Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexander, also known as Alexander Severus, was Roman emperor from 222 until 235. The last emperor from the Severan dynasty, he succeeded his slain cousin Elagabalus in 222, at the age of 13. Alexander himself was eventually assassinated, and his death marked the beginning of the events of the Crisis of the Third Century, which included nearly fifty years of civil war, foreign invasion, and the collapse of the monetary economy.
Lucius Septimius Severus was a Roman politician who served as emperor from 193 to 211. He was born in Leptis Magna in the Roman province of Africa. As a young man he advanced through the customary succession of offices under the reigns of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus. Severus was the final contender to seize power after the death of the emperor Pertinax in 193 during the Year of the Five Emperors.
Commodus was a Roman emperor who ruled from 177 until his assassination in 192. For the first three years of his reign he was co-emperor with his father Marcus Aurelius. Commodus' sole rule, starting with the death of Aurelius in 180, is commonly thought to mark the end of a golden age of peace and prosperity in the history of the Roman Empire.
Gaius Pescennius Niger was a Roman usurper from 193 to 194 during the Year of the Five Emperors. He claimed the imperial throne in response to the murder of Pertinax and the elevation of Didius Julianus, but was defeated by a rival claimant, Septimius Severus, and killed while attempting to flee from Antioch.
Publius Helvius Pertinax was Roman emperor for the first three months of 193. He succeeded Commodus to become the first emperor during the tumultuous Year of the Five Emperors.
Marcus Didius Julianus was Roman emperor from March to June 193, during the Year of the Five Emperors. Julianus had a promising political career, governing several provinces, including Dalmatia and Germania Inferior, and defeated the Chauci and Chatti, two invading Germanic tribes. He was even appointed to the consulship in 175 along with Pertinax as a reward, before being demoted by Commodus. After this demotion, his early, promising political career languished.
Decimus Clodius Albinus was a Roman imperial pretender between 193 and 197. He was proclaimed emperor by the legions in Britain and Hispania after the murder of Pertinax in 193. Initially Albinus cooperated with another contender for the throne, Septimius Severus, but the two turned on each other in 196 and commenced a civil war. Albinus died in battle the following year.
Publius Septimius Geta was Roman emperor with his father Septimius Severus and older brother Caracalla from 209, when he was named Augustus like his brother, who had held the title from 198. Severus died in 211, and although he intended for his sons to rule together, they proved incapable of sharing power, culminating with the murder of Geta in December of that year.
Julia Domna was Roman empress from 193 to 211 as the wife of Emperor Septimius Severus. She was the first empress of the Severan dynasty. Domna was born in Emesa in Roman Syria to an Arab family of priests of the deity Elagabalus. In 187, she married Severus, who at the time was governor of the Roman province of Gallia Lugdunensis. They had two sons, Caracalla and Geta. A civil war over the Roman throne broke out in 193, and shortly afterwards Severus declared himself emperor. The war ended in 197 with the defeat of the last of Severus's opponents.
Julia Avita Mamaea or Julia Mamaea was a Christian Syrian noble woman and member of the Severan dynasty. She was the mother of Roman emperor Alexander Severus and remained one of his chief advisors throughout his reign. She was killed in 235 by rebel soldiers alongside her son.
Tiberius Claudius Pompeianus was a politician and military commander during the 2nd century in the Roman Empire. A general under Emperor Marcus Aurelius, Pompeianus distinguished himself during Rome's wars against the Parthians and the Marcomanni. He was a member of the imperial family due to his marriage to Lucilla, a daughter of Marcus Aurelius, and was a key figure during the emperor's reign. Pompeianus was offered the imperial throne three times, though he refused to claim the title for himself.
Manlia Scantilla was a Roman woman who lived in the second century. She was very briefly Roman Empress as wife to the Roman emperor Didius Julianus. Her name indicates that she was born into the gens Manlia, which if correct, indicates an illustrious patrician ancestry.
Quintus Petronius Didius Severus was a Roman who lived in the 2nd century. Severus' family was one of the most prominent and significant families in Midolanensis or Mediolanum.
Cornelius Repentinus was a Roman Senator who was active in the 2nd century AD. He held a number of positions during the reigns of emperors Marcus Aurelius, Commodus and Didius Julianus, which included suffect consul and Urban prefect of Rome.
The gens Didia, or Deidia, as the name is spelled on coins, was a plebeian family at ancient Rome, which first appears in history during the final century of the Republic. According to Cicero, they were novi homines. Titus Didius obtained the consulship in 98 BC, a dignity shared by no other Didii until imperial times.
Annia Aurelia Fadilla, most commonly known as Fadilla was one of the daughters born to Marcus Aurelius and his wife Faustina the Younger. She was a sister to Lucilla and Commodus. Fadilla was named in honor of her late maternal aunt Aurelia Fadilla. The cognomen Fadilla, was the cognomen of the mother and a half-sister of Antoninus Pius. Her maternal grandparents were Antoninus Pius and Faustina the Elder and her paternal grandparents were Domitia Lucilla and praetor Marcus Annius Verus.
The history of the Roman Empire covers the history of ancient Rome from the fall of the Roman Republic in 27 BC until the abdication of Romulus Augustulus in AD 476 in the West, and the Fall of Constantinople in the East in AD 1453. Ancient Rome became a territorial empire while still a republic, but was then ruled by Roman emperors beginning with Augustus, becoming the Roman Empire following the death of the last republican dictator, the first emperor's adoptive father Julius Caesar.
Maximinus Thrax was a Roman emperor from 235 to 238. Born of Thracian origin – giving the nickname "Thrax" – he rose up through the military ranks, ultimately holding high command in the army of the Rhine under Emperor Severus Alexander. After Severus was murdered in 235, he was proclaimed emperor by the army, beginning the Crisis of the Third Century.
Titus Flavius Genialis was Praetorian prefect with Tullius Crispinus in 193 AD. He was appointed by Didius Julianus, who had just bought the throne from the Guard. Even in the face of Julianus' rapidly deteriorating political position, Genialis remained utterly loyal. However, he could not prevent the Senate from condemning or executing Julianus as they did on behalf of Septimius Severus who succeeded Julianus as Emperor of Rome.
