Julia Domna

Julia Domna
Augusta
Bust of Julia Domna
Bust, Vatican Museums
Roman empress
Tenure193–211
Bornc. 160 AD
Emesa, Roman Syria
Died217
Antioch
Burial
Mausoleum of Hadrian, Italy
SpouseSeptimius Severus
(m. 187; died 211)
IssueCaracalla
Geta
Regnal name
  • Julia Domna Augusta[1]
  • Julia Augusta[1]
  • Julia Pia Felix Augusta[1]
Dynasty
FatherJulius Bassianus
Roman imperial dynasties
The Severan Tondo (c. 200) depicting Julia Domna, Septimius Severus, and their sons Geta (face erased) and Caracalla
Severan dynasty
Chronology
193–211
198–211
with Geta
209–211
211–217
211
Macrinus' usurpation
217–218
218
218–222
222–235
Dynasty
Severan dynasty family tree
All biographies
Succession
Preceded by
Year of the Five
Emperors		 Followed by
Crisis of the Third
Century

Julia Domna (Latin: [ˈjuːli.a ˈdomna]; c. 160 – 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[2] of priests of the deity Elagabalus. In 187, she married Severus, who at the time was governor of the Roman province of Gallia Lugdunensis. They had two sons, Caracalla and Geta. A civil war over the Roman throne broke out in 193, and shortly afterwards Severus declared himself emperor. The war ended in 197 with the defeat of the last of Severus's opponents.

As empress, Domna was famous for her political, social, and philosophical influence. She received titles such as "Mother of the Invincible Camps".[a] After the elder of her sons, Caracalla, started ruling with his father, she was briefly co-empress with Caracalla's wife, Fulvia Plautilla, until the latter fell into disgrace.[4] Following the death of Severus in 211, Domna became the first empress dowager to receive the title combination "Pia Felix Augusta", which may have implied greater powers being vested in her than what was usual for a Roman empress mother.[5] Her sons succeeded to the throne. They had a conflictual relationship and Domna acted as their mediator, but Caracalla had his brother Geta assassinated later that year.

Domna committed suicide in 217 upon hearing of Caracalla's assassination in the course of his campaign against Parthia, on which she had accompanied him to Antioch (present-day Antakya, Turkey). After the death of Domna, her older sister Julia Maesa successfully restored the Severan dynasty to power in 218.

  1. ^ a b c Société française de numismatique et d'archéologie 1873, p. 151.
  2. ^ Rodinson 1981, p. 55: "Roman Syria was in part populated by Arabs. The emperor Septimius Severus married an Arab from Emessa, Julia Domna, whose sons and great-nephews ruled Rome."
  3. ^ Definition of μήτηρ Archived 2019-12-08 at the Wayback Machine. www.perseus.tufts.edu.
  4. ^ Lendering, Jona. "Plautilla". Livius.org. Archived from the original on 2019-01-15. Retrieved 2019-11-26.
  5. ^ Langford 2013, Introduction, note 88; Bédoyère 2018, p. 282.


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