Battle of Lugdunum

The Battle of Lugdunum, also called the Battle of Lyon, was fought on 19 February 197 at Lugdunum (modern Lyon, France), between the armies of the Roman emperor Septimius Severus and of the Roman usurper Clodius Albinus. Severus' victory finally established him as the sole emperor of the Roman Empire.

Battle of Lugdunum
Part of the Year of the Five Emperors
Date19 February 197
Location
Lugdunum (modern Lyon)
Result Severan victory
Belligerents
Roman units from Pannonia, Illyricum, Moesia, and Dacia Roman units from Britannia and Hispania
Commanders and leaders
Septimius Severus Clodius Albinus †
Strength
55,000–75,000 55,000–75,000
Casualties and losses
Unknown but severe Unknown but severe

This battle is said to be the largest, most hard-fought, and bloodiest of all clashes between Roman forces. The historian Cassius Dio places the number involved as 300,000, or 150,000 on either side of the battle. This figure has been disputed, as this is approximately three-quarters of the total number of soldiers present throughout the Roman Empire at that time. However, it is widely accepted that the total number of soldiers and support personnel involved exceeded 100,000, and could well have come close to half the 300,000 figure Dio gives.

Background

After the murder of Emperor Pertinax (193), a struggle began for the succession to the throne, the so-called Year of the Five Emperors. The new self-proclaimed Emperor in Rome, Didius Julianus, had to face the commander of the Pannonian legions, Septimius Severus. Before moving on Rome, Severus made an alliance with the powerful commander of the legions in Britannia, Clodius Albinus, recognizing him as Caesar. After eliminating Didius (193) and then defeating the governor of Syria, Pescennius Niger (194), Severus launched a successful campaign in the East in 195. Severus then tried to legitimize his power, connecting himself with Marcus Aurelius, and raising his own son to the rank of Caesar. This last act broke Severus' alliance with Albinus, who was declared a public enemy by the Senate.

Revolt and preliminary moves

In 196, after being hailed as emperor by his troops, Clodius Albinus took 40,000 men in three legions from Britannia to Gaul. After gathering up additional forces, he set up headquarters at Lugdunum. He was joined there by Lucius Novius Rufus, the governor of Hispania Tarraconensis, and by the Legio VII Gemina under his command. But Severus had the powerful Danubian and German legions on his side. To try to minimise this advantage and possibly win their support, Albinus struck first against the German forces under Virius Lupus. He defeated them, but not decisively enough to challenge their allegiance to Severus. Albinus then considered invading Italy, but Severus had prepared for this by reinforcing the garrisons of the Alpine passes. Not wishing to risk the losses or the delay that forcing the passes would cause, Albinus was deterred.

In the winter of 196–197, Severus gathered his forces along the Danube and marched into Gaul, where, much to his surprise, he found that Albinus' forces were about the same strength as his own. The two armies first clashed at Tinurtium (Tournus), where Severus had the better day but was unable to obtain the decisive victory he needed.

The battle

Albinus' army fell back to Lugdunum; Severus followed, and on 19 February 197, the massive and ultimately decisive battle finally commenced. The exact details are as vague as the exact numbers involved. However, we do know both sides were roughly evenly matched and it was therefore a bloody and drawn-out affair lasting over two days (it was rare for battles of this time to last longer than a few hours). The tide shifted many times during the course of the battle, with the outcome hanging in the balance. It seems Severus had the edge in cavalry, which swung the battle in his favour for the final time. Exhausted and bloodied, Albinus' army was crushed.

Aftermath

The exact cause of Albinus' death is unclear. He fled into Lugdunum where he either, in the Roman tradition, "ran upon his sword" after finding all escape routes cut, or he was finished off by an assassin's blade. Severus had Albinus' body stripped and beheaded. He rode over the headless corpse with his horse in front of his victorious troops. The head he sent back to Rome as a warning along with the heads of Albinus' family. In Lugdunum itself, Septimius remodeled the Imperial cult sanctuary to celebrate his dominance and humiliate Albinus' provincial supporters. According to Duncan Fishwick, the reformed Imperial rites at Lugdunum resembled those due a master from his slaves.[1] At some point after this battle, the unified Roman province of Britain was broken up into Upper and Lower halves (Latin: Britannia Superior & Inferior). Roman forces in Britannia were also severely weakened, which would lead to incursions, uprisings, and a withdrawal of Rome from the Antonine Wall south to Hadrian's Wall. It was while quelling one of these uprisings that Severus himself would die near Eboracum on 4 February 211, only weeks short of the 14th anniversary of his victory at Lugdunum.

Notes and references
  1. Duncan Fishwick, The Imperial Cult in the Latin West: Studies in the Ruler Cult of the Western Provinces of the Roman Empire, Volume 3, Brill, 2002, 1, 199.

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