Description
Cleaning up the decadent mess left behind by his cousin Elagabalus, Severus Alexander was as kindly as he was effective. The 13 years of his reign were marked by general peace and prosperity. He checked the Sassanids in the East, and manipulated the Germanic tribes through diplomacy and bribery. None of this prevented him from being assassinated, however, and the lack of a viable heir plunged Rome into the so-called Crisis of the Third Century, a 50-year period of intense chaos and upheaval.
