34 Facts About Severus Alexander

Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexander was a Roman emperor, who reigned from 222 until 235.

Severus Alexander was the last emperor from the Severan dynasty.

Severus Alexander was the heir to his cousin, the 18-year-old Emperor Elagabalus.

Severus Alexander was the second-youngest ever sole legal Roman emperor during the existence of the united empire, the youngest being Gordian III.

Severus Alexander managed to check the threat of the Sassanids.

Severus Alexander's death marked the epoch event for the Crisis of the Third Century.

Severus Alexander became emperor when he was around 14 years old, making him the youngest emperor in Rome's history, until the accession of Gordian III.

Under the influence of his mother, Severus Alexander did much to improve the morals and condition of the people, and to enhance the dignity of the state.

Severus Alexander employed noted jurists, such as Ulpian, to oversee the administration of justice.

Severus Alexander's advisers were men like the senator and historian Cassius Dio, and historical sources claimed that with the help of his family, he created a select board of 16 senators, although this claim is sometimes disputed.

Some scholars have rejected Herodian's view that Severus Alexander expanded senatorial powers.

Severus Alexander created a municipal council of 14 who assisted the urban prefect in administering the affairs of the 14 districts of Rome.

Severus Alexander extended the imperial residence at the Horti Lamiani with elaborate buildings and created the Nymphaeum of Alexander, which still stands in the Piazza Vittorio Emanuele.

Severus Alexander allowed a synagogue to be built in Rome, and he gave as a gift to this synagogue a scroll of the Torah known as the Severus Scroll.

In legal matters, Severus Alexander did much to aid the rights of his soldiers.

Severus Alexander confirmed that soldiers could name anyone as heirs in their will, whereas civilians had strict restrictions over who could become heirs or receive a legacy.

Severus Alexander confirmed that soldiers could free their slaves in their wills, protected the rights of soldiers to their property when they were on campaign, and reasserted that a soldier's property acquired in or because of military service could be claimed by no one else, not even the soldier's father.

The northernmost army gained some success, fighting in mountainous territory favorable to the Roman infantry, but the southern army was surrounded and destroyed by Ardashir's skilful horse-archers, and Severus Alexander himself retreated after an indecisive campaign, his army wracked by indiscipline and disease.

Severus Alexander managed to suppress the uprising, and Taurinus drowned while attempting to flee across the Euphrates.

Severus Alexander's reign was characterized by a significant breakdown of military discipline.

Severus Alexander enforced a strict military discipline in his men that sparked a rebellion among his legions.

Severus Alexander was a soldier from Thrace who had a golden reputation and was working hard to increase his military status.

Severus Alexander was a man with superior personal strength, who rose to his present position from a peasant background.

Severus Alexander was forced to face his German enemies in the early months of 235.

However, Lampridius makes it clear that he is more supportive of an alternative theory, that Severus Alexander was murdered in Sicilia.

Severus Alexander's attendants fought against the other troops but could not hold off the combined might of those seeking the Emperor's assassination.

Severus Alexander's body was buried together with the body of his mother, Julia Mamaea, in a mausoleum in Rome.

Severus Alexander was the last of the Syrian emperors and the first emperor to be overthrown by military discontent on a wide scale.

Indeed, Maximinus was able to overthrow Severus Alexander by "harping on his own military excellence in contrast to that feeble coward".

Severus Alexander was deified after the death of Maximinus in 238.

Severus Alexander divorced and exiled Orbiana in 227, after her father, Seius Sallustius, was executed after being accused of treason.

Severus Alexander is mentioned as his wife only in this later text, thus the marriage has been questioned.

The ancient historian Zosimus claimed that Severus Alexander was married three times.

Severus Alexander was extremely tolerant of Jews and Christians alike.