The First 'Hammer Of The Scots'

Simon Elliott describes how Septimius Severus, a ruthless but extremely effective Roman emperor and military commander, dealt with troublesome, warring locals ‘north of the border’ in Britannia

These chilling words (above) mark the climax of the Roman historian’s narrative when describing attempts made by Septimius Severus in AD 209 and AD 210 to conquer Scotland. Cassius Dio has the great Roman warrior emperor quoting the words, spoken by Agamemnon to his brother Menelaus in Homer’s Iliad (Bk 6.57–9) when addressing his massed troops before the second campaign against Troy. His evident ordering of a genocide was driven by acute frustration after the native inhabitants, with whom he had negotiated a peace after the first incursion north, revolted yet again. So how did Severus come to be in this far-flung place at the north-west edge of the Roman Empire at the end of his life – and what happened after he arrived?

Lucius Septimius Severus Augustus was born in the fierce heat of North Africa, in the coastal city of Lepcis Magna (in today’s Libya) in April AD 145. He was 65 when he passed away, on a freezing February day in York in AD 211. The founder of the Severan dynasty, he was one of a number of the leading members of the Punic Septimii family to take full advantage of the integration of North Africa into the Roman Empire.