The Severan Dynasty

The negative feelings about Commodus’s behavior spread throughout the imperial court; even his sister joined one plot against him. Commodus later ordered her execution. In 192, however, a second plot succeeded and Commodus was assassinated. For several months the empire was in turmoil, and another civil war erupted. Two men briefly served as emperor, but both were murdered. Septimius Severus (146-211), a general fighting along the Danube, finally emerged as the new emperor and the founder of the Severan Dynasty. After defeating his rivals, Septimius fought briefly with Parthia, adding territory in Mesopotamia, and he also made new gains in Africa. Later in his reign he tried to extend Roman control into Scotland, but the local tribes used guerrilla tactics to drive off the Romans.

Septimius was more of a soldier than a politician, and he counted on the support of his troops to preserve his power. He gave his soldiers raises. The soldiers on the frontier were especially important to him, since the empire faced constant threats from invaders, so he allowed

Them to marry native women who lived near the frontier forts. Septi-mius also spent money on building projects in the provinces, trying to balance the amount of attention they received compared to the Italian peninsula.

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The Antonines on Film

In 2001, the movie Gladiator won the Academy Award for Best Picture. The film was about a fictional Roman general, played by Russell Crowe, but its characters also included Marcus Aurelius and Commodus. The movie showed Commodus's love for the gladiatorial games— combat matches to the death. During the games, gladiators used an assortment of weapons against both animals and one another.

In Rome Septimius weakened the power of the Senate and tried to guarantee its loyalty to him. He executed some senators who had supported his rivals and brought in new ones from the provinces. A select group of personal advisors who met in council played a larger role in the government, replacing the Senate as the emperor’s main group of advisors.

After Septimius’s death in 211, his two sons, Geta (189-212) and Caracalla (188-217), briefly ruled as co-emperors, until Caracalla murdered his brother and assumed full control. Like his father, Caracalla spent a lot of time on the battlefield, because Rome faced constant threats from the Germanic tribes and Parthia. The Severan Dynasty was briefly broken in 217, when Macrinus (c. 164-218), a Praetorian prefect (commander of the Praetorian Guards), assassinated Caracalla. The next year, Septimius’s sister-in-law, Julia Maesa (d. 226), maneuvered her grandson Elagabalus (203-222) onto the throne, restoring some link to the old dynasty. Spreading the rumor that the boy was the son of Caracalla helped Julia win the army’s support for the new emperor.

After four years, a second grandson of Julia Maesa, Severus Alexander (208-235), came to power. He was only 14 years old at the time, and his mother Julia Mamaea (d. 235) and his grandmother actually ran the government. Finley Hooper, in Roman Realities, claims that under Alexander, “the affairs of Rome were, for the first and only time, in the hands of women.” He also says the two Julias were the best Roman “emperors” since Marcus Aurelius. They turned to the Senate for support and guidance, restoring some of the influence it had lost under Septimius.

During most of the Severan Dynasty the army had been at the center of imperial concerns. Keeping the forces strong-especially on the frontiers-and loyal were the keys to holding on to power. Severus Alexander, however, did not earn the same respect from the troops that

Septimius and Caracalla had. His mother had not given the soldiers the bonuses they had come to expect. Even worse, she and Alexander were ready to give money to Germanic tribes threatening the empire, instead of fighting them. In 235 the Roman troops in Germany revolted, killing both the emperor and his mother.

The end of the Severan Dynasty marked a turning point in Roman history. The country went through 50 years of civil war, with soldiers proclaiming one general after another the emperor. The internal fighting further weakened Rome’s borders, leaving the empire open to new attacks. Rome had reached its peak, and it now began a slow decline.

The Empire at Its Largest

The Roman Empire in 117, the year of Trajan’s death. The next emperor, Hadrian, realized that Trajan’s conquests were too difficult to defend and focused instead on strengthening the empire’s old borders.