Editing Caracalla (section)

=== Provincial tour ===
[[File:Roman Empire in 210 AD.png|thumb|350px|The Roman Empire during the reign of Caracalla]]
In spring 214, Caracalla departed for the eastern provinces, travelling through the Danubian provinces and the Anatolian provinces of [[Asia (Roman province)|Asia]] and [[Bithynia and Pontus|Bithynia]].<ref name=":82" /> He spent the winter of 214/215 in [[Nicomedia]]. By 4 April 215 he had left Nicomedia, and in the summer he was in [[Antioch]] on the [[Orontes River|Orontes]].<ref name=":82" /> By December 215 he was in [[Alexandria, Egypt|Alexandria]] in the [[Nile Delta]], where he stayed until March or April 216.<ref name=":82" />

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.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Morgan|first1=Robert|title=History of the Coptic Orthodox People and the Church of Egypt|date=2016|publisher=FriesenPress|isbn=978-1-4602-8027-0|page=31}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Fisher|first1=Warren|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JMpxi1AqaZYC&pg=PA86|title=The Illustrated History of the Roman Empire: From Caesar's Crossing the Rubicon (49 BC) to the Empire's Fall, 476 AD|date=2010|publisher=AuthorHouse|isbn=978-1-4490-7739-6|location=Bloomington, IN|page=86}}</ref>  Caracalla responded to this insult by slaughtering 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.{{sfn|Dunstan|2011|p=406}}{{sfn|Melton|2014|page=338}}

In spring 216 he returned to Antioch and before 27 May had set out to lead his Roman army against the Parthians.<ref name=":82" /> During the winter of 215/216 he was in [[Edessa]].<ref name=":82" /> Caracalla then moved east into [[Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity)|Armenia]]. By 216 he had pushed through Armenia and south into Parthia.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Boatwright|first1=Mary Taliaferro|url=https://archive.org/details/romansfromvillag00boat_0/page/413|title=The Romans, from village to empire|last2=Gargola|first2=Daniel J|last3=Talbert|first3=Richard J. A.|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2004|isbn=0-19-511875-8|pages=[https://archive.org/details/romansfromvillag00boat_0/page/413 413–414]}}</ref>