Abstract
In 205 CE, the praetorian prefect Plautianus was murdered in the imperial palace. The ancient sources, Dio and Herodian, tell of a plot, though they offer different versions as to who was behind it and who the target. This article will consider both accounts as well as the numismatic and epigraphic evidence in an attempt to provide a new interpretation for this event.
Bibliography
Absil, M. Les préfets du Prétoire d’Auguste à Commode. Paris: De Boccard, 1997.Search in Google Scholar
Barnes, T. D. “The family and career of Septimius Severus.” Historia 16 (1967): 87–107.Search in Google Scholar
Berger, A. Encyclopedic Dictionary of Roman Law. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1953.10.2307/1005773Search in Google Scholar
Birley, A. R. Septimius Severus: the African emperor. London: Routledge, 1988.Search in Google Scholar
Cary, E. Dio Cassius: Roman History. Loeb Classical Library, Vol. IX. Cambridge, MA: Harvard U. P., 1955.Search in Google Scholar
Chausson, F. “La grand-mère maternelle de Septime Sévère.” Latomus 57 (1998): 391–414.Search in Google Scholar
Daguet-Gagey, A. “C. Fulvius Plautianus, Hostis Publicus Rome, 205–208 après J.-C.” In La “Crise” de l’Empire Romain de Marc Aurèle à Constantin, edited by M. H. Quet, 65–94. Paris: Presses de l’Université Paris-Sorbonne, 2006.Search in Google Scholar
Flower, H. “Les Sévères et l’usage de la memoria: l’ arcus du Forum Boarium à Rome.” In Un Discours en Images de la Condamnation de Mémoire, edited by S. Benoist and A. Daguey-Gagey, 97–115. Metz: Centre Régional Universitaire Lorrain d’Histoire site de Metz, 2008.Search in Google Scholar
Gleason, M. “Identity theft: doubles and masquerades in Cassius Dio’s contemporary history.” Classical Antiquity 30.1 (2011): 33–86.10.1525/CA.2011.30.1.33Search in Google Scholar
Gorrie, C. “The Severan building programme and the Secular Games.” Athenaeum 90.2 (2002): 461–481.Search in Google Scholar
Hohl, E. “Herodian und der Sturz Plautians.” In Studies in Cassius Dio and Herodian, edited by H. A. Anderson and E. Hohl, 33–46. New York: Arno, 1975.Search in Google Scholar
Honoré, T. Emperors and Lawyers. Second Edition. Oxford: Oxford U. P., 1994.Search in Google Scholar
Horster, M. “ Princeps Iuventutis – concept, realisation, representation.” In Figures d’Empire, Fragments de Mémoire: pouvoirs et identités dans le monde romain imperial (IIe s. av. n. è.–VIe s. de n. è), edited by S. Benoist, A. Daguet-Gagey and C. Hoët-van Cauwenberghe, 73–103. Villeneuve d’Ascq: Les Presses universitaires du Septentrion, 2011.Search in Google Scholar
Howe, L. L. The Praetorian Prefects from Commodus to Diocletian (AD 180–305). Rome: Chicago U. P., 1966.Search in Google Scholar
Kemmers, F. “Out of the Shadow: Geta and Caracalla reconsidered.” In Repräsentationsformen in severischer Zeit, edited by S. Faust and F. Leitmeir, 270–290. Berlin: Verlag Antike, 2011.Search in Google Scholar
Levick, B. Julia Domna: Syrian empress. London: Routledge, 2007.10.4324/9780203392416Search in Google Scholar
Manders, E. Coining Images of Power: patterns of representation of Roman emperors on imperial coinage, AD 193–284. Leiden: Brill, 2012.10.1163/9789004224001Search in Google Scholar
Meckler, M. Caracalla and his late antique biographer: a historical commentary on the ‘Vita Caracalli’ in the Historia Augusta. PhD Diss., University of Michigan, 1994.Search in Google Scholar
Millar, F. A Study of Cassius Dio. Oxford: Oxford U. P., 1964.Search in Google Scholar
Murphy, G. J. The Reign of the Emperor L. Septimius Severus from the evidence of the inscriptions. PhD Diss., University of Pennsylvania, 1945.Search in Google Scholar
Noreña, C. F. “Coins and Communication.” In The Oxford Handbook of Social Relations in the Roman World, edited by M. Peachin, 248–268. Oxford: Oxford U. P., 2010.Search in Google Scholar
Noreña, C. F. Imperial Ideals in the Roman West: representation, circulation, power. Cambridge: Cambridge U. P., 2011.Search in Google Scholar
Oliver, J. H. Greek Constitutions of Early Roman Emperors from Inscriptions and Papyri. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1989.Search in Google Scholar
Sillar, S. Quinquennium in Provinciis: Caracalla and imperial administration, AD 212–17. PhD Diss., University of Queensland, 2001a.Search in Google Scholar
Sillar, S. “Caracalla and the senate: the aftermath of Geta’s assassination.” Athenaeum 89.2 (2001b): 407–423.Search in Google Scholar
Sutherland, C. H. V. Roman Coins. London: Barrie and Jenkins, 1974.Search in Google Scholar
Varner, E. Mutilation and Transformation: Damnatio Memoriae and Roman imperial portraiture. Leiden: Brill, 2004.10.1163/9789047404705Search in Google Scholar
Whittaker, C. R. Herodian. Loeb Classical Library, Vol. I. Cambridge, MA: Harvard U. P., 1969.Search in Google Scholar
© 2015 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Munich/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Frontmatter
- Erratum
- Articles
- Gate and Town in 2 Sam 15:1: Collective Politics and Absalom’s Strategy
- Epitomizing Philosophy and the Critique of Epicurean Popularizers
- The Prefect and the Plot: a reassessment of the murder of Plautianus
- Sexual Damage to Slaves in Roman Law
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Frontmatter
- Erratum
- Articles
- Gate and Town in 2 Sam 15:1: Collective Politics and Absalom’s Strategy
- Epitomizing Philosophy and the Critique of Epicurean Popularizers
- The Prefect and the Plot: a reassessment of the murder of Plautianus
- Sexual Damage to Slaves in Roman Law