Emperor Alexander Severus
Emperor Alexander Severus

Author: John S. McHugh

Publisher: Pen and Sword

Published: 2017-06-30

Total Pages: 503

ISBN-13: 1473845823

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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 reassesses this fascinating emperor in detail.

Exercitus Moesiae
Exercitus Moesiae

Author: Conor Whately

Publisher: British Archaeological Reports Oxford Limited

Published: 2016

Total Pages: 124

ISBN-13: 9781407314754

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This book is a military organisational history of the Roman Empire on the lower Danube from the emperor Augustus (r. 27 BC-AD 14) to the emperor Severus Alexander (r. AD 222-235). Using a diverse body of evidence, from Roman military diplomas to funerary inscriptions and literary sources, the book looks at changes in troop disposition involving the legions, auxiliary units, the vexillations and the naval units based in Moesia Superior and Inferior, and around the northern and western coasts of the Black Sea. The book also examines the emplacement of the region's units, and contextualises both the disposition of troops and their emplacement in terms of regional strategy and the strategy of the empire as a whole. Besides the discussion and analysis, the book also includes detailed maps of the region and useful tables that summarise the results.

Under Divine Auspices
Under Divine Auspices

Author: Clare Rowan

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 321

ISBN-13: 1107020123

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Exploration of the role played by deities in the negotiation of imperial power under the Severan dynasty (AD 193-235).

Emperors and Usurpers
Emperors and Usurpers

Author: Andrew G. Scott

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2018

Total Pages: 217

ISBN-13: 0190879599

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This historical commentary examines books 79(78)-80(80) of Cassius Dio's Roman History, which cover the period from the death of Caracalla in A. D. 217. to the reign of Severus Alexander and Cassius Dio's retirement from political life in 229. Cassius Dio, a Roman Senator, provides a valuable eyewitness account of this turbulent period, which was marked by the assassination of Caracalla, the rise of Macrinus, Rome's first equestrian emperor, and his subsequent overthrow, the tempestuous, and by all accounts peculiar, reign of Elagabalus, and the continuation of the Severan dynasty under the young Severus Alexander. In addition to elucidating important passages from these books, this study assesses Cassius Dio's political life and its relationship to his literary career; his call to history and time of composition; his historical method; and his attitude toward and subsequent presentation of the later Severan dynasty. In its investigation of books 79(78)-80(80), the work assesses an important stretch of Dio's actual text, which for other parts has been preserved largely in epitome and excerpts. Finally, the work aims to fill a gap in scholarship, as no commentary on these books of Cassius Dio's history has been produced since the nineteenth century, and its publication coincides with a renewed interest in the history and historiography of the Severan period.

Emperor Alexander Severus
Emperor Alexander Severus

Author: John S McHugh

Publisher: Pen & Sword Books

Published: 2017-06-30

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 9781473845817

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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 reassesses this fascinating emperor in detail.

The Antonine Constitution
The Antonine Constitution

Author: Alex Imrie

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2018-05-29

Total Pages: 191

ISBN-13: 900436823X

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In The Antonine Constitution, Alex Imrie approaches the famous edict of AD 212 from numerous angles, offering an assessment of its rationale that is rooted in the dynamic period of the early third century. Controversial since its discovery, it is depicted here as a keystone in Caracalla’s attempt to revolutionise the public image of the Severan dynasty after murdering his brother. There is an inherent paradox between the apparently progressive nature of the edict, and the volatile emperor responsible for it. The enigma is only heightened by a dearth of ancient evidence relating to the legislation. By combining literary and material evidence with the surviving papyrological record, Alex Imrie shows that Caracalla’s rationale is best understood in an embedded context.

Imperial Authority and Dissent
Imperial Authority and Dissent

Author: Karen Haegemans

Publisher:

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9789042921511

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This volume provides a highly detailed study of the short and troubled reign of Maximinus Thrax. Haegemans asks why Maximinus had such difficulty in consolidating his rule, examining the reasons behind senatorial hostility, the causes of the revolt which brought him down, and why it spread so widely.

The Intellectual Climate of Cassius Dio
The Intellectual Climate of Cassius Dio

Author: Adam M. Kemezis

Publisher: Historiography of Rome and Its

Published: 2022

Total Pages: 524

ISBN-13: 9789004510487

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"Cassius Dio (c. 160-c. 230) is a familiar name to Roman historians, but still an enigmatic one. His text has shaped our understanding of his own period and earlier eras, but basic questions remain about his Greek and Roman cultural identities and his literary and intellectual influences. Contributors to this volume read Dio against different backgrounds including the politics of the Severan court, the cultural milieu of the Second Sophistic and Roman traditions of historiography and political theory. Dio emerges as not just a recounter of events, but a representative of his times in all their complexity"--