Dr. Alex Imrie

Which, you know, looking aside from the literary agendas of the sources, may well be true. But the act of murder itself is pinned wholly on Caracalla at this point.

Well, you're right. I mean, after murdering Geta, this whole family line about the family being lovey-dovey and unified can no longer hold water. Caracalla engages in the practice that we give the modern label, damnatio memoriae. It's not just a condemnation of the memory, it is an abolition or a destruction of the memory. Now, this is well seen in modern times.

Well, you're right. I mean, after murdering Geta, this whole family line about the family being lovey-dovey and unified can no longer hold water. Caracalla engages in the practice that we give the modern label, damnatio memoriae. It's not just a condemnation of the memory, it is an abolition or a destruction of the memory. Now, this is well seen in modern times.

Well, you're right. I mean, after murdering Geta, this whole family line about the family being lovey-dovey and unified can no longer hold water. Caracalla engages in the practice that we give the modern label, damnatio memoriae. It's not just a condemnation of the memory, it is an abolition or a destruction of the memory. Now, this is well seen in modern times.

For example, in Stalinist Russia, you have the idea of the vanishing commissars, people just disappearing out photographs. In antiquity, it usually involved defacement, destruction of statuary, inscription which recorded their names. Any kind of public presentation of that condemned figure was eligible for destruction or vandalism.

For example, in Stalinist Russia, you have the idea of the vanishing commissars, people just disappearing out photographs. In antiquity, it usually involved defacement, destruction of statuary, inscription which recorded their names. Any kind of public presentation of that condemned figure was eligible for destruction or vandalism.

For example, in Stalinist Russia, you have the idea of the vanishing commissars, people just disappearing out photographs. In antiquity, it usually involved defacement, destruction of statuary, inscription which recorded their names. Any kind of public presentation of that condemned figure was eligible for destruction or vandalism.

And Caracalla is renowned to have engaged in the most violent, the most extensive, the most virulent example of damnatio memoriae during the Roman imperial period. Our literary sources tell us that not even the coinage which bears Geta's devices was spared from Caracalla's wrath. He attacks statues.

And Caracalla is renowned to have engaged in the most violent, the most extensive, the most virulent example of damnatio memoriae during the Roman imperial period. Our literary sources tell us that not even the coinage which bears Geta's devices was spared from Caracalla's wrath. He attacks statues.

And Caracalla is renowned to have engaged in the most violent, the most extensive, the most virulent example of damnatio memoriae during the Roman imperial period. Our literary sources tell us that not even the coinage which bears Geta's devices was spared from Caracalla's wrath. He attacks statues.

There's a scene where, I think it's Dio tells us, Caracalla literally with a sword himself hacks at statues bearing Geta's likeness and image. We have evidence from our coinage that survives that it has been brought back in, counter-stamped. Bits of Geta's face have been chiseled off the coins. His inscription around Rome is completely wiped out.

There's a scene where, I think it's Dio tells us, Caracalla literally with a sword himself hacks at statues bearing Geta's likeness and image. We have evidence from our coinage that survives that it has been brought back in, counter-stamped. Bits of Geta's face have been chiseled off the coins. His inscription around Rome is completely wiped out.

There's a scene where, I think it's Dio tells us, Caracalla literally with a sword himself hacks at statues bearing Geta's likeness and image. We have evidence from our coinage that survives that it has been brought back in, counter-stamped. Bits of Geta's face have been chiseled off the coins. His inscription around Rome is completely wiped out.

There's a really good example of this on the Arch of the Silversmiths in modern central Rome, where you can see on the actual arch, the inscription has been chiseled out, and there's a very very conspicuous gap on the family portraits where Geta would have been. And that's kind of the point. It's not an erasure to make everybody forget, so to speak.

There's a really good example of this on the Arch of the Silversmiths in modern central Rome, where you can see on the actual arch, the inscription has been chiseled out, and there's a very very conspicuous gap on the family portraits where Geta would have been. And that's kind of the point. It's not an erasure to make everybody forget, so to speak.

There's a really good example of this on the Arch of the Silversmiths in modern central Rome, where you can see on the actual arch, the inscription has been chiseled out, and there's a very very conspicuous gap on the family portraits where Geta would have been. And that's kind of the point. It's not an erasure to make everybody forget, so to speak.

It's a deliberate act designed to make people remember that this person is condemned and is damned for eternity. So Yeah, it's a very, very extreme reaction. But it's also a component in Caracalla's new rationale for his regime. He can't claim to be one of the family indivisible anymore. He has to change the narrative.

It's a deliberate act designed to make people remember that this person is condemned and is damned for eternity. So Yeah, it's a very, very extreme reaction. But it's also a component in Caracalla's new rationale for his regime. He can't claim to be one of the family indivisible anymore. He has to change the narrative.

It's a deliberate act designed to make people remember that this person is condemned and is damned for eternity. So Yeah, it's a very, very extreme reaction. But it's also a component in Caracalla's new rationale for his regime. He can't claim to be one of the family indivisible anymore. He has to change the narrative.

And as part of that, Geta is condemned as somebody who plotted against him, somebody who looked to overthrow him. And so the act of damnatio memoria, extreme as it is, is politically consistent.