Septimius Severus

Septimius Severus was the first African-born Roman emperor and told his sons to enrich the soldiers and despise everyone else. Born at Leptis Magna in Libya in AD 145 into a wealthy equestrian family of Punic descent, he spoke Latin with an accent that was remarked on and had a sister whose Latin was so poor he sent her home. He rose through the senatorial career and was governing Pannonia in AD 193 when Commodus was murdered, Pertinax killed and the empire auctioned to Didius Julianus. His legions proclaimed him, and he marched on Rome, reaching it before his rivals. He executed the Praetorian Guard's murderers of Pertinax, disbanded the entire corps, and replaced it with men drawn from his own frontier legions — ending the Italian monopoly on the guard. He then destroyed his rivals in turn: Pescennius Niger in the east by AD 194, and Clodius Albinus at Lugdunum in AD 197 in a battle involving perhaps 150,000 men. Executions of Albinus's senatorial supporters followed. He raised soldiers' pay substantially, permitted them to marry legally, opened the centurionate to promotion from the ranks, and added three legions. The army became the basis of the state, which is his lasting change and an expensive one. He campaigned against Parthia, sacking Ctesiphon in AD 197, and annexed Mesopotamia. He rebuilt Leptis Magna magnificently and reformed the law with the jurists Papinian and Ulpian. He invaded Caledonia in AD 208 and died at Eboracum, modern York, in February AD 211. His sons Caracalla and Geta succeeded jointly and the arrangement lasted ten months.

• Lived: 145 CE – 211 CE
• Nationality: Libyan
• Roles: ruler, general