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'The order was brutal, its message unequivocal – kill the men, women and children of what is now Scotland and don’t shed a tear for any of them.' - The ScotsmanThe SpectatorSince 1975 much new archaeological evidence has come to light to illuminate the immense undertaking of Septimius Severus’ campaigns in Scotland, allowing for the first time the true story of this savage invasion to be told. In the early 3rd century Severus, the ageing Roman emperor, launched an immense ‘shock and awe’ assault on Scotland that was so savage it resulted in eighty years of peace at Rome’s most troublesome border. The book shows how his force of 50,000 troops, supported by the fleet, hacked their way through the Maeatae around the former Antonine Wall and then pressed on into Caledonian territory up to the Moray Firth.Severus was the first of the great reforming emperors of the Roman military, and his reforms are explained in the context of how he concentrated power around the imperial throne. There is also an in-depth look at the political, economic and social developments that occurred in the Province.This book will particularly appeal to those who are keen to learn more about the narrative of Rome’s military presence in Britain, and especially the great campaigns of which Severus’ assault on Scotland is the best example.

In this, the only biography of Septimius Severus in English, Anthony R. Birley explors how 'Roman' or otherwise this man was and examines his remarkable background and career.Severus was descended from Phoenician settlers in Tripolitania, and his reign, AD 193-211, represents a key point in Roman history. Birley explores what was African and what was Roman in Septimius' background, given that he came from an African city. He asks whether Septimius was a 'typical cosmopolitan bureaucrat', a 'new Hannibal on the throne of Caesar' or 'principle author of the decline of the Roman Empire'?

Alexander Severus' is full of controversy and contradictions. He came to the throne through the brutal murder of his cousin, Elagabalus, and was ultimately assassinated himself. The years between were filled with regular uprisings and rebellions, court intrigue (the Praetorian Guard slew their commander at the Emperor's feet) and foreign invasion. Yet the ancient sources generally present his reign as a golden age of just government, prosperity and religious tolerance Not yet fourteen when he became emperor, Alexander was dominated by his mother, Julia Mammaea and advisors like the historian, Cassius Dio. In the military field, he successfully checked the aggressive Sassanid Persians but some sources see his Persian campaign as a costly failure marked by mutiny and reverses that weakened the army. When Germanic and Sarmatian tribes crossed the Rhine and Danube frontiers in 234, Alexander took the field against them but when he attempted to negotiate to buy time, his soldiers perceived him as weak, assassinated him and replaced him with the soldier Maximinus Thrax. John McHugh re-assesses this fascinating emperor in detail.

This biography of Severus, the patriarch of Antioch from 512-518 CE, attributed to his schoolmate Zachariah of Mytilene, gives unique information about life in Mediterranean region in the second half of the 5th century. These two young men from wealthy families became involved with a Christian movement, the "philoponoi," "those devoted to work" who combined asceticism with theological study. The work, originally in Greek, survives only in Syriac, which this volume presents alongside the first English translation of it. It is an important source for studies on Ancient Biography, Late Antiquity, and Early Christianity.

This is the first monograph to examine in detail the Ludi Saeculares (Secular Games) of Septimius Severus and argues that the games represented a radical shift from Antonine imperial ideology. To garner popular support and to legitimise his power, Severus conducted an intensive propaganda campaign, but how did he use the ludi to strengthen his power, and what were the messages he conveyed through them? The central theme is ritual, and the idea of ritual as a process that builds collective identity. The games symbolised the new Severan political and social vision and they embodied the idea of Roman identity and the image of Roman society which the emperor wished to promote. The programme of the games was recorded in a stone inscription and this text is analysed in detail, translated into English and contextualised in the socio-political aims of Septimius Severus.

The assassination of Emperor Commodus in 192 sparked a civil war. Septimius Severus emerged as the eventual victor and his dynasty (the Severans) ruled until 235\. He fought numerous campaigns, against both internal rivals and external enemies, extending the Empire to the east (adding Mesopotamia), the south (in Africa) and the north (beyond Hadrian's Wall). The military aspects of his reign, including his reforms of the army, are the main focus of this new study.After discussing his early career and governorship of Pannonia, Michael Sage narrates his war with Pescennius Niger, the siege of Byzantium, and the campaign in northern Mesopotamia that added it as a province. The much more difficult campaign against Clodius Albinus in Gaul is also studied in detail, as is that in North Africa. The narrative concludes with an account of the last campaign in Britain and Severus' death. The final chapters analyse Septimius' reforms of the army and assess their impact on events of the next seventy years until the accession of Diocletian.�His greatest weakness was his love for his family. Like Marcus Aurelius he loved his children too much. They failed to maintain what he had bequeathed them.

One ancient source called Severus the most warlike of all men who had lived up to that moment in time. The rise of Septimius Severus to power started the dominance of the military in Roman affairs and it was because of this that Septimius's advice for his sons was nothing less than: 'Be harmonious, enrich the soldiers, and scorn all other men!'Ilkka Syvanne explains in detail how the African Septimius Severus achieved his position, how he won his wars and battles and how he used his newly gained power to secure his family's position. He reveals how he reformed the state and its military, and how he used these remodelled forces in wars of conquest to prove his worth as emperor to both the soldiers and the populace. This biography offers the first complete overview of the policies, events and military campaigns of Severus' reign in the fullest detail allowed by the sources. It also explains how and why these contributed to the military crisis of the third century and discusses the legacy he left for his son, Caracalla, who followed him in both his good and bad traits.

Written between the mid-fourth and late sixth centuries to commemorate and glorify the achievements of early Christian saints, these six biographies depict men who devoted themselves to solitude, poverty and prayer. Athanasius records Antony's extreme seclusion in the Egyptian desert, despite temptation by the devil and visits from his followers. Jerome also shows those who fled persecution or withdrew from society to pursue lives of chastity and asceticism in his accounts of Paul of Thebes, Hilarion and Malchus. In his Life of Martin, Sulpicius Severus describes the achievements of a man who combined the roles of monk, bishop and missionary, while Gregory the Great tells of Benedict, whose Rule became the template for monastic life. Full of vivid incidents and astonishing miracles, these Lives have provided inspiration as models for centuries of Christian worship.

This book provides an edited text, introduction, and the first English translation of a central document in the history of religious coercion in late antiquity: Severus of Minorca's Letter on the Conversion of the Jews. The Letter describes the forced conversion of the Jews of Minorca to Christianity in AD 418, allegedly under the influence of St Stephen's relics. Although ostensibly a hagiographical work, the Letter is fundamentally an anti-Jewish document, and therein lies its interest for historians. It offers a fascinating perspective on Jewish-Christian relations in a Mediterranean town, and on the motives for religious intolerance in the unsettled ages of the Germanic invasions. In addition, its wealth of information about a diaspora Jewish community in the western empire makes it unique among the surviving sources.

The Vita Martini or Life of Martin of Sulpicius Severus is one of the classic Latin hagiographies. Its hero, Martin, was one of the first monks in the Western Roman Empire, and was also one of the first monk-bishops. His life, as presented by Sulpicius, is a series of confrontations: with various Emperors and other leading figures in the Roman state, with members of the 'Arian heresy', Christians whose theology of the Trinity placed them at odds with exponents of 'Nicene' Christianity, with the his lax and venal fellow-bishops in Gaul, and above all with the Devil, whose various shows of strength and guile Martin faces down. The Vita Martini is a brilliant combination of Christian and classical culture, providing allusions both to the Bible and to authors such as Virgil and Sallust throughout. In addition to its intrinsic literary and historical interest, it is also an ideal first example of a 'real Latin' text, with a series of vivid, anecdotal episodes. This edition provides a Latin text with facing English translation, along with a commentary addressing matters of linguistic, literary, theological, and wider cultural interest, taking into account the revolution in the study of 'late antiquity' in the last fifty years.

In this, the only biography of Septimius Severus in English, Anthony R. Birley explors how 'Roman' or otherwise this man was and examines his remarkable background and career.Severus was descended from Phoenician settlers in Tripolitania, and his reign, AD 193-211, represents a key point in Roman history. Birley explores what was African and what was Roman in Septimius' background, given that he came from an African city. He asks whether Septimius was a 'typical cosmopolitan bureaucrat', a 'new Hannibal on the throne of Caesar' or 'principle author of the decline of the Roman Empire'?

In the first book to be devoted exclusively to Severus, well-known author in the field, Pauline Allen, focuses on a fascinating figure who is seen simultaneously as both a saint and a heretic.Part of our popular Early Church Fathers series, this volume translates a key selection of Severus' writings which survived in many other languages. Shedding light on his key opposition to the Council of Chalcedon and rehabilitates his reputation as a key figure of late antiquity, is examines his his life and times, thinking, homiletic abilities and his pastoral concerns.Severus was patriarch of Antioch on the Orontes in Syria from 512-518. Though he is venerated as an important saint in the Old Oriental Christian tradition, he has mostly been regarded as a heretic elsewhere; and as his works were condemned by imperial edict in 536, very little has survived in the original Greek.

In the first book to be devoted exclusively to Severus, well-known author in the field, Pauline Allen, focuses on a fascinating figure who is seen simultaneously as both a saint and a heretic.Part of our popular Early Church Fathers series, this volume translates a key selection of Severus' writings which survived in many other languages. Shedding light on his key opposition to the Council of Chalcedon and rehabilitates his reputation as a key figure of late antiquity, is examines his his life and times, thinking, homiletic abilities and his pastoral concerns.Severus was patriarch of Antioch on the Orontes in Syria from 512-518. Though he is venerated as an important saint in the Old Oriental Christian tradition, he has mostly been regarded as a heretic elsewhere; and as his works were condemned by imperial edict in 536, very little has survived in the original Greek.

The third century of the Roman Empire is a confused and sparsely documented period, punctuated by wars, victorious conquests and ignominious losses, and a recurring cycle of rebellions that saw several Emperors created and eliminated by the Roman armies. In AD 260 the Empire almost collapsed, and yet by the end of the third century the Roman world was brought back together and survived for another two hundred years. In this new edition of The Roman Empire from Severus to Constantine, Patricia Southern examines the anarchic era of the soldier Emperors that preceded the crisis of AD 260, and the reigns of underrated and sometimes maligned Emperors such as Gallienus, Probus and Aurelian, whose determination and hard work reunited and re-established the Empire. Their achievements laid the foundations for the absolutist, sacrosanct rule of Diocletian, honed to ruthless perfection by Constantine, whose reign transformed the pagan Empire into a Christian state. The successes and failures of the rulers of the Roman world of the third century, and the role of the armies and the civilians, are re-assessed in this revised and expanded edition of The Roman Empire from Severus to Constantine, which incorporates the latest thinking of modern scholars and has been extended to cover the reign of Constantine and the foundations he laid on which the Christian empire was built. This is a crucial volume for students of this fascinating period in Roman history, and provides invaluable background for anyone interested in the "fall of Rome", the adoption of Christianity, and the establishment of the Byzantine Empire.

The third century of the Roman Empire is a confused and sparsely documented period, punctuated by wars, victorious conquests and ignominious losses, and a recurring cycle of rebellions that saw several Emperors created and eliminated by the Roman armies. In AD 260 the Empire almost collapsed, and yet by the end of the third century the Roman world was brought back together and survived for another two hundred years. In this new edition of The Roman Empire from Severus to Constantine, Patricia Southern examines the anarchic era of the soldier Emperors that preceded the crisis of AD 260, and the reigns of underrated and sometimes maligned Emperors such as Gallienus, Probus and Aurelian, whose determination and hard work reunited and re-established the Empire. Their achievements laid the foundations for the absolutist, sacrosanct rule of Diocletian, honed to ruthless perfection by Constantine, whose reign transformed the pagan Empire into a Christian state. The successes and failures of the rulers of the Roman world of the third century, and the role of the armies and the civilians, are re-assessed in this revised and expanded edition of The Roman Empire from Severus to Constantine, which incorporates the latest thinking of modern scholars and has been extended to cover the reign of Constantine and the foundations he laid on which the Christian empire was built. This is a crucial volume for students of this fascinating period in Roman history, and provides invaluable background for anyone interested in the "fall of Rome", the adoption of Christianity, and the establishment of the Byzantine Empire.