Septimius Severus : the African emperor (Rev. ed)

Septimius Severus, the African Emperor, was descended from Phoenician settlers in Tripolitania, and his reign, AD 193-211, represents a turning point in Roman history.

Anthony R. Birley's biography explores how 'Roman' or otherwise this man was and examines his remarkable background and career.

In the first part of the biography, Anthony R. Birley explores what was African and what was Roman in Septimius' background, given that he came from an African city, Lepcis Magna, which prospered under Roman domination.

In the second part of the book, Septimius' career as a Roman senator in the age of Antonines is studied, including his second marriage to Julia Domna which led to a conspiracy to overthrow the deranged emperor Commodus and the dramatic civil wars of 193-197 which concluded with Septimius as victor.

The final part of Anthony R. Birley's book examines Septimius' reign, most of which was spent in the provinces.

Septimius greatly extended the eastern frontiers and returned in triumph to his native Africa in 202-3.

He died at York after a three-year campaign aimed at reconquering the whole of Scotland.

In this well-illustrated and stimulating biography, Anthony R. Birley looks at the multi-faceted and sometimes conflicting character of this strange and enigmatic emperor.

He asks whether Septimius was a 'typical cosmopolitan bureaucrat', a 'new Hannibal on the throne of the Caesars' or the 'principal author of the decline of the Roman empire'?