Introduction
In the chaotic final years of the 2nd century AD, the Roman Empire was in turmoil. A series of short-lived emperors and ruthless civil wars had left the imperial throne vulnerable. Out of this turbulent period emerged Septimius Severus, a brilliant general from the African province of Leptis Magna. Through cunning, ambition, and military prowess, Severus would seize power and establish the Severan dynasty, ushering in a new era of Roman history.
One of the defining moments of Severus‘ reign was his decision to launch a massive invasion of Caledonia (modern-day Scotland) in 208 AD. This campaign, and a subsequent one in 210 AD, would showcase both the might of the Roman war machine and the tenacity of Rome‘s enemies on the wild northern frontier. In this article, we will explore the background, details, and consequences of Septimius Severus‘ Scottish campaigns, one of the largest Roman military operations ever undertaken in Britain.
The Road to Empire
Lucius Septimius Severus was born in 145 AD in the city of Leptis Magna, located in what is now Libya. He came from a wealthy and influential family of Punic descent, and received a good education in both Latin and Greek. As a young man, Severus pursued a military career, serving as a legionary commander in Syria and a governor in Gaul (France) and Pannonia Superior (Hungary/Austria) (Birley, 2000).
Severus‘ rise to power began in 193 AD, when the reigning emperor Pertinax was assassinated by the Praetorian Guard. The Guard then infamously auctioned off the imperial throne to the highest bidder, the wealthy senator Didius Julianus. Disgusted by this brazen corruption, several provincial governors declared themselves emperor, including Severus in Pannonia (Dio Cassius, 1927).
Severus quickly proved himself the most capable of the claimants. He secured the loyalty of his legions with generous donatives and marched on Rome, where he overthrew and executed Julianus. He then systematically eliminated his other rivals – Pescennius Niger in the east and Clodius Albinus in Britain – through a combination of military force and political maneuvering. By 197 AD, Septimius Severus was the undisputed master of the Roman world (Herodian, 1961).
Trouble in Britannia
As Severus consolidated his power, trouble was brewing in Britain. The Roman province of Britannia, conquered in the 1st century AD, had long been a troublesome posting for the Empire. The native Celtic tribes, particularly the Caledonians in the far north, resisted Roman rule and launched frequent raids on the frontier. In the late 2nd century, the situation deteriorated as the northern tribes grew bolder and Roman control wavered (Breeze, 2006).
The historian Herodian describes the situation in Britain at the time of Severus‘ accession:
The Britons…were causing great concern. They would not obey Roman law, and were always ready to rebel at the first opportunity. Severus was particularly anxious to win glory in a war against them, for they appeared to be the most warlike and numerous of the empire‘s barbarian neighbors (Herodian, 1961).
Severus likely saw the Caledonian threat as both a challenge to Roman authority and an opportunity to prove his military prowess and legitimacy as emperor. In 208 AD, despite being over 60 years old and suffering from painful gout, Severus decided to lead a massive punitive expedition into Scotland to subdue the troublesome tribes once and for all (Dio Cassius, 1927).
Invading Caledonia
The scale of Severus‘ invasion force was staggering. Ancient sources claim he brought over 50,000 soldiers to Britain, including elite units like the Praetorian Guard and II Parthica legion (Dio Cassius, 1927). This represented a significant portion of the Empire‘s total military strength. Severus also brought his sons Caracalla and Geta, perhaps hoping to give them first-hand experience in commanding large armies.
Logistics must have been a nightmare for such a large force operating in hostile territory. The Romans had to construct roads, bridges, and marching camps to move and supply their troops. Archaeologists have identified dozens of marching camps from the Severan campaigns, some over 50 hectares in size (Keppie, 2004). These camps, often strategically positioned near rivers or roads, served as temporary bases and resupply points for the army.
The invasion force likely assembled at Eboracum (modern York), the largest Roman town in northern Britain. From there, they would have marched up Dere Street, a major Roman road that ran north into Scotland. Key positions along the route, like the legionary fortress at Inchtuthil and the naval bases at Cramond and Carpow, were reinforced to support the offensive (Breeze, 2006).
Severus seems to have planned a two-pronged assault to trap and crush the Caledonian tribes. According to Dio Cassius, the emperor split his forces, sending the larger contingent under Caracalla to seal off the Lowlands up to the Highland Boundary Fault near Stonehaven. Meanwhile, Severus himself led a smaller force, likely composed of elite troops and cavalry, on a devastatingly brutal march through central Scotland (Dio Cassius, 1927).
The exact route and details of the campaigns are uncertain, but the archaeological remains give us clues. For example, a cluster of marching camps near Kair House in Aberdeenshire may represent a Severan base near the Moray Firth, perhaps used for launching naval raids or linking up with Caracalla‘s troops (Jones, 2011). Further south, a Roman fortress and harbour at Carpow in Fife seems to have been a key staging point for Severus‘ central thrust, and later a supply base for the whole invasion (Dore & Wilkes, 1999).
Guerrilla War in the Glens
Despite their overwhelming military advantage, the Romans found the invasion of Caledonia to be a grueling ordeal. The native tribes, probably a loose confederation of Celtic groups like the Maeatae and Caledonii, refused to meet the Romans in open battle where they would surely be crushed. Instead, they launched guerrilla raids from the hills and forests, using the difficult terrain and harsh weather to their advantage (Dio Cassius, 1927).
Dio Cassius paints a bleak picture of the campaign, saying the Romans suffered terribly from cold, hunger, and constant skirmishes with the elusive enemy:
There was no set battle, only numerous guerrilla attacks, in which the Romans were at a disadvantage because of the terrain and weather conditions…Severus lost a vast number of men – according to one source, fifty thousand – and yet achieved no lasting success. The Britons were better suited to the conditions (Dio Cassius, 1927).
The figure of 50,000 Roman casualties is almost certainly an exaggeration, but it speaks to the campaign‘s brutal toll. Herodian also describes the Caledonians‘ guerrilla tactics, adding that they would strike at night or hide half-submerged in peat bogs to ambush Roman patrols (Herodian, 1961). For the rank-and-file legionaries from the Mediterranean, accustomed to conventional sieges and set-piece battles, this kind of irregular warfare in Scotland‘s barren hills must have been utterly alien and terrifying.
Declarations of Victory
Despite the campaign‘s immense challenges, the Roman war machine ground relentlessly forward. By 209 AD, Severus seems to have achieved some sort of victory, forcing the Caledonians to sue for peace on his terms. The old emperor, too sick to ride a horse, was carried to the negotiations on a litter (Dio Cassius, 1927).
To celebrate the success, Severus and Caracalla took the title "Britannicus", and coins were minted proclaiming their triumph (Keppie, 2004). The poet Oppian even composed a flattering work called "On the Hunting of Wild Beasts and Fishing" in honor of Severus and Caracalla‘s exploits in Britain (Rowan, 2012).
However, the peace Severus won was fragile and incomplete. He had bruised the Caledonians but not broken them. As soon as the bulk of his army withdrew to winter quarters, the northern tribes rose in revolt again, joined by the Maeatae who had supposedly been pacified south of the Antonine Wall (Dio Cassius, 1927).
An exasperated Severus, now 65 years old and so crippled by gout that he was carried on a litter, resolved to launch a second campaign in 210 AD to punish the rebellious tribes (Herodian, 1961). Details of this campaign are scarce, but it seems to have achieved no more lasting success than the first, devolving into another brutal slog of attrition and guerrilla ambushes.
Death and Succession
In February 211 AD, while planning a third campaign from his sickbed in Eboracum, Septimius Severus died (Dio Cassius, 1927). His sons Caracalla and Geta, who had been feuding bitterly even before their father‘s death, were declared joint emperors. They abandoned any plans for further conquest in Caledonia and withdrew south to consolidate their power and arrange Severus‘ funeral.
The two brothers despised each other and their shared rule could not last. Before the year was out, Caracalla had Geta murdered, probably at a reconciliation meeting arranged by their mother Julia Domna (Dio Cassius, 1927). Caracalla then purged his brother‘s supporters in a reign of terror, even reputedly killing Papinian, Severus‘ distinguished Praetorian Prefect, for refusing to justify Geta‘s murder (Historia Augusta, 2006).
Thus, Severus‘ dynastic ambitions collapsed into fratricidal tyranny shortly after his death. The Severan dynasty would continue through Caracalla, his cousin Elagabalus, and finally Severus Alexander, but never with the stability or authority that Septimius Severus had worked so hard to establish.
The Aftermath in Britain
With Severus‘ death and his sons‘ abandonment of the conquest, Caledonia retained its precarious independence from Rome. The frontier seems to have settled back to Hadrian‘s Wall in the following decades, with occasional Roman sorties into southern Scotland like Severus Alexander‘s abortive campaign in 235 AD (Herodian, 1961).
The long-term impact of the Severan wars on the Caledonian tribes is difficult to assess given the paucity of written records. Undoubtedly, the Roman onslaught disrupted life for many native communities, as villages were razed, crops burned, and people killed or enslaved. The invasions may have even spurred further confederation among the tribes in the face of a common enemy (Hunter, 2007).
Archaeology provides some tantalizing glimpses into this turbulent period. Hoards of Roman coins and metalwork buried in Scotland may represent bribes paid to chieftains, or loot taken in raids (Hunter, 2007). A cache of Roman armor dredged from Carpow may be a relic of the Severan campaigns, perhaps lost in a skirmish or dumped by retreating troops (Dore & Wilkes, 1999). More gruesomely, a Caledonian chariot burial at Newbridge in Edinburgh contained the decapitated remains of horses and at least one human, possibly a ritual linked to the conflicts with Rome (Carter, Hunter, Smith, & Clark, 2010).
The most enduring archaeological legacy of the Severan wars in Scotland are the marching camps and forts the Romans built to support the invasion. Over 50 Roman camps have been identified in Scotland, many linked to the campaigns of Septimius Severus (Jones, 2011). These impressive sites, some over 60 hectares in size, demonstrate the massive logistical effort behind the invasions. Today, aerial surveys and archaeological excavations continue to reveal new details about these ancient fortifications.
Conclusion
The Scottish campaigns of Septimius Severus represent both the power and the limitations of the Roman Empire at its height. Severus was able to assemble and supply invasion forces of staggering size, showcasing Rome‘s still-potent military and economic strength in the early 3rd century AD. Yet even with all the Empire‘s might, conquering the fierce Caledonian tribes proved a Sisyphean task, foiled by inhospitable terrain, guerrilla tactics, and the limits of pre-industrial logistics.
For Severus himself, the campaigns were a final crucible in a remarkable life. Born in Africa and rising from provincial obscurity to the pinnacle of power, he fought hard to secure and strengthen the Empire within and without. In Caledonia‘s mist-shrouded hills and bogs, the old emperor strained to impose Roman order on a defiant land, even as sickness ravaged his body and the seeds of turmoil sprouted in his own family.
In the end, Severus‘ vision of a fully conquered Britain remained unfulfilled. But his determination, even in the face of bitter reversals and failing health, was a testament to his implacable will. As the Severan dynasty dissolved into conspiracy and civil war, and the Empire lurched into the troubled years of the 3rd century, the memory of Septimius Severus loomed large. He had been a soldier to the last, one who knew both the promise and the perils of imperial ambition.
References
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