Caracalla was born on 4 April AD 188 in Lugdunum (Lyons), being named Lucius Septimius Bassianus. His last name was given him in honour of the father of his mother Julia Domna, Julius Bassianus, high priest of the sun god El-Gabal at Emesa.
In AD 195, his father, emperor Septimius Severus, declared him Caesar (junior emperor), changing his name to Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. This announcement should spark off a bloody conflict between Severus and Clodius Albinus, the man who had been named Caesar previously.
In AD 208 Caracalla and Geta left for Britain with their father, to campaign in Caledonia. With his father ill, much of the command lay with Caracalla.
However, a blow was dealt to Caracalla's aspirations when in AD 209 Severus did also raise Geta to the rank of Augustus. Evidently their father intended them to rule the empire together.
With the Caledonian campaign at an end the two then headed back for Rome with the ashes of their father. The voyage back home is noteworthy, as neither would even sit at the same table with the other for fear of poisoning.
Back in the capital, they tried to live alongside each other in the imperial palace. Yet so determined were they in their hostility, that they divided the palace in two halves with separate entrances. The
doors which might have connected the two halves were blocked.
Each brother sought to gain the favour of the senate. Either one sought to see his own favourite appointed to any official office which might become available. They also intervened in court cases in order to help their supporters. Even at the circus games, they publicly backed different factions.
Their bodyguards in a constant state of alert, both living in everlasting fear of being poisoned, Caracalla and Geta came to the conclusion that their only way of living as joint emperors was to divide the empire. Geta would take the east, establishing his capital at Antioch or Alexandria, and Caracalla would remain in Rome.
The scheme might have worked. But Julia Domna used her significant power to block it. It is possible that she feared, if they separated, she could no longer keep an eye on them. Most likely though she realized, that this proposal would lead to outright civil war between east and west.
Alas, in late December AD 211 he pretended to seek to reconcile with his brother and so suggested a meeting in the apartment of Julia Domna. Then as Geta arrived unarmed and unguarded, several centurions of Caracalla's guard broke through the door and cut him down. Geta died in his mother's arms.
What, other than hate, drove Caracalla to the murder is unknown. Known as an angry, impatient character, he perhaps simply lost patience. On the other hand, Geta was the more literate of the two, often surrounded by writers and intellects. It is therefore well likely that Geta was making more of an impact with senators than his tempestuous brother. Perhaps even more dangerous to Caracalla, Geta was showing a striking facial similarity to his father Severus. Had Severus been very popular with the military, Geta's star might have been on the rise with them, as the generals believed to detect their old commander in him.
Further to this Caracalla then began hunting down any supporters of Geta. Up to 20'000 are believed to have died in this bloody purge. Friends of Geta, senators, equestrians, a praetorian prefect, leaders of the security services, servants, provincial governors, officers, ordinary soldiers - even charioteers of the faction Geta had supported; all fell victim to Caracalla's vengeance.
Suspicious of the military, CAracalla also now rearranged the way legions were based in the provinces, so that no single province would be host to more than two legions. Clearly this made revolt by provincial governors much more difficult.
However harsh, Caracalla's reign should not only be known for its cruelty. He reformed the monetary system and was an able judge when hearing court cases. But first and foremost of his acts is one of the most famous edicts of antiquity, the Constitutio Antoniniana. By this law, issued in AD 212, everyone in the empire, with the exception of slaves, was granted Roman citizenship.
Then in AD 213 CAracalla went north to the Rhine to deal with the Alemanni who were once more causing trouble in the Agri Decumates, the territory covering the springs of the Danube and Rhine. It was here that the emperor showed a remarkable touch in winning the sympathy of the soldiers. Naturally his pay rises had made him popular. But when with the troops, he marched on foot among the ordinary soldiers, ate the same food ad even ground his own flour with them.
The campaign against the Alemanni was only a limited success. Caracalla defeated them in battle near the river Rhine, but failed to win a decisive victory over them. And so he chose to change tactics and instead sued for peace, promising to pay the barbarians an annual subsidy.
In AD 214 Caracalla then headed east, through Dacia and Thrace to Asia Minor (Turkey).
The winter of AD 214/215 was passed at Nicomedia. In May AD 215 the force reached Antioch in Syria. Most likely leaving his great army behind at Antioch, Caracalla now went on to Alexandria to visit the tomb of Alexander.
It is not known what precisely occurred next in Alexandria, but somehow Caracalla grew enraged. He set the troops which were with him on the people of the city and thousands were massacred in the streets.
AFter this gruesome episode in Alexandria, Caracalla headed back to Antioch, where in AD 216 no fewer than eight legions were waiting for him. With these he now attacked Parthia, which was preoccupied with a bloody civil war. The frontiers of the province of Mesopotamia were pushed further east. Attempts though to overrun Armenia failed. Instead Roman troops marauded across the Tigris into Media and then finally withdrew to Edessa to spend the winter there.
It was Julius Martialis, an officer in the imperial bodyguard, who murdered the emperor on a voyage between Edessa and Carrhae, when he relieved himself out of sight from the other guards.
Caracalla was only 29 at his death. His ashes were sent back to Rome where they were laid to rest in the Mausoleum of Hadrian. He was deified in AD 218.