Septimius Severus, Leptis Magna, Libya

Libya-2, originally uploaded by Abhishek's Received Postcards.

Lucius Septimius Severus (or rarely Severus I) (11 April, 145 – 4 February, 211) was a Roman Emperor who reigned from 14 April, 193 until his death in 211. Severus was the first emperor of the troubled Severan dynasty, the last imperial dynasty of the Roman principate before the Crisis of the Third Century. The Severan house included the emperors Septimius Severus, his sons Geta and Caracalla (r. 211–217), and their cousins once removed Elagabalus and Alexander Severus (r. 218–235), successively.
Septimius Severus was born at Leptis Magna in what is now the Libyan part of Rome's historic Africa Province, and thus was the first emperor in Roman history to hail from outside the European continent. As a young man, Severus advanced through the customary succession of offices under the emperors Marcus Aurelius and Commodus.