The first black man to set foot on British soil came not as a slave, but as Emperor. Behind this little known fact there is the incredible tale of someone who grew from rebellious youth to the most powerful man in the ancient world. Septimius Severus, the Black Caesar, came from humble beginnings in occupied North Africa, born in the Mediterranean city of Lepcis Magna. He would end his days in Northern Scotland, having expanded the Roman Empire further than any of his illustrious predecessors, from Julius Caesar to Marcus Aurelius.