The Ludi Saeculares of Septimius Severus

Download or read book The Ludi Saeculares of Septimius Severus written by Jussi Rantala and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2017-02-24 with total page 221 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Septimius Severus emerged victorious from the civil war of AD 193; he was not part of the traditional political elite, but instead a military commander from Africa, with a Syrian princess as his wife. To garner popular support and to legitimise his power Severus conducted an intensive propaganda campaign. This is the first monograph to examine the Secular Games (ludi saeculares), the magnificent festival which celebrated Septimius Severus as a bringer of peace and prosperity, and which also symbolised a new imperial ideology based on autocracy rather than the Antonine ideal of co-operation between ruler and Senate.