It was Bob Marley who sang that “2000 years of history could not be wiped away so easily.”
Lucius Septimius Bassianus (April 4, 188 – April 8, 217), commonly known as Caracalla, was a Black Roman Emperor who ruled from 211 to 217.
Caracalla was the eldest son of Septimius Severus, the first black African-born Emperor of Rome. But before Septimius Severus, there had been other Roman-born black Emperors of Rome. This story of the other black emperors of Rome will be explored in another write-up, but for now we focus on Caracalla.
Unlike his father Septimius Severus, Caracalla was born and raised in Italy. After the death of his father, he ruled jointly with his younger brother Geta until the latter’s death in 211.
Caracalla’s reign was notable for the Constitutio Antoniniana, granting Roman citizenship to freemen throughout the Roman Empire. That act laid a foundation for a peaceful multi-ethnic, multi-cultural Empire that Rome was to become.
Caracalla was mean towards the military incursions of the Goths, the Parthians and the Tartars, and he took brutal and extreme steps to suppress those invaders from Turkemenistan that were sorely troubling the cohesion of the Roman state.
A modern-day British historian Edward Gibbon, a descendant of the Goths, referred to him as, “the common enemy of mankind” because of the massacres he authorized in various parts of the empire.
In AD 213, Caracalla went north to the German frontier and subdued the Alamanni tribesmen who were causing trouble in the Agri Decumates. Due to that feat the Senate conferred upon him the title of “Germanicus Maximus”.
In AD 216, Caracalla took on the Parthians, a related tribe of the Goths, (the Parthians are the ancestors of the modern day Farsi-Iranians) who were causing problems on the southernmost flank of the empire. He tricked the Parthians into believing that he accepted a marriage and peace proposal, but then launched a series of blistering attacks on the Parthians when their guards were down. The thereafter ongoing conflict and skirmishes became known as the Parthian war of Caracalla.
The baths of Caracalla were the largest public baths ever built in ancient Rome. To put it in historical perspective, the central room of the baths was larger than St. Peter’s Basilica. It could easily accommodate over 2,000 Roman citizens. The bath house opened in 216, complete with libraries, private rooms and outdoor tracks. Caracalla ordered the building of those baths that are named in his honour.
Caracalla was assasinated by his body-guard while travelling from Edessa to continue the war against Parthian. He died on April 8, AD 217.
It is important that Africans should remember and celebrate Caracalla and his family line, i.e. the Severan Dynasty, because as black Africans, they were us and we are them.
By the dint of their heritage, they were part of our legacy, and their attainments represented part of our unfolding tale of greatness, of towering historical achievements, of courage, regency and inimitable genius.
The descendants of the Goths who conquered Rome, and now control historical narratives, would want you to believe that they were the real Romans. Through centuries of selective narration and faking of historical artefacts, they have largely succeeded in hiding the central role of the Africans in the defunct Roman empire.
They hide the facts that the Goths and the Parthians (the ancestors of the present day Germans, Russians, British, Spanish, Italians, and Iranians…the Aryans!!!) were the mortal enemies of the dark Ibero-Maurisian Romans, Greeks, Egyptians, Libyans, and Numidians, Mauritanians, and Saharans, the original owners of western Europe. They promote a fake and false notion that Rome was a so-called white created civilization affiliated with their Gothic ancestry. But this is a lie!
Again we chant, blessings on the memorial of the Severan Dynasty, they were the “naigre” Emperors of Rome, from Africa. We will be meeting more Black Roman Emperors in the next series.
Oguejiofo Annu
September 25, 2010
I would be very happy if Severus and Caracalla were indeed black Africans, and I suppose they could have been. It doesn’t seem very likely though. There is an image of the family with colours on a plate and he doesn’t look very black to me. http://picsicio.us/keyword/lucius%20septimius%20severus/
Nice thought provoking stuff though. Thanks.
Why doesn’t he look white presuppose that all African black people gave the same features. That is not True they’re black black Africans with pointy noses and small lips yet there are 100 percent black . The are pygmies in south Africa that are 100 percent black with yellow skin.
In addition if you are an American, here if u have one tenth black blood you are black .
And finally , genetic scientist have proven that in north west Africans males 80 percent of there male genes are from subsahara.
Hannibal was black , st. Augustine was black saudia Arabians are black the original jews and the Eygptians where all black. There is no white civilization that was born in Africa.
my name is lessy carthan,from the original carthanians race if you will,my father born in cuba,raised in texas in 1927,origin spanish and american native indian,were given a crest to bare of our ancient roman and persian descents,a jewel called the eye of taurus it contains blood and hair in the shape of a cats eye,it’s worth i don’t know,i buaried it 20yrs ago.the story goes our grandfather a spanish and egytian escaped from slave ports to cuba where slavery was outlawed and settled in the states in 1899,ironic the part his family were slave traiters and he found his ass on the block after being raided by english and french fleets.there is no myth,the jewlery is real,the storys of black ceasers are real,the world cant afford to exspose the truth,giving blacks history is giving them power,putting them back in power means they will rule again and no-empire will come after them.who invented shorthand but a black roman scholar.
like lester the reporter for nbc,has no lips,comedy but true.before the rap group public eney in 1986 there was limited african education in the american school system,in colleges or availability in librarys where they buary the lies so said krs-1,they called it his-story,meaning that white men around the world mostly british and american down played and buaried black history before the mayflower in ordr to control there captive slave labor,so did they they irish,the indian,the scottish,the asian,up to 1990’s when in was reinstated to the educational system we knew nothing but slves and ex slaves accomplishments.
If you believe Wikipedia, Caracalla’s descent was Punic, Berber, Syrian and Roman. The Berbers are of Afroasiatic origin. As far as I can tell, Afroasiatic is a massive family group to which the Semetic people belong.. Modern Berbers today include people like Zinedine Zidane(French Football player of Berber descent) and Saïd Taghmaoui Cannes(A well known American actor of Berber descent). I do not know to what extent Caracalla was, of each of these four groups, but it suggests he was roughly 1/4 Indo-European(White), 1/4 Afroasiatic(Closely associated with Semetic people) and 1/2 Semetic(Syrians and Punics are Semetic). This brings me to my conclusion and point. That point being, Caracalla wasn’t black.
Verrrrry scientific deduction sherlock!
Colin please look again with open eyes. I understand how much it would trouble you to think it is what it is. But to lie to yourself is not what life is about. Just look at the face and understand you dont like look like. But he was a roman cesar and he was from africa
Colin
You would be happy fi the Severan dynasty was black? No, Colin d Goth, you are disappointed that there is provable, documented black Emperors of Rome. They never taught you about that aspect of Rome in your classic classes, but welcome to Rastalivewire, where the other half is being told.
And do they look very white to you, Colin the Goth? Does Barack Obama look black enough for you? Does Bob Marley look black enough for you?
The Goths and their descendants, like you, have made claiming the legacies of Rome one of the rationale for their existence. The Goths were unwanted invaders into Europe and Rome. The Goths were Aryans, but the the true Romans were descendants of the Nigri Latinis, and the Nigri Aferis, all together known as the Moors.
The origins of Septimius and Caracalla are obvious enough to any intelligent person, they were Africans, they were not Aryan goths. The Nigri latinis, and the Nigri Aferis from whose stock Caracalla rises, are black people and they look black enough for any African who has international experience.
I know many Africans Americans who look just the same way as Septimius and his children. I know many Saharan Africans who look just the same way. Spetimius, Caracalla and their dynasty will never pass for anything but blacks in a US census test.
Finally, I will gve you a clue about ancient art, look at the hair. If the hair is wooly like the lamb on the sheep skin, it is a black person, because black people are the only ones in this world with hair like wool on the sheep skin.
All the other nations got straight lank hair like goats or wolves.
Look at Septimius Severus and his chlildren again see their hair, see their head profile, see their facial features.
I was super excited to read this article and gain more understanding of the Roman Empire but then a bit disturbed that your comments were so confronting toward “Goths”, essentially white people.
My first thought when I was reading about Septimus and Caracalla was that they looked, non-black or non-subsaharan African, but Middle Eastern like modern day Lybians. You explained that point, which is news to me. I’m going to look into that more. Does that mean that the Ancient Egyptian civilization consisted of dark African looking people, not middle eastern looking people?
Early Britons were brown? So just so I’m clear, the Slavs, Goths and Vandals are the only white people in the world, not the French, Moores, Franks, Germans, or Iberians, or Italians or Greeks, or Isralies? And the presence of white people in those territories in mondern times is only because of the invasions of white peoples?
I defer to your greater understanding of ancient and African/European history & I want to learn not attack your points. I think the conventional wisdom regarding races is that most consider, Italians (Romans), Greek’s as white. Your asserting that Romans and Greeks (among other peoples) are actually black. I take a nuanced view that, Romans are southern European neither African, nor northern European. Middle Eastern people are just that, not true BLACK people, nor white, they’re Middle Eastern, medium in complexion. Tell me where my understanding is wrong, please.
One more comment, my research into history and how the world works has gone up exponentially in the past 2 to 3 years (not based on college study but on seeking out true knowledge) I agree 100% with the fact that there is a western academic conspiracy. Part of my awakening has been the realization that the elites of the western world don’t view conflict as nation vs. nation or even race vs race (although they are highly racist) but they view it as elite vs. commoners across the different peoples. There’s writings between the kings of England and France were they openly talk about how they have too many people to control and they need to start a war to kill some people off.
Your feedback is welcomed.
When you return to history from the context of a “recent” origin of man then the thousands of years of separate evolution which has been disproven in recent years.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1210056/White-Europeans-evolved-5-500-years-ago-food-habits-changed.html.
if you disregard the term evolved which confers a sense of supremacy then you understand that part of the process of separating the “languages” instituted by the destruction of the tower of Babel meant that we would become different. But we all share the same very recent ancestor.
In the 21st century blacks are simply waking up from years of psychological conditioning and so this discussion turns into a battle for power.
The real power will soon be evident as the “meek” which are the ordinary people black or white embrace each other against those who have fed on this propaganda.
read more at thesoss.org
I know plenty of white people with curly hair. The bust of Caracalla could easily be that of a black man, but just as easily of a white one. Given that his origins were modern day Libya, it is a bit surprising to see curly hair which is not common there. He could have been a negro – there were as you say elsewhere plenty of them around in the Roman Empire. But I point out again that the skin colour of his father on that plate does look very typical of modern inhabitants of the Mediterranean.
As for me being a Goth, well it is nice to have romantic background, but I imagine there are quite a few different races blood in my veins. As I live in Sussex, the kingdom of the South Saxons, I suppose I would be a Saxon rather than a Goth in any case.
And I have no particular interest in the precise melanin content of Barak Obama or Bob Marley’s skin. Come to that, I don’t particularly feel any need to claim any inheritance from the Romans.
I might sign in as Colin the Goth next time though.
The reason your being so calm about the issue because these black people have made it clear. About who the real romans are.
Colins
The original Libyans were black Africans. Everybody on that continent was dark skinned until the invasion of the Vandals, followed by the Turks. Libya was a word synonymous with dark people.
There was a Nigerian kingdom which used to have Siwa oasis in Libya as its Northern most point. The city of Sijilimasa in southern Morocco is still a black city up to this day. The city of Marakesh in Northern Morocco was built by Senegalese moors who came from the Sanhaja tribes. They named it marrakesh meaning the house of Kush.
Besides the Berber tribes of the Kaybles who are heavily mixed with the Vandals, most Berbers of North Africa are of black African origin. Some are lighter than others but their basic Africanness cannot be denied.
Today, the demographics in Northern Africa is heavily tipped towards the white Arabs, i.e. descendants of Turks, and Vandal conquerors who accepted the Arabic culture. They live in Northrn Tunisia, and Algeria today, but it was not always so. 400 years ago and then onward back into history, those places were black land. Moorish territories, Morroco!
When you think about north Africa of today, think about the United States, and how the aboriginals were pushed out. That is the same thing happening in North Africa. But here on Rastalivewire, we recall, all, without exception.
Caracalla and his parents came from a long line of Muurish African family. For thousands of years his ancestors have come from no other continent but Africa. His hair was wooly, his skin was dark, and he was so proud of his wooly hair that he had it emphasized in all the royal coins he minted and issued.
Anytime you come across someone with wooly hair, and a dark skin, just realize that he has some very strong and recent African ancestry. He is a Moor.
When his hair is straight an lank, he could be a Goth, mostly likely if he is blond. If he is darkhair but paleskined, probably an Alan (Parthian-Farsi-Iranian) or a Turk. All those are the Aryans who fought the Muurs. Some Muurs are paleskin too, but their African blood always shines through. You cannot miss then when you come across them.
Rome was a Muurish empire. Search for the Nigri Latinis and you will see what I mean.
Jahdey
I have to disagree with this: “That act laid a foundation for a peaceful multi-ethnic, multi-cultural Empire that Rome was to become.” Rome had been a multi-cultural empire since the Punic wars, hundreds of years before. They’d been peaceful most of the second century, but the period of Roman history after Caracalla is usually called “the crisis of the third century”. It was a hundred years of invasions, civil war, economic collapse, disease, and misery. If you wanted to make a connection between curly hair and peaceful prosperity, you should have gone for Marcus Aurelius (http://www.the-romans.co.uk/g9/09.marcus_aurelius.jpg).
(And don’t go calling me a Goth. I’m a Frank. 🙂
obviously.
Joe,
Yes, Rome was a multi-cultural entity even before the punic wars. The emphasis was on the adjective “peaceful” qualifying the adjectival noun “multi-ethinc empire”. Anyways, that is my take, the author can explain better. The period of history after Caracalla was an intensification of military efforts to keep the Goths, the Huns, the Parthians, the Slavs, outside the boundaries of the empire. These were mostly external wars, not internal disturbances. Rome as an entity was very stable and peaceful in Caracalla’s time and after.
We are gonna post an analysis concerning Marcus Aurelius. He was not just curly haired, he was what would be called black in today’s north America. Be not in a hurry, you will get a chance to comment on Marcus Aurelius and his connections to Africa, via the Nigri Latinis.
And yes, you are a Goth. Franks are just a sub-tribe of the Visigoths, the western Goths. I believe one of the emperors was forced to permit your ancestors to settle France in return for their dubious alliance in fighting Attila the Hun.
You are all one and same branch of the Aryans who fought the Latini-Muurs of Rome. 🙂
Welcome to Rastalivewire, where we tell the other half.
Jahdey
Hi, Colin the Goth here. I should be out overthrowing empires but I can’t keep away.
I am not sure it is at all easy to tell whether some people are black or white. Take the photo on your blog’s masthead. I take it that it is you. Well I have to say that although at the end of the day I would conclude that you are wiight, the nose and the straight hair clinch it, even that picture could be of a black man if you stretch it a bit.
I think at the end of the day black and white human beings aren’t so very different.