Severan dynasty
for Kids - more emperors of Rome. How could an emperor of Rome be from Africa?
Is that stuff in the Gladiator movie true?
The Severans
(continued from page one)
Julia Domna, Septimius Severus, Geta and Caracalla
But from the beginning Caracalla and Geta did not
get along.
By February 212
AD, Caracalla killed Geta,
and then even had his name and picture erased from
monuments
all over the Empire.
Caracalla
Caracalla fought wars througout his reign. He fought
the
Germans in the north,
successfully. Then he attacked the Parthians. But he was stabbed to
death by his own guards in 217
AD in the
middle of the
Parthian
war. The leader of the guards, Macrinus, proclaimed himself emperor.
Julia Domna
The Severan women, however, wanted to keep their
own family in power. Septimius Severus had married a woman named Julia
Domna, who was from an old and powerful
West
Asian family (from modern Syria). When Caracalla was killed, Julia
Domna starved herself to death, apparently as a protest against Macrinus.
Julia Maesa
But her older sister, Julia Maesa, did more. Julia
Maesa had two grandsons. She made one of them, who was known as Elagabalus,
emperor, and his armies, with her money, beat Macrinus in battle. Elagabalus
had the name of emperor, but really his grandma, Julia Maesa, ran the
empire. She made Elagabalus adopt his cousin, Alexander Severus (her
other grandchild) as his successor, as
Hadrian
had adopted Antoninus Pius for example.
Elagabalus and Alexander Severus
Julia Mamaea
But a plot by Alexander's mother, Julia Mamaea, got Elagabalus and
HIS mother killed in 222
AD. Now Julia Maesa
and Julia Mamaea ran the empire together. But they had one big problem:
as women, they could not lead the army themselves, and Alexander was
just a boy. When the new Sassanid power in Western Asia attacked, they
could not defend the Empire well. Soon the
Germans,
seeing this weakness, attacked in the north. Again Julia Mamaea could
not respond strongly enough. The army, also seeing the problem, killed
both Alexander and his mother (his grandma had already died).
To find out more about the Severans, check out these books from Amazon.com
or from your library:
The
Ancient Roman World, by Ronald Mellor (2004). Straight political
history, for middle schoolers.
Classical
Rome, by John Clare (1993). For kids, the whole political history
from beginning to end.
The
Romans: From Village to Empire, by Mary Boatwright, Daniel Gargola,
and Richard Talbert (2004). Okay, it's a little dry, but it is up to
date and has all the facts you could want.
The
Roman Empire, by Colin Wells (1984). More readable. Alternates chapters
on political and social history. Unfortunately, he stops at the third
century crisis.
The
Severans: The Changed Roman Empire, by Michael Grant (1996).
Septimius
Severus, by Anthony Birley (1971). Emphasizes the emperor's African
origins.
