Lucius Septimius Bassianus, later Emperor Caracalla, was born in 188 A.D. in Lugdunum (modern day Lyon), the son of the future Emperor Septimius Severus and Julia Domna. Septimius’ concerns about establishing a new political dynasty in the manner of the Antonines led him to name Caracalla a Caesar in 196, Augustus in 198, and as joint-consul in 202. Upon the death of Septimius in 212, Caracalla reigned jointly with his brother, Geta, for less than a year until Caracalla consolidated power and had him murdered. A damnatio memoriae was issued to destroy all images of Geta, perhaps best illustrated on the so-called Severan Tondo in Berlin, where the face of Geta has been methodically erased while those of Caracalla and his parents remain (see fig. 284 in D.E.E. Kleiner, Roman Sculpture).
The reign of Caracalla was turbulent but marked by a number of governmental reforms. Most notably, his Edict of 212, the Constitutio Antoniniana, bestowed Roman citizenship onto all free men living within the boundaries of the Roman Empire. Cassius Dio (Roman History, book 78) remarks that while the edict nominally honored those living outside of Rome, its true intent was to increase the number of taxable individuals. Caracalla’s most significant contribution to art and architecture was the Baths of Caracalla, which he dedicated in 216. The sprawling complex featured a renowned sculptural program that included the Farnese Hercules and the Farnese Bull. In the military sphere, Caracalla sought to emulate the conquests of his hero, Alexander the Great, and embarked on campaigns to Germany and the east. Prior to a war with the Parthians in 217, however, he was assassinated by Macrinus, a Praetorian prefect who then briefly served as Emperor before the Severan dynasty was reestablished by Elagabalus in 218. Caracalla was generally revered by those in the military but showed little regard for the senatorial class and was noted for his cruelty and violence. A later writer of the Historia Augusta described him as such: “His mode of life was evil and he was more brutal even than his cruel father. He was gluttonous in his use of food and addicted to wine, hated by his household and detested in every camp save that of the praetorian guard; and between him and his brother there was no resemblance whatever” (Antoninus Caracalla 9, 3).
This portrait of Caracalla depicts the future emperor at approximately ten years of age. He has a round face, a full head of hair accentuated with deep drill work and wavy locks that fall over the forehead. As Kleiner (op. cit., p. 322) informs, there are five portrait types of Caracalla, ranging from a young child (as seen here) to a mature military commander and Emperor. Fittschen and Zanker (op. cit.) assign the Alsdorf head to Caracalla’s first portrait style, also known as the Arch of Argentarii type, where the best-known variation of this portrait appears. The first portrait style was created around 198 when Caracalla was raised to the rank of Augustus and the type appears in numismatic portraits until 204. As Kleiner (op. cit.) observes, the greatest significance of the type is its debt to Antonine portraiture. The locks over the forehead that modeled after those of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus thus depict Caracalla as an heir to the Antonine dynasty. Fittschen and Zanker have recorded 40 known versions of this type. For a similar example from Rome, now at the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, see no. 8 in F. Johansen, Roman Portraits III.