Editing Caracalla (section)

=== Classical portrayal ===
Caracalla is presented in the ancient sources of [[Cassius Dio]], [[Herodian]], and the ''[[Historia Augusta]]'' as a cruel tyrant and savage ruler.{{sfn|Manders|2012|p=226}} 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.{{sfn|Manders|2012|p=226}} Alongside this, these contemporary sources present Caracalla as a "soldier-emperor" for his preference of the soldiery over the senators, a depiction that made him even less popular with the senatorial biographers.{{sfn|Manders|2012|p=226}} 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.{{sfn|Manders|2012|p=226}} These traits dominate Caracalla's image in the surviving classical literature.{{sfn|Manders|2012|p=227}} The Baths of Caracalla are presented in classical literature as unprecedented in scale, and impossible to build if not for the use of reinforced concrete.<ref>{{Cite book|title=A History of Roman Art|last=Tuck|first=Steven L.|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|year=2014|isbn=978-1-4443-3026-7|pages=28}}</ref> The Edict of Caracalla, issued in 212, however, goes almost unnoticed in classical records.{{sfn|Manders|2012|p=227}}

The ''Historia Augusta'' is considered by historians as the least trustworthy for all accounts of events, historiography, and biographies among the ancient works and is full of fabricated materials and sources.<ref name=":26">{{Cite book|title=Roman Historiography|last=Mehl|first=Andreas|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|year=2011|pages=171}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Breisach|first1=Ernst|title=Historiography: Ancient, Medieval, and Modern, Third Edition|date=2008|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-07284-5|page=75}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Hadas|first1=Moses|title=History of Latin Literature|date=2013|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=978-0-231-51487-3|page=355}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Leistner|first1=M. W. L.|title=The Greater Roman Historians|date=1966|publisher=University of California Press|page=180}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Schäfer|first1=Peter|title=The Bar Kokhba War Reconsidered: New Perspectives on the Second Jewish Revolt Against Rome|date=2003|publisher=Mohr Siebeck|isbn=3-16-148076-7|page=55}}</ref> The works of Herodian of Antioch are, by comparison, "far less fantastic" than the stories presented by the ''Historia Augusta''.<ref name=":26" /> Historian Andrew G. Scott suggests that Dio's work is frequently considered the best source for this period.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Cassius Dio, Caracalla, and the Senate|last=Scott|first=Andrew G.|publisher=De Gruyter Publishers|year=2015|pages=157}}</ref> However, historian Clare Rowan questions Dio's accuracy on the topic of Caracalla, referring to the work as having presented a hostile attitude towards Caracalla and thus needing to be treated with caution.{{sfn|Rowan|2012|p=113}} An example of this hostility is found in one section where Dio notes that Caracalla is descended from three different races and that he managed to combine all of their faults into one person: the fickleness, cowardice, and recklessness of the Gauls, the cruelty and harshness of the Africans, and the craftiness that is associated with the Syrians.{{sfn|Rowan|2012|p=113}} Despite this, the outline of events as presented by Dio are described by Rowan as generally accurate, while the motivations that Dio suggests are of questionable origin.{{sfn|Rowan|2012|p=113}} An example of this is his presentation of the Edict of Caracalla; the motive that Dio appends to this event is Caracalla's desire to increase tax revenue. Olivier Hekster, Nicholas Zair, and Rowan challenge this presentation because the majority of people who were enfranchised by the edict would have been poor.{{sfn|Hekster|Zair|2008|pp=47–48}}{{sfn|Rowan|2012|p=113}} In her work, Rowan also describes Herodian's depiction of Caracalla: more akin to a soldier than an emperor.{{sfn|Rowan|2012|p=114}}