From schoolteacher to governor of Britain, Pertinax’s rise was meteoric. He was consul for the second time in Rome when Commodus was murdered, being informed of the event beforehand he was in a position to get himself declared Emperor by an enthusiastic Senate. However, he was incapable of dealing with the financial ruin left by his predecessor. His attempts to restore discipline to the soldiers brought about two coup attempts, and his three-month reign ended at the hands of his mutinous guards.

Little is know of the wife of Pertinax other than her name and the fact that she bore him a son, Pertinax Junior, and a daughter whose name is not recorded. Like her son, her image only appears on extremely rare coins issued in Alexandria.

Pertinax Junior was still a boy when he was elevated to the rank of Caesar by his father. Septimius Severus placed him in charge of one of the priestly colleges. He probably died in the massacre following the murder of Geta by his brother Caracalla.

Governing three consular provinces and being proconsul in Africa, Didius Julianus was in a strong position to benefit from the death of Pertinax. He outbid his rival Sulpicianus in the ‘auction’ held in the Praetorian Camp, and was hailed by them as Emperor. His claims were immediately reject by Septimius Severus in Pannonia and Pescennius Niger in Syria; he was also deeply unpopular with the plebs. When Severus’ army neared Rome he found himself deserted on all sides, and was murdered in the palace barely two month after buying the throne.

Little is known of Manlia Scantilla other than the award of the title Augusta by her husband Didius Julianus. Following the fall of her husband she would have been stripped of the title, and died in obscurity.

A noted beauty, the daughter of Didius Julianus was proclaimed Augusta by her father. She was married to the City Prefect, Cornelius Rupentius, obviously a designated successor, but these plans were ruined by her father’s fall and nothing further is known.

Pescennius Niger had served with distinction in Dacia, and gained the governorship of Syria. He was motivated to challenge for the throne after the murder of Pertinax, and being Italian had the support of the Roman plebs. The power of Severus soon drove him out of Thrace, and, after defeat near Antioch in 194, he fled in exile to the Parthians.

A native of North Africa, Septimius Severus, the governor of Pannonia, took the field as avenger of Pertinax. Declared Emperor by his troops, Severus dismissed the Praetorians, and replaced them with a fresh guard largely drawn from his own Pannonian troops. A long series of campaigns were waged against his rival Pescennius Niger, and then re-conquering and punishing the Eastern Empire. Another war was fought against Clodius Albinus who had invaded Gaul with troops drawn from Britain. Severus did much to restore and pacify the Empire, and died at York on 4th February 211, leaving the Empire to his two sons with a desperate injunction 'not to disagree'.

Another native of North Africa, Albinus had gained distinction in the Dacian wars, and had been rewarded with the governorships of Lower Germany, and later of Britain. Severus rewarded him with the title Caesar for his support. However, when, after defeating Pescennius Niger, Severus made his own son Caesar, obviously intending to sideline his former colleague, Albinus invaded Gaul with troops from Britain and declared himself Augustus. He died in battle with Severus near Lugdunum in AD 197.

The House of Severus

Being of provincial origins, Severus was exceedingly conscious of being an outsider, and of establishing a new dynasty. His family was celebrated in a remarkable series of dynastic coins showing all its members in various combinations: the example to the left shows Julia Domna surrounded by her sons, and the legend trumpeting 'the happiness of the times.' But the good times did not last, and the unique painting (right) shows the Severan family, but the face of Geta has been erased following his murder and his brother's condemnation of his memory.

Daughter of the high-priest of Elah‑Gabal from Emesa in Syria, she was the wife of Septimius Severus and mother of Caracalla and Geta. She was a great patron of literature, and took her own life after Caracalla’s murder.

A native of North Africa, her father had been Praetorian Prefect and arranged for his daughter to marry Caracalla. Her father was accused of a conspiracy and struck down. Plautilla was banished to an island, and survived for only six more years.

Marcus Aurelius Severus Antoninus, nicknamed ‘Caracalla’ after the hooded Gallic cloak he introduced to Rome, was the eldest son of Septimius Severus and Julia Domna. Many other murders followed that of his brother Geta, and he had to increase the soldiers’ pay to keep their support. This created financial difficulties, which necessitated raising taxation and increased his unpopularity. Obsessed by Alexander the Great he tried to emulate his conquests. At Alexandria large numbers who mocked his antics were killed. He was murdered near Carrhae whilst planning further campaigns. He is also remembered for the Antonine Constitution which granted Roman citizenship to nearly all freemen throughout the Roman Empire.

The youngest son of Septimius Severus and Julia Domna. He was made Caesar to Caracalla’s Augustus, but the two brothers hated each other. He became Augustus at last in 209, and co-Emperor with his brother after his father’s death in February 211. He was murdered by his brother Caracalla on 26th December, and his brother set out to erase his memory by ordering the destruction of all statues and monuments that bore Geta’s name or image.

A Praetorian Prefect under Caracalla, it was for personal safety rather than ambition that he contrived the Emperor’s assassination. He was saluted as Augustus by his troops, the first Roman Emperor who was not a senator. He ended Caracalla’s Parthian war, but reductions in soldiers’ pay and prolonged retention of European troops in the East made him unpopular. A grand-nephew of Julia Domna, named Bassianus, was saluted Emperor by the legions stationed near Emesa in Syria. Macrinus gave battle, but was routed near Antioch, and subsequently captured and put to death.

Soon after Macrinus became Emperor, Diadumenian, his son, was declared Caesar by the armies. He was soon promoted to Augustus and co-Emperor. Defeated along with his father he was overtaken and executed.

A sister of Julia Domna, and connected with the cult of Elah‑Gabal from Emesa in Syria. She tried to be the power behind her grandson, Elagabalus, but eventually abandoned him to support her younger grandson, Severus Alexander.

Bassianus, grand-nephew of Julia Domna, after defeating Macrinus adopted the name Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. He later added the cognomen Elagabalus, from the sun-god of Emesa (Elah-Gabal), whose worship he introduced to Rome. He was forced by his grandmother, Julia Maesa, to adopt his cousin Alexander, but he later tried to reject him. This provoked outrage, and combined with his flouting of conventions when making appointments, and the orgiastic ceremonies that accompanied his religion, led the Senate, Praetorians and plebs alike to combine in lynching him and throwing his body into the Tiber.

The mother of Elagabalus, Soaemias was as weak and shameless as her son, much to chagrin of Maesa. Rather than curb her son’s religious fanaticism she shared in both his excesses and his fate.

A member of a distinguished Roman family, Maesa hoped her marriage to the Syrian Elagabalus would make him more accepted in Rome. She refused to join in her husband’s perversions and after four years was divorced.

For his second wife Elagabalus chose a Vestal Virgin, Aquilia Severa, an event that shocked Roman sensibilities. The couple genuinely loved each other, and although forced to divorce her, in his last months Elagabalus remarried her, sealing his fate.

Forced by his grandmother to marry the older, more sober, and doubtless less desirable Annia Faustina, Elagabalus rebelled. The Emperor repudiated his noble spouse and returned to his beloved Vestal.

Cousin and adopted heir of Elagabalus, he became Emperor following the death of Elagabalus at the hands of a Roman mob. Reliant upon his mother Julia Mamea’s guidance, and obedient to the last, his reign promised are turn to more settled times. In an effort to counter the greed and power of the soldiers he increased the role played by the Senate and other civilian authorities. However, the increasing activity of the Persian Sassanid dynasty and the incursions of the Alammani tribe in Germany necessitated several campaigns. It was in a winter camp near Mainz in Germany that he was murdered by the legionary commander Maximinus.

The daughter of Julia Maesa and mother of Alexander, she totally dominated her docile son. However, the army resented the virtual rule of a woman, and raised one of the commanders to replace them. Both mother and son were murdered.

The daughter of a Roman aristocrat married Alexander when he was 17. The couple seemed to have been genuinely fond of one another. When her father was accused of treason she was exiled to North Africa. Alexander never remarried.