Caracalla
Caracalla (Altes Museum, Berlin)
Names:
- 4 April 186: Lucius Septimius Bassianus
- Nicnames: Caracalla, Tarautas
- 4 April 196: Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Caesar
- Autumn 197: Imperator Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus
- 4 February 211: Imperator Caesar Marcus Aurelius Severus Antoninus Pius Augustus
- Britannicus maximus (210), Parthicus maximus (211), Arabicus maximus (211), Adiabenicus maximus (211) Magnus (213), Germanicus maximus (213)
- 8 April 217: murdered by Macrinus
A
young Caracalla (bust from the North Market in Corinth)
Relatives:
- father: Lucius Septimius Severus
- mother: Julia Domna
- married to: Plautilla, daughter of Plautian, the praetorian prefect
Early career:
- 186 Born in Lyon
- 196 Made caesar
- 197, January 29: Proclaimed Augustus
- 199 Pater Patriae
- 202 Marriage to Plautilla; consul (with Septimius Severus III)
- 205 Consul II (with his younger brother Geta)
- 208 Consul III (with Geta II)
Caracalla as Alexander the Great on a medal from Abukir (Bode-Museum, Berlin)
Main deeds:
- 211 Death of Lucius Septimius Severus; Caracalla and Geta are recognized; return to Rome; execution of Plautilla; Caracalla kills Geta
- 212 Constitutio Antoniniana (Roman citizenship to all freeborn men)
- 213 Consul IV (with Decimus Calvius Calvinus Balbinus);
- 213, early summer: in Rome
- 213, August: in northern Italy; reaches Raetia
- 213, first half September: brief campaign against the Alamans
- 213, September: in Mainz
- 214 Leaves for the east; visits the Lower Danube, Asia, visits Nicomedia
- 215 Stay in Antioch;
his mother Julia Domna in charge of the offices of a
libellis and ab epistulis; proceeds to Alexandria (inscription at Nahr al-Kalb near Berytus)
- 216 Return to Antioch; preparations for war against the Parthian Empire; attack on Arbela
- 217 Killed near Harran; succeeded by Macrinus, his praetorian prefect
Buildings:
- Baths of Caracalla in Rome;
- Baths of Caracalla in Ankara;
- Propylaea to the temple of Jupiter in Baalbek.
Succeeded by: Macrinus
Contemporary events:
- 212 Death of Papinianus
Links:
- biography included in the Historia Augusta,
- Cassius Dio, Roman History (Book 77 and 78)
- Herodian, History of the Roman Empire (Book 3 and 4)
- Julia Maesa
- Philostratus
- Varius Marcellus
to the real articles on Livius.Org. One day, this webpage will be
improved. A list of completed articles can be found here.