Geta Emperor

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For Jat Gotra see Geta

Geta (/ˈɡɛtə/ GHET-ə; 7 March 189 – 19/26 December 211) or Publius Septimius Geta was Roman emperor with his father Septimius Severus and older brother Caracalla from 209, when he was named Augustus like his brother, who had held the title from 198. Severus died in 211, and although he intended for his sons to rule together, they proved incapable of sharing power, culminating with the murder of Geta in December of that year.[1]

Jat clans

Early life

Geta was the younger son of Septimius Severus by his second wife Julia Domna. He was born on 7 March in either Rome[2][3] or Mediolanum,[4][5] at a time when his father was only a provincial governor at the service of Emperor Commodus. In 198, Geta was raised to Caesar. Septimius Severus gave him the title of augustus in late 209.[6]

During the campaign against the Britons in the early 3rd century AD, imperial propaganda promoted the image of a happy family that shared the responsibilities of rule. Geta's brother Caracalla acted as Severus' second-in-command, and administrative and bureaucratic duties were Geta's responsibility. In reality, however, the rivalry and antipathy between the brothers did not abate. With the death of Severus in 211, control of the empire passed to Geta and Caracalla jointly.[7]

Joint Emperor

When Septimius Severus died in Eboracum on 4 February 211, Caracalla and Geta were proclaimed joint emperors and returned to Rome. Their mother, Julia Domna, who had served as a crucial advisor and confidante to her husband, was able to maintain her political influence over two co-emperors. It is said that on the journey from Britain to Rome the two brothers kept well away from each other, not once lodging in the same house or sharing a common meal.[8]

Their joint rule was a failure. The Imperial Palace was divided into two separate sections, and neither allowed the servants of the other into his own. They only met in the presence of their mother, and with a strong military guard, being in constant fear of assassination.[9] The current stability of their joint government was only through the mediation and leadership of their mother, Julia Domna, accompanied by other senior courtiers and generals in the military. The historian Herodian asserted that the brothers decided to split the empire in two halves, but with the strong opposition of their mother, the idea was rejected, when, by the end of 211, the situation had become unbearable.[10] Caracalla tried unsuccessfully to murder Geta during the festival of Saturnalia (17 December). Finally, the next week, Caracalla had his mother arrange a peace meeting with his brother in his mother's apartments, thus depriving Geta of his bodyguards, and then had him murdered in her arms by centurions.[11][12]

Caracalla ordered the damnatio memoriae, which was thoroughly carried out, as is clear from the archaeological record.[13][14] Reportedly, Caracalla was thereafter tormented by guilt over his deed, but sought to expiate it by adding to this crime the proscription of all his brother's former followers.[15] Cassius Dio stated that around 20,000 men and women were killed or proscribed on this charge during this time.[16]

Severan dynasty

The Severan dynasty was a Roman imperial dynasty that ruled the Roman Empire between 193 and 235, during the Roman imperial period. The dynasty was founded by the emperor Septimius Severus (r. 193–211), who rose to power after the Year of the Five Emperors as the victor of the civil war of 193–197, and his wife, Julia Domna. After the short reigns and assassinations of their two sons, Caracalla (r. 198–217) and Geta (r. 209–211), who succeeded their father in the government of the empire, Julia Domna's relatives themselves assumed power by raising Elagabalus (r. 218–222) and then Severus Alexander (r. 222–235) to the imperial office.

The dynasty's control over the empire was interrupted by the joint reigns of Macrinus (r. 217–218) and his son Diadumenian (r. 218). The dynasty's women, including Julia Domna, the mother of Caracalla and Geta, and her nieces Julia Soaemias and Julia Mamaea, the mothers respectively of Elagabalus and Severus Alexander, and their own mother, Julia Maesa, were all powerful augustae and instrumental in securing their sons' imperial positions.

Although Septimius Severus restored peace following the upheaval of the late 2nd century, the dynasty was disturbed by highly unstable family relationships and constant political turmoil,[17] which foreshadowed the imminent Crisis of the Third Century. In particular, the discord between Caracalla and Geta and the tension between Elagabalus and Severus Alexander added to the turmoil.[18]

References

  1. ↑ Varner, Eric R. Mutilation and Transformation: Damnatio Memoriae and Roman Imperial Portraiture (2004) Brill Academic Publishers. p. 168
  2. ↑ Vagi, David (2016). Coinage and History of the Roman Empire. Routledge. p. 252. ISBN 9781135971250. "The notoriously unreliable Historia Augusta (Geta, 3) suggest Geta was born [on 27 May 189]. However, other more reliable sources are available for determining Geta's date of birth."
  3. ↑ Kitzler, Petr (2015). From 'Passio Perpetuae' to 'Acta Perpetuae'. de Gruyter. p. 14. ISBN 9783110418675.
  4. ↑ "Publius Septimius Geta | Roman emperor [died 212". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 4 October 2021. "Publius Septimius Geta, (born March 7, 189, Mediolanum [now Milan, Italy]—died Dec. 26, 211, Rome), Roman emperor from 209 to 211, jointly with his father, Septimius Severus (reigned 193–211), and his brother, Caracalla (reigned 198–217)."]
  5. ↑ Heffernan, Thomas J. (18 June 2012). The Passion of Perpetua and Felicity. Oxford University Press, USA. p. 69. ISBN 978-0-19-977757-0. "Publius Septimius Geta was the younger son of Septimius Severus. He was likely born in Rome—Milan has also been proposed—in March of 189."
  6. ↑ Birley 1999, p. 274. "Roxan no. 191 shows that Geta was already Augustus and trib. pot. II on 7 January 210".
  7. ↑ "Roman Emperors - DIR Geta".
  8. ↑ Edward Gibbon, The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire, (The Modern Library, 1932), chap. VI., p. 114
  9. ↑ Gibbon, Ibid.
  10. ↑ Herodian, History of the Empire from the death of Marcus, IV., p. 144
  11. ↑ Gibbon, Ibid. p. 115
  12. ↑ According to Dio, "he was only twenty-two years and nine months old". The exact date is disputed: Zwei syrische Verwandte des severischen Kaiserhauses. In: Chiron 12, 1982, S. 217–235: 229f y 49 (19 December); Michael L. Meckler: Caracalla and his late-antique biographer, Ann Arbor 1994, S. 15, 109–112 (25 December); Anthony R. Birley: The African Emperor. Septimius Severus, Routledge, 1991, 189 (26 December); A. Mastino, Le titolature di Caracalla e Geta, 1981 (2 February 212, accepting the HA).
  13. ↑ Dunstan, William, E. (2011). Ancient Rome. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield. pp. 405–406. ISBN 978-0-7425-6832-7.
  14. ↑ Goldsworthy, Adrian (2009). How Rome Fell: death of a superpower. New Haven: Yale University Press. pp. 70–71. ISBN 978-0-300-16426-8.
  15. ↑ Gibbon, Ibid.
  16. ↑ Cassius Dio, Roman History 78.4.
  17. ↑ "Severan Dynasty · Arch for Septimius Severus · Piranesi in Rome". omeka.wellesley.edu.
  18. ↑ Scott, Andrew (May 2008). Change and discontinuity within the Severan dynasty: the case of Macrinus. New Brunswick, New Jersey, United States.
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