In this exclusive lecture, Dr Simon Elliott will give a preview of his new biography: The African Emperor: The Life of Septimius Severus (Penguin, 2025). The talk will focus on the northern campaigns of the early 3rd Century, when the ageing Severus launched a shock and awe assault on northern Britain so savage that it achieved eighty years of peace on Rome’s most troublesome border. He will narrate how, in these bloody campaigns, a force of 50,000 troops, supported by the fleet, cut a swathe through the Maeatae tribe around the former Antonine Wall and invaded Caledonian territory up to the Moray Firth. Over the course of the lecture, Simon will demonstrate how Severus was the first of the great reforming emperors of the Roman military, and that his reforms are explained in the context of how he concentrated power around the imperial throne.
Dr Simon Elliott is an award-winning archaeologist, historian, and broadcaster. He is Honorary Researh Fellow at the University of Kent.