Septimius Severus
c. 145 CE–c. 211 CE · Leptis Magna
Lucius Septimius Severus, founder of the Severan dynasty, was born at Leptis Magna in Roman Africa, won the civil war of 193–197, and died at Eboracum (York) in 211 while campaigning in Britain. The Historia Augusta reports that around 202 CE he issued a rescript forbidding conversion to Judaism or to Christianity, though the existence and scope of such an edict are debated by modern scholars, since Tertullian portrayed Severus as well-disposed toward Christians. Christian tradition associates his reign with martyrdoms at Carthage (Perpetua and Felicitas, c. 203) and at Alexandria (Leonides, the father of Origen, c. 202).
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Leptis Magna
What they did here
Lucius Septimius Severus was born at Leptis Magna in the province of Africa (Tripolitania, modern Libya), into a prominent local family of Punic and Italian descent.
The world in their lifetime
Thinkers, teachers, and rulers whose lives overlapped with Septimius Severus’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.
Graeco-Roman world
- Adrianus of Tyre· 115 CE–193 CE
- Maximus of Tyre· 115 CE–185 CE
- Marcus Aurelius· 121 CE–180 CE
- Lucian of Samosata· 125 CE–180 CE
- Aulus Gellius· 125 CE–180 CE
- Pertinax· 126 CE–193 CE
- Galen· 129 CE–216 CE
- Didius Julianus· 133 CE–193 CE
- Julius Pollux· 135 CE–192 CE
- Oppian· 140 CE–190 CE
- Gordian I· 159 CE–238 CE
- Sextus Empiricus· 160 CE–210 CE
- Commodus· 161 CE–192 CE
- Pupienus· 164 CE–238 CE
- Macrinus· 165 CE–218 CE
- Alexander of Aphrodisias· 165 CE–220 CE
- Cassius Dio· 165 CE–235 CE
- Athenaeus of Naucratis· 170 CE–230 CE
- Herodian· 170 CE–240 CE
- Maximinus Thrax· 173 CE–238 CE
- Oppian of Apamea· 175 CE–220 CE
- Aelian· 175 CE–235 CE
- Caracalla· 188 CE–217 CE
- Geta· 189 CE–211 CE
Jewish world
Christian world
Works
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