Marcus Cornelius Fronto became the first African to be elected consul. Although ill-health forced him to resign after only two months, the appointment indicated that Africans were now moving into the highest rank in Roman politics. Already two-thirds of the Roman Senate comprised Africans and Asians and by the end of the 2nd century, an African was able to found a dynasty of emperors.
Marcus Aurelius and his Murdered Successors
When Marcus Aurelius, once Fronto’s pupil, died in 180 AD, he was succeeded by his son Commodus whose insanity and lust for blood led to his assassination on the last day of the year 192 AD. With Commodus’ death, the Praetorian Guard stepped in and elected a puppet emperor, Pertinax.
Pertinax, the son of a slave, was the first of two Roman emperors to reign for a few months during the following year. Unfortunately, Pertinax made the fatal mistake of paying the praetorians only half the “fee” he had promised them for their services, citing the need to economize for the omission.
The Guard soon took their revenge by murdering Pertinax and switching their alliegance to Didius Julianus after he offered them 25,000 sestertii a head for the favor.
Subsequently, the praetorians accompanied Didius, who had a North African mother, to the Senate where the senators were bullied into accepting him. This time, it was the Senate which exacted revenge. They hired a soldier to kill Didius and introduced him into the imperial palace,where the dark deed was done on June 1, 193 AD.
Rome had better luck with, Septimius Severus, a much stronger and wiser candidate, probably of Carthaginian lineage, from Lepcis Magna in Tripolitania. For a start, Septimius had command of a powerful army and possessed, in addition, a soldier’s energy, drive and discipline.
These were qualities vital to an empire that was now fast sinking into decline and in dire need of a leader like Septimius Severus who could restore to Rome its customary dignity and stability.
Septimius Severus, the Military Emperor
Septimius’ first act after arriving at the imperial palace in 193AD was to disband the Praetorian Guard and replace it with a force double its size, drawn from his own legions.
Inevitably, Septimius’ training and the political situation he found in Rome produced a military dictatorship, but fortunately, it was a dictatorship that he used wisely. He ensured the Army’s loyalty by increasing pay and privileges, and consolidated its power, on which his own rested, by creating three new legions.
Sepitimius got the better of two rivals for his throne - Pescinnius Niger (193-195 AD) and another North African, Clodius Albinus (195-197 AD). By judicious delegation of authority, he also changed the character of the Empire by turning it from a collection of colonies into something nearer a commonwealth.
When he died in 211 AD, he left the Roman Empire a great deal stronger, wealthier and more peaceful than he found it.
More Murdered Emperors
Unfortunately, though, none of his successors was of the same caliber. For example, Septimius’ son and heir Caracalla, was as mad and dissolute as Commodus had been. Inevitably, in 217 AD, Caracalla was murdered by the prefect of his Guard, Macrinus.
Macrinus, who came from Caesarea in Mauretania, was assassinated in his turn by the soldiers of his successor Eliogabalus. History duly repeated itself yet again when Eliogabalus was himself killed in 222 AD, together with his Syrian mother Julia Domna.
The next Roman Emperor was both unusual and unfortunate. Severus Alexander, who came from the Phoenician city of Caesarea sub Libano, was studious, dedicated and the only member of the Severan dynasty democratic enough to respect the Senate and use it as an instrument of government.
His natural humanity led him to take an interest in the Christians who had suffered greatly during previous reigns. Consequently, Severus Alexander was highly praised by later Christian writers. Sadly, though, the virtues they extolled in him were inopportune for the time and its political environment.
Severus Alexander lived in an evil, violent age which could not be controlled by civilized gentleness. The political power of the Roman Army was again growing, its loyalty to the emperor was suspect and the frontiers of the Empire were being battered once more by barbarians.
Severus Alexander and the Barbarians
In 235 AD, Alexander was forced to lead his army against them, but he had none of Septimius’ skill or authority and during the campaign, he became the victim of yet another military coup when the Army mutinied at Mainz, in Germany and murdered him.
The African contribution to Rome did not, however, die with him. Already, during Alexander’s lifetime, the learned Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus, the early Christian writer from Roman Carthage who became better known as Tertullian was defending the Christian faith with brilliant reasoning.
Tertulllian and St. Augustine
Tertullian’s “Apologia” written in 197 AD, attracted the tribute “one of the greatest works in defense of Christianity” and his eloquence was eclipsed only by St. Augustine of Hippo, another African who was born in Numidia two centuries later.
St. Augustine is considered one of the greatest fathers of the Christian church and like tertullian, wrote a defense of his faith, “The City of God” which has since become a classic.
It has been said that “Africa created western European Christianity” and so, beginning as a vanquished enemy of mighty Rome, Africans rose to set an enduring mark on the heirs of the Empire that once conquered them.
Please See Also: Africans in Ancient Rome: Playwrights, Writers and Lawyers
Sources
-Sommer, Michael: The Complete Roman Emperor: Imperial Life at Court and on Campaign (The Complete Series) (London UK: Thames and Hudson, 2010) ISBN-10: 9780500251676/ISBN-13: 978-0500251676/ASIN: 0500251673
St. Augustine of Hippo and Dods, Marcus: The City of God by Saint (Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, 2009) ISBN-10: 1598563378/ISBN-13: 978-1598563375
Brenda Ralph Lewis - My interest in history dates from childhood. I am presently the author of 120 books and hundreds of articles, all on historical ...
