortes urbanae ). The special position of the praetorians made them a power in their own right in the Roman state, and their prefect , the praefectus praetorio , soon became one of the more powerful men in this society. The emperors tried to flatter and control the praetorians, but they staged many coups d'état and contributed to

1092-630: The upheaval of the late 2nd century, the dynasty was disturbed by highly unstable family relationships and constant political turmoil, which foreshadowed the imminent Crisis of the Third Century . In particular, the discord between Caracalla and Geta and the tension between Elagabalus and Severus Alexander added to the turmoil. Lucius Septimius Severus was born in Leptis Magna , then in the Roman province of Africa Proconsularis and now in Libya , into

1131-472: The young sons of Constantine ca 330 A.D. From 395 there were two imperial courts, at Rome (later Ravenna ) and Constantinople , but the four prefectures remained as the highest level of administrative division, in charge of several dioceses (groups of Roman provinces ), each of which was headed by a Vicarius . Under Constantine I , the institution of the magister militum deprived the praetorian prefecture altogether of its military character but left it

1170-515: Was transgender and offered large sums to the physician who could give him female genitalia. Seeing that her grandson's outrageous behaviour could mean the loss of power, Julia Maesa persuaded Elagabalus to accept his young cousin Severus Alexander as caesar (and thus the nominal future augustus ). Alexander was popular with the troops, who increasingly objected to Elagabalus's behaviour. Jealous of this popularity, Elagabalus removed

1209-546: Was a high office in the Roman Empire . Originating as the commander of the Praetorian Guard , the office gradually acquired extensive legal and administrative functions, with its holders becoming the Emperor's chief aides. Under Constantine I , the office was much reduced in power and transformed into a purely civilian administrative post, while under his successors, territorially-defined praetorian prefectures emerged as

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1248-463: Was acquired by him not later than the time of Septimius Severus . Hence a knowledge of law became a qualification for the post, which under Marcus Aurelius and Commodus , but especially from the time of Severus, was held by the first jurists of the age, (e.g. Papinian , Ulpian , Paulus ) and, under Justinianus , John the Cappadocian , while the military qualification fell more and more into

1287-542: Was born Lucius Septimius Bassianus in Lugdunum , Gaul. "Caracalla" was a nickname referring to the Gallic hooded tunic that he habitually wore even while he slept. Years before his father's death, Caracalla was proclaimed co- augustus with his father, and later his younger brother Geta. Conflict between the two culminated in the assassination of the latter less than a year after their father's death. Reigning alone, Caracalla

1326-561: Was captured and killed. Elagabalus was born Varius Avitus Bassianus in 204 and became known later as Marcus Aurelius Antonius. The name "Elagabalus" followed the Latin nomenclature for the Syrian sun god Elagabal , of whom he had become a priest at an early age. Elagabal was represented by a large, dark rock called a baetyl . Elagabalus's grandmother, Julia Maesa , Julia Domna's sister and sister-in-law of Emperor Septimius Severus, arranged for

1365-495: Was interrupted by the joint reigns of Macrinus ( r.  217–218 ) and his son Diadumenian ( r.  218 ). The dynasty's women, including Julia Domna, the mother of Caracalla and Geta, and her nieces Julia Soaemias and Julia Mamaea , the mothers respectively of Elagabalus and Severus Alexander, and their own mother, Julia Maesa , were all powerful augustae and instrumental in securing their sons' imperial positions. Although Septimius Severus restored peace following

1404-413: Was noted for lavish bribes to the legionaries and unprecedented cruelty by authorising numerous assassinations of perceived enemies and rivals. Caracalla was also indifferent to the full responsibilities of the empire during his reign and handed them over to his mother, Julia Domna, who took part in a provincial tour and military campaign and accompanied her son. He campaigned with indifferent success against

1443-514: Was popular with the commoners and with his soldiers, whose salary he raised. Starting in 197, his praetorian prefect , Gaius Fulvius Plautianus , was growing in influence, but he would be executed in 205. One of Plautianus's successors was the jurist Papinian , a relative of Julia Domna. The Jews experienced more favorable conditions under the Severan dynasty . According to Jerome , both Septimius Severus and Antoninus "very greatly cherished

1482-516: Was succeeded by Maximinus Thrax ( r.  235–238 ), the first of a series of weak emperors, each ruling on average only 2 to 3 years, which ended 50 years later with the Tetrarchy instituted in the reign of Diocletian ( r.  284–305 ). The women of the Severan dynasty, beginning with Septimius Severus's wife Julia Domna, were notably active in advancing the careers of their male relatives. Other notable women who exercised power behind

1521-595: Was to make peace with the Parthian Empire , but many thought that the terms were degrading to the Romans. However, his downfall was his refusal to award the pay and privileges promised to the eastern troops by Caracalla. He also kept those forces wintered in Syria, where they became attracted to the young Elagabalus . After months of mild rebellion by the bulk of the army in Syria, Macrinus took his loyal troops to meet

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