Publius Septimius Geta (fl. 2nd century, c. 110 – 171) was the father of the emperor Lucius Septimius Severus, father-in-law of the Roman empress

Julia Domna Julia Domna (; – 217 AD) was Roman empress from 193 to 211 as the wife of Emperor Septimius Severus. She was the first empress of the Severan dynasty. Domna was born in Emesa (present-day Homs) in Roman Syria to an Arab family of priests ...

and the paternal grandfather of the Roman emperors

Caracalla Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (born Lucius Septimius Bassianus, 4 April 188 – 8 April 217), better known by his nickname Caracalla (; ), was Roman emperor from 198 to 217 AD, first serving as nominal co-emperor under his father and then r ...

and

Geta Geta may refer to: Places *Geta (woreda), a woreda in Ethiopia's Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region *Geta, Åland, a municipality in Finland *Geta, Nepal, a town in Attariya Municipality, Kailali District, Seti Zone, Nepal *Get� ...

. Besides mentions in the ''

Historia Augusta The ''Historia Augusta'' (English: ''Augustan History'') is a late Roman collection of biographies, written in Latin, of the Roman emperors, their junior colleagues, Caesar (title), designated heirs and Roman usurper, usurpers from 117 to 284. S ...

'', Geta is known from several inscriptions, two of which were found in

Leptis Magna Leptis or Lepcis Magna, also known by #Names, other names in classical antiquity, antiquity, was a prominent city of the Carthaginian Empire and Roman Libya at the mouth of the Wadi Lebda in the Mediterranean. Established as a Punic people, Puni ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

(East of Tripoli in modern

Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...

Early life

Geta was of

Punic The Punic people, usually known as the Carthaginians (and sometimes as Western Phoenicians), were a Semitic people who migrated from Phoenicia to the Western Mediterranean during the Early Iron Age. In modern scholarship, the term ''Punic'' ...

origin. His family were local, wealthy and distinguished in

, a prominent city of the

Carthaginian Empire Ancient Carthage ( ; , ) was an Ancient Semitic-speaking peoples, ancient Semitic civilisation based in North Africa. Initially a settlement in present-day Tunisia, it later became a city-state, and then an empire. Founded by the Phoenicians ...

, founded by

Phoenicia Phoenicians were an Ancient Semitic-speaking peoples, ancient Semitic group of people who lived in the Phoenician city-states along a coastal strip in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily modern Lebanon and the Syria, Syrian ...

ns. His father, Lucius Septimius Severus (c. 70 – aft. 110) was ''sufes'' and ''prefectus'' when Leptis was made a ''colonia'' and its inhabitants were granted

citizenship Citizenship is a membership and allegiance to a sovereign state. Though citizenship is often conflated with nationality in today's English-speaking world, international law does not usually use the term ''citizenship'' to refer to nationalit ...

under

Trajan Trajan ( ; born Marcus Ulpius Traianus, 18 September 53) was a Roman emperor from AD 98 to 117, remembered as the second of the Five Good Emperors of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. He was a philanthropic ruler and a successful soldier ...

; Lucius was the first ''duumvir'' of the new ''colonia'' (IRT 412). He is likely the wealthy equestrian that is highly commemorated by the

Flavian dynasty The Flavian dynasty, lasting from 69 to 96 CE, was the second dynastic line of emperors to rule the Roman Empire following the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Julio-Claudians, encompassing the reigns of Vespasian and his two sons, Titus and Domitian. Th ...

poet

Statius Publius Papinius Statius (Greek language, Greek: Πόπλιος Παπίνιος Στάτιος; , ; ) was a Latin poetry, Latin poet of the 1st century CE. His surviving poetry includes an epic in twelve books, the ''Thebaid (Latin poem), Theb ...

(''Silvae'' 4.5, 4.''praef.''). Geta's paternal grandparents were Marcus Septimius Aper (born c. 35), and possibly an Octavia. Geta also had a sister named Septimia Polla, who apparently never married; Geta honored her memory with a silver statue.Birley, ''Septimius Severus'', p. 214 While Geta seems to have held no political offices, either local or imperial, other members of his family were distinguished. He had two cousins, who served as Consuls under Roman Emperor

Antoninus Pius Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Pius (; ; 19 September 86 – 7 March 161) was Roman emperor from AD 138 to 161. He was the fourth of the Five Good Emperors from the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. Born into a senatorial family, Antoninus held var ...

: Gaius Septimius Severus,

suffect consul The consuls were the highest elected public officials of the Roman Republic ( to 27 BC). Romans considered the consulship the second-highest level of the ''cursus honorum''an ascending sequence of public offices to which politicians aspire ...

in 160; and Publius Septimius Aper, suffect consul in July 153. Another relative of his was Gaius Septimius Severus Aper, ordinary consul in 207.

Family

Geta married Fulvia Pia (c. 125 – bef. 198), a woman of Roman descent belonging to the ''gens'' Fulvia, an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

patrician family that originated in

Tusculum Tusculum is a ruined Classical Rome, Roman city in the Alban Hills, in the Latium region of Italy. Tusculum was most famous in Roman times for the many great and luxurious patrician country villas sited close to the city, yet a comfortable dist ...

. He died after his son Septimius had achieved the rank of ''

quaestor A quaestor ( , ; ; "investigator") was a public official in ancient Rome. There were various types of quaestors, with the title used to describe greatly different offices at different times. In the Roman Republic, quaestors were elected officia ...

'', and was about to set off for

Baetica Hispania Baetica, often abbreviated Baetica, was one of three Roman provinces created in Hispania (the Iberian Peninsula) in 27 BC. Baetica was bordered to the west by Lusitania, and to the northeast by Tarraconensis. Baetica remained one of ...

to serve as

proconsul A proconsul was an official of ancient Rome who acted on behalf of a Roman consul, consul. A proconsul was typically a former consul. The term is also used in recent history for officials with delegated authority. In the Roman Republic, military ...

, i.e. in 171. Septimius was forced to return to north Africa to settle his father's affairs.''

'', 2.3; translated in Anthony Birley, ''Lives of the Later Caesars'' (Hammondsworth: Penguin, 1976), pp. 202f

Severan dynasty family tree

References

External links

Septimius Severus
in ''An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Emperors'' * https://web.archive.org/web/20000819000400/http://www.roman-empire.net/decline/sept-severus.html * http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Historia_Augusta/Septimius_Severus*.html * https://web.archive.org/web/20080108231453/http://www.ga.k12.pa.us/academics/MS/8th/romanhis/Forum/mattb/severus/index.htm {{DEFAULTSORT:Septimius Geta, Publius Family of Septimius Severus Septimii 2nd-century Romans 2nd-century Punic people Year of birth unknown 171 deaths