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from Thessaly represents the last bit of archaeological evidence testifying to the existence
of trade between east and west in the mid-sixth century A.D. 261
The Severan Age: Cultural Background for the Punta Scifo A Shipwreck
Septimius Severus (A.D. 193-211), founder of the Severan Dynasty, was the first
Roman emperor to come from North Africa. His native town, Lepcis Magna, underwent a
massive renovation program under his rule. Syria was the homeland of his wife Julia
Domna, and it was in Syria that the future emperors Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (A.D.
218-222) and Severus Alexander (A.D. 222-235) were born. These two provinces were
particularly privileged during the rule of the Severans, and Syria enjoyed special
prominence in the Roman cultural and religious environment of the time. Eastern esoteric
cults became so widespread under Septimius Severus, Caracalla (A.D. 211-217), and
especially Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, that the latter emperor was also a priest of the sun-
god Elah-Gabal at Emesa, and became known as Elagabalus. 262
152
The architecture of the Severan Age has been defined as one of “consolidation and
achievement rather than of important new experiment” 263 because these emperors restored
existing buildings rather than erecting new ones. Rome, nevertheless, saw at least five new
monuments commissioned by the Severan emperors: the Septizodium, the Arch of
Septimius Severus, Caracalla’s Temple of Serapis, Elagabalus’s Temple of Ba’al on the
261 Van Doorninck 1972, 136-7; Kapitän 1969, 122-33; Kapitän 1971, 296-309; Kapitän 1980, 71-136.
262 Cary and Scullard, 1984, 497; Bianchi Bandinelli 1971, 19. The fact that the lion was deeply associated
with the eastern cult of the Phrygian goddess Cybele and was also a symbol of Africa, it might be connected
with the lions’ paws that appear on the marble stands from Punta Scifo A.
263 Boëthius and Ward Perkins 1970, 270.