Dr. Alex Imrie

gladiator one where we have i think it's derrick jacobi give us the voice of the senate who are none too impressed with the the rather showy flashy wannabe gladiator that is the emperor commodus and we have this sense that commodus is kind of just going from one small crisis to another across the 180s And this culminates around the year 191, where we have a great fire in Rome as well.

So nothing seems to be going tremendously well for Commodus, and he is assassinated at the very close of the year 192. So when Caracalla and Geta are born in the late 180s, they're in an empire that is, I think, in the midst of what will become painful change. It's a painful transitional process. Now, They couldn't have predicted that, obviously, at this point.

So nothing seems to be going tremendously well for Commodus, and he is assassinated at the very close of the year 192. So when Caracalla and Geta are born in the late 180s, they're in an empire that is, I think, in the midst of what will become painful change. It's a painful transitional process. Now, They couldn't have predicted that, obviously, at this point.

So nothing seems to be going tremendously well for Commodus, and he is assassinated at the very close of the year 192. So when Caracalla and Geta are born in the late 180s, they're in an empire that is, I think, in the midst of what will become painful change. It's a painful transitional process. Now, They couldn't have predicted that, obviously, at this point.

When Caracal and Geta are born, their father doesn't even seem to be anywhere close to the imperial throne. He is just one of many regional governors. He is the governor of Gallia Lugdunensis, so a section of Gaul, modern-day France, the headquarters or the capital of which is in modern Lyon.

When Caracal and Geta are born, their father doesn't even seem to be anywhere close to the imperial throne. He is just one of many regional governors. He is the governor of Gallia Lugdunensis, so a section of Gaul, modern-day France, the headquarters or the capital of which is in modern Lyon.

When Caracal and Geta are born, their father doesn't even seem to be anywhere close to the imperial throne. He is just one of many regional governors. He is the governor of Gallia Lugdunensis, so a section of Gaul, modern-day France, the headquarters or the capital of which is in modern Lyon.

So it's a fairly cosmopolitan city by Roman standards in the Latin West, and they're probably brought up as relatively well-to-do aristocratic children, in the first couple of years. Now, they moved to Rome before the fatal event.

So it's a fairly cosmopolitan city by Roman standards in the Latin West, and they're probably brought up as relatively well-to-do aristocratic children, in the first couple of years. Now, they moved to Rome before the fatal event.

So it's a fairly cosmopolitan city by Roman standards in the Latin West, and they're probably brought up as relatively well-to-do aristocratic children, in the first couple of years. Now, they moved to Rome before the fatal event.

Absolutely. So brought up in not just Latin, but trained in Greek as well, Greek being pretty much the lingua franca at this point rather than Latin. and given all sorts of insights into the cultural capital that one will need as a well-to-do Roman. So they'll be trained in oratory and rhetoric. They'll be given education about history and philosophy.

Absolutely. So brought up in not just Latin, but trained in Greek as well, Greek being pretty much the lingua franca at this point rather than Latin. and given all sorts of insights into the cultural capital that one will need as a well-to-do Roman. So they'll be trained in oratory and rhetoric. They'll be given education about history and philosophy.

Absolutely. So brought up in not just Latin, but trained in Greek as well, Greek being pretty much the lingua franca at this point rather than Latin. and given all sorts of insights into the cultural capital that one will need as a well-to-do Roman. So they'll be trained in oratory and rhetoric. They'll be given education about history and philosophy.

It's a fairly rounded or multifaceted education for a young up-and-coming Roman child at that point. And they'll have been drilled into with stories of great heroes like Alexander the Great, who will become much lauded by Caracalla in particular later.

It's a fairly rounded or multifaceted education for a young up-and-coming Roman child at that point. And they'll have been drilled into with stories of great heroes like Alexander the Great, who will become much lauded by Caracalla in particular later.

It's a fairly rounded or multifaceted education for a young up-and-coming Roman child at that point. And they'll have been drilled into with stories of great heroes like Alexander the Great, who will become much lauded by Caracalla in particular later.

It's interesting in as much as, from what we can establish in the sources, it doesn't seem like the children follow their father through his later Because Severus, their father, will become governor of Upper Pannonia, so a very militarized region on the Danube frontier.

It's interesting in as much as, from what we can establish in the sources, it doesn't seem like the children follow their father through his later Because Severus, their father, will become governor of Upper Pannonia, so a very militarized region on the Danube frontier.

It's interesting in as much as, from what we can establish in the sources, it doesn't seem like the children follow their father through his later Because Severus, their father, will become governor of Upper Pannonia, so a very militarized region on the Danube frontier.

And he will be in that position in the year 192-193 when Commodus is murdered and we have a variety of crises affecting the empire within a very short order. The children, it seems, are in the city of Rome, from what we can establish. This just reflects the fact that they're not tremendously important characters, maybe in their own right, being so young at this point.