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OTD: 211 CE, Septimius Severus dies. Take a shot if you hail to the warrior King
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<p>[QUOTE="Salaethus, post: 4065899, member: 109856"]<i>"On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of his coming to power Severus presented to the entire populace that received the grain dole and to the soldiers of the praetorian guard gold pieces equal in number to the years of his reign. He prided himself especially on this largess, and, in fact, no emperor had ever before given so much to the whole population at once; the total amount spent for the purpose was two hundred million sesterces."</i></p><p> - <a href="http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/77*.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/77*.html" rel="nofollow">Cassius Dio</a></p><p><br /></p><p>In 208 AD, Septimius Severus waged a military campaign against the Caledonians in northern Britain, bringing with him a sizable retinue of the imperial court, as well as his sons; now young adults, Caracalla and Geta. The northern British tribes had become warlike and action became necessary; Septimius may have also hoped to bond his quarrelsome sons through the shared rigors and austerity of a military campaign, as well as to mobilize a number of inactive and problematic legions. Due to his father's illness, Caracalla took the lead in managing military operations throughout most of the campaign, while Geta took on administrative duties at the campaign base camp at Eboracum (modern day York). By 210, coins were struck in the names of all three family members celebrating their British successes. On the 4th of February 211 AD, Septimius (by now in his mid 60s) succumbed to his illness, and soon afterward, Caracalla ended the fighting by negotiating a peace with the Caledonians.</p><p><br /></p><p>Just 11 months later, on the 26th of December 211 AD, Caracalla infamously had his younger brother murdered. The two brothers, only 11 months apart in age, fostered an intense sibling rivalry, and that manifested into a factional power struggle shortly after their father's death and their assumption of co-rule. While Geta had been raised as Augustus in 209 AD, he was only nominally the equal to his older brother, who had been raised as Augustus more than 10 years earlier in 198 AD. According to Cassius Dio, the imperial palace was walled off and split in two, there were talks of splitting the empire, and the two Augusti, ever at odds with one another, found themselves challenging each other at every turn. Geta, perceiving the danger he was in, surrounded himself with soldiers to guard him day and night. Thus, in a plot to get his brother to lower his guard, Caracalla had their mother, Julia Domna, summon Geta unattended to what they believed was to be a conciliatory meeting between the two emperors. Caracalla, however, had laid several of his centurions in wait, and as Geta arrived, they rushed upon him and slew him as he clung to his mother, crying out for mercy. Thereafter Caracalla went to the legions which were loyal to both of the brothers, and with feigned lament, claimed that he had survived a terrible and brazen assassination attempt concocted by his brother, and that Geta's killing was as such a righteous act of self defense! He also promised the soldiers great donatives at this time. Subsequently, Caracalla ordered a purge and mass murder of thousands of Geta's supporters in Rome and throughout the empire, as well as a thorough <i>damnatio memoriae</i> of his ill-fated brother's images and memory.[ATTACH=full]1063305[/ATTACH]</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1063306[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1063307[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="Salaethus, post: 4065899, member: 109856"][I]"On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of his coming to power Severus presented to the entire populace that received the grain dole and to the soldiers of the praetorian guard gold pieces equal in number to the years of his reign. He prided himself especially on this largess, and, in fact, no emperor had ever before given so much to the whole population at once; the total amount spent for the purpose was two hundred million sesterces."[/I] - [URL='http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/77*.html']Cassius Dio[/URL] In 208 AD, Septimius Severus waged a military campaign against the Caledonians in northern Britain, bringing with him a sizable retinue of the imperial court, as well as his sons; now young adults, Caracalla and Geta. The northern British tribes had become warlike and action became necessary; Septimius may have also hoped to bond his quarrelsome sons through the shared rigors and austerity of a military campaign, as well as to mobilize a number of inactive and problematic legions. Due to his father's illness, Caracalla took the lead in managing military operations throughout most of the campaign, while Geta took on administrative duties at the campaign base camp at Eboracum (modern day York). By 210, coins were struck in the names of all three family members celebrating their British successes. On the 4th of February 211 AD, Septimius (by now in his mid 60s) succumbed to his illness, and soon afterward, Caracalla ended the fighting by negotiating a peace with the Caledonians. Just 11 months later, on the 26th of December 211 AD, Caracalla infamously had his younger brother murdered. The two brothers, only 11 months apart in age, fostered an intense sibling rivalry, and that manifested into a factional power struggle shortly after their father's death and their assumption of co-rule. While Geta had been raised as Augustus in 209 AD, he was only nominally the equal to his older brother, who had been raised as Augustus more than 10 years earlier in 198 AD. According to Cassius Dio, the imperial palace was walled off and split in two, there were talks of splitting the empire, and the two Augusti, ever at odds with one another, found themselves challenging each other at every turn. Geta, perceiving the danger he was in, surrounded himself with soldiers to guard him day and night. Thus, in a plot to get his brother to lower his guard, Caracalla had their mother, Julia Domna, summon Geta unattended to what they believed was to be a conciliatory meeting between the two emperors. Caracalla, however, had laid several of his centurions in wait, and as Geta arrived, they rushed upon him and slew him as he clung to his mother, crying out for mercy. Thereafter Caracalla went to the legions which were loyal to both of the brothers, and with feigned lament, claimed that he had survived a terrible and brazen assassination attempt concocted by his brother, and that Geta's killing was as such a righteous act of self defense! He also promised the soldiers great donatives at this time. Subsequently, Caracalla ordered a purge and mass murder of thousands of Geta's supporters in Rome and throughout the empire, as well as a thorough [I]damnatio memoriae[/I] of his ill-fated brother's images and memory.[ATTACH=full]1063305[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1063306[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1063307[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]
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OTD: 211 CE, Septimius Severus dies. Take a shot if you hail to the warrior King
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