Eboracum The Imperial court was based in York until at least 211, in which year Severus died and was succeeded by his sons, Caracalla and Geta. A biographer, Cassius Dio, described a scene in which the Emperor utters the final words to his two sons on his death bed: "Agree with each other, make the soldiers rich, and ignore everyone else." Severus was cremated in Eboracum shortly after his death. Dio described the ceremony: "His body arrayed in military garb was placed upon a pyre, and as a mark of honour the soldiers and his sons ran about it and as
Eboracum "Eburaci", on a wooden stylus tablet from the Roman fortress of Vindolanda in what is now the modern Northumberland. During the Roman period, the name was written both "Eboracum" and "Eburacum" (in nominative form) . The name "Eboracum" comes from the Common Brittonic "Eburākon", which means "yew tree place". The word for "yew" was "*ebura" in Proto-Celtic (cf. Old Irish "ibar" "yew-tree", (older "iobhar"), , "alder buckthorn", "alder buckthorn"), combined with the proprietive suffix "*-āko(n)" "having" (cf. Welsh "-og", Gaelic "-ach") meaning "yew tree place" (cf. "efrog" in Welsh, "eabhrach/iubhrach" in Irish Gaelic and "eabhrach/iobhrach" in Scottish Gaelic, by which