| Caracalla | |||||||||
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 Bust of Caracalla, Museo Nazionale Romano, 212–215 AD | |||||||||
| Roman emperor | |||||||||
| Reign | 28 January 198 – 8 April 217 (senior from 4 February 211) | ||||||||
| Predecessor | Septimius Severus | ||||||||
| Successor | Macrinus | ||||||||
| Co-rulers |
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| Born | Lucius Septimius Bassianus 4 April 188 Lugdunum | ||||||||
| Died | 8 April 217 (aged 29) On the road between Edessa and Carrhae | ||||||||
| Spouse | Fulvia Plautilla | ||||||||
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| Dynasty | Severan | ||||||||
| Father | Septimius Severus | ||||||||
| Mother | Julia Domna | ||||||||
| Roman imperial dynasties | ||
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| Severan dynasty | ||
| Chronology | ||
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193–211 |
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with Caracalla 198–211 |
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with Geta 209–211 |
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211–217 |
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211 |
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Macrinus' usurpation 217–218 |
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with Diadumenian 218 |
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218–222 |
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222–235 |
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| Dynasty | ||
| Severan dynasty family tree | ||
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All biographies |
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| Succession | ||
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Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (born Lucius Septimius Bassianus, 4 April 188 – 8 April 217), better known by his nickname Caracalla (/ˌkærəˈkælə/),[3] was Roman emperor from 198 to 217 AD. He was a member of the Severan dynasty, the elder son of Emperor Septimius Severus and Empress Julia Domna. Severus proclaimed Caracalla co-ruler in 198, doing the same with his other son Geta in 209. The two brothers briefly shared power after their father's death in 211, but Caracalla soon had Geta murdered by the Praetorian Guard and became sole ruler of the Roman Empire. Julia Domna had a significant share in governance, since Caracalla found administration to be mundane. His reign featured domestic instability and external invasions by the Germanic peoples.
Caracalla issued the Antonine Constitution (Latin: Constitutio Antoniniana), also known as the Edict of Caracalla, which granted Roman citizenship to all free men throughout the Roman Empire. The edict gave all the enfranchised men Caracalla's adopted praenomen and nomen: "Marcus Aurelius". Other landmarks of his reign were the construction of the Baths of Caracalla, the second-largest bathing complex in the history of Rome, the introduction of a new Roman currency named the antoninianus, a sort of double denarius, and the massacres he ordered, both in Rome and elsewhere in the empire. In 216, Caracalla began a campaign against the Parthian Empire. He did not see this campaign through to completion due to his assassination by a disaffected soldier in 217. Macrinus succeeded him as emperor three days later.
The ancient sources portray Caracalla as a cruel tyrant; his contemporaries Cassius Dio (c. 155 – c. 235) and Herodian (c. 170 – c. 240) present him as a soldier first and an emperor second. In the 12th century, Geoffrey of Monmouth started the legend of Caracalla's role as king of Britain. Later, in the 18th century, the works of French painters revived images of Caracalla due to apparent parallels between Caracalla's tyranny and that ascribed to king Louis XVI (r. 1774–1792). Modern works continue to portray Caracalla as an evil ruler, painting him as one of the most tyrannical of all Roman emperors.
- ^ Hammond 1957, pp. 35–36.
- ^ Cooley 2012, p. 495.
- ^ "Caracalla". The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (5th ed.). HarperCollins. Retrieved 6 November 2019.