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84-578: The ruling Abgarid dynasty was deposed by the Romans during the reign of Roman Emperor Caracalla ( r.   211–217), probably in 214 or 216, and Osroene was incorporated as a province , but it was briefly reestablished during the reign of Roman emperor Gordianus III (238–244). Christianity came early to Osroene. From 318, Osroene was a part of the Diocese of the East . By the 5th century, Edessa had become

168-466: A Gallic hooded tunic that he habitually wore and made fashionable. He may have begun wearing it during his campaigns on the Rhine and Danube. Cassius Dio , who was still writing his Historia romana during Caracalla's reign, generally referred to him as "Tarautas", after a famously diminutive and violent gladiator of the time, though he also calls him "Caracallus" on various occasions. Caracalla

252-514: A governor of the rank of praeses , and it was also the seat of the dux Mesopotamiae , who ranked as vir illustris and commanded (c. 400) the following army units: as well as, 'on the minor roll', apparently auxiliaries: According to Sozomen 's Ecclesiastical History , "there were some very learned men who formerly flourished in Osroene, as for instance Bardaisan , who devised a heresy designated by his name, and his son Harmonius . It

336-527: A Christian. It was around 200 CE that Abgar IX adopted Christianity, thus enabling Edessa to become the first Christian state in history whose ruler was officially and openly a Christian. The fame of Edessa in history rests, however, mainly on its claim to have been the first kingdom to adopt Christianity as its official religion. According to the legend current for centuries throughout the civilized world, Abgar Ukkama wrote to Jesus, inviting him to visit him at Edessa to heal him from sickness. In return he received

420-473: A church at Edessa in 201. It is testimony to the personality of Abgar the Great that he is credited by tradition with a leading role in the evangelization of Edessa. Modern scholars have taken basically two very different approaches to this legend (which obviously reflects the general search for apostolic origins, characteristics of the fourth century). Some would dismiss it totally, while others prefer to see it as

504-512: A long pole, which were in use until at least the 2nd century AD. As a consequence, the phalangarii of Legio II Parthica may not have been pikemen, but rather standard battle line troops or possibly triarii . Caracalla's mania for Alexander went so far that he visited Alexandria while preparing for his Persian invasion and persecuted philosophers of the Aristotelian school based on a legend that Aristotle had poisoned Alexander. This

588-675: A main center of Syriac literature and learning. In 608, the Sasanian emperor, Khosrow II ( r.   590–628), took Osroene. It was briefly reconquered by the Byzantines, but in 638 it fell to the Arabs as part of the Muslim conquests . Osroene, or Edessa, was one of several states that acquired independence from the collapsing Seleucid Empire through a dynasty of the nomadic Nabataean Arab tribe from Southern Canaan and North Arabia,

672-561: A retrojection into the first century of the conversion of the local king at the end of the second century. In other words, Abgar (V) the Black of the legend in fact represents Abgar (VIII) the Great (c. 177-212), contemporary of Badaisan. Attractive though this second approach might seem, there are serious objections to it, and the various small supportive evidence that Abgar (VIII) the Great became Christian disappears on closer examination. More significant than Bardaisan's conversion to Christianity

756-429: A soldier first and an emperor second. In the 12th century, Geoffrey of Monmouth started the legend of Caracalla's role as king of Britain. Later, in the 18th century, the works of French painters revived images of Caracalla due to apparent parallels between Caracalla's tyranny and that ascribed to king Louis XVI ( r.  1774–1792 ). Modern works continue to portray Caracalla as an evil ruler, painting him as one of

840-533: A temple on the Quirinal Hill in 212, which he dedicated to Serapis. A fragmented inscription found in the church of Sant' Agata dei Goti in Rome records the construction, or possibly restoration, of a temple dedicated to the god Serapis. The inscription bears the name "Marcus Aurelius Antoninus", a reference to either Caracalla or Elagabalus , but more likely to Caracalla due to his known strong association with

924-647: A trip to Rome and returned to Edessa around 172–173. Tatian was the editor of the Diatessaron , which was the primary sacred text of Syriac -speaking Christianity until in the 5th century the bishops Rabbula and Theodoret suppressed it and substituted a revision of the Old Syriac Canonical Gospels (as in the Syriac Sinaiticus and Curetonian Gospels ). Then, Edessa was again brought under Roman control by Decius and it

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1008-688: A year after Geta's death, Caracalla left Rome, never to return. He went north to the German frontier to deal with the Alamanni , a confederation of Germanic tribes who had broken through the limes in Raetia . During the campaign of 213–214, Caracalla successfully defeated some of the Germanic tribes while settling other difficulties through diplomacy, though precisely with whom these treaties were made remains unknown. While there, Caracalla strengthened

1092-455: Is called "an Arab phylarch " by Plutarch , while Abgar V is described as "king of the Arabs " by Tacitus . The Edessene onomastic contains many Arabic names. The most common one in the ruling dynasty of Edessa being Abgar, a well-attested name among Arabic groups of antiquity . Some members of the dynasty bore Iranian names, while others had Arabic names. Judah Segal notes that

1176-464: Is presented in the ancient sources of Cassius Dio , Herodian , and the Historia Augusta as a cruel tyrant and savage ruler. This portrayal of Caracalla is only further supported by the murder of his brother Geta and the subsequent massacre of Geta's supporters that Caracalla ordered. Alongside this, these contemporary sources present Caracalla as a "soldier-emperor" for his preference of

1260-476: Is related that this latter was deeply versed in Grecian erudition, and was the first to subdue his native tongue to meters and musical laws; these verses he delivered to the choirs" and that Arianism , a more successful heresy, met with opposition there. It was around 200 CE that Abgar IX adopted Christianity, thus enabling Edessa to become the first Christian state in history whose ruler was officially and openly

1344-410: Is true that Rome was in a difficult financial situation, it is thought that this could not have been the sole purpose of the edict. The provincials also benefited from this edict because they were now able to think of themselves as equal partners to the Romans in the empire. Another purpose for issuing the edict, as described within the papyrus upon which part of the edict was inscribed, was to appease

1428-524: Is uncertain; it may have extended to Nisibis or even to Adiabene in the first century AD. Ḥarrān, however, only 40 km south of Edessa, always maintained its independent status as a Roman colonia. Edessa, the capital of the ancient kingdom, was a fortress of considerable strength and a staging post both large and nearest to the Euphrates. It was an important road junction; an ancient highway, along which caravans carried merchandise from China and India to

1512-515: Is widely accepted, and clearly most likely, that Caracalla ordered the assassination himself, as the two had never been on favourable terms with one another, much less after succeeding their father. Caracalla then persecuted and executed most of Geta's supporters and ordered a damnatio memoriae pronounced by the Senate against his brother's memory. Geta's image was removed from all paintings, coins were melted down, statues were destroyed, his name

1596-504: The Abgarid dynasty of Arab origin, the kingdom's population was of mixed culture, being Syriac -speaking from the earliest times. Though Arab cults were attested at Edessa (the twins Monimos and Azizos ), its cultural setting was fundamentally Syriac , alongside strong Greek and Parthian influences. Thus, according to Maurice Sartre : "It would hence be absurd to regard Edessa as solely an Arab city, for its culture owed very little to

1680-739: The Baths of Caracalla in Rome began in 211 at the start of Caracalla's rule. The thermae are named for Caracalla, though it is most probable that his father was responsible for their planning. In 216, a partial inauguration of the baths took place, but the outer perimeter of the baths was not completed until the reign of Severus Alexander . These large baths were typical of the Roman practice of building complexes for social and state activities in large densely populated cities. The baths covered around 50 acres (or 202,000 square metres) of land and could accommodate around 1,600 bathers at any one time. They were

1764-615: The Graeco-Egyptian god of healing Serapis . The Iseum and Serapeum in Alexandria were apparently renovated during Caracalla's co-rule with his father Septimius Severus. The evidence for this exists in two inscriptions found near the temple that appear to bear their names. Additional archaeological evidence exists for this in the form of two papyri that have been dated to the Severan period and also two statues associated with

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1848-585: The Latin Right . Dio maintains that one purpose for Caracalla issuing the edict was the desire to increase state revenue; at the time, Rome was in a difficult financial situation and needed to pay for the new pay raises and benefits that were being conferred on the military. The edict widened the obligation for public service and gave increased revenue through the inheritance and emancipation taxes that only had to be paid by Roman citizens. However, few of those that gained citizenship were wealthy, and while it

1932-639: The Roman Empire . Julia Domna had a significant share in governance, since Caracalla found administration to be mundane. His reign featured domestic instability and external invasions by the Germanic peoples . Caracalla issued the Antonine Constitution ( Latin : Constitutio Antoniniana ), also known as the Edict of Caracalla, which granted Roman citizenship to all free men throughout

2016-501: The Roman army having made the phalanx an obsolete tactical formation. The historian Christopher Matthew mentions that the term Phalangarii has two possible meanings, both with military connotations. The first refers merely to the Roman battle line and does not specifically mean that the men were armed with pikes , and the second bears similarity to the 'Marian Mules' of the late Roman Republic who carried their equipment suspended from

2100-459: The Osrhoeni, from 136 BC. Osroene's name either derives from the name of this tribe, or from Orhay ( Urhay ), the original Aramaic name of Edessa . Arab influence had been strong in the region. Osroene endured for four centuries, with twenty-eight rulers occasionally named "king" on their coins. Most of the kings of Osroene were called Abgar or Manu and settled in urban centers. Osroene

2184-548: The Parthians in 53 BC, but Roman historians allege that he betrayed Crassus by leading him to deviate from his safe route along the river and instead into an open desert, where the troops suffered from the barrenness and thus were vulnerable to cavalry attack. Abgar is said to have met with Surenas , the Parthian general, and informed him of the Roman movements. The enormous and infamous Battle of Carrhae followed and destroyed

2268-481: The Roman Empire. The edict gave all the enfranchised men Caracalla's adopted praenomen and nomen : "Marcus Aurelius". Other landmarks of his reign were the construction of the Baths of Caracalla , the second-largest bathing complex in the history of Rome, the introduction of a new Roman currency named the antoninianus , a sort of double denarius , and the massacres he ordered, both in Rome and elsewhere in

2352-582: The Romans, however, which led to the Roman general Lucius Quietus sacking Edessa and putting an end to Osrhoene's independence in 116. In 123, during the reign of Hadrian , the Abgarid dynasty was restored with the installation of Ma'nu VII, and Osroene was established as a client kingdom of the Empire. After the Roman–Parthian War of 161–166 under Marcus Aurelius , forts were built and a Roman garrison

2436-526: The Sasanian emperor, Shapur II , in the 4th century. The independence of the state ended probably in c.  214 ; during Caracalla 's reign the monarchy was abolished by the Roman Empire and Osroene was incorporated it as a province ( colonia ). It was a frontier province, lying close to the Persian empires with which the Romans were repeatedly at war, and was taken and retaken several times. As it

2520-605: The West, meeting there a north–south road connecting the Armenian Highlands with Antioch. Inevitably, Edessa figured prominently on the international stage. In 64 BC, as Pompey waged war on the Parthian Empire , Abgar II of Osrhoene had sided with the Romans when Lucius Afranius occupied Upper Mesopotamia . The king was initially an ally of the Roman general Marcus Licinius Crassus in his campaign against

2604-490: The annual pay of an average legionary from 2000 sesterces (500 denarii ) to 2700–3000 sesterces (675–750 denarii ). He lavished many benefits on the army, which he both feared and admired, in accordance with the advice given by his father on his deathbed always to heed the welfare of the soldiers and ignore everyone else. Caracalla needed to gain and keep the trust of the military, and he did so with generous pay raises and popular gestures. He spent much of his time with

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2688-567: The beginning of 217, Caracalla was still based at Edessa before renewing hostilities against Parthia. On 8   April 217 Caracalla, who had just turned 29, was travelling to visit a temple near Carrhae , now Harran in southern Turkey, where in 53   BC the Romans had suffered a defeat at the hands of the Parthians. After stopping briefly to urinate, Caracalla was approached by a soldier, Justin Martialis, and stabbed to death. Martialis had been incensed by Caracalla's refusal to grant him

2772-401: The blessing of Jesus and subsequently was converted by the evangelist Addai. There is, however, no factual evidence for Christianity at Edessa before the reign of Abgar the Great, 150 years later. Scholars are generally agreed that the legend has confused the two Abgars. It cannot be proved that Abgar the Great adopted Christianity; but his friend Bardaiṣan was a heterodox Christian, and there was

2856-614: The chief priesthood as pontifex maximus . His name became Imperator Caesar Marcus Aurelius Severus Antoninus Pius Augustus . Caracalla and Geta ended the Roman invasion of Caledonia after concluding a peace with the Caledonians that returned the border of Roman Britain to the line demarcated by Hadrian's Wall . During the journey back from Britain to Rome with their father's ashes, Caracalla and his brother continuously argued with one another, making relations between them increasingly hostile. Caracalla and Geta considered dividing

2940-413: The coinage soon after his ascension. At the end of Severus' reign and early into Caracalla's, the Roman denarius had an approximate silver purity of around 55%, but by the end of Caracalla's reign the purity had been reduced to about 51%. In 215 Caracalla introduced the antoninianus , a coin intended to serve as a double denarius . This new currency, however, had a silver purity of about 52% for

3024-526: The deified emperor ( divus ) Marcus Aurelius ( r.  161–180 ); accordingly, in 195 or 196 Caracalla was given the imperial rank of Caesar , adopting the name Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Caesar, and was named imperator destinatus (or designatus ) in 197, possibly on his birthday, 4 April, and certainly before 7 May. He thus technically became a part of the well-remembered Antonine dynasty . Caracalla's father appointed Caracalla, aged 9, joint Augustus and full emperor from 28 January 198. This

3108-525: The empire in half along the Bosphorus to make their co-rule less hostile. Caracalla was to rule in the west and Geta was to rule in the east. They were persuaded not to do this by their mother. On 26 December 211, at a reconciliation meeting arranged by their mother, Geta was assassinated by members of the Praetorian Guard loyal to the 23-year-old Caracalla. Geta died in his mother's arms. It

3192-422: The empire. Between the death of the father and the assassination of Geta towards the end of 211, Caracalla's portrait remains static with a short full beard while Geta develops a long beard with hair strains like his father. The latter was a strong indicator of Geta's effort to be seen as the true successor to their father, an effort that came to naught when he was murdered. Caracalla's presentation on coins during

3276-479: The empire. In 216, Caracalla began a campaign against the Parthian Empire . He did not see this campaign through to completion due to his assassination by a disaffected soldier in 217. Macrinus succeeded him as emperor three days later. The ancient sources portray Caracalla as a cruel tyrant; his contemporaries Cassius Dio ( c. 155 – c. 235) and Herodian ( c. 170 – c. 240) present him as

3360-591: The empire. Julia's growing influence in state affairs was the beginning of a trend of emperors' mothers having influence, which continued throughout the Severan dynasty. On 4   February 211, Septimius Severus died at Eboracum (present-day York , England) while on campaign in Caledonia , to the north of Roman Britain . This left his two sons and co- augusti , Caracalla and his brother, Geta, as joint inheritors of their father's throne and empire. Caracalla adopted his father's cognomen , Severus, and assumed

3444-535: The entire Roman army. Just prior to the battle, Abgar made a pretext to ride away. However, modern historians have questioned whether Abgar intended to betray the Romans and instead may have simply been leading them along an old Arab trade route. According to a Syriac source, Abgar died later that year. In the early 2nd century AD, King Abgar VII joined the Emperor Trajan 's campaign into Mesopotamia and entertained him at court. The king later rebelled against

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3528-509: The evidence of the plot. It was then that he banished his wife, whose later killing might have been carried out under Caracalla's orders. On 28 January 207, at age 18, Caracalla celebrated his decennalia , the tenth anniversary of the beginning of his reign. The year 208 was the year of his third and Geta's second consulship. Geta was himself granted the rank of Augustus and tribunician powers in September or October 209. During

3612-681: The frontier fortifications of Raetia and Germania Superior , collectively known as the Agri Decumates , so that it was able to withstand any further barbarian invasions for another twenty years. In spring 214, Caracalla departed for the eastern provinces, travelling through the Danubian provinces and the Anatolian provinces of Asia and Bithynia . He spent the winter of 214/215 in Nicomedia . By 4 April 215 he had left Nicomedia, and in

3696-528: The god. Two other inscriptions dedicated to Serapis, as well as a granite crocodile similar to one discovered at the Iseum et Serapeum, were also found in the area around the Quirinal Hill. ANTONINVS PIVS AVG. GERM. Pontifex Maximus , TRibunus Plebis XVIIII , COnSul IIII , Pater Patriae The expenditures that Caracalla made with the large bonuses he gave to soldiers prompted him to debase

3780-454: The gods who had delivered Caracalla from conspiracy. The conspiracy in question was in response to Caracalla's murder of Geta and the subsequent slaughter of his followers; fratricide would only have been condoned if his brother had been a tyrant. The damnatio memoriae against Geta and the large payments Caracalla had made to his own supporters were designed to protect himself from possible repercussions. After this had succeeded, Caracalla felt

3864-504: The horse race celebrating his birthday to be abolished and for gold and silver statues dedicated to him to be melted down. These events were, however, limited in scope; most erasures of his name from inscriptions were either accidental or occurred as a result of re-use. Macrinus had Caracalla deified and commemorated on coins as Divus Antoninus . There does not appear to have been any intentional mutilation of Caracalla in any images that were created during his reign as sole emperor. Caracalla

3948-523: The kingdom of Parthia under the control of Rome. In response, Caracalla used the opportunity to start a campaign against the Parthians. That summer Caracalla began to attack the countryside east of the Tigris in the Parthian war of Caracalla . In the following winter, Caracalla retired to Edessa , modern Şanlıurfa in south-east Turkey , and began making preparations to renew the campaign by spring. At

4032-458: The many surviving busts and coins. Images of the young Caracalla cannot be clearly distinguished from his younger brother Geta. On the coins, Caracalla was shown laureate after becoming augustus in 197; Geta is bareheaded until he became augustus himself in 209. Between 209 and their father's death in February   211, both brothers are shown as mature young men who were ready to take over

4116-551: The more important civil functions of the emperor; receiving petitions and answering correspondence. The extent of her role in this position, however, is probably overstated. She may have represented her son and played a role in meetings and answering queries; however, the final authority on legal matters was Caracalla. The emperor filled all of the roles in the legal system as judge, legislator, and administrator. The Constitutio Antoniniana (lit. "Constitution of Antoninus", also called "Edict of Caracalla" or "Antonine Constitution")

4200-413: The most tyrannical of all Roman emperors. Caracalla's name at birth was Lucius Septimius Bassianus. He was renamed Marcus Aurelius Antoninus at the age of seven as part of his father's attempt at union with the families of Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius . According to the 4th-century historian Aurelius Victor in his Epitome de Caesaribus , he became known by the agnomen "Caracalla" after

4284-547: The names ending in "-u" are "undoubtedly Nabatean". The Abgarid dynasts spoke "a form of Aramaic ". It was in the region in which the legend of Abgar V originated. The area of the kingdom was perhaps roughly coterminous with that of the Roman province of Osrhoene. The great loop of the Euphrates was a natural frontier to the north and west. In the south Batnae was capital of the semi-autonomous principality of Anthemusias until its annexation by Rome, in AD 115. The eastern boundary

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4368-462: The need to repay the gods of Rome by returning the favour to the people of Rome through a similarly grand gesture. This was done through the granting of citizenship. Another purpose for issuing the edict might have been related to the fact that the periphery of the empire was now becoming central to its existence, and the granting of citizenship may have been simply a logical outcome of Rome's continued expansion of citizenship rights. In 213, about

4452-522: The nomadic Arabs of the region". Later, within the Roman Empire, Edessa was the most important center of Syriac Christianity . Under the Nabataean dynasties, Osroëne became increasingly influenced by Syriac Christianity , and was a centre of local reaction against Hellenism. In his writings, Pliny the Elder refers to the natives of Osroene and Commagene as Arabs and the region as Arabia . Abgar II

4536-428: The period between 215 and 217 and an actual size ratio of 1   antoninianus to 1.5   denarii. This in effect made the antoninianus equal to about 1.5   denarii. The reduced silver purity of the coins caused people to hoard the old coins that had higher silver content, aggravating the inflation problem caused by the earlier devaluation of the denarii . During his reign as emperor, Caracalla raised

4620-586: The period of his co-reign with his father, from 198 to 210, are in broad terms in line with the third-century imperial representation; most coin types communicate military and religious messages, with other coins giving messages of saeculum aureum and virtues. During Caracalla's sole reign, from 212 to 217, a significant shift in representation took place. The majority of coins produced during this period made associations with divinity or had religious messages; others had non-specific and unique messages that were only circulated during Caracalla's sole rule. Caracalla

4704-568: The position of centurion , and the praetorian prefect Macrinus , Caracalla's successor, saw the opportunity to use Martialis to end Caracalla's reign. In the immediate aftermath of Caracalla's death, his murderer, Martialis, was killed as well. When Caracalla was murdered, Julia Domna was in Antioch sorting out correspondence, removing unimportant messages from the bunch so that when Caracalla returned, he would not be overburdened with duties. Three days later, Macrinus declared himself emperor with

4788-468: The reign of his father, Caracalla's mother Julia Domna had played a prominent public role, receiving titles of honour such as "Mother of the camp", but she also played a role behind the scenes helping her husband administer the empire. Described as ambitious, Julia Domna surrounded herself with thinkers and writers from all over the empire. While Caracalla was mustering and training troops for his planned Persian invasion, Julia remained in Rome, administering

4872-574: The remaining territory was incorporated into the Roman province of Osroene. According to legends (without historical justification), by 201 AD or earlier, under King Abgar the Great, Osroene became the first Christian state. It is believed that the Gospel of Thomas emanated from Edessa around 140. Prominent early Christian figures have lived in and emerged from the region such as Tatian the Assyrian , who came to Edessa from Hadiab ( Adiabene ). He made

4956-425: The second largest public baths built in ancient Rome and were complete with swimming pools , exercise yards , a stadium , steam rooms, libraries, meeting rooms, fountains, and other amenities, all of which were enclosed within formal gardens. The interior spaces were decorated with colourful marble floors, columns, mosaics, and colossal statuary. At the outset of his reign, Caracalla declared imperial support for

5040-566: The soldiers, so much so that he began to imitate their dress and adopt their manners. After Caracalla concluded his campaign against the Alamanni, it became evident that he was inordinately preoccupied with emulating Alexander the Great . He began openly mimicking Alexander in his personal style. In planning his invasion of the Parthian Empire, Caracalla decided to arrange 16,000 of his men in Macedonian-style phalanxes , despite

5124-538: The soldiery over the senators, a depiction that made him even less popular with the senatorial biographers. Dio explicitly presented Caracalla as an emperor who marched with the soldiers and behaved like a soldier. Dio also often referred to Caracalla's large military expenditures and the subsequent financial problems this caused. These traits dominate Caracalla's image in the surviving classical literature. The Baths of Caracalla are presented in classical literature as unprecedented in scale, and impossible to build if not for

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5208-406: The stories did establish Edessa as one of the more important centres for early Christendom." 37°09′30″N 38°47′30″E  /  37.1583°N 38.7917°E  / 37.1583; 38.7917 Caracalla Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (born Lucius Septimius Bassianus , 4 April 188 – 8 April 217), better known by his nickname Caracalla ( / ˌ k æ r ə ˈ k æ l ə / ),

5292-626: The summer he was in Antioch on the Orontes . By December 215 he was in Alexandria in the Nile Delta , where he stayed until March or April 216. When the inhabitants of Alexandria heard of Caracalla's claims that he had killed his brother Geta in self-defence, they produced a satire mocking this as well as Caracalla's other pretensions. Caracalla responded to this insult by slaughtering

5376-419: The support of the Roman army. Caracalla's official portrayal as sole emperor marks a break from the detached images of the philosopher-emperors who preceded him: his close-cropped haircut is that of a soldier, his pugnacious scowl a realistic and threatening presence. This rugged soldier-emperor, an iconic archetype, was adopted by most of the following emperors, such as Maximinus Thrax , who were dependent on

5460-429: The support of the troops to rule the empire. Herodian describes Caracalla as having preferred northern European clothing, Caracalla being the name of the short Gaulish cloak that he made fashionable, and he often wore a blond wig. Dio mentions that when Caracalla was a boy, he had a tendency to show an angry or even savage facial expression. The way Caracalla wanted to be portrayed to his people can be seen through

5544-461: The temple that have been dated to around 200   AD. Upon Caracalla's ascension to being sole ruler in 212, the imperial mint began striking coins bearing Serapis' image. This was a reflection of the god's central role during Caracalla's reign. After Geta's death, the weapon that had killed him was dedicated to Serapis by Caracalla. This was most likely done to cast Serapis into the role of Caracalla's protector from treachery. Caracalla also erected

5628-504: The time of the death of Augustus in AD 14. Outside Rome, citizenship was restricted to Roman coloniae  – Romans, or their descendants, living in the provinces, the inhabitants of various cities throughout the Empire ;– and small numbers of local nobles such as kings of client countries. Provincials, on the other hand, were usually non-citizens, although some magistrates and their families and relatives held

5712-604: The unsuspecting deputation of leading citizens that had assembled before the city to greet his arrival in December 215, before setting his troops against Alexandria for several days of looting and plunder. In spring 216 he returned to Antioch and before 27 May had set out to lead his Roman army against the Parthians. During the winter of 215/216 he was in Edessa . Caracalla then moved east into Armenia . By 216 he had pushed through Armenia and south into Parthia. Construction on

5796-472: The use of reinforced concrete. The Edict of Caracalla, issued in 212, however, goes almost unnoticed in classical records. Anthemusias Anthemusias ( Greek : Ανθεμουσιάς) or Charax Sidae was an ancient Mesopotamian town, according to Pliny and Strabo . Isidore of Charax says that it was 8 schoeni from Apamea near the Euphrates on the road to Seleucia , and Ptolemy places it “at

5880-425: The world's first Christian monarch and Edessa the first Christian state. More than anything else, a major precedent had been set for the conversion of Rome itself. // The stories of the conversions of both Abgar V and Abgar VIII may not be true, and have been doubted by a number of Western authorities (with more than a hint at unwillingness to relinquish Rome's and St Peter's own primogeniture?). But whether true or not.

5964-463: Was Roman emperor from 198 to 217 AD. He was a member of the Severan dynasty , the elder son of Emperor Septimius Severus and Empress Julia Domna . Severus proclaimed Caracalla co-ruler in 198, doing the same with his other son Geta in 209. The two brothers briefly shared power after their father's death in 211, but Caracalla soon had Geta murdered by the Praetorian Guard and became sole ruler of

6048-483: Was a sign of Caracalla's increasingly erratic behaviour. In 216, Caracalla pursued a series of aggressive campaigns in the east against the Parthians , intended to bring more territory under direct Roman control. He offered the king of Parthia, Artabanus IV of Parthia , a marriage proposal between himself and the king's daughter. Artabanus refused the offer, realizing that the proposal was merely an attempt to unite

6132-413: Was an edict issued in 212 by Caracalla declaring that all free men in the Roman Empire were to be given full Roman citizenship, with the exception of the dediticii , people who had become subject to Rome through surrender in war, and freed slaves. Before 212, the majority of Roman citizens had been inhabitants of Roman Italia, with about 4–7% of all peoples in the Roman Empire being Roman citizens at

6216-540: Was born in Lugdunum , Gaul (now Lyon , France), on 4   April 188 to Septimius Severus ( r.  193–211 ) and Julia Domna , thus giving him Punic paternal ancestry and Arab maternal ancestry. He had a slightly younger brother, Geta , with whom Caracalla briefly ruled as co-emperor. Caracalla was five years old when his father was acclaimed Augustus on 9 April 193. In early 195, Caracalla's father Septimius Severus had himself adopted posthumously by

6300-425: Was forced to marry the daughter of Gaius Fulvius Plautianus , Fulvia Plautilla , whom he hated, though for what reason is unknown. The wedding took place between the 9 and the 15 April, just after he turned 14. In 205, Caracalla was consul for the second time, in company with Geta – his brother's first consulship. By 205, aged 16, Caracalla had got Plautianus executed for treason, though he had probably fabricated

6384-453: Was generally allied with the Parthian Empire . After a period under the rule of the Parthian Empire, it was absorbed into the Roman Empire in 114 as a semiautonomous vassal state, and incorporated as a simple Roman province in 214. There is an apocryphal legend that Osroene was the first state to have accepted Christianity as state religion , but there is not enough evidence to support that claim. Though most of Osroene's rulers were from

6468-798: Was made a center of Roman operations against the Sasanian Empire . Amru , possibly a descendant of Abgar, is mentioned as king in the Paikuli inscription , recording the victory of Narseh in the Sassanid civil war of 293. Historians identify that Amru as Amru ibn Adi , the fourth king of the Lakhmids , which was then still based in Harran , not yet moved to al-Hirah in southern Mesopotamia. Many centuries later, Dagalaiphus and Secundinus duke of Osrhoene, accompanied Julian in his war against

6552-440: Was not subject to a proper damnatio memoriae after his assassination; while the Senate disliked him, his popularity with the military prevented Macrinus and the Senate from openly declaring him to be a hostis . Macrinus, in an effort to placate the Senate, instead ordered the secret removal of statues of Caracalla from public view. After his death, the public made comparisons between him and other condemned emperors and called for

6636-405: Was on the frontier it had a Roman legion stationed there. Legio III Parthica and its Castrum (homebase) may have been Rhesaina , but that is uncertain. Following Emperor Diocletian 's tetrarchy reform during his reign (284-305), it was part of the diocese of the East , in the praetorian prefecture of the same name . According to the late-4th-century Notitia Dignitatum , it was headed by

6720-498: Was proclaimed nobilissimus caesar on the same day, and their father Septimius Severus was awarded the victory name Parthicus Maximus . In 199, he was inducted into the Arval Brethren . By the end of 199, at age 11, he was entitled pater patriae . In 202, he was Roman consul , having been named consul designatus the previous year. His colleague was his father, serving his own third consulship. In 202, Caracalla

6804-465: Was stationed in Nisibis . In 195, following a civil war in which the kingdom had supported his rival Pescennius Niger , Septimius Severus mounted an invasion and annexed the territory as a new province, making Nisibis the capital. However, the emperor did allow the king, Abgar XI, to retain the city of Edessa and a small territory surrounding it. In 213, the reigning king was deposed by Caracalla , and

6888-458: Was struck from papyrus records, and it became a capital offence to speak or write Geta's name. In the aftermath of the damnatio memoriae , an estimated 20,000 people were massacred. Those killed were Geta's inner circle of guards and advisers, friends, and other military staff under his employ. When Geta died in 211, Julia Domna's responsibilities increased, because Caracalla found administrative tasks to be mundane. She may have taken on one of

6972-474: Was the conversion -reported by Bardaisan - of Abgar the Great himself." The conversion is controversial, but whether or not he became a Christian, Abgar had the wisdom to recognise the inherent order and stability in Christianity a century before Constantino did. Ho encouraged it as essential for maintaining Edessa's precarious balance between Rome and Iran. Thus, it is Abgar the Great who lays claim to being

7056-628: Was the day Septimius Severus's triumph was celebrated, in honour of his victory over the Parthian Empire in the Roman–Persian Wars ; he had successfully sacked the Parthian capital, Ctesiphon , after winning the Battle of Ctesiphon , probably in October 197. He was also awarded tribunician power and the title of imperator . In inscriptions, Caracalla is given from 198 the title of the chief priesthood, pontifex maximus . His brother Geta

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