Septimius Bassian, the eldest son of Septimius Severus, was renamed by his father into Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, but went down in history under the name of Caracalla (he wore a robe with that name). His mother Julia Domna is a Phoenician by origin, the daughter of Bassian, the priest of the Sun. Two years after the birth of her first child, named after her grandfather, Julia gave birth to her second son, Geta. Septimius Severus, as the governor of Pannonia, commanded the Roman legions stationed on the banks of the Danube and the Rhine, when in 193 he seized imperial power.
196 - Father proclaimed Bassian Caesar and then gave him the name of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, whom he considered the greatest of emperors. According to the testimony of the ancient historian Herodian, the author of The History of Imperial Power after Mark, both sons of Septimius Severus were spoiled by luxury and the metropolitan way of life, excessive passion for spectacles, commitment to equestrian competitions and dances.
In his childhood, Caracalla was distinguished by his gentle disposition and friendliness, but, having left his childhood, he became withdrawn, gloomy and arrogant. From childhood, the brothers were at enmity with each other, and over time, this enmity acquired a truly pathological character.
Septimius Sever married Caracalla to the daughter of his favorite Plautian. The new princess handed over huge sums of money to her husband as a dowry. There were so many of them that, according to statements, the dowry of 50 queens could have been so much.
According to the will of the founder of the dynasty, approved by the Senate and recognized by the Praetorian guards and legions, both sons of Septimius Severus were declared August - the eldest son of Caracalla and the youngest Geta. This kind of dual power turned out to be fraught with dire consequences and was a certain miscalculation of the experienced Septimius Severus. He believed that the reign of his two sons would be able to strengthen the dynasty, be able to balance the hard and strong-willed character of Caracalla, the softness and caution of Geta, but it turned out the other way around. An irreconcilable struggle immediately broke out between the brothers and the court cliques behind them. Attempts by their mother Yulia Domna to reconcile the sons-emperors came to nothing.
After the solemn funeral of Septimius Severus in Rome, his sons divided the imperial palace in half and “both began to live in it, having tightly blocked all the passages that were not in sight; only the doors leading to the street and the courtyard, they used freely, while each put up his guard. Openly hating each other, each did everything he could to somehow get rid of his brother and get all the power into his own hands. For the most part, the Romans leaned on the side of Geta, because he gave the impression of a decent person: he showed modesty and gentleness towards those who addressed him. Caracalla showed cruelty and irritability in everything. Yulia Domna was unable to reconcile them with each other.
Having quarreled like this for some time, the brothers were about to divide the empire among themselves in order not to plot against each other, remaining together all the time. It was decided that the eastern part of the state with its capital in Antioch or Alexandria would go to Goethe, and the western part with the center in Rome would go to Caracalla. But when this agreement was reported to Yulia Domna, she, with her tears and persuasion, was able to convince them to abandon this disastrous undertaking. By this, she, perhaps, saved the Romans from a new civil war but doomed her own son to death.
Hatred and rivalry between the brothers grew. According to Herodian, they "tried all kinds of deceit, tried to negotiate with butlers and cooks so that they would plant some kind of poison on another." But they did not succeed, because everyone was on the alert and was very careful. In the end, Caracalla could not stand it: spurred on by a thirst for autocracy, he decided to act with a sword and murder. Tragic events unfolded in February 212.
Remembering his mother's passionate desire to reconcile the brothers, Caracalla solemnly swore to the empress that he would try to do everything possible to live in friendship with his brother. Julia, deceived by her treacherous son, sent for Geta, begging him to come to her chambers, where her brother was ready to reveal his best intentions to him and reconcile with him. The chambers of the empress, which were considered holy according to the laws of the empire, became the site of a massacre against Geta. As soon as he entered the bedroom, people with daggers rushed at him. The unfortunate man rushed to his mother, but this did not help him.
Mortally wounded, Geta, having poured blood over Yulia's chest, died. And Caracalla, after the murder, jumped out of the bedroom and ran through the whole palace, shouting that he had barely escaped, avoiding the greatest danger. He rushed to the Praetorian camp, where for his salvation and autocracy he promised to give each soldier 2,500 Attic drachmas, as well as to increase their allowance by one and a half times. He ordered that this money be taken from temples and treasuries without delay, and thus, in one day, he ruthlessly squandered everything that Septimius Sever had been saving for 18 years. The warriors declared Antoninus the only emperor, and Geta was proclaimed an enemy.
When Caracalla killed Geta, then, fearing that fratricide would cover him with disgrace as a tyrant, and learning that it was possible to mitigate the horror of such a crime if he proclaimed his brother divine, they say, he said: “Let him be divine, if only he were not alive!” He ranked him among the gods, and therefore the popular rumor somehow reconciled with the fratricide.
Caracalla brutally dealt with everyone who could be suspected of sympathy for Goethe. Senators who gave birth or were richer were killed for any reason, or for no reason at all - it was enough to declare them adherents of Geta. Papinianus, a man of whom the whole empire was proud, this jurist, an adamant defender of the laws, was also executed for refusing to publicly justify this murder in the Senate.
Soon all relatives and friends of the brother were killed, as well as those who lived in the palace on his half; servants killed all; age, even infancy, was not taken into account. Frankly mocking, the corpses of the dead were taken down together, stacked on carts and taken out of the city, where, putting them in a heap, they burned them, or even simply abandoned them as they had to. In general, everyone who Geta knew at least a little died. They destroyed athletes, drivers, performers of all kinds of musical works - in general, everyone who delighted his sight and hearing.
Of the senators, all representatives of the patrician families were killed. Antonin sent his people to the provinces to exterminate the local rulers and governors as friends of his brother. Every night brought with it the murders of the most various people. He buried the Vestals alive in the ground for allegedly not keeping their virginity. It was said that once the emperor was at the races, and it so happened that the people laughed a little at the driver, to whom he was especially disposed; taking this as an insult, he ordered the soldiers to rush at the viewer, bring out and kill everyone who spoke badly about his favorite. Because it was impossible to separate the guilty from the innocent, the soldiers mercilessly took away and killed the first ones that came across. Having embarked on the path of terror, Caracalla finished even with his wife Plavtilla; in 205 she was sent into exile, and in 212 she was killed.
After the massacre, Emperor Caracalla continued his father's policy both within the country and on its borders: feverish attempts to stabilize the difficult financial situation, patronage of army circles. The difficult economic situation of the Empire was caused by two factors: the ruin of commodity villas and slave farms and the huge costs of the swelling army, which numbered up to half a million people. At the same time, the cost of the army grew in connection with the policy of patronage, which was outlined by the founder of the dynasty.
Under Caracalla, the pay for all categories of the military was again increased. Allowing legionnaires to have a legal family, rent land and start a household, of course, required funds, and the Empire had to provide them. The available revenues to the treasury were no longer enough to pay for all budget expenditures, and the emperor followed the path already outlined under the Antonines and adopted by his father Septimius Severus: he ordered copper to be added to silver in large quantities (up to 80% of the weight). As a result, a larger number of coins began to be minted from one amount of silver, but they practically depreciated.
212 - the imperial edict was promulgated - the constitution of Antoninian (from the official name of Caracalla - Marcus Aurelius Severus Antoninus), according to which almost all free inhabitants of the Empire received the rights of Roman citizenship (with rare exceptions). Thus, Roman citizenship - the most privileged status of a resident of the Empire, for which the Italics, the provincial aristocracy fought for centuries - was granted from above and overnight to almost all free people, including the outlying barbarian peoples that had just been included in the Empire.
This decisive step made it possible to solve a number of difficult problems facing the central government - recruiting a huge army, replenished from Roman citizens, overcoming financial difficulties, because new citizens had to pay numerous taxes. In the end, the granting of Roman citizenship made it possible to unify the entire system of administration, legal proceedings, and the application of laws in all parts of the vast Empire. As a result, this led to the transformation of a full-fledged and privileged Roman citizen into an imperial subject without rights and burdened with various duties and obligations.
The name of Emperor Caracalla in Rome was preserved by grandiose baths (luxurious public baths), in which more than 1,600 people could bathe at the same time. The Baths of Caracalla, built in 212-216, occupied a large territory and represented a powerful complex of different rooms for washing and bathing with hot and cold water. At the baths there were also libraries, playgrounds for sports exercises and a park, inside the baths were luxuriously decorated with marble and mosaics.
The emperor gave a lot of time and effort military activities in Europe and the East. He was not so much a reasonable commander as a hardy warrior. In the spring of 213 he went to Gaul. Arriving there, the emperor immediately killed the Narbonne proconsul. Having dismayed all the persons in charge in Gaul, he incurred hatred as a tyrant. Having committed many injustices, he fell ill with a serious illness. In relation to those who looked after him, he showed unusual cruelty. Then, on his way to the East, he stopped in Dacia. Caracalla was the first Roman emperor, who, according to Herodian, was marked by a clear barbarization.
“He won over all the Germans and entered into friendship with them. Often, having taken off his Roman cloak, he exchanged it for German clothes, and he was seen wearing a cloak with silver embroidery, such as the Germans themselves wear. He put on his blond hair and combed it in the German way. The barbarians rejoiced, looking at all this, and loved him exceedingly. The Roman soldiers also could not get enough of him, especially thanks to those salary increases that he did not skimp on, but also because he behaved just like a warrior: the first dug, if it was necessary to dig ditches, build a bridge over the river or pour a shaft, and in general was the first to take on any business that required hands and physical strength.
He ate simple military food and even ground grain himself, kneaded dough and baked bread. “In campaigns, he most often walked, rarely sat in a wagon or on a horse, he carried his weapons himself. His endurance aroused admiration, and how could one not admire, seeing that such a small body was accustomed to such hard work.
Not only in appearance, but also in spirit, Caracalla was a true barbarian. He zealously worshiped the Egyptian goddess Isis and built her temples in Rome. “Eternally suspecting all the conspirators, he incessantly asked oracles, sent everywhere for magicians, astrologers, fortune-tellers on the insides of sacrificial animals, so that he did not miss a single one of those who undertake this kind of divination.”
The ferocious, wild and stupid Caracalla failed to keep in his hands the rich heritage of Septimius Severus.
When he managed the camps on the Danube and crossed into Thrace, which is in the neighborhood of Macedonia, he immediately began to identify himself with Alexander the Great and ordered his images and statues to be placed in all cities. His eccentricities reached the point that he began to dress like a Macedonian, wore a white wide-brimmed hat on his head, and put on boots on his feet. Having selected the young men and went on a campaign with them, he began to call them the Macedonian phalanx, and to their chiefs he gave out the names of the commanders of Alexander.
From Thrace, the emperor crossed over to Asia, stayed for some time in Antioch, and then arrived in Alexandria. The Alexandrians received Antoninus very solemnly and with great joy. None of them knew about the secret hatred that he had long harbored for their city. The fact is that the emperor was informed about the ridicule with which the townspeople showered him. Deciding to roughly punish them, Antonin ordered the most prosperous young men to gather outside the city, supposedly for a military review, surrounded them with troops and ordered them to be killed. The killing was such that blood flowed in streams across the plain, and the huge Nile Delta and the entire coast near the city were stained with blood. Having acted in this way with the city, he returned to Antioch in order to start a war with the Parthians.
In order to better hide his plans, he wooed the daughter of the Parthian king. Having received consent to the marriage, Caracalla freely entered Mesopotamia as a future son-in-law, and then unexpectedly attacked those who came out to greet him. After killing many people and sacking cities and villages, the Romans returned to Syria with a lot of booty. For this shameful raid, Antoninus received the nickname "Parthian" from the senate.
In the midst of preparations for new hostilities with Parfiria, on April 8, 217, Caracalla was killed by Macrinus, his praetorian prefect (head of the guard), who seized imperial power and took his son Diadumen as co-rulers. Although Macrinus did not stay in power, it became clear that even a barbarian and a simple warrior could become an emperor.
In Rome, according to the same Herodian, “not everyone was so pleased with the inheritance of power by Macrinus, as everyone rejoiced and publicly celebrated the celebration of getting rid of Caracalla. And everyone, especially those who occupied a prominent position or were in charge of some business, thought that he had thrown off the sword hanging over his head.
In the history of any empire there comes a moment when, having reached its greatest size and highest prosperity, it bursts at the seams and begins to disintegrate. At the beginning of the II century, it became clear that the territorial expansion of the Roman Empire had reached its limit, the Romans had nowhere to move on. The victorious wars stopped - the influx of slaves was reduced. By the end of the 2nd century, there were fewer slaves in general, and the economic crisis gradually led to the crisis of imperial ideology. During this period, on April 4, 186, in the Roman city of Lugdun (now Lyon) in Gaul, the future first emperor of the Sever dynasty, Septimius Severus (Lucius Septimius Severus, 146-211), and his second wife Julia Domna (Julia Domna, c. 167 -217) the firstborn appeared. This man was destined to remain known in history not under his family name Lucius Septimius Bassianus, and not even Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, as his father called him, in honor of the emperor-philosopher Marcus Aurelius (Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus, 121-180 ), and under the nickname Caracalla. An obvious psychopath, Caracalla became almost a turning point in the history of Ancient Rome. Eager to return the empire to the glory of the times of Trajan (Marcus Ulpius Traianus, 53-117) and Augustus (Augustus, 31 BC - 14) and seeing himself as the new Alexander of Macedon, he remained in history only as the builder of the baths of Caracalla, and was killed was - ashamed to say - in the closet.
Eldest son. Where is your brother Geta?By the time of the death of Septimius Severus in the city of Rome, grain was stored for seven years in advance, and oil would be enough for five years throughout Italy. Dying in British Eborac (modern York), the North said: “I accepted a state torn apart by civil strife everywhere, and I leave it in a state of peace even in Britain. Old, with sore legs, I leave my sons a strong power if they are worthy of it, but a weak one if they are unworthy of it.
The dying North hardly knew about the biblical Cain and Abel, but he bequeathed this to his sons: “Do not quarrel among yourself and appease the soldiers, you can ignore everyone else.” And he made Caracalla and his second son, Geta (Publius Septimius Geta, 189-211), co-emperors. That's where it started.
The French artist Jean-Baptiste Greuze (1725-1805) in 1769 turned to the plot of the relationship between Caracalla and Septimius Severus: the son made plans to hasten the death of his seriously ill father. The artist depicted the scene when the North reproaches Caracalla for betrayal
Ancient historians describe these heirs to the throne as follows: “As a child, Caracalla was distinguished by his gentle disposition and friendliness. But out of childhood, he became withdrawn, sullen and arrogant. Geta, on the other hand, "was a handsome young man with a tough temper, but not unscrupulous, he was stingy, was engaged in finding out the meaning of words, was a gourmet and had an addiction to spiced wine." Forcibly equalized by their father in rights, the brothers were at enmity from childhood, with age bringing the rivalry to a truly pathological scale. After the death of their father, young people hurried with his ashes to Rome. “Together they did not stop and did not eat at the same table - the suspicion was too strong that one brother would have time to poison the food of another with a destructive poison.” In Rome, after the solemn funeral and deification of the North, Geta and Caracalla divided the imperial palace and “both began to live in it, having tightly blocked all the passages that were not in sight; only the doors leading to the street and the courtyard, they used freely, and each put up his guard.
The hatred was mutual and completely open: each sought to get rid of the opponent. Herodianus (Herodianus, c. 180 - c. 250), this late Roman Suetonius (Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, 69 - after 122), writes that “the majority of the Romans leaned towards Geta, because he gave the impression of a decent person: he showed modesty and gentleness ... Caracalla expressed cruelty and irritability in everything. The brothers-emperors were so close to each other in the world that they even planned to divide the empire. The West, with its capital in Rome, would go to Caracalla, and the East, with its center in Antioch (modern Antakya in Turkey) or Alexandria, would go to Goethe, but their mother managed to dissuade them, although she was powerless to reconcile with each other.
Geta's face has been erased from family portraits.
Then Caracalla decided on a direct murder: he called Geta into his mother's chambers, allegedly for reconciliation, and killed his unarmed brother with the hands of his centurions - right on her chest. After that, this new Cain ran out of Yulia Domna's bedroom, yelling that he had barely escaped, having escaped some unknown assassination attempt. Who could be deceived in Rome by these cries? The reason for the murder, most likely, was not just unmotivated hatred. Geta was "more intelligent" than Antonin, he was constantly surrounded by writers and thinkers, he was more loved by senators. And what's even worse - Geta was outwardly more like a father. Caracalla was 23 years old, Goethe - 22. The winter of 212 was coming. Caracalla rushed to the Praetorian camp, promising for his salvation and autocracy to give each soldier 2,500 Attic drachmas and one and a half times increase the allowance. So one day he sprayed what his father had been collecting for eighteen years.
Caracalla committed a terrifying act of damnation memoriae against Geta - the curse of memory. He not only ruthlessly dealt with those whom he suspected of sympathy for the murdered man, but also ordered that his portraits be erased from the family images of Septimius Severus and Yulia Domna with their two sons. Caracalla also got rid of his unloved wife Plavtilla (Publia Fulvia Plautilla), daughter of Marcus Aurelius: in 205 he was sent into exile, and in 212 he ordered to be killed. The fate of Plavtilla was shared by relatives. The number of those repressed in the "Geta case" is estimated at 20 thousand people - friends, senators, horsemen, prefect of the Praetorians, "security guards", servants, provincial governors, officers, ordinary soldiers, even charioteers of the "team" for which Geta was rooting. Now, in front of this short, frail young man with curly black hair and pronounced psychopathy lay an empire, which he planned to equate in grandeur with Alexandrov.
Barbarian Emperor or Cosmopolitan Emperor?
It's time to reveal the secret of Caracalla's nickname. Marcus Aurelius Antoninus loved to wear and brought into fashion the Gallic (or Germanic) attire to the toes - a cape with a hood caracalla (or rather, "caracallus"). In general, he loved the Roman provinces in his own way and in an interesting way made them equal in rights with the center. In the same year 212, when Geta fell, he issued the amazing edict Constitutio Antoniniana, which granted the rights of Roman citizenship to all the free population of the Roman Empire. On the one hand, all the inhabitants of the empire received the rights of Roman citizens. On the other hand, the number of taxpayers obliged to pay taxes on inheritance and for the emancipation of slaves has dramatically increased - previously only the citizens of Rome did this. What did it all mean? Just that the prestige of everything Roman and Italic in the sphere of influence of the empire fell sharply, and the “Antonin Constitution”, which actually eliminated the privileges of the inhabitants of the Apennines and the small provincial elite, simultaneously destroyed the sacred distinction between legionary citizens and non-citizens - soldiers of auxiliary troops, dropping thus the prestige of the legions. Instead of dividing the people of the empire into citizens of Rome and non-citizens, lawyers now divided them into two social classes: the nobility and the common people. With finances, Caracalla generally had chronic problems. Forced to constantly bribe his own troops and barbarians, he began to issue coins of reduced quality (“antonians” contained a quarter less silver) - one and a half times heavier than denarii and with twice the face value. Another step of the emperor, who is called either crazy or brilliant, is the prohibition of the provinces to form more than two legions of troops. The governors of the provinces were now physically unable to raise an army capable of turning their weapons against the center. Twenty-four legions were stationed in twelve provinces, and the remaining nine (one in Italy) were ordered to other destinations of interest to the empire.
Caracalla was indeed the first emperor - a "citizen of the world" and a cosmopolitan, although contemporaries preferred to interpret his quirks as a seal of barbarization that disfigured his already darkened by unsightly deeds brow. “He won over all the Germans and entered into friendship with them,” wrote Dio Cassius (Dio Cassius, c. 150-235). - Often, taking off his Roman cloak, he changed it to German clothes, and he was seen in a cloak with silver embroidery, such as the Germans themselves wear. He put on his blond hair and combed it in the German way. The barbarians rejoiced, looking at all this, and loved him extremely. In addition, Caracalla zealously worshiped the Egyptian Isis and built her temples in Rome, and in the East he represented himself in the form of God the Sun or Alexander the Great, who conquered the whole world and gave him universal citizenship.
Artist and archaeologist Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836-1912) traveled to Italy in the 1860s, visiting Pompeii and Herculaneum. He was fascinated by ancient Rome. One of the consequences of this interest was the painting "Caracalla", painted in 1902.
soldier emperor
Caracalla performed quite successfully on the battlefield. They note, however, that he was not so much a strategist as a soldier, but, nevertheless, it was the young Antoninus who completed the conquest of Caledonia (territories north of Hadrian's Wall (Publius Aelius Hadrianus, 76-138), restored by the North; roughly speaking, the current Scotland) after the death of his father, even then pushing his younger brother away from command of the army. In 213, Antoninus Caracalla went to Germany, and never returned to Rome alive.
It was at this time that the tribal alliance of the Alemanni first appears on the periphery of Roman history, posing a threat to the so-called Tithe Fields (Agri Decumates) between the upper Rhine and Danube. Caracalla either really defeated the Alemans on the Main, or simply bought them off, as often happened, but it turned out cheaper than a “real war”, and the German raids were delayed for two decades. The young emperor generously paid the soldiers, ate their food, crushed flour along with them and walked alongside on foot, which naturally won popularity among the troops. Fulfilling the precepts of his father, he took care of the soldier - he raised his salary to 675 denarii and in every possible way demonstrated his loyalty to the veterans.
Once deciding to become the second Alexander of Macedon, Caracalla made plans to conquer Parthia. In 214, he equipped a Macedonian-style phalanx of sixteen thousand soldiers on the Danube, acquired war elephants, and a year later, having passed Dacia (part of modern Romania) and Asia Minor, he went to the East.
Having wintered at the turn of 214-215 in Nicomedia ( modern city Izmit, Turkey), in May 215, the troops of Antoninus Caracalla arrived in Syrian Antioch. Leaving most of his army there, the emperor moved to Egypt, to Alexandria, to the tomb of Alexander.
The fate of the city of Alexander
In Alexandria, the emperor staged a massacre, the true causes of which researchers can still only guess at. Allegedly, the Alexandrians met Antoninus with quite open arms. Allegedly, Antoninus knew that all this was just an appearance and had long hated the Alexandrians for the ridicule with which he was showered here, calling him an incest (lover of his own mother) and a fratricide. Allegedly, that is why Caracalla cut off the deputation of the city's nobility, led by the governor of Egypt, who had gathered on the outskirts of the city to meet him, and then for several days carried out massacres and robberies already inside the city. One source says that he ordered to gather the flower of the Alexandrian youth outside the city for a military review, surrounded the defenseless handsome men with troops and cut them all without exception - so much so that “blood flowed in streams across the plain, and the huge Nile Delta and the entire coast near the city were stained with blood ". Not stopping there, the new Alexander imposed fines on the townspeople and destroyed the dormitories of the philosophers.
However, while in Egypt, the emperor did not forget about the soul. He visited the local temple of Serapis, the Serapeum, for sacrifices and celebrations. So, earlier, during the German campaign, Caracalla worshiped the Celtic god-healer Grannus (the local version of Apollo), and in Pergamum he visited the temple of Asclepius, where he spent the night, so that the priests would later decipher his prophetic dreams.
Satisfied with the righteous labors in Alexandria (Dio Cassius says that 20 thousand people were killed), Caracalla returned to Antioch, where at least eight legions awaited him. In 216, he finally invaded the territory of Parthia, in Media (a territory in the north-west of Persia), and slightly expanded the borders of the province of Mesopotamia, but, having stumbled over Armenia, he was forced to return to the Mesopotamian borders on the Euphrates. He acted here by cunning: he got married to the daughter of the Parthian king, received consent to marriage and freely entered the country as a future son-in-law, and then suddenly attacked those who came out to greet him. They killed many people and plundered all the cities and villages along the way, returning to Syria with great booty. For this shameful raid, Antoninus received the nickname "Parthian" from the senate.
Roadside murder
Caracallin's "new age" approach to religion ultimately led to his death on April 8, 217. “Always suspecting all the conspirators, he incessantly asked oracles, sent for magicians, astrologers, fortune tellers from the insides of animals” ... but this did not help him.
During a riding trip from Edessa (now Urfa, Turkey) to Karr (modern Haran, Turkey) in order to visit the temple of the moon god, Caracalla dismounted to relieve himself when the soldier Martialius (Julius Martialis), who was following the order of the prefect of the praetorium (chief of security ) Macrinus (Macrinus, about 164-218), responsible for the security of the emperor, hit him with a dagger. The rest of the guards finished off both the failed Alexander the Great and Martialius.
Ironically, everyone knew everything. Caracalla had long suspected Macrinus, and Macrinus, in particular, who was responsible for the correspondence of his crowned ward, knew that the emperor was preparing his assassination. It was transmitted by stage that the defenseless emperor was ambushed by conspirators from among the "insiders". The organizer of the whole affair, Macrinus, of course, was proclaimed emperor and took his son as co-ruler. The new emperor came from ordinary warriors, perhaps even from freedmen slaves. So that the soldiers would not worry, Macrinus gave the troops a large salary. In Rome, “the inheritance of power by Macrinus was not so pleasing to everyone, as everyone rejoiced and celebrated the celebration of the deliverance from Caracalla. And everyone, especially those who occupied a prominent position or was in charge of some business, thought that he had dropped the sword hanging over his head. Macrinus, however, was also soon killed.
The ashes of the twenty-nine-year-old Emperor Caracalla went to Rome and were laid in the Mausoleum of Hadrian (now the Castel Sant'Angelo). Antoninus was deified in 218. As they often wrote on the tombstones of that time - "It was not, it lived, it did not."
The era of the Antonines was coming to an end. The Roman Empire was still coping with its crisis, but the third century was destined to be the decline of the entire ancient civilization of the West.
CARACALLA(Marcus Aurelius Severus Antoninus) (186?–217), Roman emperor. Caracalla was the eldest son of a native of Africa, Septimius Severus, a Roman general, later emperor, and his wife Julia Domna, a native of Syria. He received an excellent education, knew Greek literature very well, but subsequently despised learning and scientists. The original name of Caracalla is Septimius Bassian. In 196, after Severus, who became emperor in 193, proclaimed himself the adopted son of Marcus Aurelius, the young Septimius received the name Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, emphasizing the legitimate succession to the famous emperor Marcus Aurelius. However, he went down in history under the name of Caracalla - probably because, after the campaign against the Germans in 213, he began to wear a wide Gallic or Germanic cloak (caracalla or, more correctly, caracallus). Gradually, while still a boy and a young man, Bassian received all the honorary titles invented by the empire. In 196 he was named Caesar, and in 198 - August, which actually put him on the same level with his father. Caracalla and his brother Geta accompanied Severus in his campaign against the tribes in the north of Britain, and when Severus died in 211, the sons jointly inherited power.
This situation lasted only a year, and then Caracalla lured Geta to his mother, allegedly for negotiations, and ordered him to be killed - right in the arms of his mother, to whom he rushed for protection. Distinguished by his rude appearance and cruel character, Caracalla was directly or indirectly responsible for the death of his father-in-law, wife, son-in-law and brother, he was also suspected of trying to hasten the death of his father. Often he is portrayed as half-mad, but the same sources note in another connection his sharp mind and outstanding gift for words.
The reign of Caracalla was marked by the issuance of an edict of 212 (constitutio Antoniniana), according to which all free inhabitants of the empire, with few exceptions, received the right to Roman citizenship. The financial policy of Caracalla, his constant handouts to the army, on which he was completely dependent, and the construction of huge public buildings, such as the grandiose baths of Caracalla in Rome, exhausted the state treasury. Caracalla managed to achieve some success in foreign policy. In 213, he personally led a campaign in Germany, where he defeated the Alemanni and completed the construction of a defensive rampart on the borders of the empire. In 214, Caracalla went on an eastern campaign, undertaking a massive campaign against Parthia, to which he was inspired by the desire to resemble his idol Alexander the Great. In Rome, he did not appear again. In 217, while preparing a new campaign, he was killed in the Mesopotamian desert near Carr by one of his generals, the Praetorian prefect Marcus Opellius Macrinus. This temporarily removed the Sever dynasty (named after the father of Caracalla) from rule, but a year later, the Severes, represented by Heliogabal (Elagabal), regained power.
Septimius Bassian Caracalla(lat. Septimius Bassianus Caracalla; April 4, 188 - April 8, 217) - Roman emperor from the Sever dynasty. Son of Septimius Severus, brother of Geta. Ruled from 211 to 217 CE. e. official name: Emperor Caesar Marcus Aurelius Severus Antoninus Augustus.
Biography
The son of Emperor Lucius Septimius Severus from his second marriage to Julia Domna, was born in the capital of Gaul, Lugdunum, on April 4, 188. His original name - Bassian - in 196, when his father proclaimed him Caesar, was changed to Marcus Aurelius Antoninus; the nickname is Caracalla, or Caracalla (lat. Caracallus), came from the name of the Gallic clothing introduced by the emperor - a long robe that fell to the ankles.
In 197, during a campaign against the Parthians, he was proclaimed a tribune and Augustus. In the year 202 he was appointed consul, and in the following year he married, at the behest of his father, Fulvia Plaucilla, the wealthy daughter of Plautianus; he, however, hated both his father-in-law and his wife, and was the cause of the death of the former in 204.
Even before the father-in-law's death the highest degree dissolute and headstrong, Caracalla became even worse when he freed himself from him. His younger brother Publius Septimius Geta, who was proclaimed Caesar in 198, was not inferior to Caracalla in depravity. From childhood, an irreconcilable hatred, fanned by the courtiers, dominated between the two brothers.
When news came of a barbarian uprising in Britain, Severus took the opportunity to remove his sons from the depraved atmosphere of Rome and took them with him to war (208). Caracalla escorted his father to Northern Scotland, in some cases he himself commanded the army, but all his thoughts were directed only at preparing autocracy for himself.
He persecuted his brother and slandered him, wanted to stir up a rebellion against his father in the army, he himself once raised a sword against him and, as they said, hastened his death with poison (February 4, 211).
Despite his beliefs, the troops, remembering the desires of the North, proclaimed both brothers emperors. Caracalla immediately made peace with the barbarians, withdrew the army from their country, cleared the fortresses laid down by the North, went to his brother and mother, and, outwardly reconciled with Geta, went to Rome with the ashes of the North.
Already on the road, disagreements arose again; both brothers suspected each other; in Rome everyone started his guard; they thought to divide the empire, but this was opposed by the mother. Caracalla's plans to get rid of his brother did not succeed; finally, he asked his mother to invite them both to his room for reconciliation, and here, in the arms of his mother, Geta was killed (December 26, 211).
Sole board
After the murder, he, as if seeking protection, fled to the camp to the soldiers, gave them the treasures collected by his father for plunder, and was proclaimed a single emperor. Soldiers and courtiers of the Getae, numbering up to 20,000, were put to death. Among those killed was Papinianus, a celebrated jurist and friend of the North. Caracalla asked him to justify the murder in the Senate, hoping that the illustrious lawyer would find convincing arguments. But Papinian replied: "It is easier to do than to justify." In 212, Caracalla gave all the inhabitants of the Roman Empire the rights of Roman citizenship, with goals, however, exclusively financial. He raised the old taxes, extorted money from anyone he could, especially from senators, who were obliged to follow him everywhere.
In Gaul, Caracalla waged an inglorious war with the Alemanni and valuables, but nevertheless accepted the nickname Alemannicus and Germanicus; in Dacia, he fought with the Sarmatians and Getae, but soon left the province to its fate and went to Thrace. From that time on, he began to comically imitate Alexander the Great, undertaking campaigns in distant countries, but only in order to rob the inhabitants. From Thrace, he crossed to Asia, in Pergamon he resorted to Aesculapius for healing, in Ilion he honored Achilles, wintered in Nicomedia (214-215), treacherously captured Abgar, the king of the Osroenes, and took possession of his kingdom.
Caracalla in literature
- A. P. Ladinsky. "In the Days of Caracalla" (1961)
- N. S. Gumilyov. The cycle "Emperor Caracalla" from the collection of poems "Romantic Flowers" ()
- G. Ebers. "Thorny path (Caracalla)" (1892, "Per aspera").
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Notes
Literature
- A. D. PANTELEEV(Russian). Research and publications on the history of the ancient world. 2006. .
- R. V. Kovylina.(Russian). young scientist. 2011. .
- R. Varga.(English) . Center for Antiquities. 2011. .
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An excerpt characterizing Caracalla
Mes loisirs ensuite et mes vieux jours eussent ete consacres, en compagnie de l "imperatrice et durant l" apprentissage royal de mon fils, a visiter lentement et en vrai couple campagnard, avec nos propres chevaux, tous les recoins de l "Empire, recevant les plaintes, redressant les torts, semant de toutes parts et partout les monuments et les bienfaits.The Russian war should have been the most popular in modern times: it was a war of common sense and real benefits, a war of peace and security for all; she was purely peaceful and conservative.
It was for a great purpose, for the end of accidents and the beginning of peace. A new horizon, new works would open, full of well-being and well-being for all. The European system would be founded, the question would be only in its establishment.
Satisfied in these great questions and at peace everywhere, I too would have my congress and my holy union. These are the thoughts that have been stolen from me. In this assembly of great sovereigns, we would discuss our interests as a family and would reckon with the peoples, like a scribe with a master.
Indeed, Europe would soon constitute one and the same people, and everyone, traveling anywhere, would always be in a common homeland.
I would say that all rivers should be navigable for everyone, that the sea should be common, that permanent, large armies should be reduced to the sole guard of sovereigns, etc.
Returning to France, to my homeland, great, strong, magnificent, calm, glorious, I would proclaim its borders unchanged; any future war defensive; any new distribution is anti-national; I would add my son to the reign of the empire; my dictatorship would end, his constitutional rule would begin...
Paris would be the capital of the world and the French would be the envy of all nations!...
Then my leisure and last days would have been dedicated, with the help of the empress and during the royal education of my son, to visit little by little, like a real village couple, on their own horses, all corners of the state, receiving complaints, eliminating injustices, scattering buildings in all directions and everywhere, and beneficence.]
He, destined by providence for the sad, unfree role of the executioner of peoples, assured himself that the goal of his actions was the good of the peoples and that he could guide the destinies of millions and, through power, do good deeds!
“Des 400,000 hommes qui passerent la Vistule,” he wrote further on the Russian war, “la moitie etait Autrichiens, Prussiens, Saxons, Polonais, Bavarois, Wurtembergeois, Mecklembourgeois, Espagnols, Italiens, Napolitains. L "armee imperiale, proprement dite, etait pour un tiers composee de Hollandais, Belges, habitants des bords du Rhin, Piemontais, Suisses, Genevois, Toscans, Romains, habitants de la 32 e division militaire, Breme, Hambourg, etc .; elle comptait a peine 140000 hommes parlant francais. L "expedition do Russie couta moins de 50000 hommes a la France actuelle; l "armee russe dans la retraite de Wilna a Moscou, dans les differentes batailles, a perdu quatre fois plus que l" armee francaise; l "incendie de Moscou a coute la vie a 100000 Russes, morts de froid et de misere dans les bois; enfin dans sa marche de Moscou a l" Oder, l "armee russe fut aussi atteinte par, l" intemperie de la saison; elle ne comptait a son arrivee a Wilna que 50,000 hommes, et a Kalisch moins de 18,000.”
[Of the 400,000 people who crossed the Vistula, half were Austrians, Prussians, Saxons, Poles, Bavarians, Wirtembergers, Mecklenburgers, Spaniards, Italians and Neapolitans. The imperial army, in fact, was one third made up of Dutch, Belgians, inhabitants of the banks of the Rhine, Piedmontese, Swiss, Genevans, Tuscans, Romans, inhabitants of the 32nd military division, Bremen, Hamburg, etc .; there were hardly 140,000 French-speaking people in it. The Russian expedition cost France proper less than 50,000 men; the Russian army in the retreat from Vilna to Moscow in various battles lost four times more than the French army; the fire of Moscow cost the lives of 100,000 Russians who died of cold and poverty in the forests; finally, during its transition from Moscow to the Oder, the Russian army also suffered from the severity of the season; upon arrival in Vilna, it consisted of only 50,000 people, and in Kalisz less than 18,000.]
He imagined that by his will there was a war with Russia, and the horror of what had happened did not strike his soul. He boldly accepted the full responsibility of the event, and his clouded mind saw the justification in the fact that among the hundreds of thousands of dead people there were fewer French than Hessians and Bavarians.
Several tens of thousands lay dead in different provisions and uniforms in the fields and meadows that belonged to the Davydovs and state peasants, in those fields and meadows on which for hundreds of years the peasants of the villages of Borodino, Gorki, Shevardin and Semenovsky simultaneously harvested and grazed cattle. At the dressing stations for the tithe, the grass and earth were saturated with blood. Crowds of wounded and unwounded different teams of people, with frightened faces, on the one hand wandered back to Mozhaisk, on the other hand - back to Valuev. Other crowds, exhausted and hungry, led by the chiefs, went forward. Others stood still and continued to shoot.
Over the whole field, formerly so cheerfully beautiful, with its sparkles of bayonets and smoke in the morning sun, there was now a haze of dampness and smoke and smelled of the strange acid of saltpeter and blood. Clouds gathered, and it began to rain on the dead, on the wounded, on the frightened, and on the exhausted, and on the doubting people. It was like he was saying, “Enough, enough, people. Stop... Come to your senses. What are you doing?"
Exhausted, without food and without rest, the people of both sides began to equally doubt whether they should still exterminate each other, and hesitation was noticeable on all faces, and in every soul the question was equally raised: “Why, for whom should I kill and be killed? Kill whoever you want, do whatever you want, and I don't want any more!" By the evening this thought had equally matured in the soul of everyone. Any minute all these people could be horrified by what they were doing, drop everything and run anywhere.
But although by the end of the battle people felt the full horror of their act, although they would have been glad to stop, some incomprehensible, mysterious force still continued to guide them, and, sweaty, covered in gunpowder and blood, remaining one by three, artillerymen, although and stumbling and choking with fatigue, they brought charges, charged, directed, applied wicks; and the cannonballs just as quickly and cruelly flew from both sides and flattened the human body, and that terrible deed continued to be done, which is done not by the will of people, but by the will of the one who guides people and worlds.
Anyone who would look at the upset behinds of the Russian army would say that the French should make one more small effort, and the Russian army will disappear; and whoever looked at the backs of the French would say that the Russians had to make one more small effort and the French would perish. But neither the French nor the Russians made this effort, and the flames of the battle slowly burned out.
The Russians did not make this effort because they did not attack the French. At the beginning of the battle, they only stood on the road to Moscow, blocking it, and in the same way they continued to stand at the end of the battle, as they stood at the beginning of it. But even if the goal of the Russians were to knock down the French, they could not make this last effort, because all the Russian troops were defeated, there was not a single part of the troops that did not suffer in the battle, and the Russians, remaining in their places lost half of their troops.
The French, with the memory of all the previous fifteen years of victories, with confidence in the invincibility of Napoleon, with the consciousness that they had taken possession of part of the battlefield, that they had lost only one quarter of the people, and that they still had twenty thousand untouched guards, it was easy to make this effort. The French, who attacked the Russian army with the aim of knocking it out of position, had to make this effort, because as long as the Russians, just like before the battle, blocked the road to Moscow, the goal of the French was not achieved and all their efforts and losses were wasted. But the French made no such effort. Some historians say that Napoleon should have given his old guard intact in order for the battle to be won. To talk about what would happen if Napoleon gave his guards is like talking about what would happen if spring became autumn. It couldn't be. It was not Napoleon who did not give his guard, because he did not want to, but this could not be done. All the generals, officers, soldiers of the French army knew that this could not be done, because the fallen morale of the troops did not allow it.
In 193, the Sever dynasty came to power in the Roman Empire. Its founder was Septimius Severus. This man was born in North Africa, in the city of Leptis Magne (the territory of modern Libya). Being a provincial, he spoke Latin with an African accent. But this did not prevent him from ingratiating himself with the emperor Marcus Aurelius. Thanks to the latter, Septimius made brilliant career, and in early April 193, the Roman legions proclaimed him emperor.
North had two sons. The first was born in 188 in Gaul, in the city of Lugdunum, where the future emperor at that time ruled the province. They named the firstborn Bassian. A year later, a second son named Geta was born. The mother of the children was Julia Domna, a Syrian by birth.
There is a legend telling that on the day when Geta was born, a Lugdunum hen laid a purple egg. Baby Bassian broke this egg, and Yulia Domna said with a laugh: “You killed your brother!” But perhaps this legend was invented after the tragic death of Geta. As for Bassian, over time he dressed in purple and became emperor under the name of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, and Caracalla is his nickname. It came from the Gallic tunic with a hood, which Caesar liked to wear.
It should be noted that, according to Tertullian, Bassianus was suckled by a Christian woman. It is possible that the same Christian a year later brought up Geta. And the elder brother was later given the name Antonin, in order thereby to bring him closer to the extinct Antoninov dynasty. Septimius Severus himself claimed, pointing to his beard, similar to that worn by Marcus Aurelius, that he was the illegitimate son of this emperor.
Caracalla
When Bassian-Antonin grew up, he turned into an extremely strong, short-legged and squat young man. Contemporaries said that the reason for his eternal irritation was his short stature. He had coarse, curly hair, always furrowed eyebrows, and a contemptuously protruding lower lip.
When the brothers, following their father, moved to Rome, they began to lead a dissolute life of golden youth. They spent their time on suspicious acquaintances in the circus, romances with comedians, dice games, drinking parties. Antoninus even pestered the Vestal Virgins with vile suggestions. And one vestal named Claudia Lota was accused of debauchery when she refused an impudent youth in intimacy. According to the denunciation of Antonin, this woman, according to ancient custom, was buried alive in the ground.
Caracalla and Geta
I must say that from a young age the sons of the North hated each other. Antoninus could not stand Geta, and he responded with the same reciprocity. What one liked, another hated. Even the death of his father on February 4, 211 in Britain did not bring the young people together. When they returned back to Italy, they spent the night in different hotels on the way, as they were not just afraid, but afraid of each other.
Paying tribute to the North, the Roman legions proclaimed both brothers emperors. But taking into account mutual hatred, Antoninus Caracalla and Geta decided to divide the empire into two parts. The first was to receive Rome and the western regions, and the second Antioch and the eastern part of the empire. But then her mother, Yulia Domna, intervened. She said, "You can divide the land, but how will you divide your mother?"
Each brother started his guard, and the emperors lived in different parts of the palace. They almost did not communicate and hated each other. But such a confrontation could not last long. Given that Antoninus was a cruel and impulsive person, the denouement came on December 26, 211.
On this day, the brothers agreed to meet at their mother's without protection and to negotiate peacefully with each other. Geta was the first to come to Yulia Domna's chambers. He sat down at his mother's feet and laid his head on her knees. The elder brother came in second. He approached Geta and stabbed him with a dagger right in front of Julia. After that, the killer ran out to the legionnaires and shouted that by the grace of the gods he had just escaped from the machinations of his younger brother.
After that, the soldiers immediately began to distribute money, and they willingly believed in the statement of the emperor. In principle, they did not care who wears purple, as long as this person pays generously. But the Roman Senate showed no readiness to be enthusiastic. And then Antonin turned to the famous Roman lawyer Papinian, so that he would speak before the Senate and justify the fratricide of Caracalla.
Caracalla kills his brother Geta in the presence of his mother
But the lawyer completely refused, and then the legionnaires killed him. After that, many people who were friendly to the Geta died. Among them was even the daughter of Marcus Aurelius Lucilla. It was said that Yulia Domna, spattered with her son's blood, forced herself to smile at the killer in order to save her life.
Reign of Caracalla (211-217)
The Roman emperor Caracalla became the sole ruler after the assassination of his own brother on December 26, 211. He ruled the empire until April 8, 217. And all this time he tried in every possible way to win over the legionnaires, especially those of German origin. He remembered his father's testament, which said: "If there are soldiers for you, then you can not give a damn about the others."
The emperor appeared before the legionnaires in simple clothes, regularly gave them generous cash gifts, and during campaigns behaved like an ordinary warrior. He dug trenches, participated in building bridges and building fortifications. He ate a simple forest, using wooden utensils, and sometimes he himself cooked a simple soldier's dinner. He demanded that the soldiers call him not Caesar, but comrade.
However, contemporaries who knew the emperor well argued that he was prone to pretense and betrayal. However, Caesar received these qualities from his late father. Under Antoninus, there were always two commanders: Advent and Macrinus. The emperor revered the first, and frankly scoffed at the second for his addiction to good food and elegant clothes. He called him an effeminate coward and threatened to kill him on occasion.
Thus, Antoninus made friends with the soldiers, spent time on military campaigns, and his mother ruled the empire, surrounding herself with lawyers and philosophers. At the same time, it was no secret to anyone that the finances of the vast country were in a terrible state, since huge amounts of money were spent on rewards for soldiers and gifts for the leaders of the barbarians.
In order to somehow improve things, they began to mint lighter gold coins. One pound of gold was made into 50 pieces. The silver denarius also became lighter. But soon all the coins in general became copper, barely covered with gold or silver.
In 212, Caracalla gave Roman citizenship to all the inhabitants of the empire. Even the barbarians who lived on the outskirts of the country and did not know a word of Latin received it. By such an act, the emperor tried to win over all the peoples who inhabited the immense power. At the same time, the emperor was not lucky in military campaigns. And he, flirting with the inhabitants of the provinces, was extremely impulsive and unpredictable.
Julia Domna - mother of Caracalla
The extravagant character traits of this ruler were most clearly manifested in Alexandria. This city was considered the breadbasket of the empire. The most diverse and expensive goods flocked to it. From Ethiopia - golden sand, Ivory, turtles. From Arabia - fragrances and spices. Merchants brought spices from India, gems, fine linen. Silk was brought from Syria. And all this was then sold 10 times more expensive in Rome.
Alexandria was a Greek-eastern city, and about a million Greeks, Romans, Jews, Ethiopians, Libyans, Indians, Bactrians lived in it. Twelve streets of this city were directed towards the sea. And the main Kanopskaya street was decorated with solid colonnades. The ashes of Alexander the Great rested in the city in a glass coffin filled with honey.
Arriving in Alexandria, the Roman emperor Caracalla set about creating an Alexandrian phalanx similar to the Macedonian. He ordered to create a camp outside the city and convene there as many young men as possible. Greeks, Syrians, Jews gathered. They lived in a rich city, and therefore behaved independently and confidently.
The emperor began to make a speech, but this time his listeners were not illiterate legionnaires, but educated young people who knew a lot about oratory. Antonin's performance aroused ridicule from them. Someone even shouted: “Hail to you, Getia winner!” Hearing this, the emperor turned pale, lowered the scroll on which the speech was written, and, barely restraining his fury, said to the prefect: “What is this? Drive the slackers out of the camp. They have forgotten who is in front of them and where they are.”
Warriors immediately appeared and began to beat the young people on the heads with spear shafts. Panic set in. People rushed to run into the city. The cavalry followed them. The sight of those running excited the riders like dogs chasing game. A brutal beating of the unarmed began. It continued on the city streets. Roman legionnaires broke into the city, and began to smash the malls, warehouses, set fire to houses. The Alexandrian museum also caught fire, many books perished in the fire.
This is how life was under the Roman emperor Caracalla. No one felt safe, and a careless word could cost dearly to any person. And hypocrites and sycophants began to compare Caesar with Alexander the Great. But all this was done for a reason. Roman financial circles, especially in Antioch, were interested in a war with the Parthian kingdom.
And the essence of the problem was the caravan routes, which were under the control of the Parthian satraps. The latter set very high duties on the transport of goods from India. And the Roman-Syrian merchants suffered greatly from this. If Antoninus defeated the Parthians, then the caravan routes would fall under the control of the Romans, which promised huge profits. That is why the emperor began to be compared with Alexander the Great, persistently pushing for a war with the Parthian kingdom.
But Caesar was short of money. In addition, a reasonable mother dissuaded him from this war. And then the emperor decided to achieve his intended goal peacefully and asked the Parthian king Artaban for the hand of his daughter. After that, he planned to conclude a trade union beneficial to both sides. However, in Ctesiphon they decided not to connect the fate of the royal daughter with a vicious and unbalanced person. Upon learning of the refusal, Antoninus fell into a rage and decided to start a military company, which was enthusiastically received in Antioch.
Macrinus organized the murder of Caracalla, and 3 days after that he was proclaimed emperor by the Roman legionnaires
The best Roman legions moved into Parthia. They went to the right bank of the Tigris and began to rob and devastate the western regions of the country. The military units of the Parthians were defeated, and Artaban sued for peace. On this occasion, a feast was organized at which the Roman emperor Caracalla met with the Parthian king. But during the feast, the legionnaires attacked the barbarians and staged a bloody massacre. Artaban miraculously escaped with a small group of subjects.
After such perfidy, the Parthians gathered powerful army and moved towards the enemy. And then the commander Macrinus, eternally humiliated by the emperor, entered the historical arena. He entered into an agreement with two tribunes and prepared an attempt on the emperor. The performer was chosen Marciallis, who was one of Caesar's personal guards. He slaughtered Antonin on April 8, 217, when he was traveling from Edessa to Karr (northern Mesopotamia). Thus ended the life of a pathologically cruel and hated by all tyrant, nicknamed Caracalla.
