Like his father, Severus was a follower of
peripatetic philosophy. Although Severus held no major political influence, he was considered as an influential figure in the intellectual and philosophical circles in
Rome. Like his father, Severus was a friend and had a great influence on the Emperor
Marcus Aurelius (161-180). It was probably Severus that introduced Marcus Aurelius to the
rhetoricianCornelianus and recommended
Galen to him as his personal physician. Severus and his father accompanied Marcus Aurelius on a philosophical visit to
Athens in 176.
Severus served as a
suffect consul in 167 and an ordinary consul in 173. In the year of his second consulship, Severus became a patron and was made an honorary citizen of Pompeiopolis. That same year, an honorific inscription, which survives to this day on a statue base, was dedicated to Severus in his birth city:
For the good fortune of Gnaeus Claudius Severus who was consul twice,
pontifex, son-in-law of the Emperor Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus, patron of the city, the metropolis Pompeiopolis of the province of Paphlagonia put this up in the 178th year of the province through the work of Publius Domitius Augureinus Clodius Kalbeinus the chief
archon.
Wives and children
Severus married twice:
An unnamed noblewoman, with whom he had a son:
Marcus Claudius Ummidius Quadratus Annianus Verus. His birth name other than Claudius is unknown and he is known by his adopted name. Claudius was adopted by the other ordinary consul of 167,
Marcus Ummidius Quadratus Annianus Verus, who was a cousin and a maternal nephew of Marcus Aurelius. In 182, he was involved in a failed plot to kill the Emperor
Commodus (180-192), which led to the former's execution.
William M. Ramsay, The Cities and Bishoprics of Phyrgia: Being an Essay of the Local History of Phrygia from the Earliest Times to the Turkish Conquest, Volume One, Part One (2004)