Septimius Severus - Countdown to Death [Hardcover]

Yasmine ZAHRAN (Author), Jonathan Tubb (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2002

Septimius Severus was one of the most unusual and colourful emperors in the history of the Roman Empire. Born in Leptis Magna, today s Libya, he was the first truly African ruler of Rome. He brought the empire to the peak of its power and founded the mighty Severan dynasty of soldier-emperors. He died, alone and exhausted, in AD 211. In this meticulously researched biography, Yasmine Zahran tells the emperor s life story as a first person memoir dictated from his bed. The result is an intriguing narrative of the life of a remarkable man.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Yasmine Zahran - Author of Philip the Arab: A Study in Prejudice and Septimius Severus: Countdown to Death. Born in Ramallah, Palestine, she was educated at Columbia University, New York, and the University of London, and received a doctorate in archaeology at the Sorbonne, Paris. She worked at UNESCO for a number of years and established, directed and taught at the Postgraduate Institute of Archaeology in Jerusalem (1991-1995). She divides her time between Paris and Ramallah, where she writes and researches, besides travelling extensively to visit archaeological sites.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Stacey Intl; 1st edition (March 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1900988194
• ISBN-13: 978-1900988193
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 1.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,501,352 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars A Pretty Unimpressive Work of Fiction, February 16, 2012

By 

Stuart McCunn (New Haven, CT) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Septimius Severus - Countdown to Death (Hardcover)

When I reviewed Dr. Zahran's previous book Philip the Arab, I had a bad feeling that I'd end up with one of her books again. I find it very hard to believe that this woman has a doctorate in archaeology. She shows no evidence of it.

This book cannot make up its mind over what it wants to be. In her conclusion she describes it as "neither a historical novel nor a work of fiction. It is a biography based on the known facts about his life and reign, reconstructed from ancient sources." But whatever it is it isn't that. This book is a novel written from the point of view of Severus as he reminisces during his last seven nights alive. The author has a very shaky grasp of fact. But at the same time it isn't that. She's included endnotes for every statement she makes. In short, she has taken the worst aspect of two different kinds of writing. The book lacks the accuracy and analysis of a work of history and the drama of a work of fiction.

The book is laid out in a non-chronological pattern. It is told over the last seven days of Severus' life and is basically a rumination on various events in his life. She appears to be trying to recreate Severus' lost autobiography, only in a disordered and fragmented way. It is very stream of consciousness. If you read this book with no background knowledge you will be hard pressed to say what's happening since she doesn't go through the events in order. Instead she ruminates on Severus' continued mystical musings (apparently he knows the future including the Arab conquest and the time of his own death) and the constant prejudice he has to suffer. That latter is the same theme she dwelt on at length in her previous book, and it's just as unjustified here. Severus' African origins were occasionally mocked, but the aristocratic Dio who always sided with the Senate was one of his supporters. So the repeated claims that Severus' failures were due to prejudice are just unfounded.

Historically speaking she's nowhere near as accurate as she thinks she is. She has Severus in here dying words command that future emperors refer to themselves as Antoninus in addition to Augustus. This comes from the Historia Augusta, a very unreliable source which in this case is contradicted by archaeological evidence. As an archaeologist she should know that. The entire book is riddled with errors like these. As a work of fiction it isn't much better. It's disorganized and uninvolving. If you want to read a nonfiction book about Severus then I'd suggest Birley's biography Septimius Severus: The African Emperor.