Four Roman Emperors Born in Africa: 146 Ad-253 AD
by Quite a few of the Roman Emperors were foreign-born. At least four of the emperors were born in Africa, including Septimius Severus, Albinus, Macrinus and Aemilianus.
It is often surmised that the Roman Emperors were just that, Roman or Italian (in today’s nomenclature), but this is erroneous as quite a few of the Emperors were actually born in the Colonies, Hispania (modern-day Spain), Gaul (modern-day France), Syria, Pannonia (modern-day Hungary, Serbia, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina), Dalmatia, Pannonia (modern-day Slovenia,Austria and West Hungary), Moesia (modern-day Serbia, North Bulgaria and Romania), Dacia (modern-day Balkans and parts of Romania), Thracia (parts of modern-day Bulgaria, North Eastern Greece and Turkey), and of course Africa. The Four African Emperors were Septimius Severus, Clodius Albinus, Marcus Macrinus and Aemilianus.
Lucius Septimius Severus (146 AD-211 AD)
Severus was born near Leptis Magna in Africa (in modern-day Libya), and came from a wealthy and distinguished equestrian family. His ancestry was of mixed origin as his mother was originally of Roman ancestry and his father was of Berber or Punic origin. Severus rose to be consul in 190 AD and commander of the army in Pannonia and Illyria. Following the murder of Pertinax in 193 AD, Severus was proclaimed Emperor and then marched his army upon Rome, defeating his two rivals, one of which was Clodius Albinus (also African by birth),in 195 and 197, in the interim capturing Byzantium. Severus was then engaged in campaigns against the Parthians (197-199 AD), whereupon he gave shows of unparalleled magnificence, and distributed extravagant largesse (202 AD). Severus then embarked upon a campaign in the extreme north of Britain, and in order to shield the south of Britain from the Maetae and Caledonians, he repaired Hadrians Wall, but died soon thereafter at Eboaracum (modern-day York).
Clodius Decimus Albinus (c. 150 AD-197 AD)
Clodius Albinus was a native of Hadrumetum, Mauretania. Hadrumetum was originally a Phoenician colony that pre-dated Carthage and stood on the site of modern-day Sousse, Tunisia. He apparently received the name Albinus because of his extremely pallid complexion. A natural soldier, he joined the army at an early age and served with distinction, an example being his endeavours during the rebellion of Avidius Cassius against the Emperor Marcus Aurelius (in 175AD). Albinus was subsequently given commands in Gallia Belgica and in Britain. The situation following the murders of the Emperor Commodus and his successor Pertinax was far from stable, and various men were proclaimed Emperor, Albinus being one of those men, having been proclaimed thus by the troops in Illyricum and Pannonia. The problem was that Roman soldiers had also proclaimed Prescennius Niger and Septimius Severus emperors. Naturally, civil war followed and Albinus initially allied himself with Septimius Severus, accepting the title of Caesar from him, the two sharing a consulship in 194. In time, however, Severus resolved to make himself sole ruler of Rome, and Albinus sought naturally to obviate such an outcome. Albinus subsequently proclaimed himself Emperor and crossed from Britain to Gaul, and defeated Severus’ legate,Virius Lupus, winning the allegiance of the troops in gaul and on the Rhine. The end was, however, nigh, and the two armies of Albinus and Severus (both African-born) met at the Battle of Lugdunum, and after a hard-fought and bloody battle, Albinus was defeated, and apparently killed himself or may have been executed on the orders of Severus.
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