Macrinus - Roman Emperor: 217-218 A.D. -
Bronze 27mm Struck at SYRIA: SELEUCIS AND PIERIA city of Laodiceia ad Mare
Reference: Sear GIC 2953; B.MC. 20.261,97
IMP. C. M. OP. SEV. MACRINOS P. AVG - Laureate head of Macrinus right.
ROMAE FEL. - Wolf right, suckling Romulus and Remus.
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Marcus Opellius Macrinus (ca. 165 - June 218) was
Roman
emperor for fourteen months in 217 and 218. Macrinus was the first emperor
to become so without membership in the senatorial class. Macrinus was possibly
of Berber
descent[1].
Background
and career
Born in Caesarea (modern
Cherchell,
Algeria) in the
Roman province of
Mauretania
to an
equestrian family, Macrinus received an education which allowed him to
ascend to the Roman political class. Over the years he earned a reputation as a
skilled lawyer. Under the emperor
Septimius Severus he became an important bureaucrat. Severus' successor
Caracalla
appointed him
prefect of the
Praetorian guard. While Macrinus likely enjoyed the trust of Caracalla, this
may have changed when, according to tradition, he was prophesied to depose and
succeed the emperor. Rumors spread regarding Macrinus' alleged desire to take
the throne for himself. Given Caracalla's tendency towards murdering political
opponents, Macrinus probably feared for his own safety should the emperor become
aware of this prophecy. According to Dio, Caracalla had already taken the step
of re-assigning members of Macrinus' staff.
In the spring of 217, Caracalla was in the eastern provinces
preparing a campaign against the
Parthian Empire. Macrinus was among his staff, as were other members of the
praetorian guard. In April, the emperor went to visit a temple of
Luna near the
spot of the
battle of Carrhae, accompanied only by his personal bodyguard, which
included Macrinus. Events are not clear, but it is certain that Caracalla was
murdered at some point on the trip (perhaps on
April 8).
Caracalla's body was brought back from the temple by his bodyguards, along with
the corpse of a fellow bodyguard. The story as told by Macrinus was that the
dead guard had killed Caracalla. By
April 11,
Macrinus proclaimed himself emperor. Macrinus also nominated his son
Diadumenianus
Caesar and successor and conferred upon him the name "Antoninus", thus
connecting him with the relatively stable reigns of the
Antonine emperors of the 2nd century.
Reign
(April 217 - June 218)
Despite his equestrian background, Macrinus was confirmed in
his new role by the
Senate.
According to S.N. Miller, this may have been due to both his background as an
accomplished jurist and his deferential treatment of the senatorial class. He
found it necessary, however, to replace several provincial governors with men of
his own choosing. Caracalla's mother
Julia
Domna was initially left in peace, but when she started to conspire with the
military he ordered her to leave
Antioch.
Being at that time in an advanced stage of breast cancer (Cassius Dio) she chose
instead to starve herself to death.
In urgent matters of foreign policy, Macrinus displayed a
tendency towards conciliation and a reluctance to engage in military conflict.
He averted trouble in the province of
Dacia by
returning hostages that had been held by Caracalla, and he ended troubles in
Armenia by granting that country's throne to
Tiridates, whose father had also been imprisoned under Caracalla. Less
easily managed was the problem of
Mesopotamia, which had been invaded by the
Parthians in
the wake of Caracalla's demise. Meeting the Parthians in battle during the
summer of 217, Macrinus achieved a
costly draw near the town of
Nisibis and as a result was forced to enter negotiations through which was
obliged to pay the enormous
indemnity
of 200 million sesterces to the Parthian ruler
Artabanus IV in return for peace.
Macrinus' reluctance to engage in warfare, and his failure to
gain victory over even a historically inferior enemy such as the Parthians
caused considerable resentment among the soldiers. This was compounded by the
rolling back of the privileges they had enjoyed under Caracalla and the
introduction of a pay system by which recruits received less than veterans.
After only a short while, the legions were searching for a rival emperor.
At a high point of his popularity monuments were built to
revere Macrinus. The grand
tetrastyle
Capitoline Temple, in
Volubilis
was erected to honour Emperor Macrinus in 217 AD.[2]
His popularity also suffered in Rome. Not only had the new
emperor failed to visit the city after taking power, but a late-summer
thunderstorm caused widespread fires and flooding, and Macrinus' appointee as
urban prefect proved unable to repair the damage to the satisfaction of the
populace and had to be replaced.
Downfall
This discontent was fostered by the surviving members of the
Severan dynasty, headed by
Julia
Maesa (Caracalla's aunt) and her daughters
Julia Soaemias and
Julia Mamaea. Having been evicted from the imperial palace and ordered to
return home by Macrinus, the Severan women plotted from their home near
Emesa in
Syria to place another Severan on the imperial throne. They used their
hereditary influence over the cult of
sun-deity
Elagabalus (the Latinised form of
El-Gabal) to proclaim Soaemias' son
Elagabalus
(named for his family's patron deity) as the true successor to Caracalla. The
rumor was spread, with the assistance of the Severan women, that Elagabalus was
in fact Caracalla's illegitimate son, and thus the child of a union between
first cousins.
On
May 18,
Elagabalus was proclaimed emperor by the
Legio III Gallica at its camp at
Raphana. A
force under his tutor Gannys marched on
Antioch and
engaged a force under Macrinus on
June 8,
218. Macrinus,
deserted by most of his soldiers, was soundly defeated in the
battle, and fled towards Italy disguised as a courier. He was captured near
Chalcedon
and later executed in
Cappadocia.
His son Diadumenianus, sent for safety to the Parthian court, was captured at
Zeugma and also put to death.
Macrinus' short reign, while important for its historical
"firsts", was cut short due to the inability of this otherwise accomplished man
to control or satisfy the soldiery. In his death at the hands of Roman soldiers,
Macrinus reinforced the notion of the soldiers as the true brokers of power in
the third-century empire and highlighted the importance of maintaining the
support of this vital faction. His reign was followed by another seventeen years
of rule under the Severan emperors
Elagabalus
and
Severus Alexander.
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