The Battle of Issus was the third major battle in AD 194 between the forces of Emperor

Septimius Severus Lucius Septimius Severus (; ; 11 April 145 – 4 February 211) was Roman emperor from 193 to 211. He was born in Leptis Magna (present-day Al-Khums, Libya) in the Roman province of Africa. As a young man he advanced through cursus honorum, the ...

and his rival,

Pescennius Niger Gaius Pescennius Niger (c. 135 – 194) was a Roman usurper from 193 to 194 during the Year of the Five Emperors. He claimed the imperial throne in response to the murder of Pertinax and the elevation of Didius Julianus, but was defeated by a ...

, part of the

Year of the Five Emperors The Year of the Five Emperors was AD 193, in which five men claimed the title of Roman emperor: Pertinax, Didius Julianus, Pescennius Niger, Clodius Albinus, and Septimius Severus. This year started a period of civil war when multiple rulers vie ...

. The Severan forces, commanded by

Publius Cornelius Anullinus Publius Cornelius Anullinus (or, occasionally, Anulinus) was one of the generals of the Roman emperor Septimius Severus. He was from the city of Iliberis (Granada, or identified by modern scholars as likely being in or near Albayzín), and, while ...

, won the battle, and Niger was captured and killed shortly afterwards. A triumphal arch commemorating the Severan victory was erected on the site of the battle.

Background

Pescennius Niger was the Roman governor of

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

who had been acclaimed Emperor by his troops, like Severus, following the death of

Pertinax Publius Helvius Pertinax ( ; 1 August 126 – 28 March 193) was Roman emperor for the first three months of 193. He succeeded Commodus to become the first emperor during the tumultuous Year of the Five Emperors. Born to the son of a freed sl ...

. Following its successive defeats at

Cyzicus Cyzicus ( ; ; ) was an ancient Greek town in Mysia in Anatolia in the current Balıkesir Province of Turkey. It was located on the shoreward side of the present Kapıdağ Peninsula (the classical Arctonnesus), a tombolo which is said to have or ...

and Battle of Nicaea in 193, Niger's army successfully withdrew to the Taurus Mountains, where it fiercely defended the Cilician pass. At this time, the commander of the Severan troops,

Tiberius Claudius Candidus Tiberius Claudius Candidus (died c. 198 CE) was a Roman Empire, Roman general and Senate of the Roman Empire, senator. He played an important role supporting Septimius Severus in the Year of the Five Emperors, struggle for succession following t ...

, was replaced by

, perhaps due to the failure of the former to prevent the withdrawal of the rival army.Potter 2004, p. 104

Battle

Eventually, Anullinus entered Syria, and the final battle took place in May 194, near Issus, the place where

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon (; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), most commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip ...

had defeated the Persian King

Darius III Darius III ( ; ; – 330 BC) was the thirteenth and last Achaemenid King of Kings of Persia, reigning from 336 BC to his death in 330 BC. Contrary to his predecessor Artaxerxes IV Arses, Darius was a distant member of the Achaemenid dynasty. ...

in 332 BC. Severus took advantage of the control he had on the lives of the children of the provincial governors, who were left at Rome, and of the rivalries of the cities in the region, thus encouraging governors to change sides, one legion to desert to him, and some cities to revolt. Severan troops attacked first, while Niger's forces were hurling missiles onto them. According to Dio, Severan legionaries applied testudo, using their shields for protecting either themselves''The Cambridge History of Greek and Roman Warfare: Rome from the Late Republic to the Late Empire'', Cambridge University Press, 2007, pp. 130-31. . or their own missile shootersErdcamp, Paul. ''A Companion to the Roman Army'', John Wiley and Sons, 2010, p. 263. . (however, it seems that it was not the real testudo that was used in sieges or against highly mobile attackers). At the same time, the Severan cavalry attacked from the rear. The fight was hard, but in the end, Severus won decisively and Niger fled back to

Antioch Antioch on the Orontes (; , ) "Antioch on Daphne"; or "Antioch the Great"; ; ; ; ; ; ; . was a Hellenistic Greek city founded by Seleucus I Nicator in 300 BC. One of the most important Greek cities of the Hellenistic period, it served as ...

. A sudden thunderstorm played some role in lowering the morale of Niger's troops, who were directly facing it, because they had attributed it to divine intervention.Campbell, J. B. ''War and Society in Imperial Rome, 31 BC-AD 284'', Routledge, 2002, p. 60. . A triumphal arch was set on site, commemorating the victory of Severus.

Aftermath

While this battle concluded hostilities on the field between the two rivals for control of the East (Niger was captured and killed, a few days later), the city of

Byzantium Byzantium () or Byzantion () was an ancient Greek city in classical antiquity that became known as Constantinople in late antiquity and Istanbul today. The Greek name ''Byzantion'' and its Latinization ''Byzantium'' continued to be used as a n ...

withstood a siege by Severan troops until AD 196, possibly on the hope that a third rival to the principate, the governor of

Britain Britain most often refers to: * Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales * The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...

Clodius Albinus Decimus Clodius Albinus ( 150 – 19 February 197) was a Roman imperial pretender between 193 and 197. He was proclaimed emperor by the legions in Britain and Hispania after the murder of Pertinax in 193 (known as the "Year of the Five Emperors") ...

, nominally allied with Niger, would defeat Severus in the West. The opposite occurred at the

Battle of Lugdunum The Battle of Lugdunum, also called the Battle of Lyon, was fought on 19 February 197 at Lugdunum (modern Lyon, France), between the armies of the Roman emperor Septimius Severus and of the Roman usurper Clodius Albinus. Severus' victory finall ...

Citations

References

* Potter, David S. ''The Roman Empire at Bay AD 180–395'', Routledge, 2004. . {{coord, 36, 50, 18, N, 36, 09, 52, E, source:itwiki_region:TR-56_type:landmark, display=title 194 Issus 194 Issus 194 190s in the Roman Empire Septimius Severus