The distinguished soldier Septimius Severus is proclaimed emperor by the army in Illyricum.

Lucius Septimius Severus was Roman emperor from 193 to 211. He was born in Leptis Magna, Libya in the Roman province of Africa. As a young man he advanced through the customary succession of offices under the reigns of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus. Severus was the final contender to seize power after the death of the emperor Pertinax in 193 during the Year of the Five Emperors.

Illyricum was a Roman province that existed from 27 BC to sometime during the reign of Vespasian. The province comprised the regions of Illyria/Dalmatia in the south and Pannonia in the north. Illyria included the area along the east coast of the Adriatic Sea and its inland mountains. Pannonia included the northern plains that now are part of Serbia, Croatia and Hungary. Illyricum included part or all of the territories of today's Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia.

April 9 is the 99th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 266 days remain until the end of the year.