The new Hollywood blockbuster Gladiator II features two of Rome's most villainous emperors - the brothers Caracalla and Geta.And in today's episode of The Ancients were delving into the real history of these scheming siblings. Their story is a blood-stained and chilling one. It stretches from their opulent upbringing to their tumultuous rivalry and culminates with a brutal murder in front of their very own mother in 211 AD. Joined by Alex Imrie, Tristan explores how much we really know about Caracalla and Geta, their rise to power and their relationship - or perhaps lack of one.Presented by Tristan Hughes. The producer is Joseph Knight, audio editor is Aidan Lonergan. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.The Ancients is a History Hit podcast.Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. You can take part in our listener survey here.
Chapter 1: Who are Caracalla and Geta in Gladiator II?
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It's early 211 AD. The Roman emperor Septimius Severus lies on his deathbed in York. His two sons, already proclaimed emperors, stand nearby. They're young and roughly the same age. Both have enjoyed incredibly lavish upbringings, driving chariots around Rome, pampered by yes-men, and indulging in the countless luxuries of palace life. But there's one massive problem.
They cannot stand one another. Hatred between these two brothers ran deep. Severus wanted his two sons to rule together, to display peace and harmony, coexisting and cooperating at the peak of power. But these two young men, well, they had a very different idea. As soon as their father died, the clock was ticking, and it would end in blood, in murder, in fratricide.
It's the ancients on History Hit. I'm Tristan Hughes, your host, and today we're adding to the massive ancient history hype around the release of Gladiator 2. The movie is set a couple of decades after the original and features a number of characters loosely based on real figures, including the two young colourful emperors Caracalla and Geta.
These brothers, who ruled together in the early 3rd century AD, although not for very long. Thanks to this new movie, the names Caracalla and Geta have risen to the fore. So who were the real Caracalla and Geta? What do we know about them? Their rise to power? Their relationship with one another? Or lack of? That is what we're going to explore.
Our guest is Dr. Alex Imri from the University of Edinburgh. Now, I've known Alex for many years. He even marked one of my papers when I was an undergraduate at the University of Edinburgh back in the 2010s.
Alex, he's a great speaker who has been on the podcast in the past to talk through the stories of both Commodus, another infamous Roman emperor famously played by Joaquin Phoenix in the original Gladiator, the original villain. And Alex, he's also been on to talk through the story of Caracalla in depth.
what a chaotic story this is let's get into it alex it is such a pleasure to have you back on the podcast i am thrilled to be here it's a really exciting time to be a sovereign historian so can't wait to get going it's exciting to have you back on because i remember i said your university of edinburgh so i have very fond memories of studying back then and i believe you uh have had a
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Chapter 2: What was the upbringing of Caracalla and Geta?
So at the end of his campaign against Niger, Severus retroactively adopts the entire Severan family into the Antonine household. It's a very bizarre political conceit to kind of retcon the history, which bolts his family onto that of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus. So that he has lines of legitimacy, it seems, going every direction. His rule is unassailable on terms of legitimacy.
Now, the problem for Severus is that in doing that, in putting his son to the fore like this, he has basically broken a treaty with Clodius Albinus, the governor of Britain. He had made this treaty in 193 with Albinus to name Albinus his heir apparent, his Caesar, as a way of buying off that rival to the west to allow him to wage a war in the east.
It's clear that in 195, with Niger defeated, Severus feels no need to hold on to that treaty for any longer. And Caracalla is the vehicle. He is the weapon that is used to signal to Albinus that Albinus is getting no bite of the cake anymore and it's war. And he's less than 10 years older this time, Caracalla. So he is just being used by his dad. Yeah, he's not even 10.
He's just before his 10th birthday, probably is when he is named the Caesar and the heir apparent. Now, again, that's quite a bold statement to have a child as your heir apparent. And it's exactly that. He's used as a tool to signify that the Severan regime is ready to stand on its own feet and will brook no alliances with other factions anymore. And it triggers a bloody civil war.
196 through 197, we have a fairly intense campaign where it seems that Claudius Albinus... brings most of the military power from the British Isles over into Gaul, and ironically meets Severus in battle at Lugdunum, at Leon, where Caracal is born, the year 197. And Cassius Dio tells us that this has about 150,000 men on either side, duking it out on the fields outside Leon.
And this is the largest single Roman land battle in history, if we believe Dio's numbers.
And to think that Caracalla has a role in that, although it's not of his choice. It was quite interesting at this time, Alex. I mean, Geta, is he just very much in the background because he is the younger of the two sons? And I know generally the sources don't really focus on time when they're children.
So at this time, do we not really hear of Geto at all, and is it only just Caracalla because he's basically used as a pawn in Severus' games to consolidate his new control over the empire and establishing a dynasty?
That's right. I mean, partly we just don't hear about Geto tremendously much, and that, it seems, is a literary choice on the part of the authors, I think, in order to accentuate or emphasise maybe the role of Caracalla within the imperial succession, etc., at least initially.
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Chapter 3: How did Septimius Severus rise to power?
what a story alex this has been absolutely fantastic you'll be back very soon to continue the story and then to get to the figure of macrinus with our good friend and your colleague matilda mcdonald brown but until then alex it just goes to me to say thank you so much for taking the time to come back on the podcast thank you for having me it's been great Well, there you go.
There was Dr. Alex Imrie talking you through the horrific story of Caracalla and Geta, climaxing in Caracalla's murder of his younger brother in his mother's arms. It is a gruesome story, but the story is not over yet because Alex will be back in a few days' time to continue the story of Caracalla ruling alone, but then focusing in with another special guest on what happened afterwards.
after the downfall of Caracalla when he too was murdered and his throne was taken by another, a figure who also features in the new Gladiator 2 movie, Macrinus, played by Denzel Washington. That is coming in a few days time. In the meantime, thank you for listening to this episode of The Ancients. Please follow this show on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also follow me.
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