Alexander Severus Biography

Alexander Severus, also called Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexander Augustus, was a Roman Emperor who was the last emperor of the Severan dynasty. He reigned over the Roman Empire from 222 to 235. His reign was marked by civil wars, foreign invasion and collapse of the monetary economy. Ascending the throne when he was just a teenager, the young Alexander was nothing more than a puppet in the hands of his powerful mother who yielded the actual power. The young emperor was just a pawn in the web of political conspiracies his mother and grandmother had woven in order to achieve power. Alexander’s cousin Elagabalus, a teenager himself, had been proclaimed the emperor in 218. Their grandmother persuaded Elagabalus to adopt Alexander in order to make him the heir apparent. Then playing a cruel political trick the grandmother had Elagabalus assassinated in 222 which resulted in the ascension of Alexander Severus as the emperor. Thrust into such a powerful and responsible position so early in his life, Alexander was unable to fulfill his duties in an orderly manner and faltered especially during times of political unrest. His troubled reign came to an end in 235 when he along with his mother was murdered by his own troops.