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{{short description|Roman emperor from 198 to 217}} 
{{About|the Roman emperor|the felid species|Caracal|the racehorse|Caracalla (horse)}}
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{{Infobox royalty
| image        = 0 Caracalla - Museo Massimo alle Terme.JPG
| alt          = White bust
| caption      = Bust of Caracalla, [[Museo Nazionale Romano]], 212–215 AD
| succession   = [[Roman emperor]]
| reign        = 28 January 198 – 8 April 217 {{awrap|(senior from 4 February 211)}}
| predecessor  = [[Septimius Severus]]
| successor    = [[Macrinus]]
| regent       = {{ubl|Septimius Severus (198–211)|[[Geta (emperor)|Geta]] (209–211)}}
| reg-type     = {{nowrap|Co-rulers}}
| birth_name   = Lucius Septimius Bassianus
| birth_date   = 4 April 188
| birth_place  = [[Lugdunum]]
| death_date   = 8 April 217 (aged 29)
| death_place  = On the road between [[Edessa]] and [[Carrhae]]
| burial_place = 
| spouse       = [[Fulvia Plautilla]]
| full name    = Marcus Aurelius Antoninus{{sfn|Hammond|1957|pp=35–36}}
| regnal name  = Imperator Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus{{sfn|Cooley|2012|p=495}}
| dynasty      = [[Severan dynasty|Severan]]
| father       = [[Septimius Severus]]
| mother       = [[Julia Domna]]
}}
{{Severan dynasty
|image=[[File:Portrait of family of Septimius Severus - Altes Museum - Berlin - Germany 2017.jpg|frameless]]
|image_size=200px
|caption=The [[Severan Tondo]]
}}
'''Marcus Aurelius Antoninus''' (born '''Lucius Septimius Bassianus''', 4 April 188&nbsp;– 8 April 217), better known by his nickname '''Caracalla''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|k|æ|r|ə|ˈ|k|æ|l|ə}};<ref>{{Cite American Heritage Dictionary|Caracalla|access-date=6 November 2019}}</ref> {{IPA|la|karaˈkalːa|lang}}), was [[Roman emperor]] from 198 to 217 AD, first serving as nominal co-emperor under his father and then ruling alone after 211 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 (emperor)|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]] ({{langx|la|Constitutio Antoniniana}}), also known as the Edict of Caracalla, which granted [[Roman citizenship]] to all [[Peregrinus (Roman)|free men]] throughout the Roman Empire. The edict gave all the enfranchised men Caracalla's adopted [[praenomen]] and [[Roman naming conventions|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 [[Parthian war of Caracalla|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]] ({{circa}} 155 – {{circa}} 235) and [[Herodian]] ({{circa}} 170 – {{circa}} 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 French King [[Louis XVI]] ({{reign | 1774 | 1792}}). Modern works continue to portray Caracalla as an evil ruler, painting him as one of the most tyrannical of all Roman emperors.

{{anchor|Nickname|Name|Etymology}}

== Names ==
Caracalla's name at birth was Lucius [[Septimia gens|Septimius]] Bassianus. He was renamed Marcus Aurelius Antoninus at the age of seven as part of his father's attempt at union with the families of [[Antoninus Pius]] and [[Marcus Aurelius]].<ref name=":20" /><ref>{{cite book|last1=Tabbernee|first1=William|last2=Lampe|first2=Peter|title=Pepouza and Tymion: The Discovery and Archaeological Exploration of a Lost Ancient City and an Imperial Estate|date=2008|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|isbn=978-3-11-020859-7}}</ref>{{sfn|Hammond|1957|pp=35–36}} According to the 4th-century historian [[Aurelius Victor]] in his ''Epitome de Caesaribus'', he became known by the [[agnomen]] "Caracalla" after a [[Gaul|Gallic]] hooded tunic that he habitually wore and made fashionable.{{sfn|Dunstan|2011|pp=405–406}} He may have begun wearing it during his campaigns on the Rhine and Danube.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2009|page=[https://archive.org/details/howromefelldeath0000gold/page/74 74]}} [[Cassius Dio]], who was still writing his ''Historia romana'' during Caracalla's reign,<ref>{{cite book |last=Swan |first=Michael Peter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=26s6CG8LffsC |title=The Augustan Succession: An Historical Commentary on Cassius Dio's Roman History |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2004 |isbn=0-19-516774-0 |pages=1–3, 30}}</ref> generally referred to him as "Tarautas", after a famously diminutive and violent [[gladiator]] of the time, though he also calls him "Caracallus" on various occasions.<ref>[[Cassius Dio]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/79*.html Book 79]</ref>

{{anchor|History|Biography}}

== Early life ==
[[File:Young Caracalla (Hermitage).jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.1|Young Caracalla; [[Hermitage Museum]], [[Saint Petersburg]]]]
Caracalla was born in [[Lugdunum]], [[Gaul]] (now [[Lyon]], France), on 4{{nbsp}}April 188 to [[Septimius Severus]] ({{Reign|193|211}}) and [[Julia Domna]], thus giving him [[Punics|Punic]] paternal ancestry and [[Arabs|Arab]] maternal ancestry.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Shahid|first=Irfan|title=Rome and the Arabs|publisher=Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection|year=1984|isbn=0-88402-115-7|location=Georgetown, Washington D.C.|pages=33}}</ref> He had a slightly younger brother, [[Geta (emperor)|Geta]], with whom Caracalla briefly ruled as co-emperor.<ref name=":20">{{Cite book|title=Ancient Greece and Rome|last=Gagarin|first=Michael|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2009|pages=51}}</ref>{{sfn|Dunstan|2011|p=399}} Caracalla was five years old when his father was acclaimed ''[[Augustus (title)|Augustus]]'' on 9 April 193.<ref name=":1">{{harvnb|Cooley|2012|pp=495–496}}</ref>

=== ''Caesar'' ===
{{multiple image
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| image1 = Septimius Severus Glyptothek Munich 357.jpg
| width1 = 170
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| caption1 = Bust of [[Septimius Severus]], Caracalla's father ([[Glyptothek]], [[Munich]])
| image2 = Publius Septimius Geta Louvre Ma1076.jpg
| width2 = 190
| alt2 = 
| caption2 = Bust of [[Geta (emperor)|Septimius Geta]], Caracalla's brother ([[Louvre]], [[Paris]])
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In early 195, Caracalla's father Septimius Severus had himself adopted posthumously by the deified emperor (''[[divus]]'') [[Marcus Aurelius]] ({{Reign|161|180}}); accordingly, in 195 or 196 Caracalla was given the imperial rank of ''[[Caesar (title)|Caesar]]'', adopting the name Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Caesar, and was named ''imperator destinatus'' (or {{Langx|la|designatus|label=none}}) in 197, possibly on his birthday, 4 April, and certainly before 7 May.<ref name=":1" /> He thus technically became a part of the well-remembered [[Antonine dynasty]].<ref name=":82">{{cite book|last=Kienast|first=Dietmar|title=Römische Kaisertabelle: Grundzüge einer römischen Kaiserchronologie|publisher=Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft|year=2017|isbn=978-3-534-26724-8|place=Darmstadt|pages=156–161|chapter=Caracalla|ref={{sfnref|Kienast}}|orig-year=1990|language=de}}</ref>

=== Co-''augustus'' ===
Caracalla's father appointed Caracalla, aged 9, joint ''Augustus'' and full emperor from 28 January 198.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Severans: the Changed Roman Empire|last=Grant|first=Michael|publisher=Psychology Press|year=1996|pages=19}}</ref>{{sfn|Cooley|2012|p=495}} This was the day Septimius Severus's [[Roman triumph|triumph]] was celebrated, in honour of his victory over the [[Parthian Empire]] in the [[Roman–Persian Wars]]; he had successfully sacked the Parthian capital, [[Ctesiphon]], after winning the [[Battle of Ctesiphon (198)|Battle of Ctesiphon]], probably in October 197.<ref name=":8">{{cite book|last=Kienast|first=Dietmar|title=Römische Kaisertabelle: Grundzüge einer römischen Kaiserchronologie|publisher=Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft|year=2017|isbn=978-3-534-26724-8|place=Darmstadt|pages=149–155|chapter=Septimius Severus|ref={{sfnref|Kienast}}|orig-year=1990|language=de}}</ref> He was also awarded [[tribunician power]] and the title of ''[[imperator]]''.<ref name=":1" /> In inscriptions, Caracalla is given from 198 the title of the chief priesthood, ''[[pontifex maximus]]''.<ref name=":82" /><ref name=":1" /> His brother Geta was proclaimed ''nobilissimus caesar'' on the same day, and their father Septimius Severus was awarded the victory name ''Parthicus Maximus''.<ref name=":1" />

In 199, he was inducted into the [[Arval Brethren]].<ref name=":82" /> By the end of 199, at age 11, he was entitled ''[[pater patriae]]''.<ref name=":82" /> In 202, he was [[Roman consul]], having been named ''consul designatus'' the previous year.<ref name=":82" /> His colleague was his father, serving his own third consulship.<ref name=":8" />

In 202, Caracalla was forced to marry the daughter of [[Gaius Fulvius Plautianus]], [[Fulvia Plautilla]], whom he hated, though for what reason is unknown.{{sfn|Dunstan|2011|p=402}} The wedding took place between the 9 and the 15 April, just after he turned 14.<ref name=":82" />

In 205, Caracalla was consul for the second time, in company with Geta – his brother's first consulship.<ref name=":82" /> By 205, aged 16, Caracalla had got Plautianus executed for treason, though he had probably fabricated the evidence of the plot.{{sfn|Dunstan|2011|p=402}} It was then that he banished his wife, whose later killing might have been carried out under Caracalla's orders.<ref name=":20" />{{sfn|Dunstan|2011|p=402}}

On 28 January 207, at age 18, Caracalla celebrated his ''[[decennalia]]'', the tenth anniversary of the beginning of his reign.<ref name=":82" /> The year 208 was the year of his third and Geta's second consulship.''<ref name=":82" />'' Geta was himself granted the rank of ''Augustus'' and tribunician powers in September or October 209.<ref name=":82" />{{sfn|Dunstan|2011|p=405}}<ref name=":1" />

During the reign of his father, Caracalla's mother Julia Domna had played a prominent public role, receiving titles of honour such as "Mother of the camp", but she also played a role behind the scenes helping her husband administer the empire.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2009|page=[https://archive.org/details/howromefelldeath0000gold/page/76 76]}} Described as ambitious,{{sfn|Dunstan|2011|p=299}} Julia Domna surrounded herself with thinkers and writers from all over the empire.{{sfn|Dunstan|2011|p=404}} 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.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Grant|first=Michael|title=The Severans: the Changed Roman Empire|publisher=Psychology Press|year=1996|pages=46}}</ref>

== Reign as senior emperor ==
=== Geta as co-''augustus'' ===
On 4{{nbsp}}February 211, Septimius Severus died at [[Eboracum]] (present-day [[York]], England) while on campaign in [[Scotland during the Roman Empire|Caledonia]], to the north of [[Roman Britain]].{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2009|page=[https://archive.org/details/howromefelldeath0000gold/page/68 68–69]}}

This left his two sons and co-''augusti'', Caracalla and his brother, Geta, as joint inheritors of their father's throne and empire.{{sfn|Dunstan|2011|p=405}}{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2009|page=[https://archive.org/details/howromefelldeath0000gold/page/68 68–69]}} Caracalla adopted his father's ''[[cognomen]]'', Severus, and assumed the chief priesthood as ''pontifex maximus''.<ref name=":822">{{cite book |last=Kienast |first=Dietmar |title=Römische Kaisertabelle: Grundzüge einer römischen Kaiserchronologie |publisher=Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft |year=2017 |isbn=978-3-534-26724-8 |place=Darmstadt |pages=156–161 |chapter=Caracalla |ref={{sfnref|Kienast}} |orig-year=1990 |language=de}}</ref> His name became ''Imperator Caesar Marcus Aurelius Severus Antoninus Pius Augustus''.<ref name=":822" />

Caracalla and Geta ended the [[Roman invasion of Caledonia (208–211)|Roman invasion of Caledonia]] after concluding a peace with the [[Caledonians]] that returned the border of Roman Britain to the line demarcated by [[Hadrian's Wall]].{{sfn|Dunstan|2011|p=405}}{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2009|page=[https://archive.org/details/howromefelldeath0000gold/page/70 70]}} During the journey back from Britain to Rome with their father's ashes, Caracalla and his brother continuously argued with one another, making relations between them increasingly hostile.{{sfn|Dunstan|2011|p=405}}{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2009|page=[https://archive.org/details/howromefelldeath0000gold/page/70 70]}} Caracalla and Geta considered dividing the empire in half along the [[Bosphorus]] to make their co-rule less hostile. Caracalla was to rule in the west and Geta was to rule in the east. They were persuaded not to do this by their mother.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2009|page=[https://archive.org/details/howromefelldeath0000gold/page/70 70]}}

=== Geta's murder ===
[[File:Geta Dying in his Mother's Arms by Jacques Pajou - Staatsgalerie - Stuttgart - Germany 2017.jpg|thumb|''Geta Dying in his Mother's Arms'', [[Jacques-Augustin-Catherine Pajou]], 1766–1828 ([[Staatsgalerie Stuttgart]])]]
On 26 December 211, at a reconciliation meeting arranged by their mother, Geta was assassinated by members of the [[Praetorian Guard]] loyal to the 23-year-old Caracalla. Geta died in his mother's arms. It is widely accepted, and clearly most likely, that Caracalla ordered the assassination himself, as the two had never been on favourable terms with one another, much less after succeeding their father.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2009|page=[https://archive.org/details/howromefelldeath0000gold/page/68 68–69]}}

Caracalla then persecuted and executed most of Geta's supporters and ordered a ''[[damnatio memoriae]]'' pronounced by the Senate against his brother's memory.{{sfn|Dunstan|2011|pp=405–406}}{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2009|page=[https://archive.org/details/howromefelldeath0000gold/page/70 70–71]}} Geta's image was removed from all paintings, coins were melted down, statues were destroyed, his name was struck from papyrus records, and it became a capital offence to speak or write Geta's name.{{sfn|Varner|2004|p=168}} In the aftermath of the ''damnatio memoriae'', an estimated 20,000 people were massacred.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2009|page=[https://archive.org/details/howromefelldeath0000gold/page/70 70–71]}}{{sfn|Varner|2004|p=168}} Those killed were Geta's inner circle of guards and advisers, friends, and other military staff under his employ.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2009|page=[https://archive.org/details/howromefelldeath0000gold/page/70 70–71]}}

== Reign as sole emperor ==
[[File:Julia Domna (Julia Pia), inv. 2210, Roman - Braccio Nuovo, Museo Chiaramonti - Vatican Museums - DSC00897.jpg|thumb|upright|Bust of [[Julia Domna]] ([[Museo Chiaramonti]])]]
When Geta died in 211, Julia Domna's responsibilities increased, because Caracalla found administrative tasks to be mundane.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2009|page=[https://archive.org/details/howromefelldeath0000gold/page/76 76]}} She may have taken on one of the more important civil functions of the emperor; receiving petitions and answering correspondence.<ref name=":23">{{Cite journal|last=Tuori|first=Kaius|date=2016|title=Judge Julia Domna? A Historical Mystery and the Emergence of Imperial Legal Administration|journal=The Journal of Legal History|volume=37|issue=2|pages=180–197|doi=10.1080/01440365.2016.1191590|s2cid=147778542 | issn = 0144-0365 }}</ref> The extent of her role in this position, however, is probably overstated. She may have represented her son and played a role in meetings and answering queries; however, the final authority on legal matters was Caracalla.<ref name=":23" /> The emperor filled all of the roles in the legal system as judge, legislator, and administrator.<ref name=":23" />

=== ''Constitutio Antoniniana'' ===
{{main|Constitutio Antoniniana}}
The ''[[Constitutio Antoniniana]]'' (lit. "Constitution of Antoninus", also called "Edict of Caracalla" or "Antonine Constitution") was an edict issued in 212 by Caracalla declaring that all free men in the Roman Empire were to be given full Roman citizenship,<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Edinburgh Companion to Ancient Greece and Rome: Late Antiquity|last=Lim|first=Richard|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|year=2010|pages=114}}</ref> with the exception of the ''dediticii'', people who had become subject to Rome through surrender in war, and freed slaves.{{sfn|Hekster|Zair|2008|p=47}}<ref>{{cite book|last1=Levine|first1=Lee|title=Caesarea Under Roman Rule|date=1975|publisher=Brill Archive|isbn=90-04-04013-7|page=195}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Benario|first1=Herbert|title=The Dediticii of the Constitutio Antoniniana|journal=Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association|date=1954|volume=85|pages=188–196|doi=10.2307/283475|jstor=283475}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Cairns|first1=John|title=Beyond Dogmatics: Law and Society in the Roman World: Law and Society in the Roman World|date=2007|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|isbn=978-0-7486-3177-3|page=42}}</ref><ref>Giessen Papyrus, 40,7-9 "I grant to all the inhabitants of the Empire the Roman citizenship and no one remains outside a civitas, with the exception of the dediticii"</ref>

Before 212, the majority of Roman citizens had been inhabitants of Roman Italia, with about 4–7% of all peoples in the Roman Empire being Roman citizens at the time of the death of [[Augustus]] in AD 14. Outside Rome, citizenship was restricted to [[Roman colonia]]e{{efn|name=a|Coloniae were cities of Roman citizens founded in conquered provinces.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Whittock|first1=Martyn John |last2=Whittock|first2=Martyn |title=The Roman Empire |year = 1991 |publisher=Heinemann|isbn=0-435-31274-X|page=28 }}</ref>}}{{snd}}Romans, or their descendants, living in the provinces, the inhabitants of various cities throughout the Empire{{snd}}and small numbers of local nobles such as kings of client countries. Provincials, on the other hand, were usually non-citizens, although some magistrates and their families and relatives held the [[Latin Right]].{{efn|name=b|The Latin Rights or ''ius Latii'' were an intermediate or probationary stage for non-Romans obtaining full Roman citizenship. Aside from the right to vote, and ability to pursue a political office, the Latin Rights were just a limited Roman citizenship.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Johnson|first1=Allan|last2=Coleman-Norton|first2=Paul|last3=Bourne|first3=Frank|last4=Pharr|first4=Clyde|title=Ancient Roman Statutes: A Translation with Introduction, Commentary, Glossary, and Index|year=2003 |orig-date=1961|publisher=The Lawbook Exchange|isbn=1-58477-291-3|page=266}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Zoch|first1=Paul|title=Ancient Rome: An Introductory History|date=2000|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|isbn=0-8061-3287-6|page=[https://archive.org/details/ancientrome00paul/page/91 91]|url=https://archive.org/details/ancientrome00paul/page/91}}</ref>}}<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Lavan|first=Myles|date=2016|title=The Spread of Roman Citizenship, 14–212 CE: Quantification in the face of high uncertainty|url=https://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/bitstream/10023/12646/1/Lavan_2016_PandP_SpreadRomanCitizenship_RevisedAAM.pdf|journal=Past and Present|issue=230|pages=3–46|doi=10.1093/pastj/gtv043|hdl=10023/12646|hdl-access=free}}</ref>

Dio maintains that one purpose for Caracalla issuing the edict was the desire to increase state revenue; at the time, Rome was in a difficult financial situation and needed to pay for the new pay raises and benefits that were being conferred on the military.{{sfn|Hekster|Zair|2008|pp=47–48}} The edict widened the obligation for public service and gave increased revenue through the inheritance and emancipation taxes that only had to be paid by Roman citizens.{{sfn|Dunstan|2011|p=406}} However, few of those that gained citizenship were wealthy, and while it is true that Rome was in a difficult financial situation, it is thought that this could not have been the sole purpose of the edict.{{sfn|Hekster|Zair|2008|pp=47–48}} The provincials also benefited from this edict because they were now able to think of themselves as equal partners to the Romans in the empire.{{sfn|Dunstan|2011|p=406}}

Another purpose for issuing the edict, as described within the papyrus upon which part of the edict was inscribed, was to appease the gods who had delivered Caracalla from conspiracy.{{sfn|Hekster|Zair|2008|p=48}} The conspiracy in question was in response to Caracalla's murder of Geta and the subsequent slaughter of his followers; fratricide would only have been condoned if his brother had been a tyrant.{{sfn|Hekster|Zair|2008|pp=48–49}} The ''damnatio memoriae'' against Geta and the large payments Caracalla had made to his own supporters were designed to protect himself from possible repercussions. After this had succeeded, Caracalla felt the need to repay the gods of Rome by returning the favour to the people of Rome through a similarly grand gesture. This was done through the granting of citizenship.{{sfn|Hekster|Zair|2008|pp=48–49}}{{sfn|Rowan|2012|p=127}}

Another purpose for issuing the edict might have been related to the fact that the periphery of the empire was now becoming central to its existence, and the granting of citizenship may have been simply a logical outcome of Rome's continued expansion of citizenship rights.{{sfn|Rowan|2012|p=127}}{{sfn|Hekster|Zair|2008|pp=49–50}}

=== Alamannic war ===
In 213, about a year after Geta's death, Caracalla left Rome, never to return.{{sfn|Dunstan|2011|p=406}} He went north to the German frontier to deal with the [[Alamanni]], a confederation of [[Germanic Tribes|Germanic tribes]] who had broken through the ''[[Limes (Roman Empire)|limes]]'' in [[Raetia]].{{sfn|Dunstan|2011|p=406}}<ref name=":7">{{Cite book|title=The Romans, from village to empire|last1=Boatwright|first1=Mary Taliaferro|last2=Gargola|first2=Daniel J|last3=Talbert|first3=Richard J. A.|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2004|isbn=0-19-511875-8|pages=[https://archive.org/details/romansfromvillag00boat_0/page/413 413]|url=https://archive.org/details/romansfromvillag00boat_0/page/413}}</ref> During the campaign of 213–214, Caracalla successfully defeated some of the Germanic tribes while settling other difficulties through diplomacy, though precisely with whom these treaties were made remains unknown.<ref name=":7" />{{sfn|Scott|2008|p=25}} While there, Caracalla strengthened the frontier fortifications of Raetia and [[Germania Superior]], collectively known as the [[Agri Decumates]], so that it was able to withstand any further barbarian invasions for another twenty years.

=== Provincial tour ===
[[File:Roman Empire in 210 AD.png|thumb|350px|The Roman Empire during the reign of Caracalla]]
In spring 214, Caracalla departed for the eastern provinces, travelling through the Danubian provinces and the Anatolian provinces of [[Asia (Roman province)|Asia]] and [[Bithynia and Pontus|Bithynia]].<ref name=":82" /> He spent the winter of 214/215 in [[Nicomedia]]. By 4 April 215 he had left Nicomedia, and in the summer he was in [[Antioch]] on the [[Orontes River|Orontes]].<ref name=":82" /> By December 215 he was in [[Alexandria, Egypt|Alexandria]] in the [[Nile Delta]], where he stayed until March or April 216.<ref name=":82" />

When the inhabitants of Alexandria heard of Caracalla's claims that he had killed his brother Geta in self-defence, they produced a satire mocking this as well as Caracalla's other pretensions.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Morgan|first1=Robert|title=History of the Coptic Orthodox People and the Church of Egypt|date=2016|publisher=FriesenPress|isbn=978-1-4602-8027-0|page=31}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Fisher|first1=Warren|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JMpxi1AqaZYC&pg=PA86|title=The Illustrated History of the Roman Empire: From Caesar's Crossing the Rubicon (49 BC) to the Empire's Fall, 476 AD|date=2010|publisher=AuthorHouse|isbn=978-1-4490-7739-6|location=Bloomington, IN|page=86}}</ref>  Caracalla responded to this insult by slaughtering the unsuspecting deputation of leading citizens that had assembled before the city to greet his arrival in December 215, before setting his troops against Alexandria for several days of looting and plunder.{{sfn|Dunstan|2011|p=406}}{{sfn|Melton|2014|page=338}}

In spring 216 he returned to Antioch and before 27 May had set out to lead his Roman army against the Parthians.<ref name=":82" /> During the winter of 215/216 he was in [[Edessa]].<ref name=":82" /> Caracalla then moved east into [[Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity)|Armenia]]. By 216 he had pushed through Armenia and south into Parthia.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Boatwright|first1=Mary Taliaferro|url=https://archive.org/details/romansfromvillag00boat_0/page/413|title=The Romans, from village to empire|last2=Gargola|first2=Daniel J|last3=Talbert|first3=Richard J. A.|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2004|isbn=0-19-511875-8|pages=[https://archive.org/details/romansfromvillag00boat_0/page/413 413–414]}}</ref>

=== Baths ===
{{Main|Baths of Caracalla}}
[[File:Baths of Caracalla.JPG|thumb|left|The [[Baths of Caracalla]]]]
Construction on the [[Baths of Caracalla]] in Rome began in 211 at the start of Caracalla's rule. The ''[[thermae]]'' are named for Caracalla, though it is most probable that his father was responsible for their planning. In 216, a partial inauguration of the baths took place, but the outer perimeter of the baths was not completed until the reign of [[Severus Alexander]].{{sfn|Castex|2008|p=4}}

These large baths were typical of the Roman practice of building complexes for social and state activities in large densely populated cities.{{sfn|Castex|2008|p=4}} The baths covered around 50 acres (or 202,000 square metres) of land and could accommodate around 1,600 bathers at any one time.{{sfn|Castex|2008|p=4}} They were the second largest public baths built in ancient Rome and were complete with [[Natatio|swimming pools]], [[Palaestra|exercise yards]], a [[Stadion (running race)|stadium]], steam rooms, libraries, meeting rooms, fountains, and other amenities, all of which were enclosed within formal gardens.{{sfn|Castex|2008|p=4}}<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Oetelaar|first=Taylor|date=2014|title=Reconstructing the Baths of Caracalla|journal=Digital Applications in Archaeology and Cultural Heritage|volume=1|issue=2|pages=45–54|doi=10.1016/j.daach.2013.12.002}}</ref> The interior spaces were decorated with colourful marble floors, columns, mosaics, and colossal statuary.{{sfn|Castex|2008|pp=5–6}}

=== Caracalla and Serapis ===
[[File:SFEC EGYPT KOM-OMBO 2006-002.JPG|thumb|upright|Caracalla as [[Pharaoh]], [[Temple of Kom Ombo]]]]At the outset of his reign, Caracalla declared imperial support for the [[Egyptian Greeks|Graeco-Egyptian]] god of healing [[Serapis]]. The Iseum and [[Serapeum]] in Alexandria were apparently renovated during Caracalla's co-rule with his father Septimius Severus. The evidence for this exists in two inscriptions found near the temple that appear to bear their names. Additional archaeological evidence exists for this in the form of two [[Papyrus|papyri]] that have been dated to the Severan period and also two statues associated with the temple that have been dated to around 200{{nbsp}}AD. Upon Caracalla's ascension to being sole ruler in 212, the imperial mint began striking coins bearing Serapis' image. This was a reflection of the god's central role during Caracalla's reign. After Geta's death, the weapon that had killed him was dedicated to Serapis by Caracalla. This was most likely done to cast Serapis into the role of Caracalla's protector from treachery.{{sfn|Rowan|2012|pp=137–139}}

Caracalla also erected a temple on the [[Quirinal Hill]] in 212, which he dedicated to Serapis.{{sfn|Melton|2014|page=338}} A fragmented inscription found in the church of Sant' Agata dei Goti in Rome records the construction, or possibly restoration, of a temple dedicated to the god Serapis. The inscription bears the name "Marcus Aurelius Antoninus", a reference to either Caracalla or [[Elagabalus]], but more likely to Caracalla due to his known strong association with the god. Two other inscriptions dedicated to Serapis, as well as a granite crocodile similar to one discovered at the Iseum et Serapeum, were also found in the area around the Quirinal Hill.{{sfn|Rowan|2012|pp=142–143}}

=== Monetary policy ===
{{Coin image box 1 double
| header =
| image = Image:Caracalla-sol+.jpg
| caption_left = '''[[Obverse and reverse|O:]]''' [[laureate]] head of Caracalla
ANTONINVS [[Pius (epithet)|PIVS]] [[Augustus (honorific)|AVG.]] [[Germanicus (title)|GERM.]]
| caption_right = '''[[Obverse and reverse|R:]]''' [[Sol (Roman mythology)|Sol]] holding [[globe]], rising hand
[[Pontifex Maximus]], [[Tribune|TRibunus Plebis]] [[19 (number)|XVIIII]], [[Consul|COnSul]] [[4 (number)|IIII]], [[Pater Patriae]]
| width = 330
| footer = [[silver]] ''[[denarius]]'' struck in [[Rome]] 216 AD; ref.: RIC 281b, C 359
| position = right
| margin = 4
}}

The expenditures that Caracalla made with the large bonuses he gave to soldiers prompted him to debase the coinage soon after his ascension.{{sfn|Dunstan|2011|pp=405–406}} At the end of Severus' reign and early into Caracalla's, the Roman ''[[denarius]]'' had an approximate silver purity of around 55%, but by the end of Caracalla's reign the purity had been reduced to about 51%.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Oman|first=C.|date=1916|title=The Decline and Fall of the Denarius in the Third Century A.D.|journal= The Numismatic Chronicle and Journal of the Royal Numismatic Society|volume=16|pages=37–60|jstor=42663723}}</ref>{{sfn|Scott|2008|p=130–131}}

In 215 Caracalla introduced the ''[[antoninianus]]'', a coin intended to serve as a double ''denarius''.{{sfn|Scott|2008|p=123}} This new currency, however, had a silver purity of about 52% for the period between 215 and 217 and an actual size ratio of 1{{nbsp}}''antoninianus'' to 1.5{{nbsp}}denarii. This in effect made the ''antoninianus'' equal to about 1.5{{nbsp}}''denarii.''<ref name=":19" />{{sfn|Scott|2008|p=139}}<ref>{{cite book|last1=Harl|first1=Kenneth|title=Coinage in the Roman Economy, 300 B.C. to A.D. 700|date=1996|publisher=JHU Press|isbn=0-801-85291-9|page=128|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5yPDL0EykeAC&q=antoninianus}}</ref> The reduced silver purity of the coins caused people to hoard the old coins that had higher silver content, aggravating the inflation problem caused by the earlier devaluation of the ''denarii''.{{sfn|Scott|2008|p=123}}<ref name=":19">{{Cite journal|last=Bergeron|first=David|date=2007–2008|title=Roman Antoninianus|journal=Bank of Canada Review}}</ref>

=== Military policy ===
During his reign as emperor, Caracalla raised the annual pay of an average legionary from 2000 [[Sestertius|''sesterces'']] (500 ''[[denarii]]'') to 2700–3000 ''sesterces'' (675–750 ''denarii''). He lavished many benefits on the army, which he both feared and admired, in accordance with the advice given by his father on his deathbed always to heed the welfare of the soldiers and ignore everyone else.{{sfn|Dunstan|2011|p=405}}<ref name=":7" /> Caracalla needed to gain and keep the trust of the military, and he did so with generous pay raises and popular gestures.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Grant|first=Michael|title=The Severans: the Changed Roman Empire|publisher=Psychology Press|year=1996|pages=42}}</ref> He spent much of his time with the soldiers, so much so that he began to imitate their dress and adopt their manners.{{sfn|Dunstan|2011|pp=405–406}}<ref>{{cite book|last1=Southern|first1=Patricia|title=The Roman Empire from Severus to Constantine|date=2015|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-49694-6|pages=68–69}}</ref>{{sfn|Scott|2008|p=21}}

After Caracalla concluded his campaign against the Alamanni, it became evident that he was inordinately preoccupied with emulating [[Alexander the Great]].{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2009|page=[https://archive.org/details/howromefelldeath0000gold/page/74 74]}}<ref name=":92">{{Cite book|last=Brauer|first=G.|title=The Decadent Emperors: Power and Depravity in Third-Century Rome|year=1967|pages=75}}</ref> He began openly mimicking Alexander in his personal style. In planning his invasion of the Parthian Empire, Caracalla decided to arrange 16,000 of his men in Macedonian-style [[phalanx]]es, despite the [[Roman army]] having made the phalanx an obsolete tactical formation.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2009|page=[https://archive.org/details/howromefelldeath0000gold/page/74 74]}}<ref name=":92" /><ref name=":292">{{Cite book|last=Christopher|first=Matthew|title=An Invincible Beast: Understanding the Hellenistic Pike Phalanx in Action|publisher=Casemate Publishers|year=2015|pages=403}}</ref> The historian Christopher Matthew mentions that the term ''Phalangarii'' has two possible meanings, both with military connotations. The first refers merely to the Roman battle line and does not specifically mean that the men were armed with [[Pike (weapon)|pikes]], and the second bears similarity to the 'Marian Mules' of the late [[Roman Republic]] who carried their equipment suspended from a long pole, which were in use until at least the 2nd century AD.<ref name=":292" /> As a consequence, the ''phalangarii'' of [[Legio II Parthica]] may not have been pikemen, but rather standard battle line troops or possibly ''[[triarii]]''.<ref name=":292" />

Caracalla's mania for Alexander went so far that he visited Alexandria while preparing for his Persian invasion and persecuted philosophers of the [[Aristotelianism|Aristotelian]] school based on a legend that [[Aristotle]] had poisoned Alexander. This was a sign of Caracalla's increasingly erratic behaviour.<ref name=":92" />

=== Parthian war ===
{{main|Parthian war of Caracalla}}
In 216, Caracalla pursued a series of aggressive campaigns in the east against the [[Parthia]]ns, intended to bring more territory under direct Roman control. He offered the king of Parthia, [[Artabanus IV of Parthia]], a marriage proposal between himself and the king's daughter.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2009|page=[https://archive.org/details/howromefelldeath0000gold/page/74 74]}}{{sfn|Dunstan|2011|pp=406–407}} Artabanus refused the offer, realizing that the proposal was merely an attempt to unite the kingdom of Parthia under the control of Rome.{{sfn|Dunstan|2011|pp=406–407}} In response, Caracalla used the opportunity to start a campaign against the Parthians. That summer Caracalla began to attack the countryside east of the Tigris in the [[Parthian war of Caracalla]].{{sfn|Dunstan|2011|pp=406–407}} In the following winter, Caracalla retired to [[Edessa, Mesopotamia|Edessa]], modern [[Şanlıurfa]] in south-east [[Turkey]], and began making preparations to renew the campaign by spring.{{sfn|Dunstan|2011|pp=406–407}}

== Death ==
At the beginning of 217, Caracalla was still based at Edessa before renewing hostilities against Parthia.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2009|page=[https://archive.org/details/howromefelldeath0000gold/page/74 74]}} On 8{{nbsp}}April 217 Caracalla, who had just turned 29, was travelling to visit a temple of the moon god [[Sin (mythology)|Sin]],<ref>see about Caracalla's planned visit to the shrine {{aut|Frank Kolb}}: ''Literarische Beziehungen zwischen Cassius Dio, Herodian und der Historia Augusta'', Bonn 1972, pp. 123ff.</ref> while on the road from Edessa to Carrhae, now [[Harran]] in southern Turkey, where in 53{{nbsp}}BC the Romans had suffered [[Battle of Carrhae|a defeat]] at the hands of the Parthians.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2009|page=[https://archive.org/details/howromefelldeath0000gold/page/74 74]}} After stopping briefly to urinate, Caracalla was approached by a soldier, '''Justin Martialis''', and stabbed.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2009|page=[https://archive.org/details/howromefelldeath0000gold/page/74 74]}} A Scythian bodyguard of Caracalla killed Martialis with his lance.  The two Praetorian tribunes rushed to the emperor, as if to help him, and completed the assassination.<ref>Dio Cassius 79 (78),5,2-5. See, Herodian and 4.13 ''Historia Augusta'', Caracalla 6.6-7.2. See also {{aut|Michael Louis Meckler}}: ''Caracalla and his late-antique biographer'', Ann Arbor, 1994, pp. 152-156.</ref>

Martialis had been incensed by Caracalla's refusal to grant him the position of [[centurion]], and the [[praetorian prefect]] [[Macrinus]], Caracalla's successor, saw the opportunity to use Martialis to end Caracalla's reign.{{sfn|Dunstan|2011|pp=406–407}} In the immediate aftermath of Caracalla's death, his murderer, Martialis, was killed as well.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2009|page=[https://archive.org/details/howromefelldeath0000gold/page/74 74]}} When Caracalla was murdered, Julia Domna was in Antioch sorting out correspondence, removing unimportant messages from the bunch so that when Caracalla returned, he would not be overburdened with duties.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2009|page=[https://archive.org/details/howromefelldeath0000gold/page/76 76]}} Three days later, Macrinus declared himself emperor with the support of the Roman army.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2009|page=[https://archive.org/details/howromefelldeath0000gold/page/75 75]}}<ref>{{cite book|last1=Ando|first1=Clifford|title=Imperial Rome AD 193 to 284: The Critical Century|date=2012|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|isbn=978-0-7486-5534-2|page=63}}</ref>

== Portraiture ==
[[File:Roman - Medallion with Roman Emperor Caracalla - Walters 593 - Obverse.jpg|thumb|This medallion exemplifies the typical manner in which Caracalla was depicted ([[Walters Art Museum]], [[Baltimore]])]]
Caracalla's official portrayal as sole emperor marks a break from the detached images of the philosopher-emperors who preceded him: his close-cropped haircut is that of a soldier, his pugnacious scowl a realistic and threatening presence. This rugged soldier-emperor, an iconic archetype, was adopted by most of the following emperors, such as [[Maximinus Thrax]], who were dependent on the support of the troops to rule the empire.{{sfn|Hekster|Zair|2008|p=59}}<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ho/05/eust/ho_40.11.1a.htm| title = Metropolitan Museum of Art: Portrait head of the Emperor Caracalla". acc. no. 40.11.1a}}</ref>

Herodian describes Caracalla as having preferred northern European clothing, ''Caracalla'' being the name of the short Gaulish cloak that he made fashionable, and he often wore a blond wig.<ref>{{Cite book|title=History of the Roman Empire|pages=4.7.3|author=Herodian of Antioch}}</ref> Dio mentions that when Caracalla was a boy, he had a tendency to show an angry or even savage facial expression.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Roman History|last=Dio|first=Cassius|date=n.d.|pages=78.11.1}}</ref>

The way Caracalla wanted to be portrayed to his people can be seen through the many surviving busts and coins. Images of the young Caracalla cannot be clearly distinguished from his younger brother Geta.{{sfn|Varner|2004|p=169}} On the coins, Caracalla was shown laureate after becoming ''augustus'' in 197; Geta is bareheaded until he became ''augustus'' himself in 209.<ref name=":13">{{Cite book|title=Porträttypen des Caracalla und des Geta auf Römischen Reichsprägungen – Definition eines neuen Caesartyps des Caracalla und eines neuen Augustustyps des Geta|last=Pangerl|first=Andreas|publisher=Archäologisches Korrespondenzblatt des RGZM Mainz 43|year=2013|pages=99–116}}</ref> Between 209 and their father's death in February{{nbsp}}211, both brothers are shown as mature young men who were ready to take over the empire.

Between the death of the father and the assassination of Geta towards the end of 211, Caracalla's portrait remains static with a short full beard while Geta develops a long beard with hair strains like his father. The latter was a strong indicator of Geta's effort to be seen as the true successor to their father, an effort that came to naught when he was murdered.<ref name=":13" /> Caracalla's presentation on coins during the period of his co-reign with his father, from 198 to 210, are in broad terms in line with the third-century imperial representation; most coin types communicate military and religious messages, with other coins giving messages of ''saeculum aureum'' and virtues.{{sfn|Manders|2012|p=251}}

During Caracalla's sole reign, from 212 to 217, a significant shift in representation took place. The majority of coins produced during this period made associations with divinity or had religious messages; others had non-specific and unique messages that were only circulated during Caracalla's sole rule.{{sfn|Manders|2012|pp=251–252}}

== Legacy ==

=== Damnatio memoriae ===
Caracalla was not subject to a proper ''[[damnatio memoriae]]'' after his assassination; while the Senate disliked him, his popularity with the military prevented [[Macrinus]] and the Senate from openly declaring him to be a ''hostis''. Macrinus, in an effort to placate the Senate, instead ordered the secret removal of statues of Caracalla from public view. After his death, the public made comparisons between him and other condemned emperors and called for the horse race celebrating his birthday to be abolished and for gold and silver statues dedicated to him to be melted down. These events were, however, limited in scope; most erasures of his name from inscriptions were either accidental or occurred as a result of re-use. Macrinus had Caracalla deified and commemorated on coins as ''Divus Antoninus''. There does not appear to have been any intentional mutilation of Caracalla in any images that were created during his reign as sole emperor.{{sfn|Varner|2004|p=184}}

[[File:Caracalla con le decorazioni militari, forse dai castra praetoria, bronzo, 212-217 ca.JPG|thumb|Bronze portrait of Caracalla ([[Antikensammlung Berlin]])]]

=== Classical portrayal ===
Caracalla is presented in the ancient sources of [[Cassius Dio]], [[Herodian]], and the ''[[Historia Augusta]]'' as a cruel tyrant and savage ruler.{{sfn|Manders|2012|p=226}} This portrayal of Caracalla is only further supported by the murder of his brother Geta and the subsequent massacre of Geta's supporters that Caracalla ordered.{{sfn|Manders|2012|p=226}} Alongside this, these contemporary sources present Caracalla as a "soldier-emperor" for his preference of the soldiery over the senators, a depiction that made him even less popular with the senatorial biographers.{{sfn|Manders|2012|p=226}} Dio explicitly presented Caracalla as an emperor who marched with the soldiers and behaved like a soldier. Dio also often referred to Caracalla's large military expenditures and the subsequent financial problems this caused.{{sfn|Manders|2012|p=226}} These traits dominate Caracalla's image in the surviving classical literature.{{sfn|Manders|2012|p=227}} The Baths of Caracalla are presented in classical literature as unprecedented in scale, and impossible to build if not for the use of reinforced concrete.<ref>{{Cite book|title=A History of Roman Art|last=Tuck|first=Steven L.|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|year=2014|isbn=978-1-4443-3026-7|pages=28}}</ref> The Edict of Caracalla, issued in 212, however, goes almost unnoticed in classical records.{{sfn|Manders|2012|p=227}}

The ''Historia Augusta'' is considered by historians as the least trustworthy for all accounts of events, historiography, and biographies among the ancient works and is full of fabricated materials and sources.<ref name=":26">{{Cite book|title=Roman Historiography|last=Mehl|first=Andreas|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|year=2011|pages=171}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Breisach|first1=Ernst|title=Historiography: Ancient, Medieval, and Modern, Third Edition|date=2008|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-07284-5|page=75}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Hadas|first1=Moses|title=History of Latin Literature|date=2013|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=978-0-231-51487-3|page=355}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Leistner|first1=M. W. L.|title=The Greater Roman Historians|date=1966|publisher=University of California Press|page=180}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Schäfer|first1=Peter|title=The Bar Kokhba War Reconsidered: New Perspectives on the Second Jewish Revolt Against Rome|date=2003|publisher=Mohr Siebeck|isbn=3-16-148076-7|page=55}}</ref> The works of Herodian of Antioch are, by comparison, "far less fantastic" than the stories presented by the ''Historia Augusta''.<ref name=":26" /> Historian Andrew G. Scott suggests that Dio's work is frequently considered the best source for this period.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Cassius Dio, Caracalla, and the Senate|last=Scott|first=Andrew G.|publisher=De Gruyter Publishers|year=2015|pages=157}}</ref> However, historian Clare Rowan questions Dio's accuracy on the topic of Caracalla, referring to the work as having presented a hostile attitude towards Caracalla and thus needing to be treated with caution.{{sfn|Rowan|2012|p=113}} An example of this hostility is found in one section where Dio notes that Caracalla is descended from three different races and that he managed to combine all of their faults into one person: the fickleness, cowardice, and recklessness of the Gauls, the cruelty and harshness of the Africans, and the craftiness that is associated with the Syrians.{{sfn|Rowan|2012|p=113}} Despite this, the outline of events as presented by Dio are described by Rowan as generally accurate, while the motivations that Dio suggests are of questionable origin.{{sfn|Rowan|2012|p=113}} An example of this is his presentation of the Edict of Caracalla; the motive that Dio appends to this event is Caracalla's desire to increase tax revenue. Olivier Hekster, Nicholas Zair, and Rowan challenge this presentation because the majority of people who were enfranchised by the edict would have been poor.{{sfn|Hekster|Zair|2008|pp=47–48}}{{sfn|Rowan|2012|p=113}} In her work, Rowan also describes Herodian's depiction of Caracalla: more akin to a soldier than an emperor.{{sfn|Rowan|2012|p=114}}

=== Medieval legends ===
[[Geoffrey of Monmouth]]'s pseudohistorical ''[[Historia Regum Britanniae|History of the Kings of Britain]]'' makes Caracalla a king of Britain, referring to him by his actual name "Bassianus", rather than by the nickname Caracalla. In the story, after Severus' 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 until Geta was killed and Bassianus succeeded to the throne, after which he ruled until he was overthrown and killed by [[Carausius]]. However, Carausius' revolt actually happened about seventy years after Caracalla's death in 217.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Ashley|first1=Mike|title=The Mammoth Book of British Kings and Queens|date=2012|publisher=Hachette UK|isbn=978-1-4721-0113-6|page=B21;P80}}</ref>

=== Eighteenth-century artworks and the French Revolution ===
[[File:Jean-Baptiste Greuze - Septimius Severus and Caracalla - WGA10673.jpg|thumb|''[[Septimius Severus and Caracalla]]'', [[Jean-Baptiste Greuze]], 1769 ([[Louvre]])]]
Caracalla's memory was revived in the art of late eighteenth-century French painters. His tyrannical career became the subject of the work of several French painters such as [[Jean-Baptiste Greuze|Greuze]], {{ill|Julien de Parme|fr|Julien de Parme}}, [[Jacques-Louis David|David]], [[Jean Bonvoisin|Bonvoisin]], [[Jacques-Augustin-Catherine Pajou|J.-A.-C. Pajou]], and [[Guillaume Guillon-Lethière|Lethière]]. Their fascination with Caracalla was a reflection of the growing discontent of the French people with the [[List of French monarchs|monarchy]]. Caracalla's visibility was influenced by the existence of several literary sources in French that included both translations of ancient works and contemporary works of the time. Caracalla's likeness was readily available to the painters due to the distinct style of his portraiture and his unusual soldier-like choice of fashion that distinguished him from other emperors. The artworks may have served as a warning that [[absolute monarchy]] could become the horror of tyranny and that disaster could come about if the regime failed to reform. Art historian Susan Wood suggests that this reform was for the absolute monarchy to become a [[constitutional monarchy]], as per the original goal of revolution, rather than the [[republic]] that it eventually became. Wood also notes the similarity between Caracalla and his crimes leading to his assassination and the eventual uprising against, and death of, King Louis XVI: both rulers had died as a result of their apparent tyranny.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Wood|first=Susan|date=2010|title=Caracalla and the French Revolution: A Roman tyrant in eighteenth-century iconography|journal=Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome}}</ref>

=== Modern portrayal ===
Caracalla has had a reputation as being among the worst of Roman emperors, a perception that survives even into modern works.<ref name=":28">{{Cite book|title=Quinquennium in provinciis: Caracalla and Imperial Administration 212–217|last=Sillar|first=Shamus|year=2001|page=iii}}</ref> The art and linguistics historian John Agnew and the writer Walter Bidwell describe Caracalla as having an evil spirit, referring to the devastation he wrought in Alexandria.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Eclectic Magazine: Foreign Literature, Volume 2|last1=Agnew |first1=John |last2=Bidwell|first2=Walter|publisher=Leavitt, Throw and Company|year=1844|pages=217}}</ref> The Roman historian [[David Magie]] describes Caracalla, in the book ''Roman Rule in Asia Minor'', as brutal and tyrannical and points towards psychopathy as an explanation for his behaviour.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Roman Rule in Asia Minor|last=Magie|first=David|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=1950|pages=683}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Quinquennium in provinciis: Caracalla and Imperial Administration 212–217|last=Sillar|first=Shamus|year=2001|pages=127}}</ref> The historian Clifford Ando supports this description, suggesting that Caracalla's rule as sole emperor is notable "almost exclusively" for his crimes of theft, massacre, and mismanagement.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Ando|first1=Clifford|title=Imperial Rome AD 193 to 284: The Critical Century|date=2012|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|isbn=978-0-7486-5534-2|page=57}}</ref>

18th-century historian [[Edward Gibbon]], author of ''[[The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire]]'', takes Caracalla's reputation, which he had received for the murder of Geta and subsequent massacre of Geta's supporters, and applied it to Caracalla's provincial tours, suggesting that "every province was by turn the scene of his rapine and cruelty".<ref name=":28" /> Gibbon compared Caracalla to emperors such as [[Hadrian]] who spent their careers campaigning in the provinces and then to tyrants such as [[Nero]] and [[Domitian]] whose entire reigns were confined to Rome and whose actions only impacted upon the senatorial and equestrian classes residing there. Gibbon then concluded that Caracalla was "the common enemy of mankind", as both Romans and provincials alike were subject to "his rapine and cruelty".{{sfn|Dunstan|2011|p=406}}

This representation is questioned by the historian Shamus Sillar, who cites the construction of roads and reinforcement of fortifications in the western provinces, among other things, as being contradictory to the representation made by Gibbon of cruelty and destruction.<ref>{{cite book |title=Quinquennium in provinciis: Caracalla and Imperial Administration 212–217 |last=Sillar|first=Shamus|year=2001|pages=46–47 }}</ref> The history professors Molefi Asante and Shaza Ismail note that Caracalla is known for the disgraceful nature of his rule, stating that "he rode the horse of power until it nearly died of exhaustion" and that though his rule was short, his life, personality, and acts made him a notable, though likely not beneficial, figure in the Roman Empire.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Asante |first1=Molefi K.|last2=Ismail|first2=Shaza|date=2016|title=Interrogating the African Roman Emperor Caracalla: Claiming and Reclaiming an African Leader|journal=[[Journal of Black Studies]]|volume=47|doi=10.1177/0021934715611376|pages=41–52 |s2cid=147256542}}</ref>

==Severan dynasty family tree==
{{Severan dynasty family tree}}

== See also ==
{{Portal|Ancient Rome|Biography|Monarchy}}
* [[Severan dynasty family tree]]
* [[Arch of Caracalla (Djémila)]]

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{reflist}}

=== Sources ===
{{refbegin|30em|indent=y}}
* {{cite book |title=The Eclectic Magazine: Foreign Literature |volume=II |url=https://archive.org/details/eclecticmagazin04bidwgoog |last1 = Agnew |first1 = John |last2 = Bidwell |first2 = Walter |publisher=Leavitt, Throw and Company |year=1844 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Ando|first=Clifford |title=Imperial Rome AD 193 to 284: The Critical Century|year=2012|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|isbn=978-0-7486-5534-2 |ref=none}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Asante |first1 = Molefi K. |last2 = Shaza |first2 = Ismail |year=2016 |title=Interrogating the African Roman Emperor Caracalla: Claiming and Reclaiming an African Leader |journal=Journal of Black Studies|volume=47|doi=10.1177/0021934715611376|pages=41–52|s2cid = 147256542 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book|last=Ashley|first=Mike|title=The Mammoth Book of British Kings and Queens|year=2012|publisher=Hachette UK|isbn=978-1-4721-0113-6 |ref=none}}
* {{cite journal |last=Benario|first=Herbert|title=The Dediticii of the Constitutio Antoniniana|journal=Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association|year=1954|volume=85|pages=188–196|doi=10.2307/283475|jstor=283475 |ref=none}}
* {{cite journal|last1=Bergeron|first1=David|title=Roman Antoninianus|journal=Bank of Canada Review|year=2008 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book|last1=Boatwright|first1=Mary Taliaferro|last2=Gargola|first2=Daniel J.|last3=Talbert|first3=Richard J.A|title=The Romans, from village to empire.|year=2004|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=0-19-511875-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/romansfromvillag00boat_0 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book|last1=Brauer|first1=G|title=The Decadent Emperors: Power and Depravity in Third-Century Rome|year=1967 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book|last1=Breisach|first1=Ernst|title=Historiography: Ancient, Medieval, and Modern |edition=3rd|year=2008|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-07284-5 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book|last1=Cairns|first1=John|title=Beyond Dogmatics: Law and Society in the Roman World: Law and Society in the Roman World|year=2007|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|isbn=978-0-7486-3177-3 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book|last1=Castex|first1=Jean|title=Architecture of Italy|year=2008|publisher=Greenwood Press|isbn=978-0-313-32086-6 }}
* {{cite book|last1=Cooley|first1=Alison E.|author-link=Alison E. Cooley |year=2012|title=The Cambridge Manual of Latin Epigraphy|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-84026-2|url={{googlebooks|VlghAwAAQBAJ|plainurl=y}}}}
* Dio, Cassius. (n.d.). ''Roman History''.
* {{cite book|last=Dunstan|first=William|title=Ancient Rome|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|location=Lanham|year=2011|isbn=978-0-7425-6832-7 }}
* {{cite book|last1=Fisher|first1=Warren|title=The Illustrated History of the Roman Empire: From Caesar's Crossing the Rubicon (49 Bc) to Empire's Fall, 476 Ad|year=2010|publisher=AuthorHouse|isbn=978-1-4490-7739-6 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book|last1=Gagarin|first1=Michael|title=Ancient Greece and Rome|year=2009|publisher=Oxford University Press |ref=none}}
* Geoffrey of Monmouth. (c 1136) ''[[Historia Regum Britanniae]]''
* Gibbon, Edward. (1776). ''The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume 1''.
* {{cite book|last=Goldsworthy|first=Adrian|title=How Rome fell: death of a superpower|url=https://archive.org/details/howromefelldeath0000gold|url-access=registration|publisher=Yale University Press|location=New Haven|year=2009|isbn=978-0-300-16426-8}}
* {{cite book|last1=Grant|first1=Michael|title=The Severans: the Changed Roman Empire|year=1996|publisher=Psychology Press |ref=none}}
* {{cite book|last1=Hadas|first1=Moses|title=History of Latin Literature|year=2013|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=978-0-231-51487-3 |ref=none}}
* {{cite journal |last=Hammond |year=1957 |first=Mason |title=Imperial Elements in the Formula of the Roman Emperors during the First Two and a Half Centuries of the Empire |journal=Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome |volume=25 |pages=19–64 |doi=10.2307/4238646 |jstor=4238646 |url=https://archive.org/details/memoirsofamerica25ameruoft |author-link=Mason Hammond }}
* {{cite book|last1=Harl|first1=Kenneth|title=Coinage in the Roman Economy, 300 B.C. to A.D. 700|year=1996|publisher=JHU Press|isbn=0-801-85291-9|page=128 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5yPDL0EykeAC&q=antoninianus |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last1=Hekster|first1=Olivier|last2=Zair|first2=Nicholas|title=Debates and Documents in Ancient History: Rome and its Empire|year=2008|publisher=EUP|isbn=978-0-7486-2992-3 }}
* Herodian of Antioch. (n.d.) ''History of the Roman Empire''.
* {{cite book|last1=Johnson|first1=Allan|last2=Coleman-Norton|first2=Paul|last3=Bourne|first3=Frank|last4=Pharr|first4=Clyde|title=Ancient Roman Statutes: A Translation with Introduction, Commentary, Glossary, and Index|orig-date=1961|year=2003|publisher=The Lawbook Exchange|isbn=1-58477-291-3 |ref=none}}
* {{cite journal |last=Lavan|first=Myles|year=2016|title=The Spread of Roman Citizenship, 14–212 CE: Quantification in the Face of High Uncertainty|url=https://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/bitstream/10023/12646/1/Lavan_2016_PandP_SpreadRomanCitizenship_RevisedAAM.pdf|journal=Past and Present|issue=230|doi=10.1093/pastj/gtv043|pages=3–46|hdl=10023/12646 |ref=none|hdl-access=free}}
* {{cite book|last1=Leistner|first1=M. W. L.|title=The Greater Roman Historians|year=1966|publisher=University of California Press |ref=none}}
* {{cite book|last1=Levine|first1=Lee|title=Caesarea Under Roman Rule|year=1975|publisher=Brill Archive|isbn=90-04-04013-7 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book|last1=Lim|first1=Richard|title=The Edinburgh Companion to Ancient Rome and Greece: Late Antiquity|year=2010|publisher=Edinburgh University Press |ref=none}}
* {{cite book|title=Roman Rule in Asia Minor|last=Magie|first=David|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=1950|ref=none}}
* {{cite book|title=Impact of Empire: Coining Images of Power: Patterns in the Representation of Roman Emperors on Imperial Coinage, A.D. 193–284|last=Manders|first=Erika|publisher=Brill Academic|year=2012|isbn=978-90-04-18970-6}}
* {{cite book |title=An Invincible Beast: Understanding the Hellenistic Pike Phalanx in Action|last=Matthew|first=Christopher|publisher=Casemate Publishers|year=2015|ref=none}}
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* {{cite book|last1=Melton|first1=Gordon J.|title=Faiths Across Time: 5000 Years of Religious History|year=2014}}
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* {{cite journal|last1=Oetelaar|first1=Taylor|title=Reconstructing the Baths of Caracalla|journal=Digital Applications in Archaeology and Cultural History|year=2014 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book|last=Pangerl|first=Andreas|year=2013|title=Porträttypen des Caracalla und des Geta auf Römischen Reichsprägungen – Definition eines neuen Caesartyps des Caracalla und eines neuen Augustustyps des Geta|publisher=RGZM Mainz|ref=none}}
* {{Cite book|title=Under Divine Auspices: Divine Ideology and the Visualisation of Imperial Power in the Severan Period|last=Rowan|first=Clare|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2012}}
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{{refend}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
* {{cite encyclopedia | title = CARACALLA | last = Kettenhofen | first = Erich | url = http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/caracalla-the-roman-emperor-marcus-aurelius-antoninus | encyclopedia = Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. IV, Fasc. 7 | pages = 790–792 | year = 1990 }}
* [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Historia_Augusta/Caracalla*.html Life of Caracalla] (''[[Historia Augusta]]'' at [[LacusCurtius]]: Latin text and English translation)
* [[Cassius Dio]], ''Historia Romana'', [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/78*.html Books 79–80]
* [[Aurelius Victor]], ''Epitome de Caesaribus'' {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20030918051251/http://www.forumromanum.org/literature/victor_ep.html#21 21]}} ([http://www.roman-emperors.org/epitome.htm translation]).
* {{cite EB9 |wstitle = Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Caracalla |volume= V | page=81 |short=1}}
* For information on the ''caracallus'' garment, see [[William Smith (lexicographer)|William Smith]] ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities'': [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Caracalla.html "Caracalla"]
* [http://www2.tulane.edu/~august/handouts/601cprin.htm#_ftnref1 Roman Currency of the Principate], from [[Tulane University]] ({{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081101003844/http://www.tulane.edu/~august/handouts/601cprin.htm#_ftnref1 |date=1 November 2008 }})

{{s-start}}
{{s-hou | [[Severan dynasty]] | 4 April | 188 | 8 April | 217 }}
{{s-reg}}
{{s-bef
| before = [[Septimius Severus]]
}}
{{s-ttl
| title = [[List of Roman emperors|Roman emperor]]
| years = 198–217<br>with [[Septimius Severus]] (198–211)<br> and [[Geta (emperor)|Geta]] (209–211)
}}
{{s-aft
| after = [[Macrinus]]
}}
{{s-off}}
{{s-bef
| before = [[Lucius Annius Fabianus|L. Annius Fabianus]]
| before2 = [[Marcus Nonius Arrius Mucianus|M. Nonius Arrius Mucianus]]
}}
{{s-ttl
| title = [[List of Roman consuls|Roman consul]]
| years = 202
| regent1 = [[Septimius Severus]]
}}
{{s-aft
| after = [[Titus Murrenius Severus|T. Murrenius Severus]]
| after2 = [[Gaius Cassius Regallianus|C. Cassius Regallianus]]
}}
{{s-bef
| before = [[Lucius Fabius Cilo|L. Fabius Cilo]]
| before2 = [[Marcus Annius Flavius Libo|M. Annius Flavius Libo]]
}}
{{s-ttl
| title = [[List of Roman consuls|Roman consul]]
| years = 205
| regent1 = [[Geta (emperor)|P. Septimius Geta Caesar]]
}}
{{s-aft
| after = [[Marcus Nummius Umbrius Primus Senecio Albinus|M. Nummius Umbrius Primus Senecio Albinus]]
| after2 = [[Lucius Fulvius Gavius Numisius Petronius Aemilianus|L. Fulvius Gavius Numisius Petronius Aemilianus]]
}}
{{s-bef
| before = [[Lucius Annius Maximus|L. Annius Maximus]]
| before2 = [[Gaius Septimius Severus Aper|C. Septimius Severus Aper]]
}}
{{s-ttl
| title = [[Roman consul]]
| years = 208
| regent1 = [[Geta (emperor)|P. Septimius Geta Caesar]]
}}
{{s-aft
| after = [[Lucius Aurelius Commodus Pompeianus|L. Aurelius Commodus Pompeianus]]
| after2 = [[Quintus Hedius Lollianus Plautius Avitus|Q. Hedius Lollianus Plautius Avitus]]
}}
{{s-bef
| before = [[Gaius Julius Asper]] II,<br />and [[Gaius Julius Camilius Asper]]
}}
{{s-ttl
| title = [[Roman consul]]
| years = 213
| regent1 = [[Balbinus]]
}}
{{s-aft
| after = [[Lucius Valerius Messalla (consul 214)|L. Valerius Messalla]]
| after2 = [[Gaius Octavius Appius Suetrius Sabinus|C. Octavius Appius Suetrius Sabinus]]
}}
{{s-end}}

{{Roman emperors}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Caracalla| ]]
[[Category:188 births]]
[[Category:217 deaths]]
[[Category:2nd-century Gallo-Roman people]]
[[Category:2nd-century Punic people]]
[[Category:2nd-century Roman emperors]]
[[Category:3rd-century Gallo-Roman people]]
[[Category:3rd-century Punic people]]
[[Category:3rd-century Roman emperors]]
[[Category:3rd-century murdered monarchs]]
[[Category:Ancient Romans in Britain]]
[[Category:Aurelii]]
[[Category:Burials at the Castel Sant'Angelo]]
[[Category:Damnatio memoriae]]
[[Category:Deified Roman emperors]]
[[Category:Emesene dynasty]]
[[Category:Imperial Roman consuls]]
[[Category:People from Lugdunum]]
[[Category:People of Arab descent]]
[[Category:People from Roman Syria]]
[[Category:Roman emperors murdered by the Praetorian Guard]]
[[Category:Septimii]]
[[Category:Severan dynasty]]
[[Category:Sons of Roman emperors]]
[[Category:Roman pharaohs]]
[[Category:Family of Septimius Severus]]
[[Category:People of the Roman–Parthian Wars]]
[[Category:Assassinated heads of state in Europe]]
[[Category:Fratricides]]
[[Category:Politicide perpetrators]]