Caracalla was a Roman emperor whose reign from 198 to 217 AD was characterized by cruelty in his private life and irresponsibility in his public life. His rule is remembered as being one of the most tyrannical of all Roman emperors.
Background
Ethnicity:
His father was a North African, and mother - a Syrian.
Caracalla was born on April 4, 188 in Lugdunum, Gaul (now Lyon, France); the son of Emperor Septimius Severus and his Syrian empress, Julia Domna, Caracalla was originally named Bassianus. His father renamed him Marcus Aurelius Antoninus in 196 (Severus pretended to have been adopted into the prestigious Antonine family of emperors), but the boy was commonly called Caracalla from a Gallic cloak he affected. He had a younger brother, Geta.
Education
Caracalla’s mother hired excellent teachers to give her son the best education available. It is reported that he studied the Greek orators and tragedians and was able to quote long passages from the Greek playwright Euripides but also that he strongly despised education and educated people.
Career
Caracalla was named caesar (successor-designate) by his father in 196 during Severus's struggle with his rival, Albinus. Two years later Caracalla was promoted to the rank of augustus, or coemperor. His younger brother, Geta, received the same rank in 209. Both boys were with their father in Britain when he died in 211, leaving them corulers of the empire.
Caracalla straightway returned to Rome, where the long-standing animosity between the brothers led Caracalla in 212 to assassinate Geta as he cowered in his mother's arms. Those that indicated disapproval were executed, but Caracalla secured the loyalty of the troops by a donative and raise in pay.
Caracalla fancied himself a military genius, the reincarnation of Alexander the Great. In 213 he led an expedition against the Germanic Alamanni, who threatened the northern frontiers. He defeated some and bought off others, while completing permanent fortifications in the area.
In 214 he campaigned on the Danube. Meanwhile, he raised a phalanx of Macedonian troops so that he could proceed on an expedition to the East, in perfect emulation of his great hero, Alexander. Caracalla reached Antioch in Syria in 215. But his ambition to create a Romano-Iranian empire was at first thwarted by the reluctance of the Parthian king to quarrel.
Caracalla thereupon made a trip to Alexandria, where, in his resentment at the citizens' traditional liberty of speech, he assembled the city's youth and had them massacred by the army.
In 216 Caracalla decided to join Rome and Parthia by marriage, if he could not do so by arms, and asked for the hand of the Parthian king's daughter. A refusal was followed by an ineffectual invasion of Media.
The Emperor wintered at Edessa and was preparing a more vigorous campaign for the following season when, in the spring of 217, he was assassinated near Carrhae at the instigation of his praetorian prefect and successor, Macrinus, who had information that Caracalla was planning his execution.
Caracalla is best known for the baths he built in Rome, which carry his name, and for an edict in 212/213 which granted full Roman citizenship to nearly all the free inhabitants of the empire, thus fulfilling centuries of legal progress.
Religion
Caracalla was tolerant of the Jewish and Christian faiths, but his favourite deity was the Egyptian god Serapis. At the outset of his reign, Caracalla declared divine support for Serapis. Temples dedicated to Serapis were raised and coins were minted.
He adopted the Egyptian practice of identifying the ruler with god and is the only Roman emperor who is portrayed as a pharaoh in a statue.
Politics
During his rule, Caracalla promulgated the Constitutio Antoniniana which rendered the provincials equal to Roman citizens. Some see in this a reflection of Caracalla's ideal of a world state, but ancient authorities found the motivation in increased revenue: only Roman citizens paid an inheritance and manumission tax, and this tax was doubled at this time.
Caracalla also raised the annual pay of an average legionary and lavished many benefits on the army, which he both feared and admired. Caracalla needed to gain and keep the trust of the military, and he did so with generous pay raises and popular gestures.
Personality
Caracalla is presented in ancient sources as a tyrant and cruel leader as well as Modern works continue to portray Caracalla as a psychopathic and evil ruler.
He admired Alexander the Great and identificated himself with the great Macedonian. He adopted clothing, weapons, behaviour, travel routes, portraits, perhaps even an alleged plan to conquer the Parthian empire, all in imitation of Alexander.
Caracalla was deeply superstitious; he followed magical practices and carefully observed all ritual obligations.
Interests
Politicians
Alexander the Great
Connections
In 202 Caracalla was forced to marry the daughter of Gaius Fulvius Plautianus, Fulvia Plautilla, a woman whom he detested. Later he executed his wife’s father for treason and banished Fulvia, who was later killed.
Julia was a Syrian (Domna being her Syrian name) and was the daughter of the hereditary high priest Bassianus at Emesa (present-day Ḥimṣ) in Syria and elder sister of Julia Maesa.
During the reign of Septimius Severus, Julia Domna had played a prominent public role, receiving titles of honor such as "Mother of the camp", but she also played a role behind the scenes helping Septimius administer the empire.
While Caracalla was mustering and training troops for his planned Persian invasion, Julia remained in Rome, administering the empire. Julia's growing influence in state affairs was the beginning of a trend of emperors' mothers having influence, which continued throughout the Severan dynasty.
Brother:
Publius Septimius Geta
Geta was a Roman emperor who ruled with his father Septimius Severus and his older brother Caracalla from 209, when he was named Augustus like his brother who had held the title since 198. He was murdered by Caracalla.
Wife:
Fulvia Plautilla
Publia Fulvia Plautilla, Fulvia Plautilla or Plautilla (c. 185/around 188/189 – 211) was the wife of the Roman emperor Caracalla, her paternal second cousin. After her father was condemned for treason, she was exiled and eventually killed, possibly on Caracalla's orders. She was related to Julius Caesar's first wife Cornelia.
References
Caracalla: A Military Biography
Caracalla has one of the worst reputations of any Roman Emperor. Many ancient historians were very hostile and Edward Gibbon later dubbed him ‘the common enemy of mankind’. Yet his reign was considered by at least one Roman author to be the apogee of the Roman Empire. Guilty of many murders and massacres (including his own brother, ex-wife and daughter) he was, however, popular with the army, improving their pay and cultivating the image of sharing their hardships. Surprisingly this is the first full-length biography of this colorful character in English. Ilkka Syvanne explains how the biased ancient sources in combination with the stern looking statues of the emperor have created a distorted image of the man and then reconstructs the actual events, particularly his military campaigns and reforms, to offer a balanced view of his reign. The biography offers the first complete overview of the policies, events and military campaigns of the reign and explains how and why these contributed to the military crisis of the third century.
The Baths of Caracalla
This book is a detailed overview of the baths of Caracalla in Rome, "one of the largest and best preserved thermal complexes of antiquity." Illustrated throughout with handsome color photographs, drawings, and architectural diagrams, this book will certainly be found useful by the scholar and layperson alike.
