Rome's African Emperor: Septimius Severus

Summary

Podcast Summary: Rome's African Emperor: Septimius Severus

Podcast: Dan Snow’s History Hit
Host: Dan Snow
Guest: Simon Elliott (historian, archaeologist, broadcaster)
Release Date: November 6, 2025

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Main Theme & Purpose

This episode investigates the life, battles, and legacy of Septimius Severus, the first African emperor of Rome. Dan Snow and guest Simon Elliott (author of The African Emperor) assess whether Severus deserves the title of Rome’s greatest warrior emperor. The discussion covers Severus’s North African heritage, rise to power through brutal civil war, army reforms, extensive campaigns across three continents, and his death on campaign in Britain.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Case for Severus as Rome's Greatest Warrior Emperor

[04:40]

• Dan Snow introduces the classic debate: Who was the greatest warrior emperor—Trajan, Constantine, or Severus?
• Simon Elliott unequivocally picks Severus:

  “For me, it’s Severus. Septimius Severus commanded more legions than any other Roman Emperor. 33.” (Simon Elliott, 04:48)

• Severus increased the number of legions from 30 to 33, outstripping any other emperor before or after.
• He expanded the empire’s territories not only in the East (Syria, modern Iraq), but also deep into North Africa, and briefly into Scotland.

2. Severus’s North African Heritage and Rise

[06:09–10:11]

• Severus was born in Leptis Magna, in present-day Libya.
• He reset the power structure of Rome, promoting North Africans into key positions.
• “He was very proud of his North African heritage… notably dark skinned. He’s often called the Black Emperor or the African Emperor. Well, he was African and he did have dark skin.” (Simon Elliott, 06:43)
• His family’s ascent: grandfather (also Septimius Severus) was the first to become a senator, signifying integration into the Roman elite.
• The Roman Empire was a Mediterranean entity—ethnic diversity was the norm among its elites.

3. Early Political Career and Connections

[09:18]

• Severus benefited from his family’s status as senators but furthered his own career through legal, administrative, and military postings.
• Early career highlighted by clever networking and a shrewd avoidance of direct warfare.
• Severus's first major military command was in Syria, where Pertinax (his mentor) was governor.

4. Ascension amid Chaos: The Year of the Five Emperors

[14:36–17:51]

• After Commodus is assassinated (in true palace drama involving poison and strangulation), Severus’s mentor Pertinax is briefly emperor, only to be killed by the Praetorian Guard.
• Three candidates for the throne emerge: Clodius Albinus (in Britain), Pescennius Niger (in Syria), and Severus (on the Danube).
• Severus, with proximity and crack legions, marches into Rome and claims the empire.
• The advantage of geography and military strength plays a crucial role:

  “Severus is the first in play and he’s the nearest. So he descends like a sword of Damocles onto Rome…” (Simon Elliott, 17:04)

5. Civil War Maestro: Crushing Rivals

[17:57–19:43]

• Severus tactically neutralizes Albinus by making him junior emperor before turning to defeat Niger in the East (194–195).
• Afterword, he reverses and crushes Albinus at the massive Battle of Lugdunum (197):

  “It’s the biggest civil war battle in Roman history and it’s a two day affair.” (Simon Elliott, 19:39)

• Severus is nearly killed in battle—his injury is possibly the source of the gout he suffered later.

6. Rebuilding and Monumentalizing the Empire

[21:24–25:31]

• After suppressing Britain, Severus orders the first land wall of London—serving as a political statement.
• In Rome, “a third of the classical monuments you see today are Severan.” (Dan Snow, 24:28)
• Severus’s projects include the Palatine Palace, the Arch of Severus, Argentari Arch, the Forum map of Rome, and grand water features (septizoniums).

7. Constant Military Campaigning & Parthian Success

[26:13–29:06]

• Severus hated Rome itself and preferred the life of a campaigning emperor—a “great white shark, devouring anybody who gets in his way.” (Simon Elliott, 25:40)
• He takes on the Parthian Empire, the nemesis of Rome, and wins, capturing the capital on the Tigris.
  • “Severus wins. He picks a fight with the Parthians and he wins. He’s massively successful... So for him in his head, the martial Emperor, that’s a tick job done.” (Simon Elliott, 26:32)
• Monumentalizes his successes in North Africa.

8. The British Campaign: Conquest and Genocide

[29:18–41:56]

• Seeking to outdo Augustus, Severus aims to pacify and conquer northern Britain (Scotland).
• Receives a dire request from Britain: “The whole province is about to be overrun.”
• He mobilizes 50,000 troops, the largest force ever in Britain, and personally relocates the Imperial capital to York.
• The campaign is brutal, involving scorched earth tactics:

  “They eviscerate everything before them... some believe concentration camps for captives were used. They build bridges of boats across major rivers, trap the locals, and enact mass destruction.” (Simon Elliott, 36:01–37:48)

• After the native Britons submit, there is rebellion—triggering a second, even more merciless campaign.

  “Before he does, Cassius Dio has him tell his soldiers to kill everybody you come across, even the babies in their mothers’ wombs... So it does appear as though a genocide occurred.” (Simon Elliott, 39:02–40:46)

• The north is depopulated and disappears from the Roman record for decades.

9. Death in York and Aftermath

[41:56–44:57]

• Severus dies in York, convinced of his victory, believing he has eclipsed Augustus by conquering both Britons and Parthians.
• His two sons, Caracalla and Geta, inherit the empire but despise each other. Geta is murdered by Caracalla soon after.
• The Severan dynasty quickly collapses into chaos—the crisis of the third century ensues.

10. Legacy: Was Severus Rome’s Greatest Warrior Emperor?

[44:57–45:23]

• Dan asks Simon directly if Severus was the greatest warrior emperor—Simon agrees, placing him above Trajan in military accomplishment:

  “I think Severus was definitely the greater military commander.” (Simon Elliott, 45:19)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• [06:43] Simon Elliott on Race in Rome:

  "He’s often called the Black Emperor or the African Emperor. Well, he was African and he did have dark skin. ... If you’re in the Roman world, you’re part of the Roman world."

• [17:04] Simon Elliott on Civil Wars:

  “Severus is the first in play and he’s the nearest. So he descends like a sword of Damocles onto Rome…”

• [19:39] On the Battle of Lugdunum:

  “It’s the biggest civil war battle in Roman history and it’s a two day affair.”

• [25:40] Simon Elliott on Severus’s Personality:

  "Severus is a great white shark. ... Devouring anybody who gets in his way."

• [40:39] Dan Snow (echoing Tacitus) on the British Campaign:

  "He made a desert and called it peace. ... Genocide taking place?"

• [45:19] Simon Elliott’s verdict:

  "I think Severus was definitely the greater military commander."

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Segment Timestamps

| Timestamp | Segment | |-------------|----------------------------------------| | 04:40 | Who was the greatest warrior emperor? | | 06:09 | Severus’s North African origins | | 09:18 | Early political maneuvering | | 14:36 | Death of Commodus, Pertinax’s rise | | 17:51 | Civil war rivals and ascension | | 19:37–19:43 | Battle of Lugdunum | | 21:24 | Severus’s London wall | | 25:31 | Monumental building in Rome | | 26:13 | Parthian campaign | | 29:18 | Moving against the Brits (Scotland) | | 33:29 | Logistics & resistance in northern Britain | | 36:01 | Brutal campaigning & scorched earth | | 39:02 | Genocide and depopulation | | 41:56 | Severus’s death in York | | 44:57 | Did Severus bring about Rome’s decline?| | 45:19 | Final verdict: Severus or Trajan? |

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Conclusion

This episode positions Septimius Severus as perhaps Rome’s greatest (and fiercest) warrior emperor, not just for the scale of his campaigns and expansion but also for his transformative—and frequently brutal—impact on the imperial system and the empire’s borders. Simon Elliott’s expert insight brings Severus’s North African identity, military genius, monument-building, and ruthlessness into sharp focus, contextualizing his reign as one of superlatives and setting the stage for the empire’s turbulent third century.

Transcript

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[Simon Elliott]

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[Dan Snow]

Augustus, Vespasian, Trajan, Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius, Diocletian, Constantine. Roman emperors built and ruled over an empire forged in blood, gold, conquest and ambition. Rome was sustained by powerful men who marched at the head of legions. They waged wars across continents and they turned Rome into a superpower of the ancient world and maintained it as one. Today, I'm going to have a bit of fun. Today I'm going to ask that question that we all want to know. Who was the greatest warrior emperor of them all? Was it Trajan who crossed the Danube and reached the Persian Gulf? Constantine, who dragged the Roman Empire back from the brink in the third century, fighting well, everyone, everywhere. These were men who led from the front. They either expanded the Empire's borders or they ruthlessly reinforced that. They crushed internal opposition with overwhelming force. Yet there is one man who I think often slips through the cracks of popular memory. Septimius Severus. He's a North African senator, a North African general who seized power in a brutal civil war. He reformed the army, he fought across three continents, he rebuilt Rome and he died while still on campaign, still chasing the dream of trying to outdo every other emperor. Was Septimius Severus the greatest warrior emperor of Rome or was he just a contender? In this episode, we're gonna dive into the life and the battles and the legacy of Rome's North African empire. Joining us is Simon Elliot. He's a historian, he's an archaeologist, a broadcaster. He is the author of the African Emperor. He is a friend of this podcast. You've seen him on here before. You've listened to him on the podcast before. He's been on many times. But today we're all about Septimius Severus and we're going to ask whether he was truly Rome's greatest warrior emperor. Enjoy.

[Jeff Bridges]

T minus 10 atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima.

[Dan Snow]

God save the King.

[Simon Elliott]

No black white unity till there is first some black unity. Never to go to war with one another again.

[Jeff Bridges]

And liftoff.

[Simon Elliott]

And the shuttle has cleared the tower.

[Dan Snow]

Simon, good to have you back on the podcast.

[Simon Elliott]

Thank you for having me back, Dan. I always love coming on your podcast.

[Dan Snow]

Well, this is that thorny question. Who is the great warrior emperor? Is it Trajan? Is it Constantine? Is it? Or is it Severus?

[Simon Elliott]

It's for me, it's Severus. So if you were to look at the great warrior emperors of the Roman world, clearly you have Trajan, Septimus, Severus, Constantine, early Diocletian, etc, but for me, for me, it's Septimius Severus. Remember, Septimius Severus commanded more legions than any other Roman Emperor. 33.

[Dan Snow]

What? On his way up to the purple.

[Simon Elliott]

So when Severus was emperor, he created three new legions, Legio 1, 2 and 3 Parthika, for his two Parthian campaigns, so increased the number of legions from 30 which he inherited to 33. So that's more than any other emperor before or after.

[Dan Snow]

Interesting, interesting. So in terms of the kind of military complex that was Rome at its.

[Simon Elliott]

Greatest extent and also physically as well because Severus extended the territory of the Roman Empire to its greatest extent as well. Trajan very briefly created provinces all the way to the Persian Gulf. But Severus himself extended territories not only in Syria and into modern Iraq, but also in North Africa. And also Severus when he died thought he'd conquered the far north of Britain.

[Dan Snow]

That's right. So this whole Roman's never got further Hadrian's Wall. Not true as we will discuss.

[Simon Elliott]

Absolutely.

[Dan Snow]

Scotland briefly, very briefly incorporated the Roman Empire by some definitions. Right, let's just do his backstory quickly before we get onto his emperorship. Quite interesting as well because North African unusual.

[Simon Elliott]

Severus was the North African emperor and when you look at his impact when he became the emperor he effectively reset the empire in sort of a North African style with North Africans replacing Italians in many hostings as governors or pro consuls or procurators or legates in charge of legions. So Severus was very proud of his North African heritage. He was born in leptis magna in 145 which is in Tripolitania. So today that is in western Libya.

[Dan Snow]

Does that mean he would he have looked different? Did Romans think about ethnicity the same way we do or was it a colonial Roman family in North Africa?

[Simon Elliott]

It's a very good question. So remember the Roman world is a Mediterranean empire with the bits that we're in now, northwestern Europe, bolt ons but broadly it's a Mediterranean empire. We've got multiple ethnicities, multiple languages, people from lots of different cultures. If you're in the Roman world, you're part of the Roman world. So Severus himself was notably dark skinned. He's often called the Black Emperor or the African Emperor. Well he was African and he did have dark skin. You've got the Severin Tondo in the Altars Museum in Berlin which is a portrait of him and his second wife Julie Domna and Caracalla and a memorial damn Nazio face of Gita on there as well. That's what they look like. And he's very dark skinned and he spoke with a North African accent. Now if you were to dig into his actual ethnicity, his father was Punic, so Severus probably had more in common with Hannibal than with Scipio Africanus. As an example, his mother was Italian. Okay. But he was so proud of his African heritage and he kept it with him all the way through his life, through his emperorship, until his death.

[Dan Snow]

And do you get sort of gossips or people in Rome going, this guy, he's African? Or was that just not a distinction in the Roman world?

[Simon Elliott]

He's one of those guys where you would certainly not within his hearing say anything negative whatsoever because you would be quickly removed from the scene. It will be in the arena to meet the lion.

[Dan Snow]

Right, okay. So he didn't face too much of that.

[Simon Elliott]

No.

[Dan Snow]

His father. Is his father important? Is this a multi generational rise to power? Does he make it all by himself?

[Simon Elliott]

The most important person actually in the lineage before Severus is actually his grandfather, who was also called Septimus Severus, who was the big, big man, Elliptus Magnum is the first person in the family to become a senator. He's the first person in the family to travel to Rome. His great grandfather, by the way, was called Septimius Mesa, which is the Punic name. So it's his grandfather, Septimius Severus, the same name as Severus, who actually changes the Punic Mesa to Severus and says, we're now part of the Roman world, we're embracing Romanitas, we're all Roman now. And he was the big man. Ceres's father, for some reason, had a very quiet life, isn't a question. And many people think that he was ill, so he didn't make his mark. But then Severus, Severus, the youngest son, by the way, because he had an elder brother called Gita, who was the first of the Severin people of his generation to come to Britain because he actually was the legate in charge of legio to Augusta in Caerleon. So his elder brother almost made it, but Severus really made it.

[Dan Snow]

How do we make it in the Roman world at this time? Is it a web of connection? Was his grandpa able to hook him up with important people in Rome? Is it a rough meritocracy of just being a good soldier? How do you climb up those ranks?

[Simon Elliott]

Bit of all of that. So firstly, he's a senator, so he's at the very top of the the pile in terms of Roman society. Sort of like the top 0.005% of Roman society. So in that sense, anyway, he's made it. And then from that point on he's got his cursus and norum, so his aristocratic career path, which he follows, but to get the plum postings from the Senate or the Emperor, he's got to have good connections as well. And Severus is very good early in his life, networking. And here's the interesting thing with Severus in his early career on the Curse of Sonorum, he's actually very good at not fighting. So this great warrior emperor is a leading lawyer, is a leading magistrate, he's got posts in Rome where he's looking after some of the key facets of the Roman world, but he's not fighting. So this great warrior emperor at the beginning of his career seems to have been very canny, picking and choosing the posts he wants to.

[Dan Snow]

And not unlike Julius Caesar, weirdly, very clever.

[Simon Elliott]

Yeah, yeah, very, very clever.

[Dan Snow]

Like Caesar early you'd thought, actually politician, it turns out, unfortunately there is good a general, as there are politicians.

[Simon Elliott]

Exactly right there very good parallels there. So a very good politician, brutally good politician. And they were both brutally good politicians and a brutally good military leader as well. And indeed, Severus's first major posting where he makes his name, is in command of a legion and he gets sent to Syria to command legio for Scythica, which is one of the elite legions holding the eastern frontier against the Parthians.

[Dan Snow]

Okay, so how old is it proximate that point?

[Simon Elliott]

Probably mid-30s. An intriguing thing there is the governor of Syria at the time is Pertinex, who in the Roman world was as famous as Julius Caesar because he was the son of a manumitted slave who, as we'll discuss later, becomes the Roman emperor. And Pertinax from that point becomes the mentor of Severus. And it's what happens to Pertinax later, which then drives Severus to become emperor.

[Dan Snow]

Well, that's often the way. So he gets this great patron. Yeah, Pertinax is on the rise. Yes, because the Roman Empire is about to experience one of its, well, reasonably regular bits of civil turmoil.

[Simon Elliott]

Well, so Severus in Syria is married to his first wife, Pacia Matsiana, who doesn't last very long. His next big posting on the way to becoming the emperor, which we'll touch on in a second, is to become the governor of Gallia Lugdunensis, which is a really important province. It's the big rich strip through the center of Gaul, running from the Channel Islands to Lyon, Lugdunum, and that's where Severus is based. And that's where he then calls rights to a lady he's met in a messer in Syria called Julia Domna, who is the daughter of the chief priest of the sun God Heliogabulus. So fabulously, fabulously rich. And there's an undercurrent in the whole severance story about acquiring wealth. So she's fabulously rich and apparently Severus writes to her and says, would you be my wife?

[Dan Snow]

Wife?

[Simon Elliott]

And she comes all the way to Lyon. They get married in Lyon, that's where Caracal is born as well. And then Geeta's born as he travels back to Rome. Gita's born in Milan, So they're their two sons. And suddenly he finds himself in 190 in Rome.

[Dan Snow]

And why is that important?

[Simon Elliott]

Because we're coming to the end of the reign of the mad and bad Commodus. So Commodus portrayed as very well, I think by Joaquin Phoenix in the first movie Gladiator, his behaviour's increasingly erratic and.

[Dan Snow]

Commodus is himself the end of this sort of bit of a golden age of good emperors. So Severus's young career, he's rising up through like Marcus Aurelius, it's stable, it's strong, it's powerful.

[Simon Elliott]

In the background here, by the way, you also have what I call a band of brothers. So you have these individuals who fought with Marcus Aurelius and later under Commodus in the Marcomanic wars on the Danube and they're all friends while they're fighting together. So you have Pescanius Niger, you have Clodius Albinus, you have Severus and you have Pertinax, all of whom end up fighting each other in one way, shape or form in the year the five empresses will come onto. But towards the end of 190, Severus gets a really important posting which sets him up to later become emperor. He becomes the governor of a really important province, Pannonius Superior, which is on the upper Danube. And basically it holds the Danubian frontier from anybody like the Marcomanni or the Quadi or even the Sarmatians, who are to the north of the Danube from getting, getting into north eastern Italy. So that is very important and it's big deal. And it's capital. To show it's a military province is Conlanton, which is a legionary fortress. That's where he is at midnight on New Year's Eve 192.

[Dan Snow]

And why is that important?

[Simon Elliott]

That's important, Dan, because Commodus is assassinated, right? So the bad Commodus, basically he's having all these prescription lists drawn up about who he's going to throw into the arena and be fed to the Lions. And in one of them, he lists the Praetorian Prefect, his court chamberlain and his mistress, Marcia. And they find out, they panic. So they put together a plot to assassinate him. And it's one of these plots where there's various layers to it. So the first attempt, it's on New Year's Eve, 192. So around midnight, he's been boozing all day, Right. And Marcia feeds him some poisoned sweetmeats that should have killed him, but he's been boozing all day. And then he goes and has a bath and he sweats a lot of it out or is ill. Don't try that at home.

[Dan Snow]

It's not a traditional remedy.

[Simon Elliott]

So failed. The plot's failed and everyone's terrified. But they have a plan B. The plan B is hiding behind a curtain, Commodus wrestling trainer, Narcissus, who pops out and strangles him to death.

[Dan Snow]

Right.

[Simon Elliott]

So he's dead. Doesn't help Narcissus, by the way. He ends up going into the arena in about a year's time and being fed to the lions. There's a lot of feeding to the lines in the story of Severus. So Commodus is dead. So just after midnight, the Praetorian Prefect and court chamberlain go and find the prefect of Rome, the mayor of Rome, who's Pertinax at this point.

[Dan Snow]

Right.

[Simon Elliott]

So Pertinax is made emperor. And he's emperor for three months. He's the first emperor in the year of the five Emperors.

[Dan Snow]

Yeah. And we all get excited about Pertinax because he's the son of a man who had been a slave and was given his freedom.

[Simon Elliott]

Absolutely. And he's a good guy, the way he's portrayed in all the historical sources. Wants to be a worthy emperor. He wants to stole himself from Marx. Aurelius Commodus of bankrupted Rome. The Empire, basically. So one of the things that Pertinax does is he has a fire sale of all the fine clothes and the chariots, slaves and free men who Commodus had owned to put some money in the Imperial Fiscus.

[Dan Snow]

He doesn't give enough of that cash to the Praetorian Guard, does he?

[Simon Elliott]

No. It's a huge mistake for a Roman emperor, especially at this stage with the Praetorian Guard. So at the end of the first month in January, the guard go to him and say, can we have some money? And Pertinax says, no. So, all right, at the end of month, two, end of February, they come to him, say, can we have some money or we'll kill you. And he says no. So at the end of month three, they kill him. Hey presto, they've killed him. But this triggers sort of a brutal round of civil wars.

[Dan Snow]

So Severus furious because his mentor's been killed.

[Simon Elliott]

Yeah.

[Dan Snow]

And he's got an important post in north of Italy, so he's nearby.

[Simon Elliott]

He's got the crack legions of the Empire on the Danubian frontier behind him. So there are three candidates in play now. There is Clodi Salvinus in London who's declared Emperor by the British legions. Pescanius Niger who's in Antioch in Syria who's declared Emperor by the Eastern legions. And Severus has declared Emperor by Legio14 Gemina, my favorite legion. Dan Legio14 Gemina, who hasn't got a favorite legion. It's a crack legion. The 14 Geminas want the defeated Boudicca, Paul Linus's legion. So it's an A game legion. And all the legions on the Danube and also on the Rhine declare for Severus.

[Dan Snow]

So you really see the three different, well, three of the big chunks of the Roman Empire now at each other's throats.

[Simon Elliott]

And here's where Severus has the advantage. If you look at how long it would take to get a message from Rome to Conantum, it's probably about four days using the imperial post service and as fast as travel possible killing horses to get the message there as quickly as possible to get it to Britain. It's going to take you two weeks to three weeks to get it to Antioch. Two weeks to three weeks. So Severus is the first in play and he's the nearest. So he descends like a sword of Damocles onto Rome, bringing five legions camps out in the Forum Romanum etc by this time the second emperor in the year, the five emperors, Didius Julianus is dead very briefly, ill favored senator. So Severus marches into the Senate house. The courier with sword drawn with his legion says I'm the Emperor and the senators say absolutely you are not a problem. So he's the Emperor so he beats.

[Dan Snow]

Everyone to it, which is important. First move advantage. Yeah. Does he fight his two great mates for the old campaigning buddies?

[Simon Elliott]

So it's 193 and we're going to go all the way through to 197 before he's absolutely secured in on the throne. So he's the Emperor. The family all do settle in the Imperial palace on the Palatine Hill, start rebuilding Rome in their, their image in Actual fact, the North African takeover, the reset or the hostile takeover begins. But you've still got in place Albinus in London and you've still got in place Niger in Antioch, in Syria. So the very clever, very canny Severus makes Albinus his Caesar, junior emperor. So he's out of play at the moment and then he concentrates on the east. So he mounts a campaign in 194, 195 defeats and kills Niger and then begins, remember this is a by this point in his career as a seasoned veteran warrior and he never forgets that the military got him into power. So he's always on campaign from this point. So he invades Parthia but he receives word that Albinus has found out Severus has been playing him and has declared himself Emperor again. So you end up with Severus having to hot foot it through Anatolia, along the Danube, gathering legionaries, along the Rhine, gathering legionaries, going all the way along the Rhine, while Albinus is now in Gaul going to Lyon because he knows that if he goes to Lyon where Severus, Marijui, Domna and Caracalla was born, Severus can't ignore that. So Severus and Albinus had this titanic battle, the Battle of Lugdunum in 197 where Cassius Dio says there are 300,000 troops involved. That's a lot done. That's only 30,000 less than the entire military establishment of the Roman world. So you're probably looking at maybe 100, 150,000 in total. But it's the biggest.

[Dan Snow]

Bigger than the Battle of Canny for example.

[Simon Elliott]

Absolutely. Yeah. It's the biggest civil war battle in Roman history and it's a two day affair.

[Dan Snow]

They were lucky the old Germans weren't interested or the Huns weren't busy attacking across the Danube at the Rhine at.

[Simon Elliott]

The time they were being bought off. Probably, probably. And always the arena beckons and the lions remember and the Severus story, the lions play a big part. So it's a two day battle and Severus almost loses. He actually falls off his horse twice and the second time apparently badly damages his leg. And many people believe based on the primary sources that he suffered from very bad gout certainly towards the end of his life. But the chances are actually he may well have actually very badly damaged his leg then and it wasn't set properly. So that's what the injury was he carried for the rest of his life. But he won. That's the key Thing he won. And so of course Albinus is beheaded. Severus gets on his charger and sort of prances over him saying I'm the boss, etc, Then Severus does something very, very important for where we are right now, recording this pod. So he needs to bring Britain back into the imperial fold. Okay, so he sends, this is 197, he sends some of his leading generals to Britain. And remember the three British Legions at that time, two August VI Victorics and 20 Valeria Victorix. They've been fighting in Gaul, so they've been butchered in this battle. They've lost. So they start rebuilding the legions because they're certainly back in play by the time Severus comes 10 years later. But they also need to send a message to the provincial capital, London, who the boss is. So it is those generals who order the Londoners to build the first land wall of London, the Severin Lamb wall, which is the Roman wall of London, which becomes the medieval wall of London to this very day, delineating the city of London, the financial powerhouse of the modern world.

[Dan Snow]

And why does Severus build a wall around London? I thought that was because there was.

[Simon Elliott]

Some external threat, because it's monumental.

[Dan Snow]

Oh, is that right?

[Simon Elliott]

Statement saying if I can do this, you think what's going to happen to you if you misbehave again? It's always there as a reminder to them. And we know it's not a defensive circuit because the River Wall's not built for another hundred or so years. So it's there basically as a statement, there's no external threat there. It's a statement and I just love the idea you have this dark skinned emperor from North Africa speaking with a Punic accent who physically demarcates modern London, the financial powerhouse of Europe. Fantastic.

[Dan Snow]

You listen to Dan Snow's history. Don't go anywhere. There's more to come.

[Jeff Bridges]

Morning, Zoe. Got donuts.

[Dana]

Jeff Bridges, why are you still living above our garage?

[Jeff Bridges]

Well, I dig the mattress and I want to be in a T Mobile commercial like you teach me. So Dana.

[Dana]

Oh no, I'm not really prepared. I couldn't possibly at T Mobile get the new iPhone 17 Pro on them. It's designed to be the most powerful iPhone yet and has ultimate pro camera system.

[Jeff Bridges]

Wow, impressive. Let me try. T Mobile is the best place to get iPhone 17 Pro because they've got the best network.

[Simon Elliott]

Nice.

[Dana]

Jeffrey, you heard them.

[T-Mobile Announcer]

T Mobile is the best place to get the new iPhone 17 Pro on us with eligible traded in any condition.

[Jeff Bridges]

So what are we having for launch?

[Dana]

Dude, my work here is done.

[T-Mobile Legal Disclaimer Voice]

The 24 month credit is on experience beyond for well qualified customers. Plus tax and $35 advice connection charge credit send and balance due if you pay off earlier, Cancel Finance agreement. IPhone 17 Pro 256 gigs $1099.99 and new line minimum $100 plus a month plan with auto pay plus taxes and fees required. Best mobile network in the US based on analysis by OV Speed Test Intelligence data 182025 Visit T mobile.com.

[Dan Snow]

So we've dealt with Nigel, we've dealt with Albinus. Yeah, he's now the emperor.

[Simon Elliott]

He is the emperor.

[Dan Snow]

Is he on campaign? He's trying to expand the empire. Why are we remembering him as a great warrior if not just for this victory at Lugdunum?

[Simon Elliott]

Firstly, he hates Rome. Right. And he also hates the senators. In fact, he's famously on his deathbed when he dies in York. Later we'll discuss he tells his sons Caracalla and Gita like each other, be nice to each other, like the military. Be nice to the military and ignore everybody else. So sod everybody else basically. So he's a military man through and through. He hates the senators. And when he defeats Albinus and he Defeats Niger, about 100 each time are executed without trial.

[Dan Snow]

Wow.

[Simon Elliott]

Because they've supported the loser and then he appropriates their wealth and a lot of it's not sent to the imperial Fiscus treasury but goes into the Severin back pocket.

[Dan Snow]

Okay.

[Simon Elliott]

And he doesn't care. Doesn't care. Who knows it doesn't try to hide it. And he's only in Rome as emperor four times and then only for a matter of months. But the bizarre thing is if you go to Rome today, the physical presence of the classical world in Rome today, a third of it's Severin.

[Dan Snow]

Yeah.

[Simon Elliott]

So the Palatine Hill with imperial palace, that's Severin.

[Dan Snow]

Severin. And then there's obviously the monumental arch.

[Simon Elliott]

That'S Severin celebrating his victory. We'll come to in a minute. With his second campaign in Parthia. The arch of the Argentari in the Foremborium is Severin, interestingly, by the way, has an image of Severus and Julie Domna on it. And they would have seen this. And Julie Domnera's a lot taller than Severus. So she's probably a lot taller than Severus. And we filmed in the Coliseum, haven't we? And if you go to the Top layer of the Coliseum. That's a Severin rebirth. Build the Forumurbis marble map of Rome, which is on the Chilean hill in a museum. Now that's Severin.

[Dan Snow]

So Rome is benefiting or certainly being beautified by all this money by Severus, but he's not necessarily going there.

[Simon Elliott]

This is a man who's become the emperor at the point of a sword, who's fought off all comers tooth and nail, is not going to let go and everyone wants to demonstrate their loyalty to him because if they don't, they're going to get, get chopped or sent to the arena. Right. So everywhere he goes he's monumentalized. Not just with the walls in London, not just in Rome, literally everywhere he goes.

[Dan Snow]

So he doesn't like Rome, he likes being on campaign. Does he feel like a shark needs to keep some oxygen going through the gills? He needs that constant flow of military victories to justify, to solidify his position.

[Simon Elliott]

Severus is a great white shark. I love that.

[Dan Snow]

Okay.

[Simon Elliott]

Absolutely spot on. Devouring anybody who gets in his way. I'm often asked when I'm doing tours and I'm talking about Severus, why I like him. And actually I find it difficult to answer the question because he's not only one of the mightiest Roman emperors, but he's also very brutal and he's avaricious as well. But being a military historian, I can just look at his career and I can see a great, great military leader there. And the next thing he does, of course, is one of the few Roman emperors to do something that is really mighty and extraordinary. He takes on the huge Parthian Empire.

[Dan Snow]

Graveyard of great Romans in the past.

[Simon Elliott]

Absolutely. People who failed there spectacularly Crassus, spectacularly Mark Anthony, etc, many Romans have tried to campaign against the Parthians, have failed.

[Dan Snow]

And roughly speaking, what's this moder say? Sort of bits of Iraq and Iran, where is the Parthian?

[Simon Elliott]

So you're looking at probably eastern Syria, Iraq and parts of southern Iran.

[Dan Snow]

Okay.

[Simon Elliott]

And symmetrically it's on a par with the Roman military. So when the Parthians fight the Romans, it's not a guaranteed win. It's one of the reasons why when you get a new Roman dynasty and they want some Marshall glamour like let's say Vespasian and the Flavians, where do you pick a fight? You could pick a fight with the Parthians because they're always there, but you might lose. So they always pick Northern Britain because they can guarantee they're going to Get a win. But Severus wins. He picks a fight with the Parthians and he wins. He's massively successful. He sacks the capital on the Tigris, Tessa and one of the few Roman emperors to do this. So for him in his head, the martial Emperor, that's a tick job done.

[Dan Snow]

So he defeats Imperial Rome's most intransigent enemy on the eastern frontier. That's extraordinary.

[Simon Elliott]

If you want to look for a nemesis for the Romans at any time throughout the entirety of the Roman Empire, it's the Parthians and later in the same space, the Sisani Persians. And he's done it, so it's a tick. So the next thing he does, he decides to have a parade through his home territory. Spends time in Antioch, spends time in Egypt and that's when the Severin Tondo, this portrait is actually created when he's in Egypt, but then he goes through North Africa and I extensively travel in Roman North Africa and nearly every place you go to, all the cities have again a monumentalized Severin presence. So if you go to beautiful Jamila in the Atlas Mountains in Algeria, the Forum is Severin, there's a Severin arch to Caracalla, the temple to the imperial cult is Severin. Etc, it's all Severin. What you can see is word goes round to all these places as he goes from east to west that the boss is on the way and they'll go, Christ, we better get some stuff done, let's get cracking. Oh right, get all the slaves out there, ching, ching, ching, ching, ching. And then Severus arrives and oh, this is nice, this is nice. And there's also with Severus himself, a type of monument which is named after him called a septisonium. So the Romans like running water wherever they go and one of the features that they have in their world we don't in ours is an infaeum. So it's a nice place with tinkling water on various levels.

[Dan Snow]

Public drinking fountain doesn't even do justice. It's a gigantic public water feature.

[Simon Elliott]

Absolutely. Severus has his own versions called septisoniums done. There's a huge one about 10 stories high which he builds at the foot of the Palatine Hill in Rome where the Via Appia which goes past the vast of Caracalla, another Severn building, it's the first thing you see as you approach the Palatine hill. It's this 10 story high, 10 story nymphaeum called the Septizonium. Lot of medieval and Renaissance Rome is built from stone from it because various popes used it as a sort of a quarry. But also you find septizoniums across North Africa where he's been, because obviously word gets round. There's even a reference to a septizonium in Roman Leicester.

[Dan Snow]

Really?

[Simon Elliott]

Absolutely. Oh, if that survived.

[Dan Snow]

If that survived, yeah. What a beauty. So he's going through North Africa, he's travelling around the Empire like Hadrian. I mean, Empress did a lot of traveling in this period. He's defeated the threat in the East. What's next on his agenda?

[Simon Elliott]

Well, Severus has done one of two things which the poet Horace says that if Augustus, the first emperor, the really big guy in the Roman world, Augustus not Caesar, in the Roman world it's Augustus. The senior emperor is called an Augustus, the junior emperor is a Caesar. Right, so this is about Augustus. Now Horace, at the turn of the first century ad, writes a poem in which he says, Augustus will only be a God if he conquers the pesky Persians and the Brits, ah, on either.

[Dan Snow]

Side, Persians on one side, Brits on the other.

[Simon Elliott]

And Severus, job done, one tick, he's already dealt with the Persians, the Parthians, so no other Roman emperor could claim to have achieved this. So Severus knows that if he can do the other thing, the pesky Brits, then he'll have achieved something which even the great Augustus didn't achieve at this stage.

[Dan Snow]

There is a Roman province in Britain covering much of what is today England and Wales, but what we'd call Scotland today, unconquered.

[Simon Elliott]

Let's be absolutely clear to the listeners, the Romans never fully conquered the far north of Britain, except very briefly on two occasions. The first occasion was under Agricola, fighting for the Flavians, and he was called back, having conquered the far north all the way to the Moray Firth by Domitian. So the Romans come back and the line goes onto the Solway for a time, comes Hadrian's Wall and then Severus also, as we'll discuss also at the point he died, thought he'd also achieved it. But again we'll discuss, because he died in York in 211, it was never firmly set in place. So apart from very briefly on those two occasions, the far north is never conquered in Britain, which means that Britain, especially the north and the west, is a real place of difference in the Roman world because it has a very large military presence. I estimate about 12 of the whole military establishment in what's only 4% of the geographic area of the Principate Empire, which bends the economy in the north, particularly where the military, most of the military are based to supporting the military. That's why I don't think there's any love lost between the Romano Britons living in the north of modern England and the Romans and certainly not in the far north above Hadrian's Wall.

[Dan Snow]

This feels like a frontier province.

[Simon Elliott]

Absolutely, yeah. I always call it the Wild West. It's the Wild west of the Roman Empire.

[Dan Snow]

And Severus determined to do something about that.

[Simon Elliott]

He is. And this is Severus. I call it the severance surge. So we're in the year 207, and in 207 severus gets word from Senesio, the governor in Britain, that there's trouble. And the wording of the message Severus gets, he's in Rome at the time, he's very specific. He says the province, the whole province, the whole province is about to be overrun. Wow. Not the north, the whole province. We need you all reinforcements. And Severus doubles down, he does both. So I call it, as I say, the severance surge takes place. So Severus goes to York in 207, 208, and turns York into the imperial capital of the Roman Empire. For the last three years of his life. He takes the imperial family with him. So Julie Domna's with him, Caracalla and Gita are with him. Takes part of the Senate, takes a huge chunk of the Fiscus treasury. So York truly is, for the last three years of his life, the capital of the Roman world. That's where the Empire's administered from. To make sure his territories are secure for the final time, he replaces anybody who is a provincial governor or a legate who he doesn't trust with a North African family members or North Africans. So by this time the Severus reset of the Roman Empire, Severin Reset, really has taken place and he's now in York. And then he accrues an army of 50,000 men. So that's the largest force to ever campaign on British territory. You know, this is an emperor who is all about superlatives. The largest armored campaign in Britain, the largest civil war battle in the Roman world, largest amount of territory in the Roman world, more legions than anybody else. And everything is monumentalized as well. And we see it today to the extent where when he repairs Hadrian's Wall before the campaign, there are so many inscriptions recording it for Severus that until the 19th century it was called the Severin Wall. And it's only later that people realized it was Hadrian's Wall. So he's there, he's in York, he's ready.

[Dan Snow]

And it just shows how tough the north of Britain is that it's not easy.

[Simon Elliott]

I've come to the view that there's something more to the reason why the Romans didn't conquer the far north than the cost and the fact it wasn't economically viable. I think certainly the Lowlands of Scotland would have been economically viable. If you go to Fife, some parts of the Scottish borders, Upper Midland Valley, it's beautiful agricultural territory, etc, So I don't think it's that the Romans had provinces, not because it was nice, but because they wanted to rinse them dry of every single penny they could get and stick it in the imperial treasury, or in Severus's case, into the Severin back pocket. Okay. To do that, the local elites had to buy into the Roman world to run the show for the Romans. And in the far north, in the far north, they weren't interested. I just think the people in the region we call today modern Scotland just weren't having it. They were not interested at all. So that cost the Romans a huge amount in terms of manpower and cost to do it. That's why Severus wanted his second tick to beat Augustus, because he could be the first one to actually sort them out.

[Dan Snow]

This is Dan Snow's history here. More after this.

[Jeff Bridges]

Morning. Zoe got donuts.

[Dana]

Jeff Bridges, why are you still living above our garage?

[Jeff Bridges]

Well, I dig the mattress and I want to be in a T mobile commercial like you teach me. So. Dana.

[Dana]

Oh, oh no. I'm not really prepared. I couldn't possibly at T Mobile get the new iPhone 17 Pro on them. It's designed to be the most powerful iPhone yet and has the ultimate pro camera system.

[Jeff Bridges]

Wow, impressive. Let me try. T mobile is the best place to get iPhone 17 Pro because they've got the best network.

[Simon Elliott]

Nice.

[Dana]

Jeffrey, you heard them.

[T-Mobile Announcer]

T mobile is the best place to get the new iPhone 17 Pro on us with eligible traded in any condition.

[Jeff Bridges]

So what are we having for launch?

[Dana]

Dude, my work here is done.

[T-Mobile Legal Disclaimer Voice]

The 24 month credit is on experience beyond for well qualified customers plus tax and 35 device connection charge credit send and balance due if you pay off earlier. Cancel Finance agreement. IPhone 17 Pro 256 gigs $1099.99 and new line minimum $100 plus a month plan with auto pay, post taxes and fees required. Best mobile Network in the US based on analysis by O Speed Test Intelligence Data 182025 Visit t mobile.com.

[Dan Snow]

And how does he go about doing that? He fights mile by bloody mile, doesn't he?

[Simon Elliott]

It's an absolutely brutal campaign. Firstly, actually reading the primary sources, it was terrible weather and one of the reasons why the people in the far north may have been causing problems is they may have had a harvest shock, so they may have had a famine or something like that. So it's terrible campaigning conditions. But nevertheless, in 2009, Severus launches his first campaign. He and Caracallo, with Gita and Julie Domner staying in York to run the empire. I always think Julie Domna and Severus are a real power couple, by the way, she plays a huge role in this story. So Severus and Caracala take all 50,000 men through the Scottish Borders and they eviscerate everything before them. It's 50, 000 men. The largest marching camps ever built in the Roman world are the 70 hectare ones which are in the Scottish Borders. And if you look at the Severum phase of one of the Stingate frontier forts, Vindolanda, the very famous one, you have the Antonine fort removed and the platform used to create a street grid around which you get round Iron Age British houses built. And one theory there is that that's a concentration camp for captives, or it's a holding camp for people being forced to work on the reconstruction of Hadrian's Wall or capture from the Scottish borders. And the force gets to the force fourth.

[Dan Snow]

It gets to the Firth of Fourth.

[Simon Elliott]

Absolutely.

[Dan Snow]

Which is modern Edinburgh, Glasgow. People know that's a central belt and.

[Simon Elliott]

Then they build a bridge of boats.

[Dan Snow]

Do they?

[Simon Elliott]

Yeah. So if you look at Trajan's Column, you see the bridge of boats over the Danube. That's exactly what we're looking at here. I estimate it's probably 700 boats are needed and they're all made afresh. Don't forget the navy, the classes. Britannica is playing a key role in this campaign as well. So their ships aren't used for the bridge of boats. These are newly built boats, 700 to cross. The fourth service has got its brilliant campaign strategy and it's almost unstoppable. There's no meeting engagement in this campaign, as you get with Mons Graupius and Agricola, there's none.

[Dan Snow]

So no big battle.

[Simon Elliott]

It's all guerrilla warfare because I don't think the natives are allowed to coalesce. Severus sends Caracalla with 2/3 of the army, including, I think, probably the three British legions, because they know the territory well. And they go along the highland line and seal off all the glens, building glen blocker forts, and eventually they reach Stonehenge, Haven. The classes, Britannica is raiding around the coast. So anybody in the midland valley and Fife is now trapped, trapped. And then at that point, Severus launches his own strike with a third of the force. And this is the elite force it's got the Praetorian Guard. Severus recreated the Praetorian gold when he became the Emperor with his own veterans from the Danube, twice his strength. So again, monumentalizing this case manpower, 5,000 Praetorian Guards becomes 10,000. He's got the Praetorian Guard, he's got his own Pet Legion, Legio2 Parthika, one of his three legions that follows him around, that's his pet legion. He's got the Imperial Guard, cavalry and equivalent number of auxiliaries. So that force crosses the bridge of boats and that goes through Fife and that reaches the Tay. And when they get to carpool on the Tay, they build another bridge of boats, and that allows them to launch themselves into the soft underbelly of native British resistance. And it's brutal but effective.

[Dan Snow]

And so. So it takes a couple of seasons. But you're saying by the end of that he does successfully conquer what we.

[Simon Elliott]

Call Scotland at the end of 209, he thinks he's won, right? So the natives agree a piece. He and Caracalla take the name Britannicus because they won. Coins are minted to show that they've been victorious. Severus goes back to York, he leaves the garrisons in place. He thinks he's conquered it, certainly the Scottish lowlands, as we call them today. Severus doesn't go, by the way, into Aberdeenshire. He doesn't go north of Stonehaven because he doesn't think he needs to to. But over the winter, the native Britons, and by this time two confederations called the mighty A and the Caledonians, they realize the Romans aren't going home. It's not a raid. This is the real deal. So they rebel. And it's a big mistake because Severus goes potty, right? And he launches his 210 campaign under Caracallicus. He's too ill to go on it. And before he does, Cassius Dio has him tell his soldiers to kill everybody you come across, even the babies in their mother's wombs. And the whole campaign's repeated. It's Equally successful. But it does appear as though a genocide occurred because the archaeological record shows that for the next sort of like few decades, there's a huge depopulation event in the region of the modern Scottish lowlands and Scotland. The region of modern Scotland, the far north of Britain, more or less disappears from the historical record for about 70 odd years. And you're going through to probably the carousing revolt in 286 before it sort of appearing again as part of the narrative. So at the end of the second campaign in 210, that is job done.

[Dan Snow]

Well, in the words Tasus, he made a desert and called it peace. I mean, do you think depopulated, just destroyed landscape and. Well, yeah, genocide taking place?

[Simon Elliott]

Absolutely. But it didn't really help him, did it? Because he's back in York over the winter in 210. And if you look at any Roman engagement in the far north of Britain to succeed, it needs a political imperative to drive it. So a grickler with the Flavians until Domitian lost interest here. Severus dies in the freezing cold of a British winter in northern Britain, in York. If you look at Roman York, it was originally the legionary fortress built by a 9 Hispana and later occupied by 6 Victorix. In the center of any Roman legionary fort or fort, you have the Principia commander's headquarters and the Praetorium house. So almost certainly the imperial palace was the Praetorium, which today is the undercroft in York Minster. So if you'd stand in the undercroft of York Minster, you may well be standing next to where Severus died, Certainly in February 211, this mighty Roman emperor, born in the blistering heat for a North African spring to the richest family in the richest part of the Roman Empire, dies in the freezing cold, freezing cold of a British winter in York. And he dies thinking he's done it. He dies thinking he's beaten Augustus because he's beaten the Parthians tick. And he's beaten the Britons tick.

[Dan Snow]

And he looks like he's leaving a line of succession as well. He's that other tricky Roman imperial problem, Dan.

[Simon Elliott]

It all goes wrong very quickly. Right? I'll very quickly run through what happens and then we can talk about Caracalla and Gita. But if you look at all the other seven emperors, they're all killed. So he dies in his bed. Caracalla is about to kill Geeta. Caracalla is assassinating the 217, having a pee against the Tree in the East.

[Dan Snow]

So Caracalla, the next emperor, is assassinated.

[Simon Elliott]

And then Macrinus, who is the Praetorian prefect who was behind Caracalla being killed, he's assassinated. And then you have Elia Gabulus, who's assassinated with his mum. And then you have Severus Alexander, who's assassinated with his mum. So it's also not a good thing to be men with an emperor. But the later Severans. And then you have the crisis of the third century, the Roman Empire almost implodes and it's only drag kicking and screaming back into a fulfilling existence by the great Diocletian284 and you have the dominate empire then. So Severus is the peak of the Severin dynasty. And it all goes wrong. And it all goes wrong because Caracalla and Gita hate each other.

[Dan Snow]

Yeah, that's interesting. So Severus, yes, he extends the empire. He's the last Roman Empire to add new territory to the empire. Yeah, as you say, everything's super side, all the superlatives. But is there something in that reign? Is there something. Is that decline of Rome that lots of people trace to that point, his death, did he do something to bring that about as well or is it just bad luck his kids were incompetent and hated each other.

[Simon Elliott]

I actually think actually there is something in that. He's a hard man emperor who has his fist over the Roman Empire and he's physically controlling it and he's reset it in a North African way. He's got his own placement in power across the Empire and in Rome to the extent, by the way, where it, it stays all the way through the Severin period, quite stable apart from the emperors being assassinated. But you need him as a person. It must have had an incredible physical presence, almost terrifying, actually told it together. And as soon as he's gone, there's no one to hold it together. And Karakarangita. So Cerberus is cremated, his ashes are put into a blue urn. Intriguingly, that means he must have bought the urn with him, so he knew he was ill and might die in Britain. And then. And Caracalla and Gaeta separately race themselves back to Rome because Severus has tried very hard to get the two of them to actually be diarch emperors like Marx, Aurelius and Lucius Verus. But they hate each other and they get back to Rome, squabble a lot. The Roman administration is glued up and at the end of the year, Caracalla allegedly has Gita assassinated or kills him himself in the Imperial palace on the Palatine Hill, with Gita bleeding to death in Julia Domna's army arms, bleeding to death in Julia Dumna's arms. So Caracalla becomes the emperor. But even when Gita was alive, neither had any interest in the far north of Britain or Britain, full stop. So exactly the same as with Agricola at the end of the first century. Once the political imperative's gone, the line of the northern frontier drops again, and in this case, back onto the line of Hadrian's Wall again. That's the last time the Romans tried to conquer the far north of Rim.

[Dan Snow]

So in your opinion, you'd put Severus up against any other warrior emperor and he'd come out with victory?

[Simon Elliott]

Well, firstly, that's a tough question. Okay. But the answer is yes. Tough question.

[Dan Snow]

Yes. We always get a straight answer on this podcast. No shilly shallying around.

[Simon Elliott]

Yeah. Severus.

[Dan Snow]

Oh, Trajan versus Severus. Rome's ultimate show.

[Simon Elliott]

I think service is definitely, for me, service was definitely the greater military commander yet.

[Dan Snow]

Simon, thanks. Carrying on the podcast, but you've got a book all about this if you want to find out more, don't you?

[Simon Elliott]

Absolutely. It's coming out in September, called the African Emperor through Icon Books and through Belinda Audio. Thank you for having me on, Dan. Always love talking to you.

[Dan Snow]

Always a pleasure.

[Simon Elliott]

Thanks, mate.

[Jeff Bridges]

Morning, Zoe. Got donuts.

[Dana]

Jeff Bridges, why are you still living above our garage?

[Jeff Bridges]

Well, I dig the mattress and I want to be in a T mobile commercial like you. You teach me Soldana.

[Dana]

Oh no, I'm not really prepared. I couldn't possibly at T Mobile. We'll get the new iPhone 17 Pro on them. It's designed to be the most powerful iPhone yet and has the ultimate pro camera system.

[Jeff Bridges]

Wow, impressive. Let me try. T mobile is the best place to get iPhone 17 Pro because they've got the best network.

[Simon Elliott]

Nice.

[Dana]

Jeffrey, you heard them.

[T-Mobile Announcer]

T mobile is the best place to get the new iPhone iPhone 17 Pro on us with eligible traded in any condition.

[Jeff Bridges]

So what are we having for launch?

[Dana]

Dude, my work here is done.

[T-Mobile Legal Disclaimer Voice]

24 monthly bill credit is on experience beyond for well qualified customers + tax and 35 device connection charge credits ended balance due if you pay off earlier. Cancel Finance Agreement. IPhone 17 Pro 256 Gig 1099.99 and new line minimum 100 plus a month plan with auto pay plus taxes and fees required. Best mobile network in the US based on analysis by Oakland Speed Test Intelligence Data 1H 2025 Visit t mobile.com.