Episode 41: Septimius Severus

Ah Commodus, who knew that this innocent looking young man, son of Marcus Aurelius, would take the splendid machine that was the Roman Empire and run it head on into a brick wall?

Leptis Magna vis-a-vis Rome, the heart of the Empire.

The theater at Leptis Magna.

The truly incredible quadrophonic arch erected by Septimius Severus at Leptis Magna. SO COOL!

The man, the myth, the legend, the African, Septimius Severus!

Julia Domna, powerful Augusta, wife of Sepitimius Severus.

Tintagel, birthplace of the mythical Arthur, not our Artorius (who was likely more in Campania, Italy).

The inscription,  penned by Lucius Artorius Castus himself, discovered in Croatia outside of Split, that gives us his life story.  

The ring of Artorius.

Artorius’ first posting as Centurion, with the Legio III Gallica.

Megiddo, home of the Legio VI Ferrata (the Iron Legion), and Artorius’ second posting as Centurion.

Maurcus Aurelius as a young man.

Marcus Aurelius as Emperor!

Faustina, the Empress, wife to Marcus Aurelius, daughter of Antoninus Pius.

Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, co-emperors.

Antoninus Pius, heir to Hadrian, fourth of the five Good Emperors.  We didn’t do an episode on him, but he was a remarkable, decent man, worthy of remembrance.

Lucilla, daughter of Marcus Aurelius, wife of Lucius Verus.

The Nerva-Antonine family tree.

Who said Italica didn’t have an amphitheater?

Hadrian himself, with that super beard that would become all the rage for the next couple hundred years.

Hadrian’s wife, the Augusta, Vibia Sabina.

The Empire that Hadrian inherited from Trajan.

The location of Hadrian’s Wall (and the latter Antonine Wall that would be built by Antoninus Pius and soon abandoned).

Italica!  Birthplace of Trajan (and Hadrian) in Hispania, a colony founded by Scipio Africanus for his veterans.

Trajan as Emperor, fully idealized, in his prime.  Did he ever look this good?

Plotina, perhaps the most grounded Roman Empress to ever live?

Timgad in Algeria, town that Trajan built in honor of his parents.

Apollodorus of Damascus, master architect  and engineer that literally sculpted Trajan’s reign, and ensured his legacy.

Footings from Trajan’s bridge over the Danube, subsequently dismantled by Hadrian.

Pliny’s first military posting, Germania Inferior.

The ceremonial insignia worn by Pliny’s cavalry wing bearing his name.

Run Pliny, run!  As we imagine Pliny on August 24 of 79CE as Eruvius unleashes its fury.

Germanicus, son of Drusus, with Matteo’s sideburn….

Germanicus, visiting his father’s monument in Mainz, the Drususstein!

Germanicus holding his mother’s hand on the Ara Pacis.

A bust of Drusus more or less on the eve of his first command in Switzerland (with his brother Tiberius).

Drusus’ immediate Julio/Claudian family tree.

How far is it from Rome to Mainz?  Far!  Approximately 280 hours of non-stop walking.

Drusus’ campaigns across the Rhine.

The Drususstein!  Then, and now, in Mainz, Germany.

Drusus, as we imagined him (with the help of ChatGPT), standing above the River Elbe.

The cast of characters from Part 2 of our Heroes of the Republic special episode, from Scipio Aemelianus to Octavian.  Last stop before we formally leave the Republic behind!

An invitation to our special episodes recapping the Heroes of the Republic before we move onto the Principate! 

The Lost Roman Heroes covered in episode 31, everyone from Aeneas of Troy to Scipio Africanus.

Octavian saying goodbye to Agrippa, carrying his best friend’s ashes to be laid to rest in Octavian’s mausoleum. Thanks to ChatGPT.

Octavian’s (ok fine, Augustus) mausoleum as it stands currently, recently restored. Needless to say, Octavian and Agrippa’s ashes are not there!

Love this one.  Octavian when he looked in the mirror and saw himself as Augustus.  Wearing a breastplate showing Octavian recovering Crassus’ lost eagles from Parthia.

A fantastic map of the warlord world!  Rome being carved up like a Thanksgiving turkey - every warlord for themselves.

[Attribution: By ColdEel - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=30327802]

A map showing Mark Antony’s “Donations of Alexandria”, carving up the Roman east and giving it away to his kids, and Caesar’s kid, with none other than Cleopatra.  True proof that Antony had gone native (or so they gossiped in the Forum).

Octavian and Agrippa returning to Rome in 40BC (each of them 33 years old) after eliminating all foes, making Octavian master of the Roman world.  What would he do next?

Octavian, Antony and Lepidus - the Second Triumvirate, imagined by us, with the help of ChatGPT.

Octavian as he was in reality at the beginning of his rise, before he would be idealized in statues as a god-like figure across the empire.

Octavian as we imagine him with the help of ChatGPT as stood before the Senate at age 19 for the first time, mere months after Caesar’s murder.

Another look at the ‘real’ Octavian, definitely not the Roman ideal of a young man, skinny, pointy nose and all, son of the “divine” Caesar.

How we imagined Octavian (the skinny dude) and Agrippa strolling into Rome at the age of 19, in May of 44, two months after Caesar’s murder.

Mark Antony!  The single most important obstacle between Octavian and his inheritance when he returned to Rome in May of 44BC.

Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa!  A bust made during his life.  What do you see here? I see Octavian’s best friend, a good man, soldier, architect, statesman, Roman.

Agrippa wearing the corona navilis.

The Harpax, Agrippa’s invention that helped him triumph over Sextus Pompeius and Antony at Actium.

Agrippa as we imagine him at Actium (with the help of ChatGPT).

Agrippa as honored by his best friend Octavian (Augustus) on the side of the Ara Pacis, created posthumously.  Very much worth visiting when you visit Rome!  It is magical, and little visited.  First go to the Pantheon, and then to the Ara Pacis.

As we envision Caesar entering the Theatre of Pompey on March 15th of 44BC.

The temporary house of the Senate, the Theatre of Pompey, where the Senate convened on the Ides of March.

The deadly deed.  27 blows.

Et tu, Brute?  Marcus Junius Brutus.

Decimus Cassius.

The Tusculum Portrait, perhaps the only image of Julius Caesar made in his lifetime, with a non-idealized glimpse at the man who won the civil war and assumed complete control of the crumbling Republic.

Caesar‘s final series of battles against Pompey.

The Roman world upon Caesar’s death, helps you appreciate the impact of Gaul on the Empire!

@LostRomanHeroes imagining Caesar as he was during the Gallic Wars, leading troops personally into battle.

What was Gaul? Most of modern France, Belgium, a bit of Germany, and a good chunk of Switzerland (basically the stuff in yellow).

What Caesar’s bridge across the Rhine might have looked like.

A reconstruction of Caesar‘s circumvallation of Vercingetorix and Alessia.

Vercingetorix!

How we imagine Titus Labienus leading Caesar’s cavalry in battle, with the help of ChatGPT.

Setup of opposing armies during the decisive battle at Pharsalus (note Labienus on the left wing).

Order of battle at Ruspina, when Labienus had Caesar surrounded, where Caesar lost, but managed to keep his army intact.

Order of battle at the final confrontation at Munda, both Labienus’, and Caesar’s, final battle.