Maeatae

Virius Lupus, who would have served as consul some time previously, becomes Governor or Legatus of Britannia once Severus is made emperor in 197.

Severus sends him to Britain immediately to recover the province from the rebellions that had swept it following Clodius Albinus' removal of most of the garrison to press his claim for the throne the previous year.

Severus soon purges Albinus' sympathizers and perhaps confiscates large tracts of land in Britain as punishment for their loyalty to his slain rival.

In the north, Lupus is obliged to buy peace from the Maeatae, a tribal confederation that appears to have come together as a result of treaties struck between the Roman Empire and the various frontier tribes in the 180s CE under the governorship of Ulpius Marcellus.

Fearful that they will ally with the Caledonian Confederacy and unable to secure troop reinforcements from Severus, Lupus has no choice but to pay the rebels in return for their withdrawal and the return of a few prisoners.

Lupus slowly restores the forts in the Pennines to Roman control although Hadrian's Wall will not be rebuilt until around 205.

His governorship is assisted by the arrival of Sextus Varius Marcellus as provincial procurator and in who can be seen the germ of the later division of Britain into two provinces.

Severus travels to Britain in 208 with the intention of conquering Caledonia.

Modern archaeological discoveries have made the scope and direction of his northern campaign better understood.

Severus likely arrives in Britain possessing an army over forty thousand, considering some of the camps constructed during his campaign could house this number.

He strengthens Hadrian's Wall and reconquers the Southern Uplands up to the Antonine Wall, which is also enhanced.

Severus builds a one hundred and sixty-five-acre camp south of the Antonine Wall at Trimontium, likely assembling his forces there.

Severus then thrusts north with his army across the wall into enemy territory.

The Caledonians are next mentioned in 209, when they are said to have surrendered to Severus after he personally led a military expedition north of Hadrian's Wall, in search of a glorious military victory.

Herodian and Dio wrote only in passing of the campaign but describe the Caledonians ceding territory to Rome as being the result.

Cassius Dio records that the Caledonians inflicted fifty thousand Roman casualties due to attrition and unconventional tactics such as guerrilla warfare.

Dr. Colin Martin has suggested that the Severan campaigns did not seek a battle but instead sought to destroy the fertile agricultural land of eastern Scotland and thereby bring about genocide of the Caledonians through starvation. (British Archaeology, no. 6, July 1995: Features)

According to one story from around this time, when Severus' wife, Julia Domna, criticized the sexual morals of the Caledonian women, the wife of Caledonian chief Argentocoxos replied: "We fulfill the demands of nature in a much better way than do you Roman women; for we consort openly with the best men, whereas you let yourselves be debauched in secret by the vilest".

Cassius Dio's account of the invasion reads

"Severus, accordingly, desiring to subjugate the whole of it, invaded Caledonia.

But as he advanced through the country he experienced countless hardships in cutting down the forests, leveling the heights, filling up the swamps, and bridging the rivers; 2 but he fought no battle and beheld no enemy in battle array.

The enemy purposely put sheep and cattle in front of the soldiers for them to seize, in order that they might be lured on still further until they were worn out; for in fact the water caused great suffering to the Romans, and when they became scattered, they would be attacked.

Then, unable to walk, they would be slain by their own men, in order to avoid capture, so that a full fifty thousand died.

3 But Severus did not desist until he approached the extremity of the island.

Here he observed most accurately the variation of the sun's motion and the length of the days and the nights in summer and winter respectively.

4 Having thus been conveyed through practically the whole of the hostile country (for he actually was conveyed in a covered litter most of the way, on account of his infirmity), he returned to the friendly portion, after he had forced the Britons to come to terms, on the condition that they should abandon a large part of their territory."

Severus, retracing the steps of Agricola over a century previous, rebuilds and garrisons many abandoned Roman forts along the east coast, including Carpow, which can house up to forty thousand soldiers.

Severus' campaigning has made significant gains by 210, despite Caledonian guerrilla tactics and purportedly heavy Roman casualties.

The Caledonians sue for peace, which Severus grants on condition they relinquish control of the Central Lowlands.

This is evidenced by extensive Severan era fortifications in the Central Lowlands.

The Caledonians, short on supplies and feeling their position becoming desperate, re-form their alliance with the Maeatae and join their fresh offensive.

Severus prepares for another protracted campaign within Caledonia.

He is now intent on exterminating the Caledonians, telling his soldiers: “Let no one escape sheer destruction, No one our hands, not even the babe in the womb of the mother, if it be male; let it nevertheless not escape sheer destruction.” (Dio Cassius (Xiphilinus) ‘Romaika’, Epitome of, Book LXXVI Chapter 15.)

A punitive expedition led by Severus' son Caracalla is sent out with the purpose of slaughtering everyone it encounters from any of the northern tribes.

Severus meanwhile prepares for total conquest but is already ill.

His illness fatal, Severus withdraws to Eboracum.

He is famously said to have given the advice to his sons: "Be harmonious, enrich the soldiers, and scorn all other men" before he died on February 4, 211.

Caracalla attempts to take over command but when his troops refuse to recognize him as emperor, he makes peace with the Caledonians and retreats south of Hadrian's Wall to press his claim for the throne.

The Romans will never campaign deep into Caledonia again: they will soon withdraw south permanently to Hadrian's Wall.