CARACALLA: A Military Biography

2-215290

Caracalla has one of the worst reputations of any Roman Emperor. Many ancient historians were very hostile and Edward Gibbon later dubbed him 'the common enemy of mankind.' Yet his reign was considered by at least one Roman author to be the apogee of the Roman Empire. Guilty of many murders and massacres (including his own brother, ex-wife, and daughter), he was popular with the army by improving their pay and cultivating the image of sharing their hardships. Includes 30+ maps, 50 b/w line drawings, and 16 pages of plates.

Explains how the biased ancient sources in combination with the stern looking statues of the emperor have created a distorted image of the man and then reconstructs the actual events, particularly his military campaigns and reforms, to offer a balanced view of his reign. The biography offers the first complete overview of the policies, events, and military campaigns of the reign and explains how and why these contributed to the military crisis of the third century.