#Head from a bronze statue of the Roman emperor Alexander Severus (222-235 AD). From Ryakia Greece.
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#sculpture#bronze#Head from a bronze statue of the Roman emperor Alexander Severus (222-235 AD). From Ryakia Greece.
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Head from a bronze statue of the Roman emperor Alexander Severus (222-235 AD) from Ryakia, Archaeologica Museum, Dion
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The last Princeps of Rome
Marcus Aurelius Alexander Severus was born in Arca Caesarea, Syria (present-day Akkar district, Lebanon) on 1 October 208. Unlike all assassinated emperors before him, the Senate mourned the assassination of this young Princeps for decades.
He was proclaimed emperor at the age of thirteen on 13 March 222, two days after the death of his predecessor Elagabalus. The historian Dio Cassius, who served as consul, describes Alexander Severus' character as calm and peaceful. He was characterized above all by his religious tolerance; He believed that "everyone is free to freely profess his beliefs." He had an extraordinarily kind attitude towards Christians and Jews.
During his early years, the government was really left in the hands of his grandmother Julia Maesa and his mother Julia Avita Mamaea who dedicated themselves to cleaning up the financial mess left by Elagabalus. His grandmother died in August 224. In 226 He married Sallustia Barbia Orbiana, with whom he had no children and two years later she was banished by order of Julia Mamaea.
As he grew older, Alexander began to make his own decisions. He faced the Sassanians who began to establish their new empire replacing the Parthians. In 230 they attacked the province of Mesopotamia. Alexander gathered an army to begin his military campaign in 231. In 233 Ardacher, king of the Sassanians, withdrew from the newly conquered provinces. Severus Alexander considered this a victory and had a triumph.
A year later, the Germans began to attack the northern borders of the empire. Alexander headed there with his troops and to gain time he sent gifts to the leaders of the enemy peoples. The soldiers took advantage of this to accuse him of a "cowardly" act. In fact the whole army hated him for not continuing with the policy initiated by the first of the Severan Dynasty (Septimius): paying exorbitant salaries to the army. Septimius Severus since the year 193 did this in his day to ensure the loyalty of the troops, as did his son 'Caracalla'. This made the army fill with an excessive ambition and began to see the position of emperor as something that could be taken by force. The young Alexander understood the danger and drastically lowered the salaries of the army: but it was too late.
On 18 March 235 the 26-year-old Emperor Alexander Severus was assassinated by his own soldiers in a camp near Moguntiacum (modern Mainz, Germany). They then killed his mother J. Mamea and proclaimed Maximinius the Thracian as the new emperor. Three years later, after the death of Maximinus the Thracian, the Senate deified Alexander Severus.
The death of Severus Alexander meant the end of the Principate created by Augustus in 27 BC. The government of Maximinus the Thracian was the beginning of 50 years of anarchy with 26 emperors along with countless aspirants to the throne. Except for one, all of them died violently. It is the era of the "soldier-emperors", or "The crisis of the third century" characterized by constant internal struggles that lasted until the arrival of Diocletian to power, who saved Rome from its total collapse- 200 years before the fall of the western empire- by creating the Dominate.
Head from a bronze statue of the Roman emperor Alexander Severus (222-235 AD), from Ryakia, Archaeological Museum, Dion
Photography by Carole Raddato (CC BY-SA 2.0)
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Head from a bronze statue of the Roman emperor Alexander Severus (222-235 AD), from Ryakia, Archaeological Museum, Dion
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