This chapter considers how the paradigm of the imperial judge, discussed in Chapter 3, was challenged by the political unrest and legitimacy crises of the Severan period. It does so through a close analysis of rescripts attributed to the child emperor Severus Alexander. Alexander’s rescripts exhibit two unusual rhetorical tendencies. First, several of them predate Alexander’s reign and are in fact relabeled rescripts of his disgraced predecessor Elagabalus; this relabeling shows that the link between imperial authorship and legitimacy had become more tenuous in the late Severan period. Second, rescripts of Alexander are unusually likely to portray the emperor as following prior imperial precedent and especially those precedents of his Severan forebears. I argue that both maneuvers can be thought of as a response to the problems posed by child rule; while Alexander’s own judgment might not be legitimate, his rescripts paint him as a caretaker for a dynastic legal order that was.

Talmudic literature, throughout all its chronological phases, relates to various Roman emperors. Nine emperors are mentioned explicitly by name, and among these are six who are especially notable, from three different periods. First, the period of the major Jewish revolts: Vespasian and Titus are mentioned for the War of the Destruction of the Temple, Trajan for the Diaspora revolts and Hadrian for the Bar Kochba Revolt. These are the “wicked” emperors of Talmudic literature, with Hadrian presented as the worst of all. Second, the golden age of relations between Judaea and Rome in the Severan period: “Antoninus,” usually identified with Caracalla, is presented as the “good” emperor par excellence. Finally, in the middle of the scale between the “wicked” and the “good” emperors we find Diocletian, the interesting emperor whose presence is strongly felt, as he was responsible for the development of the whole region.

Talmudic literature, throughout all its chronological phases, relates to various Roman emperors. Nine emperors are mentioned explicitly by name, and among these are six who are especially notable, from three different periods. First, the period of the major Jewish revolts: Vespasian and Titus are mentioned for the War of the Destruction of the Temple, Trajan for the Diaspora revolts and Hadrian for the Bar Kochba Revolt. These are the “wicked” emperors of Talmudic literature, with Hadrian presented as the worst of all. Second, the golden age of relations between Judaea and Rome in the Severan period: “Antoninus,” usually identified with Caracalla, is presented as the “good” emperor par excellence. Finally, in the middle of the scale between the “wicked” and the “good” emperors we find Diocletian, the interesting emperor whose presence is strongly felt, as he was responsible for the development of the whole region.