Editing Septimius Severus (section)

=== Marriages ===
[[File:Carole Raddato (13543792233).jpg|thumb| The [[Severan Tondo]], {{Circa|199}}, Severus, Julia Domna, Caracalla and Geta, whose face is erased ([[Antikensammlung Berlin]])]]

About 175, Septimius Severus, in his early thirties at the time, contracted his first marriage, to [[Paccia Marciana]], a woman from Leptis Magna.<ref name="birley"/> He probably met her during his tenure as [[Legatus|legate]] under his uncle. Marciana's name suggests Punic or Libyan origin, but nothing else is known of her. Septimius Severus does not mention her in his autobiography, though he commemorated her with statues when he became emperor. The unreliable ''Historia Augusta'' claims that Marciana and Severus had two daughters, but no other attestation of them has survived. It appears that the marriage produced no surviving children, despite lasting for more than ten years.<ref name=birley-52/>

Marciana died of natural causes around 186.<ref name=birley-75>Birley (1999), p.&nbsp;75.</ref> Septimius Severus, now in his forties, childless and eager to remarry, began enquiring into the horoscopes of prospective brides. The ''Historia Augusta'' relates that he heard of a woman in Syria of whom it had been foretold that she would marry a king, and so Severus sought her as his wife.<ref name="birley">Birley (1999), p.&nbsp;71.</ref> This woman was an Emesene [[Roman Syria|Syrian]] named [[Julia Domna]]. Her father, [[Julius Bassianus]], descended from the Arab [[Emesene dynasty]] and served as a [[high priest]] to the local cult of the sun god [[Elagabalus (deity)|Elagabal]].<ref name=birley-72>Birley (1999), p.&nbsp;72.</ref> Domna's older sister, [[Julia Maesa]], would become the grandmother of the future emperors [[Elagabalus]] and [[Alexander Severus]].<ref name="dio-history-lxxix-30">Cassius Dio, ''Roman History'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/79*.html#78-30 LXXIX.30] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120526042142/http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/79*.html#78-30 |date=26 May 2012 }}</ref>

Bassianus accepted Severus' marriage proposal in early 187, and in the summer the couple married in [[Lugdunum]] (modern-day [[Lyon]], France), of which Severus was the governor.<ref>Birley (1999), pp.&nbsp;76–77; Fishwick (2005), p.&nbsp;347.</ref> The marriage proved happy, and Severus cherished Julia and her political opinions. Julia built "the most splendid reputation" by applying herself to letters and philosophy.<ref>Gibbon (1831), p.&nbsp;74.</ref> They had two sons, [[Lucius Septimius Bassianus]] (later nicknamed Caracalla, born 4{{spaces}}April 188 in Lugdunum) and [[Publius Septimius Geta]] (born 7{{spaces}}March 189 in Rome).<ref name=birley-76-77>Birley (1999), pp.&nbsp;76–77.</ref>

{{Gallery
| align = center
| width = 160
| height = 200
| File:Septimius Severus Glyptothek Munich 357.jpg|
| File:Julia Domna Glyptothek Munich 354.jpg|
| footer=Busts of Septimius Severus (left) and Julia Domna (right), [[Munich Glyptotek]]
}}