Caracalla
Bust, National Archaeological Museum, Naples
Roman emperor
Reign	28 January 198 – 8 April 217
Predecessor	Septimius Severus
Successor	Macrinus
Co-rulers	Septimius Severus (198–211) Geta (209–211)
Born	Lucius Septimius Bassianus 4 April 188 Lugdunum
Died	8 April 217 (aged 29) On the road between Edessa and Carrhae
Spouse	Fulvia Plautilla
Names Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Regnal name Imperator Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus[1]
Dynasty	Severan
Father	Septimius Severus
Mother	Julia Domna

Roman imperial dynasties
The Severan Tondo
Severan dynasty
Chronology
Septimius Severus 193–211
Caracalla 198–217
Geta 209–211
Interlude: Macrinus 217–218
—with Diadumenian 218
Elagabalus 218–222
Severus Alexander 222–235
Dynasty
Severan dynasty family tree
All biographies
Succession
Preceded by Year of the Five Emperors   Followed by Crisis of the Third Century

Caracalla (/ˌkærəˈkælə/ KARR-ə-KAL-ə;^[2] 4 April 188 – 8 April 217), formally known as Antoninus (Marcus Aurelius Antoninus), was Roman emperor from 198 to 217. He was a member of the Severan dynasty, the elder son of Septimius Severus and Julia Domna. Co-ruler with his father from 198, he continued to rule with his brother Geta, emperor from 209, after their father's death in 211. His brother was murdered by the Praetorian Guard later that year, supposedly under orders from Caracalla himself, who then reigned afterwards as sole ruler of the Roman Empire. He found administration to be mundane, leaving those responsibilities to his mother, Julia Domna, to attend to. Caracalla's reign featured domestic instability and external invasions by the Germanic peoples.

Caracalla's reign became notable for the Antonine Constitution (Latin: Constitutio Antoniniana), also known as the Edict of Caracalla, which granted Roman citizenship to all free men throughout the Roman Empire. The edict gave all the enfranchised men Caracalla's adopted praenomen and nomen: "Marcus Aurelius". Domestically, Caracalla became known for the construction of the Baths of Caracalla, which became the second-largest baths in Rome; for the introduction of a new Roman currency named the antoninianus, a sort of double denarius; and for the massacres he ordered, both in Rome and elsewhere in the empire. In 216, Caracalla began a campaign against the Parthian Empire. He did not see this campaign through to completion due to his assassination by a disaffected soldier in 217. Macrinus succeeded him as emperor three days later.

The ancient sources portray Caracalla as a tyrant and as a cruel leader, an image that has survived into modernity. Dio Cassius (c. 155 – c. 235) and Herodian (c. 170 – c. 240) present Caracalla as a soldier first and an emperor second. In the 12th century, Geoffrey of Monmouth started the legend of Caracalla's role as the king of Britain. Later, in the 18th century, the works of French painters revived images of Caracalla due to apparent parallels between Caracalla's tyranny and that ascribed to Louis XVI of France (r. 1774–1792). Modern works continue to portray Caracalla as an evil ruler, painting him as one of the most tyrannical of all Roman emperors.