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Key information:

Official Name: IMPERATOR CAESAR MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONINUS AUGUSTUS

Birthdate: April 4, 188 CE.

(Cassius Dio, Roman History, 79.6)

Birthplace: Lugdunum, Gaul (modern-day Lyon, France).

(Historia Augusta, Life of Septimius Severus, 3)

Reign: Caracalla was named emperor in 198 CE, at the age of 9, on the orders of his father Septimius Severus. Caracalla ruled jointly with his father for a period of thirteen years. When Septimius Severus died on February 4, 211 CE, Caracalla began to rule jointly with his younger brother Geta. After having Geta assassinated on December 26, 211 CE, Caracalla became sole emperor. 

(Cassius Dio, Roman History, 78.1-2)

Marriages:

Fulvia Plautilla (202-205 CE)

(Cassius Dio, Roman History, 78.1)

Children:

Unnamed daughter (by Fulvia Plautilla)

(RIC IV Caracalla 367)

Death: Caracalla was killed by his soldiers on April 8, 217 CE on the road between Edessa and Carrhae (in modern-day Turkey). 

(Cassius Dio, Roman History, 79.6) (Herodian 4.13)

Bust of Caracalla, Altes Museum, Berlin, February 2023
Portrait of Caracalla, Palazzo Massimo, Rome, December 2018
Bust of Caracalla, Musei Capitolini, Rome, April 2019

Famous facts and dates

211
Caracalla ordered the assassination of his younger brother, Geta, in 211 CE. After Geta’s death, Caracalla damned his memory.
(Cassius Dio, Roman History, 78.2)
212
In 212 CE, Caracalla issued the Antonine Constitution. This edict gave all free men in the empire full Roman citizenship.
(Cassius Dio, Roman History, 78.9)
217
Caracalla was assassinated while using the bathroom.
(Herodian 4.13) (Historia Augusta, Life of Antoninus Caracalla, 7)

 

Related monuments in Rome

ARCH OF ARGENTARII
BATHS OF CARACALLA

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Cite this page as: Darius Arya, The American Institute for Roman Culture, “Caracalla,” Ancient Rome Live. Last modified 2/22/2023. https://ancientromelive.org/Caracalla/

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