Mother of the Emperor Caracalla 5 letters. Caracalla - Roman Emperors

Septimius Bassianus Caracalla (lat. Septimius Bassianus Caracalla; 186-217) - Roman emperor from the Severan dynasty. Son of Septimius Severus, brother of Geta. Rules from 211 to 217 n. e. Official name: Emperor Caesar Marcus Aurelius Severus Antoninus Augustus.

Son of Emperor Lucius Septimius Severus from his second marriage to Julia-Domna, b. in Lyon on April 4, 188. His original name - Bassian - in 196, when his father proclaimed him Caesar, was changed to M. Aurelius Antoninus; the nickname Caracalla, or Caracallus (Caracallus), was taken from the Gallic clothing he introduced - a long robe that fell to the ankles.

In 197, during a campaign against the Parthians, he was proclaimed tribune and Augustus. In 202 he was appointed consul, and the next year he married, at the behest of his father, Fulvia-Plavtilla, the rich daughter of Plavtian; he, however, hated both his father-in-law and his wife and was the cause of the death of the former in 204.

Already extremely dissolute and self-willed before the death of his father-in-law, Caracalla became even worse when he freed himself from him. His younger brother Geta, who was proclaimed Caesar in 198, was not inferior to K. in depravity. From childhood, irreconcilable hatred reigned between both brothers, fanned by the courtiers.

When news arrived of the 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 accompanied his father to the North. Scotland, in some cases he himself commanded the army, but all his thoughts were focused only on preparing for himself a autocracy. He persecuted his brother and slandered him, wanted to stir up a rebellion in the army against his father, he himself once raised a sword against him and, as they said, accelerated his death with poison (in February 211). Despite his convictions, the troops, remembering the wishes of the North, proclaimed both brothers emperors. Caracalla immediately made peace with the barbarians, led the army out of their country, cleared the fortresses founded by the North, went to his brother and mother and, having apparently made peace 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 their own guard; they thought of dividing the empire, but their mother opposed this. K.'s plans to free himself from his brother did not succeed; finally he asked his mother to invite them both to his room for reconciliation, and here, in his mother’s arms, Geta was killed (212).

Sole board

After the murder, as if seeking protection, he fled to the camp to the soldiers, gave them the treasures collected by his father for plunder, and was proclaimed the sole emperor. The soldiers and courtiers of the Getae, numbering up to 20,000, were killed. Among those killed was Papinian, a famous lawyer and friend of the North. Caracalla asked him to speak in the Senate to justify the murder, hoping. that the renowned lawyer will find convincing arguments. However, Papinian replied: “It is easier to do than to justify.” In 212, Caracalla gave all residents of the Roman Empire the rights of Roman citizenship, for purposes, however, exclusively financial. He raised the old taxes, extorted money from whomever he could, especially from senators, who were obliged to follow him everywhere.

In Gaul, Caracalla waged an inglorious war with the Alemanni and Valeni, but nevertheless adopted 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 moved to Asia, in Pergamon he resorted to Aesculapius for healing, in Ilion he honored Achilles, spent the winter in Nicomedia (214-215), treacherously captured Abgar, the king of the Osroenes, and took possession of his kingdom.

He invited the King of Armenia and his sons to his place, intending to do the same with him, but came across armed resistance; his detachment sent to Armenia was defeated. Through Antioch, Caracalla went to Alexandria, where, angry with the residents for hints of fratricide and communication with his mother (she was called Jocasta), he carried out a bloody massacre, imposed fines on the residents and ordered the destruction of the hostels (Greek σισσίτια) of philosophers.

Returning to Antioch, he demanded from Artaban, king of Parthia, his daughter in marriage; when he did not agree, Caracalla devastated his country, took the city of Arbela, where he dug up the graves of the Parthian kings and scattered their ashes. Artaban agreed to peace and greeted the emperor friendly; but during the feast, Caracalla ordered to attack the barbarians and kill them, and the king managed to escape with only a few entourage.

Death

Having devastated and plundered all of Parthia, Caracalla returned and assumed the title of Parthicus. The Parthians were preparing for a new war when the imperial praetorian prefect, Macrinus, plotted against Caracalla and ordered him to be killed on the road from Edessa to Carrhae, April 8, 217. From the reign of Caracalla, the huge ruins of the baths (Thermae Antoninianae), with unprecedented splendor built by Caracalla, have been preserved east of the Aventine Hill. A zealous propagator of the cult of Isis, Caracalla persecuted Christians much less than his father. Caracalla had no offspring. His biography was written by Spartian; his contemporary, Cassius Dio, and Herodian have a lot of information about him.

186-217) - Roman emperor from 211, from the Severan dynasty. The policy of putting pressure on the Senate, the execution of the nobility, and the beating of the inhabitants of Alexandria who opposed additional recruitment into the army caused discontent and led to the murder of Caracalla by the conspirators.

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CARACALLA

211 - 217 Caracalla (more correctly Caracalla) (211-17) is the nickname of the eldest son of Septimius Severus, derived from the name of the long-skirted Gallic robe, which he introduced into fashion in Rome. At birth (in 198) he was named Julius Bassian in honor of his mother's father, Julia Domna. In 195, his father declared him Caesar and named him Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. He received the title of Augustus in 198, and in 208 he went with his family to Britain, since, due to his father's illness, he personally led the last campaign in Caledonia, where he tried to create a good name for himself among the soldiers. In 211, after the death of Severus, Caracalla and Geta inherited the throne as co-rulers, following the half-century-old precedent set by Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus. Having completed the campaign in Britain - and much more successfully than their critics believed - both rulers returned to Rome. However, they strongly disliked each other, and Domna’s attempts to reconcile them were unsuccessful. Soon Caracalla killed Geta. This assassination, however, did not meet with approval among the Praetorians, since some of them remembered that they had sworn allegiance to both emperors. At first they showed signs of serious resistance. But then, as Cassius Dion, a senior senator at the time, points out, Caracalla turned to them with energetic assurances: “Rejoice, comrades, for now I am able to honor you! I am one of you, because it is only for your sake that I want to live, in order to bestow upon you many blessings. All treasures are yours. I promise to live with you as long as possible, if not, at least die with you. For I am not afraid of death and would like to end my days on the battlefield. Only there should a man die, nowhere else!” But Caracalla understood that material benefits for the praetorians were more important than incendiary speeches, and paid them a reward of 2,500 denarii each, and also increased their allowance by fifty percent. In addition, he raised the pay of the legionnaires from 500 denarii, established by his father, to 675 or 750, and in the same proportions for the rest of the troops. Since in those years inflation quickly turned these amounts into small pocket money, he ordered a constant increase in the size of soldiers' food rations. At the same time, significant changes took place in the top military leadership due to the elimination of military leaders who supported Geta or tried to stay on the sidelines. Among the victims was the praetorian prefect Papinian. The secret police and courier communications were headed by Ulpius Julian and Julian Nestor. Caracalla also introduced a provision according to which no province had the right to form troops of more than two legions, that is, the governors could not have military power sufficient for an uprising of threatening proportions. Twenty-four legions were distributed among twelve provinces, and the remaining nine legions (one of them in Italy) were distributed one at a time to different points of the Empire. In 213, the emperor went to Germany, where a large tribal alliance of the Alemanni (it was at that time that he was first mentioned among the enemies of Rome) created a serious threat to the Tithe Fields, located between the upper reaches of the Rhine and Danuvium. Caracalla defeated the Alemanni at the Battle of the Main, although his critics claimed that he had simply paid himself off (and he did pursue a policy of securing peace through handouts). It was customary to condemn such a practice in Rome, but it was cheaper than the costs of the war and delayed the German raids for two decades. The psychological factor also played an important role: Caracalla was an emperor of a new type and did not hate the Germans, showing some sympathy for them, and even wore a blond wig in imitation of the Germans. Caracalla's adherence to this non-Roman style (like the long Gallic cloaks from which he received his nickname) was only an outward manifestation of a widespread custom of the time, namely, a sharp decline in the prestige of everything Roman and Italic. It was reflected in the most famous legal statute of antiquity, named after the emperor, the Antoninian Constitution. This edict granted the entire population of the Empire, with the exception of slaves, the status of Roman citizens, which until then had remained the privilege of the inhabitants of Italy and the relatively small elite of the provinces. As for the army, this legislation eliminated the traditional distinction between citizen legionnaires and stateless auxiliary soldiers, thereby establishing the principle of equality and uniformity, although the decline in the prestige of the legions made it difficult to attract ambitious men to military service. The main benefit was financial, since the decree led to an increase in the number of people obliged to pay indirect taxes on inheritance and for the freeing of slaves - these payments were made only by Roman citizens. In general, the state of finances gave Caracalla constant concern (in order to gain some benefit, he began issuing coins of reduced quality, the so-called antonians, which were one and a half times heavier than denarii and had twice the nominal value). As for the differences between citizens and non-citizens, by that time they had already begun to blur, and jurists preferred to divide the population into two main social classes: the nobility and the common people. Thus, with all the significance of Caracalla’s legislation, it should be remembered that it was also the most important step in the process of eliminating the privileges of citizenship. In material terms, the equalization of rights was expressed, for example, in the construction of huge baths for the population in Rome, which were named after Caracalla, although they began to be built under the North. Surrounded by continuous gardens with open-air gymnastics areas and works of art, the main building of the Baths of Caracalla, equipped with hydraulic, heating and drainage devices, was designed for one thousand six hundred bathers. The central part was a hall with a swimming pool under a high concrete vault supported by four huge pillars of the same material. The hall itself was so large (56 by 24 meters) that the people in its vastness seemed like dwarfs - a new era was beginning when everyone became equal among a mass of equals. Caracalla thought in global categories. Judging by the works of the sculptors who created his busts in the Baroque style, he preferred to see himself in the image of the Sun God or Alexander the Great, who conquered the whole world and gave him universal citizenship. Accordingly, he made plans to conquer Parthia, which even Trajan failed to do. In 214, Caracalla assembled a huge army on Danubia for an eastern campaign, including sixty thousand men in phalanxes equipped like the Macedonians of former times. The following year, the emperor invaded Parthia and successfully expanded the boundaries of the Mesopotamian province, but the attempt to conquer Armenia was fruitless. In 216, Caracalla began a campaign in Media, but was forced to return to the Mesopotamian borders. At this time, the praetorian co-prefect Macrinus, who was in charge of the imperial correspondence, realized from his master's letters that his own life was in danger. Therefore, when Caracalla, during a horseback ride from Edessa to Carrhae (he wanted to visit the temple of the Moon god located in this city), dismounted to relieve himself, one of the soldiers, on the orders of Macrinus, struck him with a dagger, and the guard officers finished the job. Dio Cassius noted that the attitude of the senators towards Caracalla was extremely critical. The emperor was cunning, quick-witted and did not hesitate to use violence, having inherited these qualities from his father. He was fascinated by physical exercise: he loved horse racing, swimming and enjoyed bloody competitions. Caracalla used to say without hesitation whatever came into his head, without asking for advice or opinion from experts. Cassius Dio believed that Caracalla had a sick body and a clouded mind.

In 193, the Severan 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 Magna (the territory of modern Libya). Being a provincial, he spoke Latin with an African accent. But this did not stop him from ingratiating himself with Emperor Marcus Aurelius. Thanks to the latter, Septimius made a brilliant career, and at the beginning of April 193, the Roman legions proclaimed him emperor.

Sever 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 children's mother was Yulia Domna, a Syrian by origin.

There is a legend that on the day Geta was born, a Lugdunum hen laid a purple egg. Baby Bassian broke this egg, and Julia Domna said with a laugh: “You killed your brother!” But perhaps this legend was invented after the tragic death of Goeth. As for Bassian, over time he dressed himself 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 that Caesar loved to wear.

It should be noted that, according to Tertullian, Bassian was nursed with her milk by a Christian woman. It is quite possible that the same Christian woman nursed Goeth a year later. And the elder brother was later given the name Antonin, thereby bringing him closer to the extinct Antonin dynasty. Septimius Severus himself claimed, pointing to his beard, similar to the one 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 followed their father to Rome, they began to lead the dissolute life of golden youth. They spent their time on suspicious acquaintances in the circus, affairs with comedians, playing dice, and drinking. Antonin even pestered the Vestals with vile proposals. And one vestal virgin named Claudia Lota was accused of debauchery when she refused intimate intimacy to an arrogant youth. According to Antonin's denunciation, this woman, according to ancient custom, was buried alive in the ground.

Caracalla and Geta

It must be said that from a young age the sons of the North hated each other. Antonin could not stand Geta, and he reciprocated in the same way. What one liked, another hated. Even the death of their father on February 4, 211 in Britain did not bring the young people closer together. When they returned back to Italy, they spent the night in different hotels along the way, because 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 their mutual hatred, Antonin 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 the mother, Yulia Domna, intervened. She said, “You can divide the land, but how will you divide your mother?”

Each brother started his own guard, and the emperors lived at different ends of the palace. They barely communicated and hated each other. But such a confrontation could not last long. Taking into account the fact that Antonin 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 security and come to a peaceful agreement with each other. Geta was the first to come to Julia Domna's chambers. He sat down at his mother's feet and laid his head on her lap. The second to enter was the elder brother. He approached Geta and stabbed him with a dagger right in front of Julia. After this, the killer ran out to the legionnaires and shouted that, by the grace of the gods, he had just been saved from the machinations of his younger brother.

After this, they immediately began to distribute money to the soldiers, and they willingly believed in the emperor’s statement. In principle, they didn't care who wore purple, as long as that person paid generously. But the Roman Senate did not express its readiness to show enthusiasm. And then Antonin turned to the famous Roman lawyer Papinian to speak before the Senate and justify the fratricide of Caracalla.

Caracalla kills his brother Get in the presence of his mother

But the lawyer completely refused, and then the legionnaires killed him. After this, many people who were friendly towards Geta died. Among them was even the daughter of Marcus Aurelius Lucilla. They said that Yulia Domna, splashed 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 murder of his 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 behest, which said: “If there are soldiers for you, then you can’t give a damn about others.”

The emperor appeared before the legionnaires in simple clothes, regularly gave them generous monetary gifts, and during campaigns he behaved like an ordinary warrior. He dug trenches, participated in building bridges and building fortifications. He ate simple food, 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. There were always two generals under Antoninus: Advent and Macrinus. The emperor revered the first, but openly mocked the second for his passion for good food and elegant clothes. He called him an effeminate coward and threatened to kill him on occasion.

Thus, Antonin made friends with 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 huge country were in a terrible state, since huge amounts of money were spent on rewards for soldiers and gifts to barbarian leaders.

In order to somehow improve matters, lighter gold coins began to be minted. From one pound of gold they made 50 pieces. The silver denarius also became lighter. But soon all the coins became copper, barely covered with gold or silver.

In 212, Caracalla gave Roman citizenship to all 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. With this act, the emperor tried to win over all the peoples inhabiting the vast empire. At the same time, the emperor had no luck in military campaigns. And he, flirting with the inhabitants of the provinces, was distinguished by extreme impulsiveness and unpredictability.

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 varied and expensive goods flocked to it. From Ethiopia - golden sand, ivory, turtles. From Arabia - fragrances and spices. From India, merchants brought spices, precious stones, and 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, and Bactrians lived in it. Twelve streets of this city were directed towards the sea. And the main Kanopskaya street was decorated with continuous colonnades. In the city, the ashes of Alexander the Great rested in a glass coffin filled with honey.

Arriving in Alexandria, the Roman emperor Caracalla was inspired to create an Alexandrian phalanx similar to the Macedonian one. He ordered a camp to be created outside the city and as many young men as possible to be summoned there. Greeks, Syrians, and Jews gathered. They lived in a rich city, and therefore behaved independently and confidently.

The emperor began to give a speech, but this time his listeners were not illiterate legionnaires, but educated young people who understood the art of oratory. Antonin's performance caused ridicule from them. Someone even shouted: “Greetings to you, Getian conqueror!” Hearing this, the emperor turned pale, lowered the scroll on which the speech was written and, barely restraining his rage, said to the prefect: “What is this? Drive the idlers out of the camp. They forgot who is in front of them and where they are.”

Warriors immediately appeared and began beating the young men on the heads with spear shafts. Panic set in. People rushed to flee to the city. The cavalry chased after them. The sight of them running excited the horsemen, like dogs chasing game. The brutal beating of the unarmed began. It continued on the city streets. Roman legionaries burst into the city and began to destroy shopping arcades, warehouses, and set fire to houses. The Alexandria Museum also caught fire, and many books were lost in the fire.

This is how life was under the Roman Emperor Caracalla. No one felt safe, and a careless word could cost anyone dearly. 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 lay in 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 traders suffered extremely from this. If Antoninus had defeated the Parthians, then the caravan routes would have come under Roman control, 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, his 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 this, he planned to conclude a trade alliance beneficial to both sides. However, Ctesiphon decided not to link the fate of the royal daughter with a vicious and unbalanced person. Upon learning of the refusal, Antonin flew into a rage and decided to start a military campaign, which was enthusiastically received in Antioch.

Macrinus organized the murder of Caracalla, and 3 days after this he was proclaimed emperor by the Roman legionnaires

The best Roman legions moved to Parthia. They reached the right bank of the Tigris and began to plunder and devastate the western regions of the country. The Parthian military units 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 caused a bloody massacre. Artaban miraculously escaped with a small group of subjects.

After such treachery, the Parthians gathered a powerful army and marched against the enemy. And then the military leader Macrinus, always humiliated by the emperor, entered the historical arena. He entered into an agreement with two tribunes and prepared an assassination attempt on the emperor. Martiallis, who was one of Caesar's personal guards, was chosen as the executor. He stabbed Antonin to death on April 8, 217, when he was traveling from Edessa to Carrhae (northern Mesopotamia). Thus ended the life of the pathologically cruel and hated tyrant, nicknamed Caracalla.

Septimius Bassianus, the eldest son of Septimius Severus, was renamed by his father as Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, and went down in history under the name of Caracalla (he wore a robe with that name). His mother was Julia Domna, Phoenician by birth, daughter of Bassian, 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 governor of Pannonia, commanded the Roman legions stationed on the banks of the Danube and Rhine when he seized imperial power in 193.

In 196, his father proclaimed Septimius Bassianus Caesar and gave him the name Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, whom he considered the greatest of emperors. According to the ancient historian Herodian, author of the “History of Imperial Power after Mark,” both sons of Septimius Severus were spoiled by luxury and the metropolitan lifestyle, an excessive passion for spectacle, and a commitment to equestrian competitions and dancing.

As a child, Caracalla was distinguished by his gentle disposition and friendliness, but as he grew out of childhood, he became withdrawn, gloomy and arrogant. Since childhood, the brothers have been at enmity with each other, and over the years this enmity has acquired a truly pathological character.

Septimius Severus married Caracalla to the daughter of his favorite Plautian. The new princess gave her husband huge sums of money as a dowry. There were so many of them that, as they say, the dowry of fifty queens could have been equal.

According to the will of the founder of the dynasty, approved by the Senate and recognized by the Praetorian Guard and legions, both sons of Septimius Severus were declared Augusti - the eldest son of Caracalla and the younger Geta. Such dual power turned out to be fraught with grave consequences, and was a definite miscalculation of the experienced Septimius Severus. He believed that the rule of his two sons would strengthen the dynasty and allow him to balance the hard-willed character of Caracalla with the softness and caution of Geta, but it turned out the opposite. An irreconcilable struggle immediately broke out between the brothers and the court cliques behind them. The attempt of their mother Julia Domna to reconcile the sons-emperors was unsuccessful.

After the solemn funeral of Septimius Severus in Rome, his sons divided the imperial palace in half and “they both began to live in it, tightly sealing all the passages that were not in sight; they used only the doors leading to the street and to the courtyard freely, and each put out his own guard." Openly hating each other, everyone did everything they could to somehow get rid of their brother and get all the power into their own hands. Most Romans leaned toward Geta because he gave the impression of being a decent person: he showed modesty and gentleness towards those who addressed him. Caracalla showed cruelty and irritability in everything. Julia Domna was powerless to reconcile them with each other.

Having quarreled like this for some time, the brothers were completely ready to divide the empire among themselves in order not to plot against each other, remaining together all the time. They decided that the eastern part of the state, with its capital in Antioch or Alexandria, should go to Goethe, and the western part, with its center in Rome, should go to Caracalla. But when Julia Domna was informed about this agreement, she, with her tears and persuasion, convinced them to abandon such a disastrous undertaking. By this she may have saved the Romans from a new civil war, but she doomed her own son to death.

Hatred and rivalry between the brothers grew. According to Herodian, they “tried all kinds of treachery, tried to negotiate with the cupbearers and cooks so that they would throw some kind of poison to the other. But nothing worked for them, because everyone was on the alert and very careful.” Finally, Caracalla could not stand it: instigated by the thirst for autocracy, he decided to act with the sword and murder. The 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 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 to him his best intentions and reconcile with him.

The chambers of the empress, considered holy according to the laws of the empire, became the site of the bloody massacre of 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 save him. Mortally wounded Geta, pouring blood on Julia's chest, lost his life. And Caracalla, having carried out the murder, jumped out of the bedroom and ran through the entire palace, shouting that he had barely escaped 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, and also to increase the allowance they received by one and a half times. He ordered to immediately take this money from the temples and treasuries, and thus in one day mercilessly squandered everything that Septimius Severus had been saving for eighteen years. The warriors declared Antoninus the only emperor, and Geta was declared an enemy.

When Caracalla killed Geta, he, fearing that fratricide would cover him with shame as a tyrant and, having learned that the horror of this crime could be mitigated by proclaiming his brother divine, they say, said: “Let him be divine, as long as he is not alive!” He ranked him among the gods, and therefore popular rumor somehow reconciled with the fratricide.

Caracalla dealt savagely with everyone who could be suspected of sympathizing with Goethe. Senators who were well-born or richer were killed for the slightest reason, or for no reason at all - it was enough to declare them adherents of Geta. Papinian, a man of whom the entire empire was proud, this lawyer, an unyielding defender of the laws, was also executed for refusing to publicly justify this murder in the Senate.

Soon all the brother’s relatives and friends were killed, as well as those who lived in the palace on its half; the servants were killed all; age, even infancy, was not taken into account. Openly mocking, the corpses of the dead were carried down together, put on carts and taken out of the city, where, having piled them up, they burned them, or even simply threw them away, as necessary. In general, everyone whom Geta knew even a little died. They destroyed athletes, drivers, performers of all kinds of musical works - in a word, everyone who delighted his eyes and ears.

Of the senators, all representatives of patrician families died. Antonin also 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 a variety of people. He buried the Vestals alive in the ground because they allegedly did not observe virginity. They say 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 spectators, take out and kill everyone who spoke ill of his favorite. Since it was impossible to separate the guilty from the innocent, the soldiers mercilessly removed and killed the first ones they came across. Having embarked on the path of terror, Caracalla even got rid of his wife Plautilla; in 205 she was sent into exile, and in 212 she was killed.

After the bloody massacre, Caracalla continued the policies of his father 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 destruction of commercial villas and slave farms and the enormous costs of a swelling army, numbering up to half a million people. Moreover, expenses for the army grew in connection with the policy of patronage that was outlined by the founder of the dynasty. Under Caracalla, pay was again increased for all categories of military personnel. Allowing legionnaires to have a legal family, rent land and start a household undoubtedly required funds, and the Empire had to provide them. The existing revenues to the treasury were no longer enough to pay all budget expenses, and Caracalla followed the path already outlined under the Antonines and accepted by his father Septimius Severus - he ordered copper to be added to silver in large quantities (up to 80% of the weight). Thus, more coins began to be minted from one amount of silver, but they practically became worthless.

In 212, the imperial edict was promulgated - the Antoninian Constitution (from the official name of Caracalla - Marcus Aurelius Severus Antoninus), according to which almost all free inhabitants of the Empire (with rare exceptions) received the rights of Roman citizenship. Thus, Roman citizenship - the most privileged status of a resident of the Empire, for which the Italians and the provincial aristocracy fought for centuries - was granted from above and overnight to almost all free people, including the barbarian outlying peoples who 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, since new citizens had to pay numerous taxes. Finally, the granting of Roman citizenship made it possible to unify the entire system of administration, legal proceedings, and application of laws at all levels of the vast Empire. Ultimately, this led to the transformation of a full and privileged Roman citizen into an imperial subject without rights and burdened with various duties and obligations.

The name of Caracalla in Rome was preserved by the 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 area and represented a powerful complex of various rooms for washing and bathing with hot and cold water. At the baths there were also libraries, grounds for sports exercises and a park; the inside of the baths were luxuriously decorated with marble and mosaics.

Caracalla devoted a lot of time and energy to military activities in Europe and the East. He was not so much a reasonable commander as a hardy warrior.

In the spring of 213, Caracalla went to Gaul. Arriving there, he immediately killed the Narbonese proconsul. Having brought into confusion all those in command in Gaul, he incurred hatred as a tyrant. Having committed many injustices, he fell ill with a serious illness. He showed extraordinary cruelty towards those who looked after him. Then, on his way to the East, he stopped in Dacia. Caracalla was the first Roman emperor, who, according to Herodian, was marked by obvious barbarism. “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 in a cloak with silver embroidery, which the Germans themselves wear. He put on his blond hair and combed his hair them in Germanic. The barbarians rejoiced, looking at all this, and loved him extremely. The Roman soldiers, too, could not get enough of him, especially thanks to the increases in his salary, which he did not skimp on, and also because he behaved completely like a warrior: he was the first to dig, if it was necessary to dig ditches, build a bridge across a river or fill a rampart, and in general he was the first to take on any task that required hands and physical strength. He ate simple military food and even ground grain himself, kneaded dough and baked bread "On campaigns, he most often walked on foot, rarely sat in a cart 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 everyone of conspirators, he constantly questioned the oracles, sent everywhere for magicians, astrologers, and fortune-tellers from the entrails of sacrificial animals, so that he did not miss a single one of those who undertake such divination.”

The ferocious, wild and stupid Caracalla could not hold in his hands the rich heritage of Septimius Severus.

When he dealt with the camps on the Danube and moved to Thrace, which is adjacent to Macedonia, he immediately began to identify himself with Alexander and ordered his images and statues to be erected in all cities. His eccentricities reached the point that he began to dress like a Macedonian: he wore a white wide-brimmed hat on his head and put 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 distributed to their commanders the names of Alexander’s generals.

From Thrace, Caracalla crossed to Asia, stayed for some time in Antioch, and then arrived in Alexandria. The Alexandrians received Antonin 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 that the townspeople showered on 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 subjected them to total extermination. The murder 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 done this with the city, he returned to Antioch in order to start a war with the Parthians.

To better hide his plans, he wooed the daughter of the Parthian king. Having received consent to the marriage, Caracalla entered Mesopotamia unhindered as a future son-in-law, and then suddenly attacked those who came out to greet him. Having killed many people and plundered cities and villages, the Romans returned to Syria with great booty. For this shameful raid, Antoninus received the nickname “Parthian” from the Senate.

In the midst of preparations for new hostilities with Parthiria, on April 8, 217, Caracalla was killed by Macrinus, his praetorian prefect (chief of the guard), who seized imperial power and took his son Diadumen as co-ruler. Although Macrinus did not retain power, it became clear that already a barbarian and a simple warrior could become an emperor.

In Rome, according to the same Herodian, “not everyone was so happy about the inheritance of power by Macrinus as everyone rejoiced and publicly celebrated the deliverance from Caracalla. And everyone, especially those who occupied a prominent position or were in charge of some business, thought he had thrown off the sword hanging over his head."

Mother: Yulia Domna Spouse: Fulvia Placilla Children: No

Septimius Bassian Caracalla(lat. Septimius Bassianus Caracalla; April 4, 188 - April 8, 217) - Roman emperor from the Severan dynasty. Son of Septimius Severus, brother of Geta. Ruled from 211 to 217 AD. 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, he was born in the capital of Gaul, Lugdunum, on April 4, 188. His original name, Bassian, was changed to Marcus Aurelius Antoninus in 196, when his father proclaimed him Caesar; the nickname is Caracalla, or Caracal (lat. Caracallus), comes 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 tribune and Augustus. In 202 he was appointed consul, and in the following year he married, at the behest of his father, Fulvia Plaucilla, the wealthy daughter of Plaucianus; he, however, hated both his father-in-law and his wife and was the cause of the former's death in 204.

Already extremely dissolute and self-willed before the death of his father-in-law, 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, irreconcilable hatred reigned between both brothers, fanned by the courtiers.

When news arrived 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 accompanied his father to Northern Scotland, in some cases he himself commanded the army, but all his thoughts were focused only on preparing for himself a autocracy.

He persecuted his brother and slandered him, wanted to stir up a rebellion in the army against his father, he himself once raised a sword against him and, as they said, accelerated his death with poison (February 4, 211).

Despite his convictions, the troops, remembering the wishes of the North, proclaimed both brothers emperors. Caracalla immediately made peace with the barbarians, led the army out of their country, cleared the fortresses founded by the North, went to his brother and mother and, having apparently made peace 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 their own guard; they thought of dividing the empire, but their mother opposed this. Caracalla's plans to free himself from his brother failed; finally he asked his mother to invite them both to his room for reconciliation, and here, in his mother’s arms, Geta was killed (December 26, 211).

Sole board

After the murder, as if seeking protection, he fled to the camp to the soldiers, gave them the treasures collected by his father for plunder, and was proclaimed the sole emperor. The soldiers and courtiers of the Getae, numbering up to 20,000, were killed. Among those killed was Papinian, a famous lawyer and friend of Severus. Caracalla asked him to speak in the Senate to justify the murder, hoping that the famous lawyer would find convincing arguments. But Papinian replied: “It is easier to do than to justify.” In 212, Caracalla gave all residents of the Roman Empire the rights of Roman citizenship, for purposes, however, exclusively financial. He raised the old taxes, extorted money from whomever he could, especially from senators, who were obliged to follow him everywhere.

In Gaul, Caracalla waged an inglorious war with the Alemanni and Valeni, but nevertheless adopted 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 moved 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. Gumilev. The cycle “Emperor Caracalla” from the collection of poems “Romantic Flowers” ​​()
• G. Ebers. “The Thorny Path (Caracalla)” (1892, “Per aspera”).

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Notes

Literature

1. A. D. Panteleev.(Russian) . Research and publications on the history of the ancient world. 2006. .
2. R.V. Kovylina.(Russian) . Young scientist. 2011. .
3. R.Varga.(English) . Center for Classical Studies. 2011. .

Links

Principate 27 BC e. - 235 A crisis 235-284 Dominant 284-395 Western Empire 395-480 Eastern Empire 395-476 (before the fall of Rome)

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 everyone; she was purely peace-loving and conservative.
It was for a great purpose, for the end of chance and the beginning of peace. A new horizon, new works would open, full of prosperity and well-being for all. The European system would have been founded, the only question would be its establishment.
Satisfied in these great matters and everywhere calm, I too would have my congress and my sacred alliance. These are the thoughts that were stolen from me. In this meeting of great sovereigns, we would discuss our interests as a family and would take into account the peoples, like a scribe with an owner.
Europe would indeed soon constitute one and the same people, and everyone, traveling anywhere, would always be in a common homeland.
I would argue that all rivers should be navigable for everyone, that the sea should be common, that permanent, large armies should be reduced solely to the guards of sovereigns, etc.
Returning to France, to my homeland, great, strong, magnificent, calm, glorious, I would proclaim its borders unchanged; any future defensive war; any new spread is anti-national; I would add my son to the government of the empire; my dictatorship would end and 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 time and last days would be devoted, with the help of the Empress and during the royal upbringing of my son, to little by little visiting, like a real village couple, on our own horses, all corners of the state, receiving complaints, eliminating injustices, dispersing all sides and everywhere buildings and blessings.]
He, destined by Providence for the sad, unfree role of the executioner of nations, assured himself that the purpose of his actions was the good of the peoples and that he could guide the destinies of millions and do good deeds through power!
“Des 400,000 hommes qui passerent la Vistule,” he wrote further about 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 composed of the Dutch, Belgians, residents of the banks of the Rhine, Piedmontese, Swiss, Genevans, Tuscans, Romans, residents of the 32nd military division, Bremen, Hamburg, etc.; there were hardly 140,000 French speakers. The Russian expedition cost France proper less than 50,000 men; the Russian army in 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 march 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 darkened mind saw justification in the fact that among the hundreds of thousands of people who died there were fewer French than Hessians and Bavarians.

Several tens of thousands of people lay dead in different positions and uniforms in the fields and meadows that belonged to the Davydovs and state-owned peasants, in those fields and meadows in which for hundreds of years the peasants of the villages of Borodin, Gorki, Shevardin and Semyonovsky had simultaneously harvested crops and grazed livestock. At the dressing stations, about a tithe of space, the grass and soil were soaked in 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 their leaders, moved forward. Still others stood still and continued to shoot.
Over the entire field, previously so cheerfully beautiful, with its sparkles of bayonets and smoke in the morning sun, there now stood a haze of dampness and smoke and smelled of the strange acidity of saltpeter and blood. Clouds gathered and rain began to fall on the dead, on the wounded, on the frightened, and on the exhausted, and on the doubting people. It was as if he was saying: “Enough, enough, people. Stop it... 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 arose equally: “Why, for whom should I kill and be killed? Kill whoever you want, do whatever you want, but I don’t want any more!” By evening this thought had equally matured in everyone’s soul. At any moment 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 action, although they would have been glad to stop, some incomprehensible, mysterious force still continued to guide them, and, sweaty, covered in gunpowder and blood, left one by three, the artillerymen, although and stumbling and gasping from fatigue, they brought charges, loaded, aimed, applied wicks; and the cannonballs flew just as quickly and cruelly from both sides and flattened the human body, and that terrible thing continued to happen, which is done not by the will of people, but by the will of the one who leads people and worlds.
Anyone who looked at the upset behinds of the Russian army would say that the French only have to make one more small effort, and the Russian army will disappear; and anyone who looked at the behinds of the French would say that the Russians only have to make one more small effort, and the French will 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 were not the ones who attacked 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 was to shoot 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 was not injured in the battle, and the Russians, remaining in their places , lost half of their army.
The French, with the memory of all the previous victories of fifteen years, with the confidence of Napoleon's invincibility, with the consciousness that they had captured part of the battlefield, that they had lost only one-quarter of their men and that they still had twenty thousand intact guards, it was easy to make this effort. The French, who attacked the Russian army in order to knock 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 French goal was not achieved and all their efforts and the losses were wasted. But the French did not make this effort. Some historians say that Napoleon should have given his old guard intact in order for the battle to be won. Talking about what would have happened if Napoleon had given his guard is the same as talking about what would have happened if spring had turned into autumn. This couldn't happen. Napoleon did not give his guards, because he did not want it, but this could not be done. All the generals, officers, and soldiers of the French army knew that this could not be done, because the fallen spirit of the army did not allow it.