Was Septimius Severus the 1st Black man to rule England?
Did you know that Black and Asian people first came to the North East in Roman times? Or that England was once ruled by a Libyan? These and many more historical facts were revealed as part of BBC Black History Month.
Early Black History
Emperor Septimius Severus wasn’t the only Black Roman in Britain. There were other African officers, soldiers … stationed on and around Hadrian’s Wall in the 3rd century.
From the 9th century onwards, there are records of Vikings bringing Moroccans to the region.
There’s a gap in the recording of black presence in the North East of England for nearly 400 years until the start of the 16th century.
Black and Asian presence in the North East of England can be traced back to Septimius Severus, a North African Libyan, who ruled England as Roman Emperor between 193-211 AD.
Severus was unique amongst the Roman emperors as being the first Black citizen to hold the highest office in the empire.
The most celebrated example of an early Black presence in Britain is the case of the Roman military garrison on Hadrian’s Wall in Cumbria.
A 4th century inscription tells us that the Roman auxiliary unit, Numerus Maurorum Aurelianorum, was stationed at Aballava, modern day Burgh-by-Sands.
This unit had been mustered in the Roman province of Mauretania in North Africa, modern Morocco.
Genetic evidence
It was recently suggested that African DNA might be found to be present in the local populations near to Hadrian’s Wall.
However, this would not conclusively show that the Black Roman soldiers on the wall intermarried with the local population because of the problem of ‘admixture’.
Admixture is a process whereby the DNA of a population becomes diluted over time and it cannot be shown at what period in time that dilution took place.
African Legacy
During his time in office, Septimius Severus legalised marriage during military service.
There is also evidence that that some Black Romans married, had children, and remained in Britain after their tour of duty.
Skeletons unearthed in a Romano British Cemetery outside York revealed the limb proportions of some of the men suggested that they were Black Africans.
Perhaps they might be considered to be Britain’s first Diaspora people, making Cumbria the birthplace of Black British history?
Sigh. When the Romans defeated the Carthaginians(who were originally Phoenicians ie Lebanese), they remained Carthage “Africa” after the Roman general/senator Publius Scipio Africus. “Africans” therefore meant only those people who came from what is roughly present-day Tunisia and Northwest Libya. They were NOT black. The Libyans in antiguity were known for the blueness of their eyes. There are countless examples of busts, mosaics, statues etc that show exactly how these Africans, Libyans, Numidians looked. The famous bust of Septimius Severus shows a “Middle-Eastern” or “Arabic”-looking man. NOT black.
Look, as an analogy the word “gay” used to mean “carefree” or “lighthearted”. Today it means “homosexual”. If somebody in 2007 reads a book from say 1800 which describes a man as “gay”, the modern reader would need to know that “gay” meant something very different then. In the same way, ignoring the 2 000-year old meaning of “African”, and applying the Oprah Winfrey-meaning of African to people who were around in the time of the New testament, is at best simply ignorant, and at worst, outright deception.
Middle Easterners look Mulatto correct? Red Neck’s were calling Barak Obama an arab right? This means they have a similar look even though they are not the same. It’s the same with Severus. Another thing too, no one white claims African ancestry other than those who stay in the British ruled parts of South Africa. Being that he wasn’t from those parts and they said he was African back in the 200th century A.D. This means he had distinct African features and the fact he was born in Africa couldn’t be refuted. His mother was Italian and his dad was Punic. Punic’s originated from the Canaanites who were descendant’s of Kush. So all this talk about his look is unimportant. His dad’s ancestry speaks for itself. SO it is NOT a deceptive thing to claim he is of BLACK ancestry.
Yeah, that “bust” was made generations after he lived. There is no way that it can be an accurate representation of him.
All this shit trying to refute that Severus was black comes from White racists who can get over the fact that He wasn’t white!
You still have the Neanderthal perception that all Black people have big noses and thick lips!
Some white people have those same features furthermore, the Native Americans were really dark with very straight noses but were percieved as ‘Red Skins’ which is completely incorrect all this and they are still living in modern day America!
Hannibal along with Severus without doubt were Black and remember at that time people thought the world was flat so hadn’t travelled or mixed so there is no way these 2 would’ve been tainted and chances are they were very dark indeed!
THANK YOU JOHN!!!!! Im sick of people thinking Hannibal was black. (Even the history channel depicted his as a 6,6 shirtless bald black guy) Look at his bust, his nose, etc. Not to take anything away from black civilizations but the myth of the north african being black just isnt true. Some had darker skin, brown and some were more white.
Somalian, Ethiopian and Eritrean bust’s would appear to be more Caucasian too…..Black people do not all have the same facial features and vary across Africa.
dont forget the arabs invaded africa, when you were known as persians.
sigh. why does it bother people to think of cathage as a black african civilization. its like people go out of their way to point out the fact that they were phoenician. this means nothing if you consider that there is no evidence that tells us where the phoenicians were from or what they really looked like. carthage existed in north africa for 100’s of years. so why is it so hard to accept that they might have black africans in their soceity? also remember that most of the studies done on carthgeand hannibal were done by historians in a time when racism was an accepted thing. so any evidence pointing to black african links would of been over looked and any evidence point to europe or east asia would of been highlighted.
let me take a guess….. your white? obviously!! the mosaic had people with blue eyes. wow no blacks can have blue eyes (aboriginals). oh and white people never changed images of any major black figures throughout history right ( jesus, john the baptist, egyptians, hannibal barka, black knights, saints, and with in the next 200 years dr martin luther king and then barack obama). great job you are keeping up with the traditions of your people, taking credit for something you didnt do, lying, destroying history amongst other things (africa and the world just thought i would remind you) oh and did i say lying? your ego is also consistant with what i exprct from you lol horrible!!! i love all people in this world but there is something about your people i just cant figure out… why???/
I am a simple man with a simple education yet I seem to be the only one who understands this world ,,,,, for example who owns the heritage of this planet …. the whites claim it and so do the blacks and Arabic , but what is the truth they all quote history with facts, statues and documents going back to 112 ac and then with hieroglyphics and cave paintings back to the B.C. well here it all is in a nut shell take one continent and one people as we once were then divide it like a spider web as our contents did … take a child in the desert of Africa .. his parents are hunting and foraging ,,, what is he to do he sits there in the dirt with rocks, sand, twigs and feces well lets see…. he stacks some rocks makes something with them well hundreds of years go by we have pyramids and dwellings made from rock and shit for another example take any {typical} child from any culture even as young as two ,,, put him in front of a box Lego’s and see what happens first thing he or she will build is structure, Then for example lets say all beings were translucent to begin with and from the center of our land mass witch would be Africa then like a spider web send twenty to the east , 20 to the north 20 to the west , 20 to the south …. now would they learn to adapt to there surroundings ??? those on the coast to live on fish and develop skin and structural differences due to there environment???? than that of the inland inhabitants with a colder climate , wild game that they learn different hunting skills than that of coastal dwellers different tools and dwellings therefor different jaw muscles and so on and so forth …..OK we had a bad hunting season what due we do???? lets HOPE or Pray—- for a better season ??? um duh … gods for every season sun rain and so on for farming fishing hunting whatever there is a god for it ….. so now that I have explained it all to you why is there still issues is it because euros got smarter faster than others or because they had to due to there environment and setting … then took over the world with extreme prejudice ???………………………….i am a Anglo American with stereo typical behaviors but not a racist I am in fact black
Ok….then why does the bust of Septimus Severus show that he had wooly hair and beard?
Well , as usual many people have negative things to say about this article because it challenges most modern day principles and ideas as it quite clearly states that BLACK people were here long before the majority of the modern day caucasion population would like to accept !
Ignorance is Obvious .
Ditto to the 2nd and 3rd replies. I was reading a similar debate regarding the Moors in Spain and the similar debate like the first replier is all too predictable.
I have to sit back and laugh when people assume that Northern Africans in general aren’t or were never black. The analogy that I use for Egypt being a black population is the native people of this country.
Before Columbus accident landed on the shores of this side of the world, it was populated with what they calleds Indians. The U.S. over the centuries the natives have been either killed off by murder, disease, mixed with white or put on reservations. This has caused a majority to be the most smallest of the ethnic/racial population in this country. The Chinese have a larger population that the native people here.
This is what had happened to the black Africans in northern Europe. Egypt is a prime example of Arabs and whites entering the country and mixing with them so much that you’d never think that it was once rulled by blacks similar to the native Americans.
Btw, the same analogy can be used with the blacks who once out populated the Spaniards in Mexico before the Spanish settled. Now the black Mexicans live in a southern part of Mexico without a voice.
I did a search and this site popped up. I remember some years ago, Richard Roundtree, the guy who played the black detective Shaft, played this character in a movie. Which brings up another point that many whites try to claim that they know. The blacks Africans once did fight and ruled with the Romans, and many were sent over to Ireland. This would also explain the kinky hair and afros that many Irish have.
Btw, the late President Sadat was black with the Arab blood. A common face in his homeland and what the Moors were mixed with, but were described by the Arabs, “Dark as Ink.”
Almost forgot, black Africans entered Europe way before they made contact with the Romans. Read a book titled, “black spark white fire.” by a Jewish author Terry Poe.
certain people urgently need to redefine their mentality about AFRICA,African is not what you see today,,,,this site is for people who are willing for the truth and not those who seek the downfall of THE WORLDS WEALTH BANK (AFRICA),no matter the what, it is clear Africa is the genesis of everything.you better take it or leave it,such unhealthy comments need to be dealt with immediately,they need not appear on this site…………AFRICA IS FOR AFRICAN…the worldd is from the AFRICAN WOMB,without no apology
DAMN U DUDES GOING HARD ON THIS SITE….WHITE U CANT TELL ME NOTHING FROM BLACK COMES BROWN,RED,YELLOW AND THE MOST RECESSIVE WHITE SO ALL THES LANDS BELONGS TO MY PEOPLE WE ARE THE CREATORS (GODS) OF THE REST SHOW SOME FUCKING HOMAGE CUZ WITH OUT US THERE WOULD NEVER BE YALL. AND IF YOU THINK THIS WORLD CAN SURVIVE WITH OUT US YOUR SADLY MISTAKEN. ANY SO CALLED INTELLECT THE “WHITE” MAN HAS (OR THINK HE HAS) WOULD NOT EXIST IF NOT FOR US . WAKE UP ALL WE WANT IS TRUTH I CANT RESPECT SOME ONE WHO SPEAKS WITH FALSE HOOD ON THE TIP OF THEIR TONGUES
Please…This entire “black myth” is starting to get down right ignorant. If you want to in some way gift a lift to a black kids spirit, don’t lie to him. All one has to do is look at present day Sub-Saharan Africa and they would SEE the true African. The true African has never created a written language, invented even the wheel or any other form of “civilization”. people need to study ancient EUROPEAN, ASIAN and MIDDLE EASTERN history because the people from those parts of the world have advanced. I don’t need to study ancient African history because all I have to do is look at some National Geographic magazines of today. The negroids now are the same as in “ancient” times…living in mud huts, drinking cow urine and throwing spears.
To ‘the truth: you obviously have had no education other than racism from your inbred pathetic parents than to hate people of colour if you think that your racist diatribe is civilized think again!
Africa is the cradle of civilization!
Where does the worlds most amount of
platinum,gold,silver,diamonds,coffee,chocolate,oil,gas
and so many other precious commodities that u u
racist takes for granted come from? Yeah Africa u uneducated inbred redneck!
Twats like u shouldn’t be able to partake any of the above, including music and the arts Iike to see how you’d get by then?
The African was the first to chart the stars,to carry out the first successful brain tumour removal, the mathematicians that charted the stars and built the pyramids have still bamboozled present day geniuses so go and get an education or better still do the world a favour and just kill yourself u cunt!
Furthermore if u were to visit any part of the continent u would be welcomed though I hope that u personally would be killed!
The Truth, you are DEAD WRONG my man. The earliest peoples to ever have advanced technology were the Muslim Moors. The reason why so many people object to the fact that blacks were the first to develop technology is because the white man’s ancestors stripped everything that were of the black man’s contributions by enslaving all the people in America and other parts of the globe. I truly believe that the people that were enslaved in the America’s were the descendants of the ancient Olmecs(the ancient ancestors of the black native americans), muslim moors(descendants of the ancient sumerians), spanish moors(descendants of the ancient sumerians), the black romans (descendants of the ancient sumerians), the black isrealites(descendants of the ancient sumerians), black chinese, and the most importantly the ancient Egyptians. All these peoples were persecuting. Killing all the men and taking their wives and children for slavery. All these peoples are the ancestors of ALL BLACK PEOPLE in the WESTERN HEMISPHERE. Slavery is the ultimate reason why all black people in the world today can not do good in school because of the inherited evils of the white man. Once the white man saw that the black man had all the gold, physicality, and knowlege…he used slavery to strip away EVERYTHING the black man had.
To the person who wrote “TheTruth”
Good thing it’s your truth–not mines. It’s this type of ignorance that’s running wild loose today in this society. You wouldn’t know the truth if it were a poisionous snake looking you dead in the eyes. Peace.
To the fake pinkie who calls himself thetruth, hear the real truth:
We will not get caught in some race baiting exercise with a moronic, feckless fool from the backwaters of working class struggle and poverty.
Your wretchedness which you project as racist hate of Africans has nothing to do with Africans. Instead they have every thing to do with the brutal policies of your political and economic masters, the aristocracy and business captains of the western world, who have refused to share any meaning part of the loot they stole from African countries with you.
Your problem is that your mind is full of money worries, you are unemployed, poorly educated and have no hope of getting out of the dump your life will be stuck in till the day your wasted mind and body will be burnt in a crematorium.
But being the coward you are, you are unable to direct your anger to those that have mutilated you. Instead you vent it in a direction you have been programmed to consider politically correct.
The psychological injury that has left you in this psychotic mess can only be healed when seek the true emancipation of your disguised, glorified and democratized enslavement.
Go find a day job…White (pink) trash!
Jahdey
DAMN!!!!!! U MENTALLY DESTROYED DUDE WITH THE TRUTH