Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T07:30:43.893Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The British Expedition of Septimius Severus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 February 2014

N. Hodgson
N. Hodgson*
Affiliation:
Tyne & Wear Archives & [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Archaeological evidence has emerged over the last half century which helps shed light on the British expedition (a.d. 208–11) of the emperor Septimius Severus and his sons, famously but meagrely reported by the historians Cassius Dio and Herodian. Excavation at the Severan supply-base at South Shields, full publication of excavations of the 1960s and 1970s at the fortress of Carpow on the Tay, and more recently at Cramond, and recent work on the indigenous societies encountered by the Romans, all offer new perspectives. The archaeological evidence is reviewed in conjunction with the historical. A critical assessment is made of: (1) the widespread belief that personal or political considerations brought Severus to Britain rather than actual need for military intervention; (2) recent claims that the fortress at Carpow was founded earlier under Commodus (a.d. 180s) and abandoned even before the Severan expedition; (3) the widespread assumption that Severus wished to occupy Scotland permanently and thus be the first conqueror of the whole of Britain; (4) the prevailing view that Carpow and Cramond were abandoned and that all Roman activity in Scotland ceased abruptly on Severus’ death in February 211, and that the campaigns brought about a period of peace in third-century Britain.

Keywords

Severan expeditionfrontiersScotlandmarching campsCarpowCramond
Type
Articles
Information
Britannia , Volume 45 , November 2014 , pp. 31 - 51
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2014. Published by The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Abdy, R., and Minnitt, S. 2002: ‘Shapwick Villa, Somerset, 9,238 denarii to AD 224’, in Abdy, R., Leins, I. and Williams, J. (eds), Coin Hoards from Roman Britain XI, Royal Numismatic Society Special Publication 36, London, 169–233 Google Scholar
Alföldy, G. 1996: ‘Nox dea fiat lux! Caracallas Geburtstag’, Historiae Augustae Colloquia, new series 4, 9–36 Google Scholar
Armit, I. 1999: ‘The abandonment of souterrains: evolution, catastrophe or dislocation?’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 129, 577–96Google Scholar
Bidwell, P. 2012: ‘The Roman fort at Bainbridge, Wensleydale: excavations by B.R. Hartley on the principia and a summary account of other excavations and surveys’, Britannia 43, 45–113 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bidwell, P., and Speak, S. 1994: Excavations at South Shields Roman Fort, Vol. 1, Newcastle upon Tyne Google Scholar
Birley, A.R. 1972: ‘Virius Lupus’, Archaeologia Aeliana, 4th series 50, 179–89Google Scholar
Birley, A.R. 1974: ‘Septimius Severus, Propagator Imperii ’, in Pippidi, D.M. (ed.), Actes du IX Congrès International d'Etudes sur les Frontières Romaines, Mamaia 1972, Bucharest, 297–9Google Scholar
Birley, A.R. 1988: The African Emperor: Septimius Severus, London Google Scholar
Birley, A.R. 2005: The Roman Government of Britain, Oxford Google Scholar
Birley, A.R. 2007: ‘The frontier zone in Britain: Hadrian to Caracalla’, in de Blois, L. and Lo Cascio, E. (eds), The Impact of the Roman Army (200 BC–AD 476), Leiden, 355–70Google Scholar
Birley, A.R. 2009: ‘Severan frontier policy’, in Morillo et al. 2009, 1009–15Google Scholar
Birley, R.E. 1965: ‘Excavation of the Roman fortress at Carpow, Perthshire, 1961–2’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 96 (for 1962–3), 184–207 Google Scholar
Black, E.W. 1993: ‘An unsuspected fortress bath’, Balnearia (Newsletter of the International Association for the Study of Ancient Baths) 1.1, 6–7 Google Scholar
Breeze, D.J. 2012: ‘The end of Roman Newstead’, in Hunter, F. and Keppie, L. (eds), A Roman Frontier Post and its People: Newstead 1911–2011, Melrose, 117–21Google Scholar
Breeze, D.J., and Dobson, B. 1976: Hadrian's Wall, London Google Scholar
Breeze, D.J., and Dobson, B. 1987: Hadrian's Wall (3rd edn), London Google Scholar
Breeze, D.J., and Dobson, B. 2000: Hadrian's Wall (4th edn), London Google Scholar
Burnham, B.C. 2001: ‘Roman Britain in 2000. I. Sites explored 3. Hadrian's Wall’, Britannia 32, 322–36Google Scholar
Casey, J. 2010: ‘Who built Carpow? A review of events in Britain in the reigns of Commodus and Septimius Severus’, Britannia 41, 225–35Google Scholar
CIL: Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (1863–)Google Scholar
Collingwood, R.G., and Myres, J.N.L. 1936: Roman Britain and the English Settlements, Oxford Google Scholar
Cook, M., and Dunbar, L. 2008: Rituals, Roundhouses and Romans: Excavations at Kintore, Aberdeenshire 2000–2006. Vol. 1. Forest Road, Scottish Trust for Archaeological Research Monograph 8, Edinburgh Google Scholar
Daniels, C.M. 1987: ‘The frontiers: Africa’, in Wacher, J.S. (ed.), The Roman World, vol. I, London/New York, 223–65Google Scholar
Dore, J.N., and Gillam, J.P. 1979: The Roman Fort at South Shields, Newcastle upon Tyne Google Scholar
Dore, J.N., and Wilkes, J.J. 1999: ‘Excavations directed by J D Leach and J J Wilkes on the site of a Roman fortress at Carpow, Perthshire, 1964–79’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 129, 481–575 Google Scholar
Evans, J. 2006: ‘The pottery in Cramond Roman fort: evidence from excavations at Cramond Kirk Hall, 1998 and 2001’, SAIR: Scottish Archaeological Internet Reports 20: http://www.sair.org.uk/sair20/index.html Google Scholar
Fentress, E.W. 1979: Numidia and the Roman Army, BAR International Series 53, Oxford Google Scholar
Frere, S.S. 1967: Britannia: A History of Roman Britain, London Google Scholar
Frere, S.S. 1999: Britannia: A History of Roman Britain (4th edn), London Google Scholar
Frere, S.S., and St Joseph, J.K. 1983: Roman Britain from the Air, Cambridge Google Scholar
Goodchild, R.G. 1954: ‘Oasis forts of Legio III Augusta on the routes to the Fezzan’, Papers of the British School at Rome 9, 56–68 Google Scholar
Graafstal, E.P. 2012: ‘Hadrian's haste: a priority programme for the Wall’, Archaeologia Aeliana, 5th series, 41, 123–84Google Scholar
Hanson, W.S. 1978: ‘Roman campaigns north of the Forth-Clyde isthmus: the evidence of the temporary camps’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 109 (for 1977–8), 140–50Google Scholar
Hanson, W.S. (ed.) 2009: The Army and Frontiers of Rome, Portsmouth, Rhode Island Google Scholar
Hanson, W.S., and Keppie, L.J.F. 1980: Roman Frontier Studies 1979, BAR International Series 71(i), Oxford Google Scholar
Hartley, B.R. 1972: ‘The Roman occupations of Scotland: the evidence of samian ware’, Britannia 3, 1–55 Google Scholar
Haverfield, F. 1924: The Roman Occupation of Britain (ed. Macdonald, G.), Oxford Google Scholar
Heil, M. 2003: ‘On the date of the title Britannicus Maximus of Septimius Severus and his sons’, Britannia 34, 268–71Google Scholar
Hodgson, N. 2001: ‘The origins and development of the Roman military supply-base at South Shields: an interim report on the results of excavations in the eastern quadrant and central area, 1990–2000’, Arbeia Journal 6–7 (for 1997–8), 25–36 Google Scholar
Hodgson, N. 2008: ‘The development of the Roman site at Corbridge from the first to third centuries AD’, Archaeologia Aeliana, 5th series, 37, 47–92 Google Scholar
Hodgson, N. 2009: ‘The abandonment of Antonine Scotland: its date and causes’, in Hanson 2009, 185–93Google Scholar
Holmes, N. 2003: Excavation of Roman Sites at Cramond, Edinburgh, Society of Antiquaries of Scotland Monograph 23, Edinburgh Google Scholar
Holmes, N. 2006: ‘Two denarius hoards from Birnie, Moray’, British Numismatic Journal 76, 1–44 Google Scholar
Hunter, F. 2004: ‘Roman Britain in 2003. I. Sites explored 2. Scotland’, Britannia 35, 265–71Google Scholar
Hunter, F. 2005: ‘Rome and the creation of the Picts’, in Visy, Z. (ed.), Limes XIX: Proceedings of the XIXth International Congress of Roman Frontier Studies, Pécs, 235–40Google Scholar
Hunter, F. 2007: Beyond the Edge of the Empire — Caledonians, Picts and Romans, Rosemarkie Google Scholar
Hunter, F. 2008: ‘Roman Britain in 2007. I. Sites explored 2. Scotland’, Britannia 39, 274–78Google Scholar
Hunter, F. 2009a: ‘Denarius hoards beyond the frontier. A Scottish case study’, in Morillo et al. 2009, 1619–30Google Scholar
Hunter, F. 2009b: ‘Traprain Law and the Roman world’, in Hanson 2009, 225–40Google Scholar
ILS: Dessau, H., Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae (1892–1916)Google Scholar
Jones, R.H. 2011: Roman Camps in Scotland, Edinburgh Google Scholar
Kennedy, D.L. 1980: ‘The frontier policy of Septimius Severus: new evidence from Arabia’, in Hanson and Keppie 1980, 879–88Google Scholar
Kennedy, D.L. 1982: Archaeological Explorations on the Roman Frontier in North East Jordan, BAR International Series 134, Oxford Google Scholar
Khodarkovsky, M. 2002: Russia's Steppe Frontier: The Making of a Colonial Empire, 1500–1800, Indiana University Press Google Scholar
Masser, P. 2006: ‘Cramond Roman fort: evidence from excavations at Cramond Kirk Hall, 1998 and 2001’, SAIR: Scottish Archaeological Internet Reports 20: http://www.sair.org.uk/sair20/index.html Google Scholar
Morillo, A., Hanel, N., and Martín, E. (eds) 2009: Limes XX: estudios sobre la frontera Romana (3 vols), Anejos de Gladius 13, Madrid Google Scholar
Nicasie, M.J. 1998: Twilight of Empire: The Roman Army from the Reign of Diocletian until the Battle of Adrianople, Amsterdam Google Scholar
Platnauer, M. 1918: The Life and Reign of the Emperor Lucius Septimius Severus, Oxford Google Scholar
Rae, A., and Rae, V. 1974: ‘The Roman fort at Cramond, Edinburgh. excavations 1954–1966’, Britannia 5, 163–224 Google Scholar
Rankov, B. 2009: ‘A “secret of empire” (imperii Arcanum): an unacknowledged factor in Roman imperial expansion’, in Hanson 2009, 163–72Google Scholar
Reece, R. 2008a: ‘Roman silver goes abroad’, in Roman Coins Outside the Empire: Ways and Phases, Contexts and Functions, Proceedings of the ESF/SCH Exploratory Workshop, Radziwill Palace, Nieborów (Poland), 3–6 September 2005, Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw, Wetteren, 59–73Google Scholar
Reece, R. 2008b: ‘Choosing denarii ’, in Spinei, V. and Munteanu, L. (eds), Miscellanea numismatica antiquitatis: in honorem septagenarii magistri Virgilii Mihailescu-Birliba oblata, Bucharest, 187–96Google Scholar
Reed, N. 1976: ‘The Scottish campaigns of Septimius Severus’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 107 (for 1975–6), 92–102 Google Scholar
RIB I: Collingwood, R.G. and Wright, R.P., The Roman Inscriptions of Britain I: Inscriptions on Stone (1965; new edn with Addenda and Corrigenda by R.S.O. Tomlin, 1995)Google Scholar
RIB II.4: Frere, S.S. and Tomlin, R.S.O. (eds), The Roman Inscriptions of Britain II. Instrumentum Domesticum: Fasc. 4. Wooden Barrels, Stilus-tablets, Miscellaneous Objects of Wood, Leather Objects, Oculists’ Stamps, Wallplaster, Mosaics, Handmills, Stone Tablets, Stone Balls, Stone Pebbles, Small Stone Votives, Miscellaneous Objects of Stone, Jet Figurines, Clay Figurines, Clay Objects, Antefixes, Tile-stamps of Legion II Augusta, of Legion VI Victrix, of Legion IX Hispana, of Legion XX Valeria Victrix, Tile-stamps of the Auxiliaries (1992)Google Scholar
RIB III: Tomlin, R.S.O., Wright, R.P. and Hassall, M.W.C., The Roman Inscriptions of Britain III: Inscriptions on Stone Found or Notified Between 1 January 1955 and 31 December 2006 (2009)Google Scholar
Richmond, I.A. 1934: ‘The Roman fort at South Shields’, Archaeologia Aeliana, 4th series, 11, 83–102 Google Scholar
Richmond, I.A. 1955: Roman Britain, Harmondsworth Google Scholar
Rivet, A.L.F., and Smith, C. 1979: The Place-names of Roman Britain, London Google Scholar
Robertson, A. 1980: ‘The bridges on Severan coins of AD 208 and 209’, in Hanson and Keppie 1980, 131–9Google Scholar
Rosenberger, V. 1992: Bella et expeditiones. Die antike Terminologie der Kriege Roms, Stuttgart Google Scholar
Roxan, M.M. 1994: Roman Military Diplomas 1985–1993, University College London, Institute of Archaeology Occasional Publication 14, London Google Scholar
Salama, P. 1977: ‘Les deplacements successifs de Limes en Mauretanie Césarienne (essai de synthèse)’, in Fitz, J. (ed.), Akten des XI Internationalen Limes Kongresses, Budapest, 577–95Google Scholar
Snape, M., Bidwell, P., and Stobbs, G. 2010: ‘Excavations in the military vicus south-west of the Roman fort at South Shields in 1973, 1988 and 2002’, Arbeia Journal 9, 42–132 Google Scholar
St Joseph, J.K.S. 1970: ‘The camps at Ardoch, Stracathro and Ythan Wells: recent excavations’, Britannia 1, 163–78Google Scholar
St Joseph, J.K. 1973: ‘Air reconnaissance in Roman Britain, 1969–72’, Journal of Roman Studies 63, 214–46CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Todd, M. 1981: Roman Britain 55 BC–AD 400, the Province beyond Ocean, London Google Scholar
Todd, M. 1985: ‘The Falkirk hoard of denarii: trade or subsidy?’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 115, 229–32Google Scholar
Tomlin, R.S.O. 2011: ‘Roman Britain in 2010. III. Inscriptions’, Britannia 42, 439–66Google Scholar
Warry, P. 2006: Tegulae: Manufacture, Typology and Use in Roman Britain, BAR British Series 417, Oxford Google Scholar
Whittington, G., and Edwards, K.J. 1993: ‘ Ubi solitudinem faciunt pacem appellant: the Romans in Scotland, a palaeoenvironmental contribution’, Britannia 24, 13–25 Google Scholar
Wilkes, J.J. 2005: ‘Provinces and frontiers’, in Bowman, A.K., Garnsey, P. and Cameron, A. (eds), The Cambridge Ancient History Vol. XII, The Crisis of Empire, AD 193–337, Cambridge, 212–68Google Scholar
Wilson, A. 2001: ‘The Novantae and Romanization in Galloway’, Transactions of the Dumfries and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society 77, 103–60Google Scholar
Wright, R.P. 1974: ‘Carpow and Caracalla’, Britannia 5, 289–92Google Scholar