Was originally supposed to rule with his brother Geta, but Caracalla murdered his brother along with many others to consolidate power. He was personally a vicious monster, but was a successful military leader and supported by the troops after greatly raising their pay to a level difficult to support. He issued a new coin to cover that expense, a 2 denarii, but it actually weighed only 1 and 2/3rds. He also granted Roman citizenship to almost all free inhabitants of the empire again to help raise more taxes since Roman citizens paid an [[inheritance tax]]. Unlike earlier time periods, by this point in history, Roman citizenship had been so watered down that it meant very little. | Was originally supposed to rule with his brother Geta, but Caracalla murdered his brother along with many others to consolidate power. He was personally a vicious monster, but was a successful military leader and supported by the troops after greatly raising their pay to a level difficult to support. He issued a new coin to cover that expense, a 2 denarii, but it actually weighed only 1 and 2/3rds. He also granted Roman citizenship to almost all free inhabitants of the empire again to help raise more taxes since Roman citizens paid an [[inheritance tax]]. Unlike earlier time periods, by this point in history, Roman citizenship had been so watered down that it meant very little. |