The Assassin King – Part 1/2 (ca. 165-218 AD)

By: The Scribe on June, 2007

Macrinus , the assassin king As prefect of the Praetorian Guard – the personal bodyguards of the emperor – Marcus Opellius Macrinus was privy to many of the goings on in the palace, whether he should have been or not. Having grown up in a middle-class family in Caesarea, Macrinus had somehow managed to gain the opportunity to study law and finance, and would later move to Rome to make a name for himself as a lawyer.

With his high reputation, the Roman emperor Caracalla appointed Macrinus prefect of the Praetorian Guard in 212 AD, a position that made Macrinus second in command to the emperor, and head of the only military body allowed inside Rome’s boundaries. Unfortunately for Rome, Caracalla didn’t seem to care for petty things like ruling the Empire, and instead spent a great deal of time in the field with the army, leaving Macrinus to deal with all of what should have been the emperor’s correspondence.

This, of course, is not the most intelligent way to rule an empire, especially when you’ve sent off a request by mail to have the head of the Praetorian Guard – the same man who you’ve personally assigned to read and reply to all your mail – arrested and executed. Naturally, Macrinus intercepted this little piece of correspondence, and decided he had better do something to save his own skin.

Why Caracalla had decided to kill off his most trusted ally in Rome is still a bit of a mystery, though the traditional explanation is that Macrinus received a prophesy that he would depose and succeed the emperor. Although he tried to keep it quiet for the sake of self-preservation – Caracalla was widely known for his merciless executions of rivals – it would have been relatively difficult to quash all the rumors that undoubtedly circulated in the palace. Well aware of Carcalla’s murderous streak, Macrinus decided that the only way to save himself was… to kill the emperor first.

Caracalla

In the spring of 217 AD, Caracalla went east with the Roman army, his Praetorian Guard alongside him. Macrinus had formulated his plan, making select choices of other guards to include in the plot. It was April 8th when the emperor and his guards made their way to visit a Temple of Luna in the area – and while in the temple, one of the Praetorian Guards named Martialis stabbed the emperor with a dagger, grateful for the opportunity, since he held a personal grudge against Caracalla: he’d been passed over for a promotion he had thought he deserved.

Of course, the only way to ensure the plot fully succeeded was to kill Martialis, and it was only a matter of days before Macrinus had proclaimed himself emperor. In order to distance himself from the assassination – since the Roman army had rather liked Caracalla, probably because of the amount of time he’d spent with them – Macrinus immediately proclaimed Caracalla a god, which earned himself the army’s support.

Want to read more?