A Roman emperor who emerged from a brutal struggle and created the Severan dynasty. In 197, the armies of the Roman emperor Septimius Severus fought the Roman usurper Clodius Albinus's armies at Lugdunum. This battle is said to be the largest, most hard-fought, and bloodiest of all clashes between Roman forces. The tide shifted many times during the course of the battle, with the outcome hanging in the balance. Severus had the edge in cavalry, which swung the battle in his favour for the final time. Exhausted and bloodied, Albinus's army was crushed. Severus rose to power after the Year of the Five Emperors as the victor of the civil war, thus founding the Severan dynasty.