Caracalla was born in Lyon on 4 April 188 AD as (Lucius?) Septimius Bassianus. He was named after his father and maternal grandfather. In 196 AD his name was changed to Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, forging a link with the Antonine dynasty. For brevity people called him Antoninus. People writing about him started calling him Caracalla from an unknown point in time. This nickname is mentioned by Eutropius and Aurelius Victor in the fourth century. The more correct form of the nickname is Caracallus, documented by Cassius Dio and in the Historia Augusta. Caracallus or Caracalla is not found in inscriptions, on coins, and in graffiti. We have no idea whether it was used widely. We really should call the Emperor Antoninus, as did his contemporaries.
The nickname was derived from clothes. Dio says: "He also invented a costume of his own, which was made in a rather foreign fashion out of small pieces of cloth sewed together into a kind of cloak; and he not only wore this most of the time himself (in consequence of which he was given the nickname Caracallus), but he also prescribed it as the regular dress for the soldiers". The author of the Historia Augusta explains: "Caracallus himself received his name from a garment which he introduced to the people, a garment that went down to the ankles. This had not been around earlier. From then on and even today caracallae of this sort are called Antonine and are very much in use among the Roman plebs". Aurelius Victor has: "But since he had brought very many garments from Gallia and had made ankle-length tunics and forced the urban population to enter dressed in such clothing for the purpose of saluting him, he was from this garment given the cognomen Caracalla", and: "Now Antoninus, who made gifts of a new kind to the Roman plebs, because he generously distributed clothes which fell to the feet, was called Caracalla; and in their turn, the clothes which he thus gave were called, after his own name, Antonines".
The caracalla was studied by John Peter Wild and Johannes Kramer. The Gaulish word seems to mean "itchy, abrasive garment". On the basis of literary and sculptural evidence Wild describes it as a heavy woollen outer cape, hooded, sleeveless, and fastened down the front. It reached to beneath the knees, and gave full protection against the worst weather. Shorter and lighter variants were in existence. For these linen was used. The garment could thus also offer protection against the sun.
The caracalla is mentioned in a few inscriptions, for example in the Price Edict of Diocletianus and on two curse tablets from Aqua Sulis (Bath, Britain), made after theft: "I have given to the goddess Minerva Sulis the thief who has stolen my caracalla, whether slave or free, whether man or woman" (HD000090, HD001030). The name is found in the East, in Greek, in papyri (καρακαλλ(ι)ον).
Possible depictions of the caracalla on tombstones from Gallia Belgica and Britain.
Image: Wild 1986, fig. 10.
