SEVERUS II (Flavius Valerius Severus)

• Flavius Valerius Severus was born in Illyricum at an unknown date.
• On 1st March 293, Diocletian adopted Galerius as son and Caesar, while Maximian did the same for his praetorian commander Julius Constantius.
• By 304, Diocletian was in poor health and decided to abdicate. He persuaded Maximian to do so as well, and on 1st May 305, they did so. Constantius and Galerius became the new senior emperors, while Maximinus Daia and Severus took their places as Caesars.
• When Constantius died at York on 25th July 306, his army proclaimed his son, Constantine, "Augustus", and senior emperor in the west in succession to his father. When Galerius heard this, he sent back a purple robe as recognition of Constantine as Caesar, not Augustus. He promoted Severus the rank of Augustus instead.
• Maxentius, son of Maximian, was disappointed in being passed over, and proclaimed himself emperor at Rome on 28th October 306.
• Severus was instructed by Galerius to crush Maxentius, who had too few troops to risk a decisive battle.
• Severus arrived before the walls of Rome but there his army deserted him, bribed by Maxentius. Severus fled to Ravenna but was captured, forced to abdicate, and killed, at Tres Tabernae near Rome on 16th September 307.