The Roman Army: A Social and Institutional History - Karatunov.net

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The Roman A rmy
h ad to retu rn by a different ro ute up the Ti gris because all the food and fuel
were used up on the way to Ctesiphon.
Severus’s next project was to besiege the city of Hatra, which had given aid
to Niger. Trajan had not succeeded in reducing this city, and Severus did no better.
He had to draw off after losing many men and some of his siege engines.
The soldiers began to grumble and lose faith, making relations between the men
and the emperor somewhat strained. The Praetorian Prefect Plautianus added
f u el to the flames and was prob a bly the instru m ent behind the exec uti on of
Julius Laetus, who had served well in the prev ious eastern campaign, in Gaul,
and in rel i eving Ni s i bi s . He was far too pop u l a r, and the soldiers would not
move unless he commanded them. He was executed before he could accumulate
too mu ch aut h ori ty. Some time later another loyal of f i cer, Ti berius Cl a u d iu s
Candidus, was also removed.
Since he had not managed to reduce Hatra the first time, Severus tried again,
having prepared more thoroughly this time in laying in stores and having siege
engines built by an engineer from Nicaea called Priscus. During the assault, the
Romans broke through the outer defenses built of earth and were ready to attack
the inner walls, but Severus called them off and the impetus was lost. The
inhabitants of Hatra rebuilt the outer wall during the night. The Roman troops
were furious, no doubt because the prospect of loot was snatched away. Birley
(1988) suggests that Severus had achieved what he wanted—the submission of
Barsemius, the ruler of Hatra. At any rate, the Romans moved off, and Severus
even tu a lly reti red to Pa l e s ti n e , t h o u gh perhaps not as prec i p i t a tely as Di o
suggests.
The campaign was not noted for its military success since the enemy had not
put up much of a fight, but it resulted in the adjustment of boundaries and the
c re a ti on of n ew provi n ce s . Severus divi ded Syria into two provi n ces and
strengthened the defenses of both. He annexed Osroene and moved the borders,
adding part of it to the province of Mesopotamia, more or less reconstituting
the old Tra janic provi n ce . Ni s i bis became the capital of Me s opo t a m i a , wh i ch
was ga rri s on ed by the two new legi on s , I and III Pa rt h i c a . For the time bei n g
Severus considered that he had solved the eastern problem. Short of conquering
and annexing the whole of the Parthian Empire, which was hardly possible for
the Romans, the creation of stable borders was the next best solution. The warl
i ke Tra jan had dec i ded on almost the same plan, but his acqu i s i ti ons were
abandoned by Hadrian. Although Severus advertised to the Roman world that
he had made a bulwark for Syria by annexing Mesopotamia and Osroene, critics
were not so certain that it was such an advantage. Dio (epitomized by Xiphilinu
s , 75.3) com p l a i n ed that the provi n ces bro u ght no profit but requ i red va s t
expense to keep them peaceful, and what is more, the Romans were drawn into
the wars of their new neighbors. This was the perpetual dilemma of the Roman
Empire, wherever the boundaries lay.