Crisis of the Third Century: introduction
VIDEO: THE BARRACKS EMPERORS Part 1
In the year 217 Caracalla is murdered by the head of his Praetorian guard Macrinus.
Was this a typical army coup in which a disgruntled and ambitious leader takes over control because he has the support of the troops?
Marcus Opellius Macrinus was born in AD 164 in Caesarea, a harbour town in Mauretania.
pre-emptive strike?
It may be that Caracalla had gotten wind of this and there were indications of a "staff reshuffle". Given Caracalla’s murderous track record this did not bode well for Macrinus.
So if we go along with this account Macrinus was possibly a somewhat reluctant usurper.
There were no obvious heirs to Caracalla and after three days Macrinus was offered the job. The senate did not object, only too pleased to get rid of the murderous Caracalla.
 |
| The Severan Ladies from "Caracalla and Geta By Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadeema |
Lesson one for Usurpers - Kill everybody remotely connected to your predecessor
The female survivors of the Severan dynasty were to become the downfall of Macrinus
In hindsight Macrinus should have had them discretely disposed of but maybe he thought women were harmless enough and he sent them far away to what he hoped was a safe distance. He ordered to return to their home near Emesa in Syria.
Never underestimate the fairer sex in the tough and violent world of Roman politics.
A Woman Scorned
 |
| https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/Severan_dynasty_family_tree.jpg |
The Godmother
Julia Maesa
Limestone portrait of a woman (Julia Maesa?).
Marble. 3rd century CE
Marble. 3rd century CE
The sister of Caricalla's mother Julia Domna who had previously committed suicide after the assassination of her son. She took it upon herself to regain the throne. . .
But - she was a woman and this was a major problem in politics in those times.
She had been married to Syrian noble Gaius Julius Avitus Alexianus
They had two daughters Julia Soaemias Bassiana and Julia Avita Mamaea.
(Her husband had been sent by Caracalla to Cyprus early in 217 as an emissary and died on the way there, of natural causes.)This left Julia Maesa heading up a family alone.
It was the trio of mother and two daughters that became the chief protagonists of the revolt against usurper Macrinus.
Her Oldest daughter was
Julia Soaemias
 |
| Statue of Iulia Soaemias ( 3rd century AD ) |
As members of the imperial Roman family of the Severan dynasty, they lived in Rome. Julia Soaemias, was a cousin of emperor Caracalla
Julia bore Marcellus two children: one son whose name is unknown and another son called Sextus Varius Avitus Bassianus, who became the Roman emperor Elagabalus.
Her husband died in c.215, during his time as Roman governor in Numidia.
Our attention is now fixed upon her son who we now know as Elagabalus, (as he was derisively named posthumously).
The Plot
As we have established, in order to overthrow Macrinus they needed a male Emperor to promote as the champion for the throne. Elagabalus was only 14 but he was the the oldest male available and accordingly was groomed for the role.
In order to legitimise this, mother and daughter fomented the rumor that he was Caracalla's illegitimate son. (This would firstly lay a 'legitimate' claim to the loyalties of Roman soldiers and senators who had sworn allegiance to Caracalla.)
He was then trained in the Imperial cult of Emesa which was the worship of Elagabal (seems this was a variation on the Canaanite God, Baal (El-aga-Baal) This would ensure the loyalty and by extension the continued financial support of the people of Emesa in Syria.
Next Julia bribed the third Legion at Raphana and they swore allegiance to Elagabalus. At sunrise on 16 May 218, Publius Valerius Comazon, commander of the legion, declared him emperor.
To strengthen his legitimacy through further propaganda, Elagabalus assumed Caracalla's names, Marcus Aurelius AntoninusThe City of Emesa (Modern day Homs)
Macrinus has to act
He sends a contingent of troops to crush the rebellion but they switched loyalties and joined Elagabalus.Things began to look very bad for Macrinus, his next move was to get the blessing of the senate and strengthen his position in Rome. But in spite of the support of the senate, lucrative bribes and propaganda had lost him the support of the army and a much weakened Macrinus set off to confront Julia and her rebellion. A showdown took place in June 218 AD and in the ensuing struggle both Macrinus and his son lost their lives. Julia Maesa's desperate gamble to re-establish the Severan Dynasty was triumphant.
The senate was next and they were pacified with letters of reconciliation and obedience to the law but a condemnation of the usurper Macrinus, the senate agreed and proceeded to condemn Macrinus, Caracalla and Julia Domna were deified and both Julia Maesa and Julia Soaemias were elevated to the rank of Augustae.
The next hurdle to overcome was the new religion
Back in Rome was . . . the Imperial Cult
 |
| Augustus Caesar as Pontifex Maximus |
But it was also customary for Military and political leaders to adopt their own Patron God so importing a new religion was not unheard of in Rome.
The God Elagabal, it seems, did enjoy some precedence in Rome, apparently Marcus Aurelius (121-180 AD) was also at some stage the hereditary high priest at Emesa, this would be exploited to give the new God more credibility.
Elagabalus had a Temple constructed on the Palatine Hill (which housed a meteorite which was venerated since it obviously fell from heaven.)
 |
| Meteorites falling from the sky are pretty common objects in religions . . . as well shall see |
Herodian wrote "this stone is worshipped as though it were sent from heaven; on it there are some small projecting pieces and markings that are pointed out, which the people would like to believe are a rough picture of the sun, because this is how they see them".
Before the construction of the temple Elagabalus placed this meteor next to the statue of Jupiter. After he built the temple he then place all the most sacred religious artefacts of Rome into the temple so that nobody could give obeisance to another God without first acknowledging Egalabal.
The Roman populace did not appreciate this departure from tradition they could accept a new patron God but a usurper of Jupiter might be a little hard to swallow. But perhaps this could have been tolerated had not Elagabalus caused a great many other offences as well which was to cause his downfall.
So it would seem for the moment, the Severan's were back in power at last , the pretender to the throne had been dealt with and at last Julia Maesa could relax and enjoy her hard earned victory.
But it was not long before the cracks were beginning to show.
Elagabalus the Weird
He had strange cross dressing tendencies together with some rather unorthodox religious practices. He married more than 5 times and had numerous alleged relationships with male courtiers just for starters. . .
Elagabalus tried to have his presumed lover, the charioteer Hierocles, declared Caesar,while another alleged lover, the athlete Aurelius Zoticus, was appointed to the non-administrative but influential position of Master of the Chamber, or Cubicularius. He stirred further discontent when he himself married the Vestal Virgin Aquilia Severa, claiming the marriage would produce "godlike children" this was in flagrant disregard for roman religious law.
 |
| The Vestal virgin who lost her virginity was reportedly buried alive or more accurately holed up in an enclosed space where she died of starvation. |
It was not unusual for emperors to have homosexual lovers, but the issue was the effect on the troops having to see their emperor dressing up like a girl, This was going too far and totally unacceptable in a tough militaristic world where leaders had to be able to demonstrate their toughness.
Cassius Dio reported that Elagabalus would "paint his eyes, epilate his hair and wear wigs before prostituting himself in taverns, brothels, and even in the imperial palace". According to Cassius Dio, his most stable relationship seems to have been with his chariot driver, a blond slave from Caria named Hierocles, whom he referred to as his husband.
There was the very real danger of losing the support of the Praetorian guard which any Emperor depended totally upon for their physical protection. In the vipers nest of roman political machinations nobody could afford this.
 |
| The Roses of Elagabalus Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadeema 1888 |
The true authorship of the work, its actual date, and its purpose, have long been matters for controversy.
In this Painting Alma-Tadema depicts a story in which Elagabalus plays an ironic and deadly prank on his unsuspecting guests smothering them with a huge barrage of rose petals released from a false ceiling, the delicate and sweet smelling roses overcome them and slowly crush and asphyxiate them.
The original reference is this: In a banqueting-room with a reversible ceiling he once buried his parasites in violets and other flowers, so that some were actually smothered to death, being unable to crawl out to the top.
It is unknown whether this is a true event or not although it would appear that Elagabalus was quite capable of such bizarre and cruel behaviour.
Plan B
Perhaps he had been warned, maybe several times, and one can easily picture an exasperated Julia Maesa trying to talk sense into an out of control adolescent refusing to listen.
The stakes are very high and Julia must have seen her great plan of restoration evaporating in front of her eyes. She had to formulate a desperate plan, and soon, before the incensed Praetorian guard took the law in their own hands. If her family was going to survive, she needed Elagabalus out of the way, but who would rule in his stead?Fortunately she had another daughter who also had a son so a new plot was hatched this time against her own family. Her second daughter Julia Mamaea also had a son. . . Severus Alexander who was getting older. . .
First she made sure that Elagabalus named his cousin Severus as his heir. He was younger than Elagabalus but had by now turned 14 which was the age his cousin was when he took the throne. That was good enough for Julia Maesa.
Elagabalus not being a complete idiot, suspected something was up, and tried to have Severus removed several times, eventually a confrontation took place in which the Praetorian guard knowing Julia Maesa had already given her consent murdered Elagabalus with his mother Julia Soaemias in 222 AD
Cassius Dio reports . . ."So he made an attempt to flee, and would have got away somewhere by being placed in a chest, had he not been discovered and slain, at the age of 18. His mother, who embraced him and clung tightly to him, perished with him; their heads were cut off and their bodies, after being stripped naked, were first dragged all over the city, then the mother's body was cast aside somewhere or other while his was thrown into the Tiber."
Julia Maesa's work was largely done and she died in 226 AD it is hard to imagine if she died confident in the future consolidation of the Severan dynasty, it seems that Alexander was doomed from the start. Which certainly is a pity because he was quite different in character and behaviour to his deranged cousin in every possible way. His Mother was Julia Mamaea and she stepped confidently into the shoes of her mother as de facto ruler of the empire.
Severus Alexander becomes emperor at age 14
Eusebius relates (Church History VI.21-28) that she was "a very religious woman", and that Origen remained some time with her, "instructing her in all that could serve to glorify the Lord and confirm His Divine teachings."
The Historian Lampridius gives a record of Alexander's very favourable dealings with Christianity.
"He placed in his private oratory (lararium) images of Abraham and Christ before those of other renowned persons, like Orpheus and Apollonius of Tyana (Vita Alex., xxix); he tolerated the free exercise of the Christian faith ("Christianos esse passus est", ibid., xxii); he recommended in the appointment of imperial governors the prudence and solicitude of the Christians in the selection of their bishops (ibid., xiv);" He even went so far as to suggest the building of a temple to Jesus Christ but his advisors persuaded him against the idea.
whilst Severus it seems had the makings of a good Emperor, his mother went everywhere with him and as he got older perhaps this could have been instrumental in the decisions made that eventually led to both her and her son’s demise.
Severus was a well educated and enlightened man it would seem and apparently surrounded himself with wise and prudent advisors.
 |
| https://placeduluxembourg.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/structure-of-the-principate.png |
The Military
The problem was the relationship between the ruling class and the military who had by now already tasted power and was quite conscious of their collective ability to appoint and depose rulers as and when they chose to.
Perhaps it is more accurate to say that Severus was simply living in an impossible situation in which trying bringing the military to heel was inviting one’s own demise.
Which is exactly what happened
234, the barbarians crossed the Rhine and Danube in hordes that even caused panic at the gates of Rome. Roman troops had only just managed to contain a resurgent Parthian invasion in the east.
 |
| http://www.just-gamers.fr/pc/king-arthur-the-saxons.html |
Alexander tried to negotiate with the invading Germans perhaps trying to avoid a bloody battle after the tremendous cost of the Persian wars. His troops were unimpressed with this decision and probably it made Alexander look weak in their eyes.
They had by this time already nominated their choice of leader in the person of Gaius Iulius Verus Maximinus who had worked his way through the ranks through sheer determination and strength, quite obviously the kind of qualities much admired by the legionaries.
Predictably and tragically Alexander was murdered together with his mother in 235 by his own troops on the Rhine.
This is officially the end of the Severan Dynasty
 |
| http://games-forfree.net/uploads/posts/2014-10/1413013627_12090159739021.jpg |
The Age of the Barracks Emperors
The soldiers elect their choice of ruler and Maximinus Thrax is crowned.He was of low birth and not even a true Roman
Which of course is totally unheard of until this time.
Apparently a brute of a man famous for his huge size and raw strength.
Maximinus of Thrace (Bulgaria) began life as a simple shepherd and a legend tells how Septimus Severus elevated him in his army after witnessing his immense strength and formidable size. What is fascinating to observe here is how this powerful and brutal leader becomes the archetype for the army, depicting respect for prowess on the battlefield. . . which was the very antithesis of Severus Alexander.
Upon elevation to ruler however, it does not take long to see the administration of the vast Roman Empire took a bit more than brute strength. This deplorable lack of skill would inevitably reveal itself in foolish blunders which caused much ill will and the Emperor subsequently fell from favour.
So this predictable cycle of events begins to repeat itself again and again throughout the third century right up until the accession of Diocletian.
Maximinus Thrax
Maximinus had joined the army during the reign of Septimus Severus and had risen from common foot soldier through the ranks.
He is the first of the era we know as the “barracks emperors” meaning a completely militarised empire ruled and governed by the army
The reign of Maximinus ushered in a half century of civil wars, compounded by barbarian invasions, financial collapse, famine and recurring plague.
Southern, Pat. The Roman Empire from Severus to Constantine, Routledge, 2001
• Herodian, Roman History, Book 7
• Historia Augusta, Life of Maximinus
No comments:
Post a Comment