Editing Caracalla (section)

=== 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]}}