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Septimius Severus was NOT black, that is a common myth. He was born in Africa, but his mother was Italian and his father was of Phoenician descent, he looked pretty much like any southern Italian or Sicilian would today.
Further, he did not rule anywhere near the time period in question and while his currency debasement had long term implications on the Roman economy, his reign is generally seen as having been the right person at the right time.
Septimius Severus was NOT black, that is a common myth. He was born in Africa, but his mother was Italian and his father was of Phoenician descent, he looked pretty much like any southern Italian or Sicilian would today.
Nope. He was black. and actually to go a step further he was a Hebrew Israelite. he served in the Italian Army but he was not Italian by no stretch of the imagination. do more research. how could he be Italian when history books say he was African? the fact is, the history books and scholars used the term "African" to denote skintone back then.
Nope. He was black. and actually to go a step further he was a Hebrew Israelite. he served in the Italian Army but he was not Italian by no stretch of the imagination. do more research. how could he be Italian when history books say he was African? the fact is, the history books and scholars used the term "African" to denote skintone back then.
History books don't lie.
Well, some books certainly lie, lol.
You are so incorrect in what you are assuming about what it meant that he was "African". He was born in Leptis Magna which was an ancient Pheonician colony and part of the Punic Empire. It was conquered by Rome and many Romans settled there. Emperor Tiberius officially annexed the city of Leptis Magna into the empire as part of the province of "Africa". So, yes, he was from "Africa", but that does not make him "black" in the way you want to use the term as if to denote a "negro".
His mother was Italian Roman and from the patrician family Fulvia that had emigrated to Leptis Magna. His father was of Punic/Libyan descent which is to say he was Phoenician or of Semitic (not Jewish, Arabs are Semites, too) origins. So, his mom was "Italian" and his father was "Libyan", neither of which are "black" according to what you imply it to be. Severus most likely had "dark" skin in the same way Sicilians, Greeks and other Mediteranean peoples have "dark" skin, this does not mean he was "black". We would most likely describe him as being "olive".
Septimius Severus was born on 11 April 145 at Leptis Magna (in modern Libya), son of Publius Septimius Geta and Fulvia Pia.[2] Severus came from a wealthy, distinguished family of equestrian rank. He was of Italian Roman ancestry on his mother's side and of Punic or Libyan-Punic ancestry on his father's.[12] Severus' father was an obscure provincial who held no major political status, but he had two cousins, Publius Septimius Aper and Gaius Septimius Severus, who served as consuls under emperor Antoninus Pius. His mother's ancestors had moved from Italy to North Africa: they belonged to the gens Fulvia, an Italianpatrician family that originated in Tusculum.[13]
Here is a bust of Severus, does he look like he is "black" aka "negro" features?
Here is a link and quote from UNRV History, a site dedicated to the history and archeology of Rome...
Severus was born April 11 AD 145 in the North African (modern Libya) city of Lepcis Magna and was of Italian heritage on his maternal side and most likely of paternal Punic origins. Though African, there is little evidence to suggest that Severus was anything other than of typical Mediterranean stock. Assertions that he was the first "black" emperor based on his African heritage fails to account for the semitic origins of the Punic (Phoenician) people and his maternal Italian heritage.
The idea that he was "black" is a simple creation/distortion of the fact he came from Africa. Whether you want to ascribe the creation of the myth to racists or Afrocentrists, it doesn't matter. The man wasn't "black" and does it really matter what his race was anyway?
The idea that he was "black" is a simple creation/distortion of the fact he came from Africa. Whether you want to ascribe the creation of the myth to racists or Afrocentrists, it doesn't matter. The man wasn't "black" and does it really matter what his race was anyway?
At least they didn't say he was 'African American.' I once heard Nelson Mandela described as an African American. Nationality FAIL.
It's actually a very complicated question; you could even argue Rome never actually fell, but influenced and even evolved into other subsequent civilizations...
Anway, the reason we don't wear togas (yea, yea so they didn't technically wear togas, but some historical screw-ups are just too classical to forget. ), speak Latin and hail Caesar is because Rome over-extended itself and it's elilte became too debauched, out of touch with reality and corrupt to maintain control over the populace.
Also, the general Roman populace itself grew to become too specialized and dependant on the Roman system for survival; which as mother nature teaches us is a sure-fire recipie for extinction.
Ultimately the Roman way proved to be unadaptable to a changing world because the individual works of the people of Rome failed to compliment each other in a way benificial to whole. You know, just like every other fallen civilization in human history.
(edit... I was thinking Roman empire too... ) I guess the thing that killed the republic was apathy; people didn't stop Agustus from declaring himself the Emperor and usurping the power of the Senate.
Agustus proved to be a fairly competent ruler, and nobody worried about a Nero or Caligula comming to power down the road. I guess people didn't fight back becaue their lives didnt' seem that bad and nobody was thinking about the future. We could learn lesson or two there, me thinks...
Last edited by Chango; 09-29-2011 at 12:53 PM..
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who brought down the roman republic?
), speak Latin and hail Caesar is because Rome over-extended itself and it's elilte became too debauched, out of touch with reality and corrupt to maintain control over the populace. 
) I guess the thing that killed the republic was apathy; people didn't stop Agustus from declaring himself the Emperor and usurping the power of the Senate. 
