The Real Severans VI: Was This The Best They Had? Were There Other ‘Severans’?

Had Severus Alexander not suffered a mutinous death at the hands of the supporters of Maximinus Thrax, perhaps instead dying of an illness whilst on campaign without having annoyed the military, what would the ‘Severan’ remnant have done? On the surface, a peaceful, earlier death of Alexander would seem to have left Julia Mamaea as the only surviving ‘Severan’ Woman (overlooking the various ex-wives of Elagabalus and Alexander himself), but were there any other ‘Severans’ who could have been elevated to continue the dynasty?

The issue faced was that none of the Severan emperors after Septimius Severus seem to have had children of their own, despite numerous marriages. There had been some descendants from the paternal line of Septimius Severus, including a Gaius Septimius Severus Geta, who served as consul in 207, only to then be murdered on the order of his third cousin, Caracalla, in 211/212.

Therefore, with the actual Severan line seemingly dying out with Caracalla at the side of the road from Edessa to Carrhae, any ‘Severan’ woman still alive after a non-violent death of Alexander would have to look to the Emesan line to find their imperial candidate. Although that well may well have been dry, even if initially the signs are positive...

Elagabalus was not the only offspring of Julia Soaemias and her husband Sextus Varius Marcellus. They had another son named after Marcellus’ father; unfortunately, we know the name of neither the grandfather or the grandson. The existence of this other son is confirmed in the funerary inscription at Marcellus’ tomb at Velitrae, near Rome (CIL X. 6509).

However, given that this son, as well as not having his name recorded, was seemingly older than Elagabalus, it is likely that, while he was alive at the inscribing of his father’s tomb in c.215, he was dead by 218 because he would surely have been the chosen candidate of Julia Maesa. The only potential reason for choosing Elagabalus over his older brother could be the former being the chief priest of Elagabal and therefore more of a lightning rod for support in the immediate area around Emesa, particularly with III Gallica. Of course, as the Emesan high priesthood was hereditary, it would surely be that Elagabalus’ older brother would have been the heir to that position, perhaps adding more backing to the idea that he was already dead by 218. The Varian/Soaemias branch of the Emesan dynasty therefore seems to have died out with the murder of Elagabalus and his mother in 222.

However, Julia Soaemias was perhaps not the only daughter of Julia Maesa to have more than one child. With her husband, Marcus Julius Gessius Marcianus, Julia Mamaea may have had two other children beyond Severus Alexander. During the reign of Caracalla, a magister of the Arval Brethern, one of (if not) the oldest priesthood in Roman history, was called Marcus Julius Gessius Bassianus. That name makes it possible that he was the son of Marcianus and Mamaea. As with the sons of Soaemias, that it was his younger brother who was thrust into imperial contention in 222 would seem to suggest that Gessius Bassianus, if he was a son of Marcianus and Mamaea, was deceased by that time, although there is no record of him being targeted by Caracalla, Macrinus or Elagabalus.

The same cannot seemingly be said for a possible third child of Marcianus and Mamaea. HA The Two Maximini 29.2-3 has Severus Alexander proposing marriage between Maximinus the Younger and his sister, Theoclia. While inclined to accept the match, Julia Mamaea reputedly rejected the idea because of the supposedly barbaric origins of Maximinus Thrax.

Certainly, any husband or sons Theoclia might have could have been candidates for the throne. Indeed, the potential threat she posed because of this might be reflected in her possible murder at the instigation of Macrinus in 218. It may even be that Theoclia was married at this point, leading her husband also being murdered in Emesa.

Also taken in by this ‘Severan’ massacre at Emesa would seem to be Marcianus, who as the husband of Julia Soaemias, could have been an imperial candidate with Alexander as his heir. Elagabalus’ father, Sextus Varius Marcellus, could also have been a candidate had he not died in c.215, probably during his governorship of Numidia or shortly after it. Indeed, it could well have been that either of these imperial fathers could have become emperor in opposition to Macrinus had either of them been alive in 218, although this would raise the question of how important were the claims that both Elagabalus and Alexander were bastard sons of Caracalla to their ability to succeed to the throne.

It must be said that the number of Severan ex-wives provided numerous opportunities for claims of being the offspring of one of 5 Severan emperors. The ‘Severan’ Women had already shown their willingness to lie about the parentage of their own sons, even to the point of claiming incestuous relations with their cousin - both Julia Soaemias and Julia Mamaea claimed their imperial sons were fathered by Caracalla. Embracing any offspring of Julia Cornelia Paula, Julia Aquilia Severa, Annia Faustina, Sallustia Orbiana, Sulpicia Memmia or ‘Varia Macrina’ as that of Elagabalus or Alexander even if they were not does not seem like a massive stretch.

The unpopularity of Maximinus Thrax certainly provided an opportunity for any remaining Severans to be set up as an imperial candidate. However, that there do not appear to have been any Pseudo-Severans likely reflects the damage done to the reputation of the dynasty amongst the Senate and the army by Caracalla, Elagabalus and Severus Alexander. Any attempt by a surviving ‘Severan’ may well have attracted so little support as to not make it into the pages of history, although we should not overlook that the rebellion that emerged to confront Maximinus Thrax in 238, that of the Gordiani, did so in Africa, so perhaps it was able to tap into some regional Severan support, even if the resultant usurpation lasted mere weeks.

Bibliography

Bertolazzi, R. ‘Women in the Severan Dynasty’, in Carney, E. and Müller, S. (eds.) The Routledge Companion to Women and Monarchy in the Ancient Mediterranean World. London (2021) 452-462.

Birley, A. Septimius Severus: The African Emperor. London (2002)

Boatwright, M.T. Imperial Women of Rome: Power, Gender, Context. Oxford (2021).

Langford, J. Maternal Megalomania: Julia Domna and the Imperial Politics of Motherhood. Baltimore (2013).