#caracalla

Arc de Triomphe Quadrifrons de Caracalla, Tebessa, Algeria, circa 1860.

caligula00:

Portrait head of Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (called Caracalla), ca. 217–230; Late Severan

Source:http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/40.11.1a

Caracalla (188 – 217 AD) was Roman emperor from 198 to 217.The eldest son of Septimius Severus, for a short time he ruled jointly with his younger brother Geta until he had him murdered in 211. Caracalla is remembered as one of the most notorious and unpleasant of emperors because of the massacres and persecutions he authorized and instigated throughout the Empire. Caracalla’s reign was also notable for the Constitutio Antoniniana (also called the Edict of Caracalla), granting Roman citizenship to all freemen throughout the Roman Empire for the purpose of increasing tax revenue, according to historian Cassius Dio. He is also one of the emperors who commissioned a large public bath-house (thermae) in Rome. The remains of the Baths of Caracalla are still one of the major attractions of the Italian capital.