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Caracalla (April 4 188
188

EventsBy PlaceRoman Empire* Pertinax becomes consul of Africa.Asia* Himiko is said to have begun her reign in Japan....
 – April 8, 217
217

Events...
), born Lucius Septimius Bassianus and later called Marcus Aurelius Antoninus and Marcus Aurelius Severus Antoninus, was the eldest son of Septimius Severus
Septimius Severus

Lucius Septimius Severus was a Roman Empire general, and Roman Emperor from April 14 193 to 211. He was born in what is now the Libyan part of Rome's historic Africa Province, making him the first emperor to be born in the Roman province of Africa Province....
 and Roman Emperor
Roman Emperor

The Roman Emperor was the ruler of the Roman Empire during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office: Latin language titles such as imperator , Augustus , Caesar and princeps were all associated with it....
 from 211 – 217. He was one of the most nefarious of Roman emperors. Caracalla's reign was notable for:

"Caracalla was the common enemy of all mankind," wrote Edward Gibbon
Edward Gibbon

Edward Gibbon was an English historian and Member of Parliament. His most important work, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, was published in six volumes between 1776 and 1788....
. He spent his reign traveling from province to province so that each could experience his "rapine and cruelty."

calla, of mixed Punic
Punic

The Punics, were a group of western Semitic-speaking peoples originating from Carthage in North Africa who traced their origins to a group of Phoenician and Cypriot settlers, but also to North African Berbers....
/Berber
Berber people

Berbers are the indigenous ethnic groups of North Africa west of the Nile Valley. They are discontinuously distributed from the Atlantic to the Siwa oasis, in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the Niger River....
 and Syria
Syria

Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is an Arab-majority country in Southwest Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Israel to the southwest, Jordan to the south, Iraq to the east, and Turkey to the north....
n Arab descent was born Lucius Septimius Bassianus in Lugdunum
Lugdunum

Colonia Copia Claudia Augusta Lugdunum was an important Ancient Rome city in Gaul. The city was founded in 43 BC by Lucius Munatius Plancus. It served as the capital of the Roman province Gallia Lugdunensis....
, Gaul
Gaul

Gaul is the name used for the region of Western Europe comprising part of present day northern Italy, France, Belgium, western Switzerland and the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the west bank of the River Rhine....
 (now Lyon
Lyon

||-||}Lyon, also known as Lyons in English, is a city in east-central France. Its name is pronounced in French language and Franco-Proven?al language, and or in English language....
, France
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
), the son of the later Emperor Septimius Severus
Septimius Severus

Lucius Septimius Severus was a Roman Empire general, and Roman Emperor from April 14 193 to 211. He was born in what is now the Libyan part of Rome's historic Africa Province, making him the first emperor to be born in the Roman province of Africa Province....
 and Julia Domna
Julia Domna

Julia Domna was a member of the Severan dynasty of the Roman Empire. Empress and wife of Roman Emperor Lucius Septimius Severus and mother of Emperors Publius Septimius Geta and Caracalla, Julia was among the most important women ever to exercise power behind the throne in the Roman Empire....
.






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Timeline

186   Born

195   Caracalla is given the surname "Caesar".

198   Caracalla, son of Septimus Severus, is given the title of Augustus.

205   Assassination of Plautianus, praetorian prefect, father-in-law of Caracalla.

208   Campaigns of Severus, Caracalla and Geta against the Caledonians and the Macates in Britain.

210   Caracalla is Consul

211   Caracalla and Publius Septimius Geta succeed their father Septimius Severus as Roman Emperors.

212   Emperor Caracalla decrees that freemen throughout the Roman Empire are to become Roman citizens (the Constitutio Antoniniana).

213   Caracalla leaves Rome, never to return.

214   Caracalla's victories in Germany ensure his popularity within the Roman army.







Encyclopedia


Caracalla (April 4 188
188

EventsBy PlaceRoman Empire* Pertinax becomes consul of Africa.Asia* Himiko is said to have begun her reign in Japan....
 – April 8, 217
217

Events...
), born Lucius Septimius Bassianus and later called Marcus Aurelius Antoninus and Marcus Aurelius Severus Antoninus, was the eldest son of Septimius Severus
Septimius Severus

Lucius Septimius Severus was a Roman Empire general, and Roman Emperor from April 14 193 to 211. He was born in what is now the Libyan part of Rome's historic Africa Province, making him the first emperor to be born in the Roman province of Africa Province....
 and Roman Emperor
Roman Emperor

The Roman Emperor was the ruler of the Roman Empire during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office: Latin language titles such as imperator , Augustus , Caesar and princeps were all associated with it....
 from 211 – 217. He was one of the most nefarious of Roman emperors. Caracalla's reign was notable for:
  • the Constitutio Antoniniana
    Constitutio Antoniniana

    The Constitutio Antoniniana was an edict issued in 212, by the Roman Emperor Caracalla. The law declared that all free men in the Roman Empire were to be given full Roman citizenship and all free women in Empire were given the same rights as Roman women were....
    , granting Roman citizenship
    Roman citizenship

    Citizenship in ancient Rome was a privileged social status afforded to certain individuals with respect to laws, property, and governance.It is hard to offer meaningful generalities across the entire Roman period, as the nature and availability of citizenship was affected by legislation, for example, the Lex Iulia....
     to freemen throughout the Roman Empire
    Roman Empire

    The Roman Empire was the Roman Republic phase of the Ancient Rome, characterised by an autocracy form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
    , according to Cassius Dio in order to increase taxation;
  • debasing the silver content in Roman coinage by 25 percent in order to pay the legions; and
  • the construction of a large thermae
    Thermae

    The terms balnea or thermae were the words the Ancient Rome used for the buildings housing their public baths.Most Roman cities had at least one, if not many, such buildings, which were centers of public bathing and socialization....
     outside Rome, the remains of which, known as the Baths of Caracalla
    Baths of Caracalla

    The Baths of Caracalla were Ancient Rome public baths, or thermae, built in Rome between AD 212 and 216, during the reign of the Caracalla....
    , can still be seen today.


"Caracalla was the common enemy of all mankind," wrote Edward Gibbon
Edward Gibbon

Edward Gibbon was an English historian and Member of Parliament. His most important work, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, was published in six volumes between 1776 and 1788....
. He spent his reign traveling from province to province so that each could experience his "rapine and cruelty."

Rise to power

Caracalla, of mixed Punic
Punic

The Punics, were a group of western Semitic-speaking peoples originating from Carthage in North Africa who traced their origins to a group of Phoenician and Cypriot settlers, but also to North African Berbers....
/Berber
Berber people

Berbers are the indigenous ethnic groups of North Africa west of the Nile Valley. They are discontinuously distributed from the Atlantic to the Siwa oasis, in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the Niger River....
 and Syria
Syria

Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is an Arab-majority country in Southwest Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Israel to the southwest, Jordan to the south, Iraq to the east, and Turkey to the north....
n Arab descent was born Lucius Septimius Bassianus in Lugdunum
Lugdunum

Colonia Copia Claudia Augusta Lugdunum was an important Ancient Rome city in Gaul. The city was founded in 43 BC by Lucius Munatius Plancus. It served as the capital of the Roman province Gallia Lugdunensis....
, Gaul
Gaul

Gaul is the name used for the region of Western Europe comprising part of present day northern Italy, France, Belgium, western Switzerland and the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the west bank of the River Rhine....
 (now Lyon
Lyon

||-||}Lyon, also known as Lyons in English, is a city in east-central France. Its name is pronounced in French language and Franco-Proven?al language, and or in English language....
, France
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
), the son of the later Emperor Septimius Severus
Septimius Severus

Lucius Septimius Severus was a Roman Empire general, and Roman Emperor from April 14 193 to 211. He was born in what is now the Libyan part of Rome's historic Africa Province, making him the first emperor to be born in the Roman province of Africa Province....
 and Julia Domna
Julia Domna

Julia Domna was a member of the Severan dynasty of the Roman Empire. Empress and wife of Roman Emperor Lucius Septimius Severus and mother of Emperors Publius Septimius Geta and Caracalla, Julia was among the most important women ever to exercise power behind the throne in the Roman Empire....
. At the age of seven, his name was changed to Marcus Aurelius Septimius Bassianus Antoninus to solidify connection to the family of Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus was Roman Emperor from 161 to his death in 180. He was the last of the "Five Good Emperors", and is also considered one of the most important stoicism philosophy....
. He was later given the nickname Caracalla, which referred to the Gallic hooded tunic he habitually wore and which he made fashionable.

His father, who had taken the imperial throne in 193, died in 211 while touring the northern marches at Eboracum
Eboracum

Eboracum was a castra and city in Roman Britain. Today it is known as York, located in North Yorkshire, England....
 (York
York

York is a walled city, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire and River Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city status in the United Kingdom is noted for its rich heritage and it has played an important role throughout much of its almost 2,000 year existence....
), and Caracalla was proclaimed co-emperor with his brother Publius Septimius Antoninius Geta
Publius Septimius Geta

Publius Septimius Geta , was a Roman Emperor co-ruling with his father Septimius Severus and his older brother Caracalla from 209 to his death....
. However since both of them wanted to be the sole ruler, tensions between the brothers were evident in the few months they ruled the empire together (they even considered dividing the empire in two, but were persuaded not to do so by their mother). In December 211, Caracalla had Geta, the family of his former father-in-law Gaius Fulvius Plautianus
Gaius Fulvius Plautianus

Gaius or Lucius Fulvius Plautianus was a member of the Roman gens Fulvius, a family of the patrician status which had been active in politics since the Roman Republic....
, his wife Fulvia Plautilla
Fulvia Plautilla

Publia Fulvia Plautilla, Fulvia Plautilla or Plautilla was a Ancient Rome Princess, briefly Roman Empress and the only wife to Roman Emperor Caracalla....
 (also his paternal second cousin), and her brother assassinated. He persecuted Geta's supporters and ordered a damnatio memoriae
Damnatio memoriae

Damnatio memoriae is the Latin language literally meaning "damnation of memory", in the sense of removed from the remembrance. It was a form of dishonor that could be passed by the Roman Senate upon treachery or others who brought discredit to the Roman State....
 by the Senate against his brother.

Reign

In 213 Caracalla went north to the German frontier to deal with the Alamanni
Alamanni

The Alamanni, Allemanni, or Alemanni were originally an alliance of Germanic languagess located around the upper Main river . One of the earliest references to them is the cognomen Alamannicus assumed by Caracalla, who ruled the Roman Empire from 211?17 and claimed thereby to be their defeater....
 who were causing trouble in the Agri Decumates
Agri Decumates

Agri Decumates a province of the Roman Empire covering the Black Forest area between the the Main river and the sources of Danube and Rhine rivers, presently in Southwestern Germany ....
. The emperor managed to win the sympathy of the soldiers with generous pay rises and popular gestures, like marching on foot among the ordinary soldiers, eating the same food, and even grinding his own flour with them.

Caracalla defeated the Alamanni
Alamanni

The Alamanni, Allemanni, or Alemanni were originally an alliance of Germanic languagess located around the upper Main river . One of the earliest references to them is the cognomen Alamannicus assumed by Caracalla, who ruled the Roman Empire from 211?17 and claimed thereby to be their defeater....
 in a battle near the river Main
Main

The Main is a river in Germany, 524 km long , and it is one of the more significant tributaries of the Rhine. The Main flows through the States of Germany of Bavaria, Baden-W?rttemberg and Hesse....
, but failed to win a decisive victory over them. After a peace agreement was brokered, the senate conferred upon him the title "Germanicus Maximus". In the next year the emperor traveled to the East.

When the inhabitants of Alexandria heard Caracalla's claims that he had killed Geta in self-defense, they produced a satire mocking this claim, as well as Caracalla's other pretensions. Caracalla responded to this insult savagely in 215 by slaughtering the deputation of leading citizens who had unsuspectingly assembled before the city to greet his arrival, and then unleashed his troops for several days of looting and plunder in Alexandria. According to historian Cassius Dio, over 20,000 people were killed.

During his reign as emperor, Caracalla raised the annual pay of an average legionary to 675 denarii and lavished many benefits on the army which he both feared and admired, as instructed by his father Septimius Severus who had told him to always mind the soldiers and ignore everyone else.

Seeking to secure his own legacy, Caracalla also commissioned one of Rome's last major architectural achievements, the Baths of Caracalla
Baths of Caracalla

The Baths of Caracalla were Ancient Rome public baths, or thermae, built in Rome between AD 212 and 216, during the reign of the Caracalla....
, the largest public bath ever built in ancient Rome. The main room of the baths was larger than St. Peter's Basilica
St. Peter's Basilica

The Basilica of Saint Peter , officially known in Italian language as the Basilica di San Pietro in Vaticano and commonly known as St. Peter's Basilica, is located within the Vatican City....
, and could easily accommodate over 2,000 Roman citizens at one time. The bath house opened in 216, complete with private rooms and outdoor tracks. Internally it was decorated with golden trim and mosaics.

Fall

While travelling from Edessa
Edessa, Mesopotamia

Edessa is the historical name of a Assyrian/Chaldean/Syriac people town in northern Mesopotamia, refounded on an ancient site by Seleucus I Nicator....
 to begin a war with Parthia
Parthia

Parthia is a region of north-eastern Iran, best known for having been the political and cultural base of the Arsacid dynasty, after which the Arsacid Empire is then also known as the 'Parthian Empire'....
, he was assassinated while urinating at a roadside near Harran
Harran

Harran, also known as Carrhae, is a district of Sanliurfa Province in the southeast of Turkey.A very ancient city which was a major Mesopotamian commercial, cultural, and religious center, Harran is a valuable archaeological site....
 on April 8, 217
217

Events...
 by Julius Martialis, an officer in the imperial bodyguard. Herodian
Herodian

Herodian or Herodianus of Syria was a minor Roman civil servant who wrote a colourful history titled History of the Empire from the Death of Marcus in eight books covering the years 180 to 238....
 says that Martialis' brother had been executed a few days earlier by Caracalla on an unproven charge; Cassius Dio, on the other hand, says that Martialis was resentful at not being promoted to the rank of centurion. The escort of the emperor gave him privacy to relieve himself, and Martialis ran forward and killed Caracalla with a single sword stroke. He immediately fled on horseback, but was killed by a bodyguard archer.

Caracalla was succeeded by the Praetorian Prefect of the Guard, Macrinus
Macrinus

Marcus Opellius Macrinus was Roman Empire Roman Emperors for fourteen months in 217 and 218. Macrinus was the first emperor to become so without membership in the senatorial class and the first emperor of Mauretania descent....
, who almost certainly was part of the conspiracy against the emperor.

His nickname

According to Aurelius Victor
Aurelius Victor

Sextus Aurelius Victor was an historian and politician of the Roman Empire.Aurelius Victor was the author of a History of Rome from Augustus to Julian the Apostate , published ca....
 in his Epitome de Caesaribus, the cognomen
Cognomen

The cognomen was originally a middle name of a citizen of Ancient Rome, under Roman naming conventions. The cognomen started as a nickname, but lost that purpose when it became hereditary ....
 "Caracalla" refers to a Gallic cloak
Cloak

A cloak is a type of loose garment that is worn over indoor clothing and serves the same purpose as an overcoat—it protects the wearer from the cold, rain or wind for example, or it may form part of a fashionable outfit or uniform....
 that Caracalla adopted as a personal fashion, which spread to his army and his court. Cassius Dio and the Historia Augusta agree that his nickname derived from his cloak, but do not mention its country of origin.

Legendary king of Britain

Geoffrey of Monmouth
Geoffrey of Monmouth

Geoffrey of Monmouth was a clergyman and one of the major figures in the English historians in the Middle Ages and the popularity of tales of King Arthur....
's legendary History of the Kings of Britain
Historia Regum Britanniae

The Historia Regum Britanniae is a pseudohistory account of Great Britain history, written c.1136 by Geoffrey of Monmouth. It chronicles the lives of the List of legendary kings of Britain in a chronological narrative spanning a time of two thousand years, beginning with the Troy of Homer's Iliad founding the Brython nation and conti...
 makes Caracalla a king of Britain, referring to him by his actual name "Bassianus", rather than the nickname Caracalla. After Severus's death, the Romans wanted to make Geta king of Britain, but the Britons preferred Bassianus because he had a British mother. The two brothers fought a battle in which Geta was killed, and Bassianus succeeded to the throne. He ruled until he was betrayed by his Pictish
Picts

The Picts were a confederation of tribes in what was later to become eastern and northern Scotland from Roman Empire times until the 10th century....
 allies and overthrown by Carausius
Carausius

Marcus Aurelius Mausaeus Carausius was a military commander of the Roman Empire in the 3rd century. He was a Menapii, born in the western part of Betuwe, who Roman usurper power in 286, declaring himself emperor of Roman Britain and northern Gaul....
, who, according to Geoffrey, was a Briton, rather than the Menapian
Menapii

Category:Tribes involved in Caesar's Gallic WarsThe Menapii were a Belgae tribe of northern Gaul in pre-Roman and Roman Empire times....
 Gaul that he actually was.

See also

  • Severan dynasty family tree
    Severan dynasty family tree

    This is a family tree of the Severan dynasty of the Roman Empire.See also*List of family trees* Severan dynasty...


External links

  • (Historia Augusta at LacusCurtius: Latin text and English translation)