Severus Alexander

Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexander^[1] (1 October 208 – March 235), also known as Alexander Severus,^[2] was Roman emperor from 222 until 235. He was the last emperor from the Severan dynasty and was the youngest sole emperor of the united Roman Empire (aged 13).

When Alexander took power he was aged 13, and succeeded his slain cousin, the 18-year-old Emperor Elagabalus, whose adopted son and heir he had been. Alexander and his predecessor were both grandsons of Julia Maesa, who was the sister of the empress Julia Domna and had arranged for Elagabalus's acclamation as emperor by the Third Gallic Legion.

Elagabalus had been murdered along with his mother Julia Soaemias by his own guards, who, as a mark of contempt, had the two bodies cast into the Tiber river.^[3]

Alexander's 13-year reign was the longest reign of a sole emperor since Antoninus Pius^[4] and in peace proved prosperous. However, Rome faced military threats from the rising power of the Sassanid Empire, as well as growing incursions from the tribes of Germania. Alexander managed to check the threat of the Sassanids, but when campaigning against Germanic tribes, he attempted to bring peace by engaging in diplomacy and bribery. This policy alienated many in the Roman army, leading to a conspiracy that resulted in the assassination of Alexander, along with his mother Julia Avita Mamaea and his advisors. He was succeeded by Maximinus Thrax. Alexander's death constituted the epoch event for the Crisis of the Third Century, bringing in its train nearly fifty years of civil war, foreign invasion, and the collapse of the monetary economy.