Denzel Washington stars as Emperor Macrinus in the epic new movie Gladiator II, but who exactly was this shadowy ruler of Rome?Join Tristan Hughes as he sits down with Dr Alex Imrie and Matilda Brown to explore the real story behind this lesser-known usurper of Rome, a North African-born knight who toppled the fratricidal tyrant Caracalla and took the throne for himself. Discover the dramatic and brutal events that shaped Macrinus' reign, including his conflict with the powerful women of the Severan dynasty and the fateful battles that sealed his fate. 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.All music courtesy of Epidemic Sound.
Chapter 1: Who was Emperor Macrinus?
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It's the Ancients on History Hit. I'm Tristan Hughes, your host, and today, well, we're keeping on the Roman Empire and the real stories of characters that feature in the new epic movie Gladiator 2. Now, in the last episode, I interviewed Dr. Alex Imry from Edinburgh University about the real Roman emperors Caracalla and Geta that have a star role in the new Gladiator film.
That was a fantastic chat exploring the terrible relationship that these two brothers had and how it ultimately ended with Getter's brutal murder in his mother's arms at the hands of Caracalla.
But alongside Caracalla and Getter, there is another central figure in the new Gladiator movie who is based on a Roman emperor, a North African-born knight who toppled Caracalla and took the throne for himself. That man's name was Macrinus, played by Denzel Washington in the new movie.
And in this episode, we're exploring the real Macrinus' story, who he was, his background, his rise to power, his rule and, ultimately, his demise. Now, for this episode, it only felt right to bring back Dr Alex Emery to continue the story from where we left off in the last episode, covering the reign and fall of Caracalla and then the rise of Macrinus.
However, we know how much you love it when we spice things up a bit and have not one but two guests.
So joining Alex, we also have another good friend of the podcast, Matilda Brown, a final year PhD candidate at Edinburgh University, whose main interest is what happens after Macrinus' reign, and the extraordinary women, these Severan Empresses, who rise to the fore and also play a big role in the downfall of Macrinus.
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Chapter 2: What led to the rise of Macrinus?
Now, his second letter follows after he concludes the parting campaign. he initially tries to negotiate with the Parthian king, because the Parthian king's bearing down on the Roman army at this point. The Parthian king's having none of it. He wants Rome out of the Mesopotamian region.
He wants them to rebuild all of the forts that they've destroyed at their own cost and basically to apologize to everyone on their way out. So, you know, rebuild the wall, I suppose you could use a modern political parlance. Now, Macrinus refuses. I mean, he's in no position to accede to that kind of demand.
And indeed, it would have been political suicide with the army around him to be seen, I think, to surrender everything. So he has to fight, initially at least, and that doesn't go very well. The Roman army is defeated in the field at Nisibis, and he has to come to another negotiated conclusion. Now, In historical terms, he doesn't give away as much as the Parthian king seems to have wanted.
So it's not a completely dishonorable peace. And yet, in his communication, he's trying to big this up, that he has secured peace with honour. And this is where the threads start to unravel, because not everybody accepts this narrative. And certainly the army, while they may have been frustrated by Caracalla's campaign, this slightly ignominious end to their campaigning does him no favours either.
And so I think it's very easy to see with hindsight how Macrinus, his regime, comes unfurled within the space of months. But it would be a mistake to class him as inactive. I think he gets an unfair rap. I think he is dealing with a very difficult and unprecedented situation.
He's having to set a new political narrative in motion at the same time as having to inherit a campaign of his predecessor, which is less than stellar. And I think this whole move about keeping the sovereign women alive...
Yes, sure, we know it's a strategic tactical error, but if he is trying to paint himself as this Severan continuator, as a way of kind of glossing over his equestrian heritage, it seems to me at least a sensible move. I mean, I would hate to sort of put myself into McCrinish's shoes, but... I think it's coherent as a set of policy.
So I think there's a reason why he doesn't retreat to Rome immediately. But I think, ironically, that may have been the one course of action that could have saved his regime long term.
He aligns himself with the Severans, but also his son as well. He's got a young son at this time. Is he a very young son or teenage? Do we know much about that? So he's barely 10 years old. Is that right, Matilda?
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