Sextus Julius Severus

Sextus Julius Severus governed Britain and was sent from it to end the Bar Kokhba revolt. He came from a family in Dalmatia, held a consulship around 127, and governed Dacia and then Lower Moesia before being appointed to Britain around 131. Cassius Dio describes him as the most capable of Hadrian's generals, which is why he was moved. The revolt in Judaea broke out in 132 under Simon bar Kokhba, and it was far better prepared than the rising of 66. The rebels had accumulated weapons, had constructed and connected hundreds of underground complexes for concealment and ambush across the countryside, and had established an independent administration issuing its own coinage. Roman losses in the first year were severe enough that Hadrian is said to have omitted the customary formula about the health of himself and the army from a dispatch to the Senate, and a legion may have been destroyed. Severus arrived around 133 or 134 and changed the method entirely. He declined open battle, which the rebels' knowledge of the ground made costly, and instead reduced the country position by position — isolating strongholds, blocking the tunnel systems, cutting off food and water, and accepting that it would take years. Dio records fifty fortified places and 985 villages destroyed and 580,000 killed in the fighting, and states that many more died of famine and disease. The last stand was at Betar in 135. Judaea was renamed Syria Palaestina, and Jews were barred from Jerusalem. He was rewarded with the governorship of Syria.

• Lived: 80 CE – 150 CE
• Nationality: Roman
• Roles: general