I have recently finished
Septimius Severus, Countdown to Death by Yasmine Zahran, ISBN 1-900988-19-4 and thought I would try and write up a quick review to see how I get on.
The book is structured as an autobiography, written in the first person, dictated by
Septimius Severus during the last seven nights of
his life. It is 184 pages long and
comes as a hardback.
Provided you can cope with the book being written in the first person, which is something I really struggled with in this case for some reason, then it seems to cover all the major documented events of the life of
Severus. The book does not cover these events in a chronological order and there is quite a
bit of conjecture with what I am sure are considered to be non-important details to pad out events described in references as if they were memories and occasionally wander into pure conjecture. The books uses Dio Cassius,
Herodian and HA as the primary sources and provides references throughout for the events that are quoted.
In summary, if you are looking for a book that covers the life of Septmius
Severus but takes a novel approach to the subject matter then this might be the book for you. If you are simply looking for for a detailed coverage of
his life then there are probably other titles that might suit you better.
Regards,
Martin
