Caracalla, Geta, and Macrinus

The bad sequel of 'Gladiator' in 2024 featured Caracalla, Geta, and Macrinus. Little of the film reflects history.Caracalla and Geta were Roman brothers who became joint emperors upon the death of their father Septimius Severus in 211 AD.

A caracallus was a hooded cloak worn by the Celts of Gaul where Septimius Bassianus was born on April 4, 186 CE. Young Caracalla grew up among them and adapted some of their customs. (such as wearing a caracallus) His father, the future emperor Septimius Severus, served as the Imperial governor. Younger brother Geta was born May 27, 189, at Mediolanum (now Milan). The two boys hated one another. In 193, Septimius Severus was the victor in a complex civil war. On the reverse of a rare gold aureus issued about the year 200, the two boys face one another, with the inscription “Eternity of the Empire.”

In December 195, after his father defeated the usurper Pescennius Niger, Caracalla, aged nine, was given the rank of Caesar, designating him an imperial successor. Publius Septimius Geta was given the rank of Caesar at the age of nine. At the age of 10, Caracalla was raised to the rank of Augustus. (effectively co-emperor) Geta was not promoted to Augustus until 209. Severus died February 4, 211. The palace was soon divided into two hostile armed camps. In December 211, Caracalla invited Geta to a meeting on neutral ground – their mother’s palace apartment. Caracalla’s guards stabbed Geta to death.

Caracalla issued a damnatio memoriae and erased Geta’s name and image from Imperial inscriptions and works. His followers were slaughtered.

Geta appears on a superb aureus struck in 201.

Romans were great fans of chariot races held in the Circus Maximus. A hugely desirable brass sestertius of Caracalla dated to 213 depicts the Circus Maximus in rich detail. Strapped for cash, Caracalla turned to the easiest route to replentishing the treasury, debasing currency. His antoninianus was officially valued at two denarii but initially contained silver worth only about one-and-a-half. By collecting taxes in denarii and making payments in antoniniani, the Imperial treasury realized a profit. Ruinous inflation raged for the rest of the century. The antonianus was eventually reduced to trace amounts of silver. Coins of Caracalla’s last years show an increasingly thick neck and heavy beard. Inscriptions hail his victories over Britons and Germans.

Born about 164 of Berber ancestry in North Africa, Macrinus rose to the high rank of Praetorian Prefect under Caracalla. Macrinus seized the throne after arranging the murder of Caracalla. He died April 8, 217 AD aged 29. Macrinus was captured and executed after a reign of about 14 months.

Despite this brief reign, his coin output was prolific. Born about 208, Marcus Opellius Diadumenianus was the son of Macrinus from an uncertain mother.

Caracalla’s aunt, Julia Maesa, bribed the eastern legions to proclaim her 14-year-old grandson Elagabalus as emperor, using the rumor that the boy was actually Caracalla’s son. After Macrinus was killed, Diadumenian fled but was intercepted and beheaded. He was 10 years old. Diadumenian’s head was sent as a trophy to Elagabalus.