Emperor Alexander Severus by John S McHugh

Author:John S McHugh
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Military history
ISBN: 9781473845824
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2017-06-30T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

War in the East AD 228–233

‘And then the kings of Persia shall rise, and Roman Mars [will smite] the Roman king and pastoral Phrygia shall with earthquakes groan. Woe, woe Laodicea, woe to thee sad Hierapolis, for you the first the yawning earth shall receive … of Rome … vast Aus[onia?]. All things as many … shall wail … [the] men destroyed by the hands of Mars.’

(Sibylline Oracle: Book X (XII), 344–354)

Alexander Severus had unwittingly been the short-term beneficiary of a protracted period of peace, a consequence of the aggressive campaigns of Septimius Severus and Caracalla against the Caledonians beyond Hadrian’s Wall, the Parthians in the East and the Alamanni on the Rhine. This was, however, a mixed blessing. On the one hand it allowed the new regime the opportunity to build secure foundations to his rule, but it also deprived the emperor of the opportunity to display the martial virtues considered essential by the soldiers. These men were willing to risk their lives serving an emperor, who was their ultimate commander-in-chief, if they felt confident in his virtus and military abilities. Caracalla had pursued an aggressive war against a weakened Parthian Empire in order to establish this reputation. He was loved by his men. Even Elagabalus had led men in war, rallying fleeing soldiers to turn the tide of battle. Alexander Severus failed to use the peaceful interlude from his accession in AD 222 to AD 228 by building up these martial credentials. Rome had never been averse to launching an unprovoked military campaign against some weak and surprised foe. The wars of Alexander Severus would, however, be entirely reactive, with the army led by an emperor lacking any military experience. By AD 224, a war in the East could have been foreseen, with the rise of Ardashir and his defeat of his Parthian opponent. Septimius Severus’ and Caracalla’s invasions of Mesopotamia had served to entirely destabilize the Parthian regime, leading to a bloody civil war between Artabanus V (also known as Ardavan V) and his brother, Vologases VI. Caracalla had written to the Senate in AD 216 that this was a situation entirely to Rome’s advantage.1 Neither he nor his successors, Macrinus and Elagabalus, had any inkling that the Parthian Empire was about to collapse, its place taken by a highly centralized and far more aggressive Sassanid Empire. However, by AD 224, the situation had become clearer, with evidence that a new and far more aggressive power had risen in the East.

The bloody and indecisive Battle of Nisibis in AD 217 and the resultant peace treaty had allowed Artabanus V to focus his energies on defeating Vologases VI, whose territory had been reduced to Babylonia. Artabanus managed to defeat his brother at a battle near Susa by 5 September AD 221, but he was immediately faced with a far greater threat.2 The lack of stable government had allowed a power vacuum to develop, and Ardashir (also called Artaxerxes in our sources), a minor king in Pars (a

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