Geta and Caracalla were sons of emperor Septimius Severus. Both, according to the will of the dying father, were to share power in the Empire, without a clear division of powers and territory. This fact alone hindered cooperation between them. However, the deeper cause of the conflict that was about to break out between the brothers was the sincere hatred they had had since early childhood. They were not even prevented by the consent forced by their father’s grave, to which their mother Julia Domna urged her co-emperors.
Certainly the brothers were the opposite of “brotherly love”. Aggression and hostility took on very serious proportions. Caracalla finally agreed to reconcile with his brother in 212 CE. at my mother’s house. There, the older of them, Karakalla and his centurions pierced his brother. Geta died trying to take refuge in the arms of her mother, who was injured herself, trying to save her son.
Caracalla immediately announced that he had been attacked by his brother and only thanks to the help of loyal friends he was saved. Geta was sentenced to the worst kind of punishment, used against hated emperors after their death – his name was erased from all official documents (damnatio memoriae), all evidence of his existence was erased, and mourning was forbidden – even his own mother.
