Emperor Karakala is a very interesting emperor, but the official name is Imperator Caesar Marcus Aurelius Severus Antoninus Pius Augustus, and Karakala is a nickname.
His real name is too long, so everyone calls it Karakara.
The etymology of Karakara is because he liked to wear the clothes of the Gaul region, Karakara, and this area may have the same name as Caligula, which is the name of his military boots. Including the fact that he became an adult and became a tyrant.
There is a reason why it became such a long name. First, Imperator means Supreme Military Commander, Caesar Augustus is the name of the emperor, and Septimius, the father of Karakala. It became such a long name because Severus declared that he would succeed Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius Antoninus.
The original name is Lucius Septimius Severus, a member of the Septimius family.
Killing brothers
In the Bible, Abel and Cain's brothers killed each other, but Karakala killed his younger brother, Geta, as soon as he reigned.
He must have hated it because it was right in front of his mother.
Like Nero and Commodus, Karakala has the character of executing his opponent as soon as he doesn't like it, and can be said to be one of the tyrants representing Rome.
It was his father Septimius Severus who put Karakala on the chart, and Karakala was given the status of the next emperor, Imperator Desinanas, when he was only eight years old.
This area may be similar to Aurelius, who spoiled Commodus. Including that his son turned into a tyrant.
Karakala's anger was terrifying, even removing the part of his brother from the family paintings distributed by Emperor Septimius in Rome, and ordering the Senate to be sentenced to erasure. ..
If anything, it is said that his younger brother, who is an adult, and Karakara, who has a fierce temperament, did not get along with each other by nature, but even so, he has a terrible resentment.
It seems that some people were purged just because they were on good terms with Geta, and honestly, it may be worse than Nero and Commodus.
Baths of Caracalla and the Edict of Antoninus
It is these two points that make Karakara famous, and it is for these reasons that the name of Karakara appears in world history textbooks even though it is not really a great achievement.
By the way, it was his father, Emperor Severus, who started the construction of the Baths of Caracalla, and although it was not the achievement of Caracalla, it was certainly completed, so the name remains.
It seems that this was a tremendous entertainment facility, and it also had a library and a theater, so it should be called the original shopping mall.
Perhaps because of the lack of money, Emperor Karakala is trying to reduce the quality of money, which will cause inflation later.
Perhaps it was to increase tax revenues, Karakala gave Roman citizenship to those who lived throughout the territory Antoninus Edict . Is issued.
This time Roman citizenship caused inflation.
It is said that the background to this is that Roman citizens have not volunteered to be soldiers.
Roman citizenship and military service were once a set, but at this time Roman citizens were trying to avoid military service as much as possible. After all, it wasn't obligatory by this time.
Only Roman citizens could become a Roman regular army, so they probably thought that there was no choice but to increase Roman citizens.
Alas, this had little effect.
Roman soldiers are aging and, in fact, continue to weaken, allowing the rise of Germanic mercenaries in later years.
Tyranny and spending
Karakara was at the lowest political level, but his military talent was ok. He is, in fact, he has defeated Germanic opponents and prefers to be on the battlefield.
This was more of a problem from his father's generation than to Karakara, but the improved treatment of his soldiers has significantly increased his spending.
Commodus, who is said to be a tyrant, did not spend money because he did not go to war, but Emperor Karakala spent a lot of money anyway.
Moreover, his personality was messed up as represented by the case of Geta.
In Alexandria, Egypt, thousands of people were slaughtered because they were swearing, and when they ran out of money, they confiscated the property of the wealthy.
Even so, it was popular because it gave preferential treatment to the soldiers ... I wondered if they were killed at the end.
It is said that the perpetrator was a guard who was supposed to protect himself.
As you can see, there is nothing to praise in the reign of Karakala, and the 18th-century Roman historian Edward Gibbon even says that he is an enemy common to all humankind.
The tyrants in Roman history are Nero and Commodus, but Nero still had some good politics, Commodus didn't spend extra money, and the only target of rectification was the humans who aimed at their own lives and the crackdown on Christians. There were still good points, such as not doing.
To be honest, I can hardly find any good points in Karakara.
He may have been good at completing the baths and beating the Germanic, but he would still be one of the worst tyrants in Rome.