Severan dynasty

The Severans were the Roman imperial dynasty associated with Septimius Severus and Julia Domna’s family. Septimius ruled in 193–211; Caracalla became Augustus in 198 and ruled alone after Geta’s death in December 211. Geta had held the title Augustus since 209.

After Caracalla’s assassination in 217, power briefly passed to Macrinus. Elagabalus replaced him in 218, followed by Severus Alexander in 222–235. The dynasty combined African, Italian and Syrian family connections rather than a single ethnic origin.

The dynasty depended on military support. Septimius Severus increased soldiers’ pay, broadened possibilities for family life and strengthened the role of men with military backgrounds in administration. This did not mean that every legionary immediately received land or became a colonus bound to it. The Senate and civil administration continued.

In 212 Caracalla extended Roman citizenship to nearly all free inhabitants of the empire; qualifications and exceptions remain debated. Citizenship did not itself grant exemption from all taxes. Rising military costs, changes in currency and succession struggles increased strain, but the later Roman army’s reforms cannot all be attributed to one Severan ruler.

Septimius Severus fought Parthia and consolidated Roman control of part of Mesopotamia in the late second century. The arch dedicated at Rome in 203 celebrated his victories and dynasty. His campaigns in northern Britain in 208–211 did not establish permanent conquest of all Caledonia.

He died at Eboracum, modern York, in February 211. Cassius Dio reports an instruction to his sons to remain united and look after the soldiers. Such last words form part of a ruler’s literary portrayal. Severus was deified after death.

After Septimius Severus died, Caracalla and Geta briefly ruled jointly. Geta was killed in December 211, followed by persecution of his supporters. Caracalla extended citizenship in 212. Military expenditure and fiscal interests mattered, but citizenship did not transform a previously wholly untaxed population into one uniform tax category.

Caracalla’s stay in Alexandria in 215 involved mass killings described by ancient authors; exact circumstances and casualty numbers are unknown. He was assassinated during an eastern campaign in 217. The praetorian prefect Macrinus succeeded him and ruled until 218.

Elagabalus, Caracalla’s relative and Julia Maesa’s grandson, became emperor in 218. Religious policy and court conflicts provoked resistance. Senatorial narratives and the later Historia Augusta contain numerous hostile anecdotes that cannot all be accepted without scrutiny. Elagabalus was killed in 222.

Severus Alexander ruled in 222–235. Wars against the Sasanians and Germanic groups coincided with fiscal pressure and army discontent. Soldiers killed him and his mother in 235, conventionally marking the beginning of the third-century crisis.

Related topics

• Roman Empire
• Emperors of Rome
• Antonine dynasty
• The Crisis of the last Antonines
• The crisis of the 3rd century in the Roman Empire

Literature and sources

• The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Roman Empire