In 195 Vologases V (r.191-208) of Parthia invaded southern Armenia and besieged the city of Nisibis, which was under Roman control. As Severus and his army approached the city, defended by his general 32Julius Laetus (fl.193-198), Vologases lifted the siege and retreated to the mountains.
Forced to interrupt his campaign in order to deal with Albinus in Gallia Lugdunensis, Severus returned to the East in the autumn of 197. He followed the course of the Euphrates southwards on land and sent some troops along the river by boat. After occupying Seleucia (central-east Iraq) and Babylon (central-southeast Iraq), he encountered some resistance at the Parthian capital Ctesiphon (central-east Iraq), which he soon captured and sacked.
In 198 Severus brought the army out of Parthia. Caracalla was proclaimed augustus (co-emperor) with his father, while Geta became caesar (successor) in his turn. On his way back in 198 and again in 199, Severus besieged the Parthian fortress of Hatra (central-northwest Iraq) without success and there the campaign ended.
Severus remained in the East until 202, attending to administrative details in the provinces. He had created part of Osroene as a province in 195 and now, in 198, he re-established the province that Hadrian had abandoned in 117.
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