Septimius Severus, Lucius
Septimius Severus, Lucius,emperor AD 193–211. The Septimii were of Punic African origin, his mother's family (Fulvii) of Italian descent. His equestrian (see equites) grandfather, probably identical with the poet Statius' friend Septimius Severus, was the leading figure at Lepcis Magna under Trajan; his father held no office, but two Septimii were already senators when Severus was born (145). One of them secured senatorial rank for him from Marcus Aurelius; he and his brother Geta had normal careers under Marcus and Commodus. Consul in 190, by now with a second wife, Julia Domna, and two young sons, he became governor of Pannonia Superior in 191 through the praetorian prefect Quintus Aemilius Laetus, a fellow-African. Twelve days after Pertinax's murder (28 March 193) he was proclaimed emperor at Carnuntum (9 April) as avenger of Pertinax, whose...
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