The Death of Caracalla

By 215, Caracalla had cut a swath of destruction all the way across the empire and had lately taken up residence in Alexandria. The always independent-minded citizen of Alexandria decided to greet the arrival of the emperor with a little play, satirizing the crime that had made Caracalla the sole emperor. In his fury, and basically to prove that his cruelty far outweighed his usefulness as a punchline, he ordered a general slaughter of the citizens. It is reported that before it was over, something on the order of 20,000 people lay dead in the streets. Whether or not they loved or even liked the emperor was now beside the point. There was no way they were going