Historian and author Dr Simon Elliott introduces the Battle of Lugdunum

[00:00:00]Hello, we are in Rick Priestley's gorgeous wargaming barn and in front of us we've got loads of figures cuz we're about to play a game of the Battle of Lugdunum using Simon Miller's to the strongest rules. [snorts] Now, you can see a video with Simon Miller talking about the game, the setup of the game, and the layout of the table, but this man here is another Simon, Simon Elliott, the happy archaeologist, known for his legion of fans online, uh and Simon has written an excellent book, Times best seller.

[00:00:36]>> Times best seller.

[00:00:37]>> Times best seller about one of the stars of the battle.

[00:00:42]Um uh and the book and the book is called >> The African Emperor.

[00:00:45]>> The African Emperor. So, can you tell us all a bit about the battle, how we got here, and um how it turned out in history?

[00:00:54]>> I can, Dan. So, our star of the battle is Septimius Severus, the great warrior emperor. Um this story actually begins much earlier in the Marcomannic Wars, uh under Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, and later Marcus Aurelius on his own.

[00:01:06]When [snorts] you have a band of brothers, and the band of brothers are officers leading the Romans to ultimate victory over about 30 years, actually. And that band of brothers includes the great Septimius Severus, but it also includes his mentor Pertinax, later an emperor, and it also includes Clodius Albinus, who is his opponent in this battle, and it includes Pescennius Niger, who was another opponent in the civil wars just before this battle. And also um a Roman general called um Maximianus, uh made famous by Russell Crowe in the movie Gladiator. That is actually Maximianus, who did exist in [music] reality.

[00:01:43]So, this band of brothers leads the Romans to victory ultimately for Marcus Aurelius, but then you go through to the 190s and there are each of those threats trying to gain the imperial throne.

[00:01:54]192-193, New Year's Eve, the mad, bad Commodus, who is exactly as portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix in the movie Gladiator, in my head, very accurately, is assassinated on New Year's Eve, and Pertinax becomes the first emperor, lasts 3 months, assassinated by the Praetorian Guard, and then you go through a series of changes, and by the end of the year, Septimius Severus, who'd been the governor in Pannonia Superior on the Danube, is now the emperor, became the emperor at the point of a sword. He got two opponents to defeat then, from 193 to 197, before ultimately he's the last man standing. The first one is Pescennius Niger, the Syrian governor, who he defeats, and [snorts] then he hears, just as he's about to invade the Parthian Empire, so he can get proper martial victory for the Romans, because getting civil war victory is no good, you've got to get martial victory. He gets the real opponent, so he wants to invade the Parthia, but he can't do it because he gets word that Clodius Albinus, who's the governor in Britain, has usurped, has led the three British legions to Augusta 20 Valeria [snorts] Victrix and 6 Victrix to Gaul. He's managed to get hold of an Spanish legion as well, and they base themselves in Lugdunum, which is the capital of Gallia Lugdunensis, one of the major provinces in Gaul, super rich, very important [snorts] for Severus early, because he'd been the governor there, he married Julia Domna, his wife, there. Their eldest son, Caracalla, who later becomes the emperor, was born there. So, [snorts] Albinus going to Lugdunum deliberate, he's drawing Severus to him, because he knows Severus is con- Severus can't ignore it. And you end up with this spectacular, titanic titanic clash, which lasts over 2 days.

[00:03:35]Very, very much with a First World War vibe, all heavy infantry. Severus gets knocked off his horse twice, almost dies, wins by [snorts] the skin the skin of his teeth at the close of the second day.

[00:03:52]But, that's all he needed to do to win.

[00:03:56]And for Albinus, if you're a loser when you're trying for the purple, it's all over. So, he's beheaded, his head stuck on a pike, it's sent to Rome. Severus tramples over his body on his charger, sort of a ceremonial trampling of the beheaded body. All of Albinus's family are executed. All of his legionary generals are executed. Any senators who supported him are also executed. Such, Dan, is the price of failure if you try for the imperial throne.

[00:04:31]>> Well, I don't think I'll bother myself.

[00:04:33]But, today I know that you are because you're taking part in the game. Who are you playing?

[00:04:38]>> I'm playing Severus.

[00:04:39]>> Right. So, you've you've probably did that deliberately, picked the winner.

[00:04:44]Well, but let's see cuz it could turn out completely differently and you can read all about how it does turn out in the pages of Wargames Illustrated magazine. So, thanks very much, Simon.

[00:04:54]That is a brilliant account of how we got here.

[00:04:57]We'll play out the battle and we'll report back to you on the fate of the Roman Empire.