Lucius Septimius Bassianus, known as Caracalla, was Roman emperor from 211 to 217 AD. He was born in Gaul to Septimius Severus, who would later become emperor, and Julia Domna of Syrian origin. Caracalla had a younger brother, Geta, who he initially shared power with. However, in 211 AD Caracalla had Geta killed so he could rule alone. During his reign, Caracalla increased soldiers' pay and granted Roman citizenship to all free inhabitants of the empire through the Constitutio Antoniniana. However, he was widely disliked for his cruelty. In 217 AD, Caracalla was assassinated during a campaign against Parthia by

1. Lucius Settimius Bassianus
known as Caracalla

2. Caracalla: Family origins
Caracalla was born in Lugdunum (now Lyon, France ), in
Gallia Lugdunensis, in 188, he was son of Lucius Septimius
Severus, governor of the province at the time of his birth (it
would later become Emperor) and Iulia Domna, a woman of
Syrian origin. He had a younger brother, Publius Seventh
Geta, with who initially shared power .

3. Caracalla: political carrer
In 200 Gaius Fulvio Plautianus,
father of Fulvia Plautilla,
promised Caracalla his
daughter's hand. The two got
married in 202, but three years
later they divorced because
Caracalla had executed
Plautianus. Tradition says that
the future emperor refused to
sleep and eat with his wife, so
he had no children by her. After
the divorce, Caracalla exiled
her and her brother Ortensiano
to the island of Lipari, where in
212 were executed.

4. Caracalla: ascent to the
throne
He succeeded his father in 211 together with his brother
Geta, but was not going to share the imperial power,
partly because of some disagreements. In December,
he killed him, and obtained the support of the Praetorian
Guard by bribing them. Caracalla subsequently killed
about 20,000 Alexandrians, who had been his brother’s

5. Caracalla: Military Reform
Once his power had reached a certain stability, Caracalla was strongly influenced by his
mother's figure, Iulia Domna. In fact, it possessed a power that no woman had ever
achieved in Roman history. In addition, Caracalla’s career with regard to military reforms
was strongly influenced by some advice that he received by his father on his deathbed.
Indeed, new emperor went along the lines of a project already begun by his predecessor.
In fact, he increased the pay of each legionary (it was raised to 675 deniers) and
conferred many benefits to soldiers. What, then, he did nothing but assure the army's
confidence. Many like to say that in fact the only social class that as a whole rested
Caracalla was certainly the military. Finally, the typical deployment times of Alexander the
Great, the Macedonian phalanx.

6. Caracalla: Monetary reform
With Caracalla, in 215 there was an important monetary reform.
In fact, denarius, a leading Roman coin at the time, had suffered a huge
devaluation, decreasing to have less than 50% silver.
With Caracalla’s reform Aureus was devalued, too, bringing the value to 1/50 of
a pound (6,54g). In addition, both the Golden Mean and the Denarius coins
were introduced with double value: double Aureus (Binio) and Double Denarius
(Antoninianus).
While the Golden had a fairly stable judgment, Antoninianus also suffered the
progressive devaluation of the denarius, until reduced to a silver content of 2%.
So, it can very well be said that the reform of Caracalla did not bring any
improvement to imperial economy.
The two faces of Antonianus The two faces of Binio

7. Caracalla: Foreign Policy
• In 212, Germans went for the first time along the
Germanic-Rhaetian boundary. Therefore, the year
after, Caracalla was forced to rush into this place to
avoid a possible invasion by barbarous. The victories
gained earned him the nickname Germanicus
Maximus and Alemannicus. However, many believe
that he truly had “bought" this success to get a
temporary peace with the Germans.
• Caracalla also managed to defeat Quadi, free
Dacians, Goths and Carpi between 214 and 215.
• It is even said that, wanting to take possession
of the kingdom of the Parthians, he asked their
king’s daughter’s hand. Thus he began a military
campaign in their territory, which did not have
lucky outcome.

8. Caracalla: Constitutio Antoniniana and
death
• To cope with the economic crisis, Caracalla issued an edict appointed
“Constitutio Antoniniana”, granting de facto citizenship to all free inhabitants of
the empire. From this law dediticii were excluded: they could be identified in all
those citizens who were not part of the greek-roman world.
• Caracalla was highly hated by the
Romans, except for the soldiers, who
supported him for the many benefits and
privileges that allowed them. Therefore, in
217, on his way to Parthia for a second
expedition, he was killed by Martial, a
praetorian who wanted to avenge the
death of his brother, condemned by the
emperor.

9. Caracalla’s Baths
Caracalla’s Baths constitute one of the greatest examples of imperial baths of
Rome, since they are still kept for much of their structure and free of modern
buildings. They were constructed by Emperor Caracalla on the Aventine.
These baths were the most sumptuous of the Roman Empire, although they
were intended to be used by the mass of the people of the nearby
neighborhoods, while the most highly placed social class they used to frequent
Agrippa’s baths, Nero’s ones and especially Trajan’s.
Caracalla’s baths were exceeded in size only by Diocletian’s ones; however, the
ruins of Caracalla’s baths are the most intact example of great imperial baths.

10. Caracalla in literature
• Geoffrey from
Monmouth in Historia
Regum Britanniae
(History of the Kings of
Britain), a famous
chronicle in Latin, lists
Caracalla, with the
name Bassianus,
among the sovereigns
of Britain who
succeeded Geta. But
here the Emperor
seems a Geta’s half-
brother and a British
mother’s son.
• In Chapter XIX (how to avoid the contempt and
hatred) of the masterpiece ’Il Principe' by Niccolò
Machiavelli Caracalla is mentioned, too.
Machiavelli’s evaluation isn’t positive: Caracalla is
described as a very ruthless and cruel man.

11. Caracalla: Damnatio Memoriae
After the fratricide, Caracalla defamed Geta’s
memory and ordered that his name were
removed from all entries (damnatio
memoriae). Caracalla decided to eliminate
forever the evidence of his brother’s existence
implementing that procedure reserved only to
men who, by their actions, had spotted
Roman honor. Examples of Damnatio
memoriae are present on the arch of
Septimius Severus in Rome in the Forum,
where Geta’s name was cancelled and
replaced by the words ”optimis fortissimisque
Principibus” and on severian arch in Leptis
Magna, where Geta’s figure is abraded from
the arch itself. The destruction of Geta’s
memory was among the most widely
performed in the history of Rome, therefore
finding tracks or portraits is extremely rare
and difficult.