DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18096#0275
Africa under Septimius Severus 207
conspicuous for a self-laudatory array of titles and a reference
to a line of ancestral Caesars extending to the fifth generation,
an inscription discovered at Siaga, near the modern town of
Hammamet in Tunisia, and taking rank as a civitas in the time
of Caracalla, is very complete :1
IMP • CAES • DIVI SEPTIMI SEVERI
PARTH • ARABICI ■ ADIABENICI
MAX • BRIT • MAX ■ FIL ■ DIVI
M • ANTON INI • PII ■ GERMAN ICI
SARMAT • NEPOT ■ DIVI ■ ANTONINI
PRO • NEPOTI ■ DIVI • AELI ■ HADRIAN I
ABNEPOT • DIVI ■ TRAIANI ■ PAR ■ ET
DIVI • NERVAE ■ ADNEPOTI
M • AVRELIO • ANTONINO • PIO 1 FEL
PAR • MAX • BRIT ■ MAX ■ GERM
MAX • IMP • III ■ COS • III • P • P
CIVITAS • SIAGITANORVM ■ D • D P • P •
And this was the Emperor who formed the monstrous
project of killing his own father, who murdered his brother,
married his stepmother, forced his lawful wife into obscurity,
and terminated an infamous career by murdering both wife and
father-in-law for the sole reason that they stood in the way of
his ambitious projects!
The word Caracalla does not appear on any inscriptions or
coins. This word or nickname signifies, according to Aurelius
Victor in his short history of the Emperor, a large flowing
garment hanging down to the ankles, worn by the people of
Gallia Lugdunensis (Lyons) where this prince was born and passed
the earlier years of his life. His proper surname was Bassianus,
after his grandfather, but on assuming the title of Augustus
he became henceforth known as Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
Severus Augustus. All the inscriptions of his time confirm
this.
The exceptional influence exercised by Julia Domna in all
imperial matters was shared towards the latter days of Caracalla's
reign by her younger sister Julia Maesa. The career of these
two daughters of Phoenicia, whose father Bassianus was an
obscure priest at Emesa, and without any claim to nobility or
hereditary rank, is truly remarkable ; and it is not surprising to
1 Shaw, Travels in Barbary.
conspicuous for a self-laudatory array of titles and a reference
to a line of ancestral Caesars extending to the fifth generation,
an inscription discovered at Siaga, near the modern town of
Hammamet in Tunisia, and taking rank as a civitas in the time
of Caracalla, is very complete :1
IMP • CAES • DIVI SEPTIMI SEVERI
PARTH • ARABICI ■ ADIABENICI
MAX • BRIT • MAX ■ FIL ■ DIVI
M • ANTON INI • PII ■ GERMAN ICI
SARMAT • NEPOT ■ DIVI ■ ANTONINI
PRO • NEPOTI ■ DIVI • AELI ■ HADRIAN I
ABNEPOT • DIVI ■ TRAIANI ■ PAR ■ ET
DIVI • NERVAE ■ ADNEPOTI
M • AVRELIO • ANTONINO • PIO 1 FEL
PAR • MAX • BRIT ■ MAX ■ GERM
MAX • IMP • III ■ COS • III • P • P
CIVITAS • SIAGITANORVM ■ D • D P • P •
And this was the Emperor who formed the monstrous
project of killing his own father, who murdered his brother,
married his stepmother, forced his lawful wife into obscurity,
and terminated an infamous career by murdering both wife and
father-in-law for the sole reason that they stood in the way of
his ambitious projects!
The word Caracalla does not appear on any inscriptions or
coins. This word or nickname signifies, according to Aurelius
Victor in his short history of the Emperor, a large flowing
garment hanging down to the ankles, worn by the people of
Gallia Lugdunensis (Lyons) where this prince was born and passed
the earlier years of his life. His proper surname was Bassianus,
after his grandfather, but on assuming the title of Augustus
he became henceforth known as Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
Severus Augustus. All the inscriptions of his time confirm
this.
The exceptional influence exercised by Julia Domna in all
imperial matters was shared towards the latter days of Caracalla's
reign by her younger sister Julia Maesa. The career of these
two daughters of Phoenicia, whose father Bassianus was an
obscure priest at Emesa, and without any claim to nobility or
hereditary rank, is truly remarkable ; and it is not surprising to
1 Shaw, Travels in Barbary.