Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (born Lucius Septimius Bassianus, 4 April 188 – 8 April 217), better known by his nickname
Caracalla was Roman emperor from 198 to 217 AD. He was a member of the
Severan dynasty, the elder son of
Emperor Septimius Severus and
Empress Julia Domna.
Publius Septimius Geta was the younger son of Septimius Severus by his second wife Julia Domna. He was born on 7 March in either Rome or Mediolanum, at a time when his father was only a provincial governor at the service of
Emperor Commodus.
On 4 February 211, Septimius Severus died at Eboracum (present day York, England) while on campaign in Caledonia, to the north of Roman Britain. This left his two sons and co-augusti, Caracalla and his brother, Geta, as joint inheritors of their father's throne and empire. Their mother, Julia Domna, who had served as a crucial advisor and confidante to her husband, was able to maintain her political influence over two co-emperors. It is said that on the journey from Britain to Rome the two brothers kept well away from each other, not once lodging in the same house or sharing a common meal.
Their joint rule was a failure. The Imperial Palace was divided into two separate sections, and neither allowed the servants of the other into his own. They only met in the presence of their mother, and with a strong military guard, being in constant fear of assassination. The current stability of their joint government was only through the mediation and leadership of their mother, Julia Domna, accompanied by other senior courtiers and generals in the military. The historian Herodian asserted that the brothers decided to split the empire in two halves, but with the strong opposition of their mother, the idea was rejected, when, by the end of 211, the situation had become unbearable. Caracalla tried unsuccessfully to murder Geta during the festival of Saturnalia (17 December).
On 26 December 211, at a reconciliation meeting arranged by their mother, Geta was assassinated by members of the Praetorian Guard loyal to Caracalla. Geta died in his mother's arms. It is widely accepted, and clearly most likely, that Caracalla ordered the assassination himself, as the two had never been on favourable terms with one another, much less after succeeding their father.
Caracalla then persecuted and executed most of Geta's supporters and ordered a damnatio memoriae pronounced by the Senate against his brother's memory. Geta's image was removed from all paintings, coins were melted down, statues were destroyed, his name was struck from papyrus records, and it became a capital offence to speak or write Geta's name. In the aftermath of the damnatio memoriae, an
estimated 20,000 people were massacred. Those killed were Geta's inner circle of guards and advisers, friends, and other military staff under his employ.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geta_(emperor)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caracalla
