In his last years Severus had been increasingly concerned with the instability of Caracalla. According to one source he had even considered killing him. Caracalla and the more popular Geta loathed each other, even setting up separate households in the same palace in Rome. In 212 Geta was lured to his mother’s apartments, so leaving his bodyguard behind, and then murdered by Caracalla’s men. Some 20,000 of his supporters were then massacred. Caracalla claimed that he had struck Geta down in self-defence and launched a series of thanksgivings for his salvation from the fabricated assault to make the point. Geta’s name was scratched out from inscriptions (a good example can still be seen on Septimius’ arch in Rome where Geta’s name has been chiselled out), his portraits obliterated, and coins with his image on them withdrawn. Caracalla’s arrogance and brutality are confirmed by an account of a massacre he ordered in Alexandria, apparently on the pretext that the citizens had not shown him proper respect.
Caracalla himself survived until 217 when he was murdered at the behest of his Praetorian Prefect, Macrinus. Although he was not a great commander he had earned some popularity among the soldiers for his readiness to share their hardships while on campaign along the northern borders. The ruins of the vast baths he built in Rome remain (see earlier, pp. 539-40) and his reign is also remembered for the extension of citizenship to all subjects of the empire (except slaves and certain freedmen) through the constitutio Antoniniana. The historian Cassius Dio reports, in a hostile account, that his motive may have been no more than to make all liable to the taxes, such as inheritance tax, paid only by citizens, but the edict may rather have been an attempt to create a communal sense of thanksgiving during his frenzied campaign to conceal his murder of his brother.
Severus’ dynasty lasted until 235. Macrinus, an equestrian known for his integrity and expertise in the law, reigned briefly after Caracalla’s death before the family regained control in the shape of a nephew who shrewdly took the name Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. The power behind the throne was Julia Domna’s sister, the new emperor’s grandmother, who claimed that Marcus Aurelius was Caracalla’s illegitimate son. He proved to be a devotee of an eastern sun god and is normally known by the title of this god, Elagabalus. The cult became an obsession. Elagabalus decked himself out in Chinese silk and a golden tiara. Stories of his sexual tastes as a passive partner in homosexual activities spread fast. In Rome, traditionalists were embarrassed by this display of ‘Persian’ luxury and sensuality and were outraged when Elagabalus proclaimed his god ‘the father of the gods’ in place of Jupiter. The end was inevitable. In 222, Elagabalus’ grandmother had him murdered and provided another grandson, Severus Alexander, then only 13, to take his place. The cult was expunged from Rome. That there was still some residual loyalty to the family of Severus is suggested by Alexander’s survival for another thirteen years, but an inconclusive campaign against the resurgent Persians and the ravaging of the borders by the Alamanni, saw this loyalty eroded. Severus Alexander was murdered by his troops in 235.
World History
