Beinamen für stadtrömische Militäreinheiten unter Severus Alexander und dessen angeblicher Triumph über die Perser im Jahr 233

Abstract

The imperial constitutions granting citizenship show that under Severus Alexander the epithets Severiana and Alexandriana, or a combination of both, borne by military units in the provinces were by no means awarded centrally from Rome. Instead, from the beginning of his reign onwards, these names were freely and unsystematically employed by the units without regulation from above. By contrast, the constitutions given out for praetorians, equites singulares and the Italic fleets reveal that from 222 to 230 they were always designated Severiana and from then on only as Alexandriana, which was apparently the official line. The change from Severiana to Alexandriana was hence programmatically implemented with the departure for the Persian war. At that point, the Emperor also adopted the title of proconsul, which he held continuously from 231 to 235. This indicates that Severus Alexander never returned to Italy, but travelled directly from the East to Upper Germania, as Herodian relates. The alleged triumph of the Emperor over the Persians in September 233 can therefore be exposed as an invention of the author of the HA, as is also clear from the fact that the Emperor never accepted an acclamation as imperator after 222.  Depictions of the emperor in triumph on coins and medallions do not counter this point, because they were used for various reasons already before his time, and demonstrably by emperors who have never been claimed to have celebrated a triumph.