The Assassin King – Part 2/2 (ca. 165-218 AD)
Macrinus was proclaimed emperor on 11 April 217 AD, only three days after the assassination of Caracalla, having managed to distance himself from the deed. Notably, Caracalla had died without a son, and since there was no obvious heir, Macrinus was able to take over the position with relative ease.
Although Macrinus was the first emperor to never have served in the senate, he needn’t have worried about gaining their support – the senate was happy to see Caracalla go and have his reign of terror ended! By reversing some of Caracalla’s harsh taxes and allowing political exiles to return to Rome, Macrinus’ acceptance as emperor was secure – or so he thought.
His first snag came when Julia Domna, mother of Caracalla, seemed to have gained some inkling of Macrinus’ role in her son’s death. She began to conspire with the military against Macrinus, however he soon caught wind of her dealings and ordered her to leave the city of Antioch, where the Severans had been ruling. In protest, she refused – and instead starved herself to death. It didn’t take long – she was already at an advanced stage of breast cancer.
Meanwhile, Macrinus was discovering that being emperor wasn’t as easy as he had originally thought. He was very reluctant to engage in military conflict, instead choosing conciliation and treaties with enemies. While this was very good for the area, since it promoted peace and a significantly lower loss of life, it also meant that the soldiers were getting restless – and when they finally did engage in battle against the Parthians, a historically inferior enemy, the Roman army suffered humiliating defeat.
Even worse, Macrinus had failed to pay a visit to Rome after becoming emperor, thereby neglecting to gain the support of the empire’s main city. The failure of his own prefect to restore the city after several summer floods and fires also put a harsh damper on Rome’s appreciation of their new leader.
To make matters worse, after Julia Domna’s death, her sister Julia Maesa decided she’d had enough of her family being deposed. Though all the Severan women were evicted from the imperial palace, they returned to their original home in Syria and began to plot against Macrinus. Using their influence, they proclaimed Julia Maesa’s grandson Elagabalus the “true successor” of Caracalla.
Woman are good at spreading rumors, and in this case, it helped their cause – they managed to spread word across the Roman empire that Elagabalus was the illegitimate son of Caracalla, born of a union between first cousins. That was good enough for the malcontented army, and they proclaimed him the true emperor at a military camp on 16 May 218 AD. Less than a month later, although he had desperately attempted to regain support by increasing military pay and handing out a bonus, the Roman legions deserted him to follow Elagabalus, and the army marched against him on 8 June 218 AD. Macrinus was soundly defeated, and although he attempted to flee, he was soon captured and executed – with his own 9-year-old son’s execution soon to follow.
The moral of the story? Looking at both Caracalla and Macrinus’ reigns, it would seem that if you’re the Emperor of Rome, keep the army happy above all else – they hold the power to make or break your reign, even if you’re a sadistic terror to the rest of the Roman masses.
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Tomorrow: King Tut and his love of red wine
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