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The Severi

Caracalla (211-217)

Septimius Severus had two sons, Caracalla and Geta. On his deathbed he urged the two to get along, but they hated one another. Within a year, Caracalla had his brother murdered, right in front of their own mother.  As this incident indicates, Caracalla was ruthless and ambitious.

He was also effective and his reign saw some important developments in existing trends. For example, the declining importance of Italy can be seen in Caracalla’s favoring of Gallic and German fashion: he wore a blonde wig and adopted a long Gallic tunic, which is where he got his nickname of Caracalla. More lastingly, it was Caracalla who granted Roman citizenship to nearly all adult males everywhere in the Empire. Typical of Caracalla, the move was more fiscal than political, for it greatly increased the number of people who were now liable to pay taxes directly to Rome.

Visitors to Rome make the Baths of Caracalla one of their regular stops. These are the largest baths in Rome. They were actually begun by Septimius Severus, but Caracalla finished them. The main hall alone is 185 feet long and 79 feet wide, and that is only one of several buildings in the complex.

With his grand style and his grand gestures, Caracalla was not despised as Commodus had been. But every emperor makes enemies. In 214 he gathered the Danube legions to march on Parthia. Sixteen thousand of them he organized into a massive phalanx, even dressing them in Macedonian style.

While in Mesopotamia (216), though, before he had got very far, the local prefect Macrinus got information that led him to believe his job and his life were in peril from the emperor. While Caracalla was out riding, he was cut down by soldiers.

Macrinus (217-218)

The murderer of Caracalla reigned only a short time. He is notable in that he was the first man to become emperor who was not first a senator.

He was in trouble almost from the start. A series of bad decisions, hesitations and unpopular appointments cost him the support of the army.

At the same time, the sister of Julia Domna (Septimius Severus’ wife), called Julia Maesa, now conspired to win support for her fourteen-year-old son, Varius Avitus Bassianus. This boy, a Syrian like his mother, was a devotee of the Sun God and was actually a priest of the god at Emesa, called Elagabalus. On 16 May 218, he was proclaimed emperor by the troops of Phoenicia. 

A battle ensued in which an entire legion defected from Macrinus and went over to Varius Avitus. Macrinus lost a second battle on 8 June and tried to flee in disguise.  He was recognized, arrested, brought back to Antioch, and there executed.