Severus and his army left Brundisium and sailed directly to Syria. In the spring he advanced to relieve Nisibis; but the Parthians withdrew before him without a struggle,[1] and Severus, accompanied by the brother of the Parthian king, returned to the Euphrates. There he prepared boats, and partly by this means and partly by marching along the banks the army descended the river. By the fall of 198[2] the capital city was reached, and both Seleucia and Babylon were occupied after they had been abandoned by the Parthians. Ctesiphon, which apparently put up considerable resistance, was captured and sacked.[3] The Emperor then assumed the title "Parthicus Maximus"[4] after the example of his predecessor Trajan.
Food for man and beast soon became scarce, and no extensive stay was made in the vicinity of Ctesiphon. Again partly by boat and partly by land the army moved up the Tigris. Like Trajan, Severus made an
- ↑ CIL, VIII, No. 4583, dated in the spring of 198, celebrates a victory over the Parthians.
- ↑ A hoard of coins dated 198/99, probably buried upon the approach of the Romans, strongly confirms this dating; see McDowell, Coins from Seleucia, p. 91, No. 122, and p. 235.
- ↑ Dio Cass, lxxvi (lxxv. 9); Spart. Severus 16. On date see Maurice Platnauer, The Life and Reign of the Emperor Lucius Septimius Severus (Oxford, 1918), p. 117, n. 1; cf. also Johannes Hasebroek, Untersuchungen zur Geschichte des Kaisers Septimius Severus (Heidelberg, 1921), pp. 113 f.
- ↑ CIL, III, Nos. 205 f.; Mattingly and Sydenham, Rom. Imp. Coin., IV, 105, Nos. 122(a) ff.
