História Augusta. Vol. II: Lives of Helvio Pertinax, Didius Julianus, Severus, Pescenius Niger, Clodius Albinus, Antoninus Caracala, Antoninus Geta, Opellius Macrinus, Didadumnus Antoninus, Antoninus Heliogabalus

Authors

Nuno Simões Rodrigues

Cláudia Teixeira

Francisco Oliveira

José Luís Brandão

Synopsis

This second volume includes the Lives of Pertinax, Didius Julianus, Septimius Severus, Pescenius Niger, Clodius Albinus, Caracala, Geta, Macrinus, Didadumnus and Heliogabalus. Thus, taking into account Pertinax's accession to the imperial throne and Heliogabalus' death, the volume covers the period of Rome's history from 192 to 222 AD. If we take into account the birth of Pertinax (A.D. 122), the time covered by this set of lives is therefore about a century. The period covered by the lives gathered here coincides with that of the establishment of the Severan dinasty, which followed that of the Antonines, emperors that marked at various levels the Roman imperial apogee. Of all the biographies gathered in this volume, that of Heliogabalus should be, by the wealth of descriptions, the one that best corresponds to a certain contemporary - though not necessarily factual - imaginary of Ancient Rome: a civilisation marked by excess, exoticism, cruelty and perversion.

Publication Date

30 March, 2021

Available at Classica Digitalia Series