Caracalla

Caracalla, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, the son of the Emperor Septimius Severus, was born at Lyons in 188 A.D. His true name, Bassianus, was dropped for Caracalla on account of the hooded tunic which he wore and introduced into the army. He was also nicknamed Tarantus. He endeavoured to assassinate his father, and on succeeding to the purple in 211, murdered his brother Geta in the presence of his mother. He also put to death some 20,000 people supposed to be adverse to his rule. His life, happily short, was one succession of insane excesses committed in his progresses through all parts of the empire. He married his mother-in-law, and then devastated Mesopotamia because the king refused him his daughter. Alexandria was subjected to a fearful massacre on account of his sarcastic reception by the people. He was at last killed at Edessa (217) by one of his guards, Macrinus, who usurped the throne.