Download SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS – aims

SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS – aims
Aim:
 To identify the motives for Severus’ campaign in the North
In the past decade debate has been rekindled regarding the aims of the Severan campaigns. The
traditional view based on the Historia Augusta and Dio Cassisus, was that the aging emperor was
trying to quell unrest amongst the Caledonians and the Maeatae, bringing them to battle, whilst
also providing his two sons (Caracalla and Geta) with first hand experience of controlling a
province. However, more recently (1995) it has been suggested that Severus aimed not to control
the unruly barbarians, instead he sought to commit genocide and wipe them out by devastating
their landscape (Colin Martin).
The article below, “The Caledonian Campaign” by Stephen Murray, reviews both interpretations.
Aim number 1: QUELL UNREST
When Clodius Albinus, the governor of Britain, took an army to Gaul, in
pursuit of his ambitions for the throne, Britain's northern frontier became
vulnerable to attack. In 197, Albinus was finally defeated by Septimius
This supports the view
Severus, with heavy losses on both sides. There do not appear to have
that the invasion aimed
been sufficient troops in Britain to enable the new governor, Virius Lupus, to
to settle unrest and is
counter frontier incursions. Dio Cassius reports that:
based
on
Cassius’
writings which suggest
the
Romans
were
having to buy peace
"In as much as the Caledonians did not abide by their promises and had
made ready to aid the Maeatae, and in view of the fact that Severus at
the time was devoting himself to the neighbouring war [Parthia], Lupus was
from the barbarians.
compelled to purchase peace from the Maeatae for a large sum; and he
received a few captives."
Aim number 2: SHAPE UP THE SONS
It seems that Antoninus was originally named Bassianus. In 196, however,
Stephen Murray explains
that another motive for
the
invasion
was
to
Severus renamed him Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. He is undoubtedly better
known by the nickname Caracalla - after a Gallic cloak which he made
fashionable in Rome.
remedy the behaviour
.... They outraged women and abused boys, they embezzled money, and
of Severus’ two sons. In
made gladiators and charioteers their boon companions, emulating each
particular Severus was
other in the similarity of their deeds, but full of strife in their rivalries; for if the
concerned that legions
one attached himself to a certain faction, the other would be sure to
1
were
becoming
lazy
choose the opposite side... Severus, seeing that his sons were changing
and idle, inspired by the
their mode of life and that the legions were becoming enervated by
sons.
idleness, made a campaign against Britain, though he knew that he
should not return.
Aim number 3: TO BRING BRITAIN UNDER ROMAN RULE
It was Severus' plan to, at last, bring the whole of Britain under Roman rule.
According to Dio Cassius, in 208, he:
"... invaded Caledonia. But as he advanced through the country he
experienced countless hardships in cutting down the forests, levelling the
heights, filling up the swamps, and bridging the rivers; but he fought no
Dio Cassius tells us that
Severus aimed to bring
all
of
Britain
under
Roman control and so
battle and beheld no enemy in battle array. The enemy purposely put
sheep and cattle in front of the soldiers for them to seize, in order that they
might be lured on still further until they were worn out; for in fact the water
his
caused great suffering to the Romans, and when they became scattered,
men until he reached
they would be attacked. Then, unable to walk, they would be slain by their
the “extremity of the
own men, in order to avoid capture, so that a full fifty thousand died. But
island” and forced the
Severus did not desist until he approached the extremity of the island. Here
Britons to abandon parts
he observed most accurately the variation of the sun's motion and the
of their territory.
length of the days and the nights in summer and winter respectively.
campaigned
with
Having thus been conveyed through practically the whole of the hostile
country (for he actually was conveyed in a covered litter most of the way,
on account of his infirmity), he returned to the friendly portion, after he had
forced the Britons to come to terms, on the condition that they should
abandon a large part of their territory....
Aim number 4: GENOCIDE
Recent archaeological research, into the pattern of forts and camps
established during Severus' Caledonian campaign, has led Dr. Colin Martin
Colin
Martin
Andrews
Uni
from
St
suggests
to what is, perhaps, a startling conclusion. Writing in 'British Archaeology'
(Issue 6, July 1995), he says:
that Severus attempted
genocide in the North
"... Severus had no intention of bringing the Caledonians to battle, but
and used forts as prison
instead attempted to wipe them out by systematic devastation of the
camps for hostages
landscape. His policy, moreover, seems to have been successful, as
peace beyond the northern frontier lasted for most of the following
century... Severus' policy, in other words, seems to have been nothing short
of an attempt at genocide of the Caledonian population."
2
To the south of Hadrian's Wall, on the Stanegate, was a Roman fort called
Vindolanda. There were actually a number of forts built successively on the
same site. The archaeological evidence suggests that, in the third century,
the existing buildings were demolished and replaced with as many as
three hundred 'native-style' circular huts. It is thought that the site became
a prison camp, housing up to two thousand hostages taken during
Severus' campaign. In their turn, the huts were soon demolished to make
way for a new fort.
Aim number 5: QUELL CONTINUING UNREST
According to the classical sources despite Severus’ best efforts the
inhabitants of the island again revolted. Accordingly, Severus summoned
soldiers and ordered them to invade the rebels' country, killing everybody
they met; and he quoted these words:
"Let no one escape sheer destruction,
No one our hands, not even the babe in the womb of the mother,
If it be male; let it nevertheless not escape sheer destruction."
However, Severus died before he could resume his onslaught and his son,
Caracalla succeeded to the throne. It was said that
“with the enemy he came to terms, withdrew from their territory, and
abandoned the forts ....”
The archaeological evidence indicates that, after withdrawal back to
Hadrian's Wall, the outpost forts of Netherby, Bewcastle, Risingham and
High Rochester remained in use.
Aim number 6: SECURE THE PROVINCE
The 'Historia Augusta' (credited to Aelius Spartianus) notes:
"He [Severus] built a wall across the island of Britain from sea to sea, and
thus made the province secure - the crowning glory of his reign; in
recognition thereof he was given the name Britannicus... In the eighteenth
year of his reign, now an old man and overcome by a most grievous
disease, he died at Eboracum [York] in Britain, after subduing various tribes
that seemed a possible menace to the province....
3
1. According to Stephen Murray, what are the possible reasons for
the Severan invasions?
THE REKINDLED DEBATE
British Archaeology, no 6, July 1995
The emperor Severus attempted genocide in Scotland, writes Colin Martin
To Scotland then they came, burning
The Roman historians Dio and Herodian were dismissive of the campaigns waged by the emperor
Septimius Severus and his son Caracalla in northern Britain between AD208 and 211. No battles
were fought, and following the death of Severus at York all the territories that had been
campaigned over were abandoned.
Yet Dio and Herodian seem to have missed the point. Recent archaeological research in Scotland
suggests that Severus had no intention of bringing the Caledonians to battle, but instead
attempted to wipe them out by systematic devastation of the landscape. His policy, moreover,
seems to have been successful, as peace beyond the northern frontier lasted for most of the
following century.
The principal evidence consists of military bases associated with Severan activity. At South Shields,
overlooking the Tyne estuary, a Hadrianic fort was reconstructed as a gigantic provisions depot.
Up-river the great base at Corbridge, always a nexus for projected campaigns in the north,
underwent major refurbishment which included the building of granaries. Far to the north, on the
south banks of the Forth and Tay estuaries, forts were established at Cramond and Carpow. The
purpose of these appears to have been to sustain by sea large armies campaigning north of the
Forth, so avoiding the long and manpower-consuming lines of communication through southern
Scotland which had characterised earlier Roman incursions.
In addition, a number of temporary camps have been convincingly identified as Severan. At
Ardoch in Perthshire, for instance, two large camps (covering 25ha and 55ha) - which post-date
the annexe of a fort in commission until the mid-2nd century - seem to represent successive seasons
of activity, and the most likely recorded historical context is Severan campaigning in 209 and 210.
Fourteen other camps, similar in size, proportion and general layout to the 25ha camp at Ardoch,
are known in eastern Scotland beyond the Forth. They trace lines north-eastwards through
Strathmore towards Aberdeen, along the Angus coastlands, and into Fife. A similar pattern is
followed by a series of 55ha camps, which thrusts inexorably from the Forth to the head of
Strathmore. The camps are set on average 10 or 12 miles apart - a comfortable day's march for a
big army.
What were these camps for? Contrary to general belief the progressive movement of a single large
force through the landscape was not the normal method of Roman campaigning; and such
substantial and coherent groups of camps as these are without parallel in the Roman world. Hostile
territory was most readily dominated by ensnaring it in a web of strongpoints and roads, which
allowed Rome's most powerful weapons - literacy and communication - to prevail. It seems
therefore that Severus and his generals had something completely different in mind than the
control and exploitation of a subjugated landscape.
4
When plotted against a modern map of agricultural potential the putative (supposed) Severan
camps run unerringly through the most productive land of eastern Scotland, and if a radius of 10
miles is drawn round each, virtually no hectare of prime agricultural ground remains uncovered.
From the secure base represented by each camp, determined troops would have had little
difficulty in systematically destroying the productive capacity of such an area - burning the
standing or stored crops and killing the livestock. If the business was conducted around harvest
time, the crops would have been at their most vulnerable and the army itself could live off the
countryside it was laying waste. The American Civil War Unionist General Sherman pursued just such
a policy during his infamous march through Georgia in 1864.
No direct contact with the enemy, whom Dio and Herodian describe as elusive, would have been
necessary. Few would have survived winter in the devastated landscape; and in the following
spring, competition for what little remained, combined with a chronic lack of seed and breeding
livestock, would have made the catastrophe self-perpetuating. Severus's policy, in other words,
seems to have been nothing short of an attempt at genocide of the Caledonian population.
Dr Colin Martin is a Reader in Maritime Studies at the University of St Andrews.
2. For what reasons does Colin Martin believe that Severus aimed to
destroy the landscape and the barbarians with it?
5