Editing Caracalla (section)

== Reign as senior emperor ==
=== Geta as co-''augustus'' ===
On 4{{nbsp}}February 211, Septimius Severus died at [[Eboracum]] (present-day [[York]], England) while on campaign in [[Scotland during the Roman Empire|Caledonia]], to the north of [[Roman Britain]].{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2009|page=[https://archive.org/details/howromefelldeath0000gold/page/68 68–69]}}

This left his two sons and co-''augusti'', Caracalla and his brother, Geta, as joint inheritors of their father's throne and empire.{{sfn|Dunstan|2011|p=405}}{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2009|page=[https://archive.org/details/howromefelldeath0000gold/page/68 68–69]}} Caracalla adopted his father's ''[[cognomen]]'', Severus, and assumed the chief priesthood as ''pontifex maximus''.<ref name=":822">{{cite book |last=Kienast |first=Dietmar |title=Römische Kaisertabelle: Grundzüge einer römischen Kaiserchronologie |publisher=Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft |year=2017 |isbn=978-3-534-26724-8 |place=Darmstadt |pages=156–161 |chapter=Caracalla |ref={{sfnref|Kienast}} |orig-year=1990 |language=de}}</ref> His name became ''Imperator Caesar Marcus Aurelius Severus Antoninus Pius Augustus''.<ref name=":822" />

Caracalla and Geta ended the [[Roman invasion of Caledonia (208–211)|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]].{{sfn|Dunstan|2011|p=405}}{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2009|page=[https://archive.org/details/howromefelldeath0000gold/page/70 70]}} 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.{{sfn|Dunstan|2011|p=405}}{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2009|page=[https://archive.org/details/howromefelldeath0000gold/page/70 70]}} Caracalla and Geta considered dividing 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.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2009|page=[https://archive.org/details/howromefelldeath0000gold/page/70 70]}}

=== Geta's murder ===
[[File:Geta Dying in his Mother's Arms by Jacques Pajou - Staatsgalerie - Stuttgart - Germany 2017.jpg|thumb|''Geta Dying in his Mother's Arms'', [[Jacques-Augustin-Catherine Pajou]], 1766–1828 ([[Staatsgalerie Stuttgart]])]]
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 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.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2009|page=[https://archive.org/details/howromefelldeath0000gold/page/68 68–69]}}

Caracalla then persecuted and executed most of Geta's supporters and ordered a ''[[damnatio memoriae]]'' pronounced by the Senate against his brother's memory.{{sfn|Dunstan|2011|pp=405–406}}{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2009|page=[https://archive.org/details/howromefelldeath0000gold/page/70 70–71]}} Geta's image was removed from all paintings, coins were melted down, statues were destroyed, his name was struck from papyrus records, and it became a capital offence to speak or write Geta's name.{{sfn|Varner|2004|p=168}} In the aftermath of the ''damnatio memoriae'', an estimated 20,000 people were massacred.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2009|page=[https://archive.org/details/howromefelldeath0000gold/page/70 70–71]}}{{sfn|Varner|2004|p=168}} Those killed were Geta's inner circle of guards and advisers, friends, and other military staff under his employ.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2009|page=[https://archive.org/details/howromefelldeath0000gold/page/70 70–71]}}