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Geta – Caesar: 198-209 A.D. and Roman Emperor: 209-211 A.D.
Bronze 16mm (1.87 grams) of Marcianopolis in Moesia Inferior
Π CЄΠT ΓЄΤΑC, Bare-headed draped and cuirassed bust right.
MAPKIANOΠOΛITΩN, Eagle standing facing with open wings and head right.
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  Jupiter is usually thought to have originated as a sky god. His identifying implement is the thunderbolt, and his primary sacred animal is the eagle, which held precedence over other birds in the taking of auspices and became one of the most common symbols of the Roman army (see Aquila). The two emblems were often combined to represent the god in the form of an eagle holding in its claws a thunderbolt, frequently seen on Greek and Roman coins. As the sky-god, he was a divine witness to oaths, the sacred trust on which justice and good government depend. Many of his functions were focused on the Capitoline (“Capitol Hill”), where the citadel was located. He was the chief deity of the early Capitoline Triad with Mars and Quirinus. In the later Capitoline Triad, he was the central guardian of the state with Juno and Minerva. His sacred tree was the oak. The Romans regarded Jupiter as the equivalent of the Greek Zeus, and in Latin literature and Roman art, the myths and iconography of Zeus are adapted under the name Iuppiter.
An aquila, or eagle, was a prominent symbol used in ancient Rome, especially as the standard of a Roman legion. A legionary known as an aquilifer, or eagle-bearer, carried this standard. Each legion carried one eagle. The eagle was extremely important to the Roman military, beyond merely being a symbol of a legion. A lost standard was considered an extremely grave occurrence, and the Roman military often went to great lengths to both protect a standard and to recover it if lost; for example, see the aftermath of the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, where the Romans spent decades attempting to recover the lost standards of three legions.
Marcianopolis, or Marcianople was an ancient Roman city in Thracia. It was located at the site of modern day Devnya, Bulgaria.
The city was so renamed by Emperor Trajan after his sister Ulpia Marciana, and was previously known as Parthenopolis. Romans repulsed a Gothic attack to this town in 267 (or 268), during the reign of Gallienus. Diocletian made it the capital of the Moesia Secunda province.
Valens made it his winter quarters in 368 and succeeding years, Emperor Justinian I restored and fortified it. In 587, it was sacked by the king of the Avars but at once retaken by the Romans. The Roman army quartered there in 596 before crossing the Danube to assault the Avars.
Between 893 and 972 it was one of the most important medieval cities in south-eastern Europe.
Geta – Roman Emperor: 209-211 A.D.
| Caesar: 198-209 A.D. (under Septimius Severus and Caracalla) | Augustus: 209-211 A.D. (209-211 with Septimius Severus and Caracalla) (211 A.D. with Caracalla) |
| Son of Septimius Severus and Julia Domna | Brother of Caracalla | Brother-in-law of Plautilla | Nephew of Julia Maesa | Cousin of Julia Soaemias and Julia Mamaea |
Publius Septimius Geta (March 7, 189-December 26, 211), was a Roman Emperor co-ruling with his father Septimius Severus and his older brother Caracalla from 209 to his death.
Geta was the younger son of Septimius Severus by his second wife Julia Domna. Geta was born in Rome, at a time when his father was only a provincial governor at the service of emperor Commodus.
Geta was always in a place secondary to his older brother Lucius, the heir known as Caracalla. Perhaps due to this, the relations between the two were difficult from their early years. Conflicts were constant and often required the mediation of their mother. To appease his youngest son, Septimius Severus gave Geta the title of Augustus in 209. During the campaign against the Britons of the early 3rd century, the imperial propaganda publicized a happy family that shared the responsibilities of rule. Caracalla was his father’s second in command, Julia Domna the trusted counsellor and Geta had administrative and bureaucratic duties. Truth was that the rivalry and antipathy between the brothers was far from being improved.
Joint Emperor
When Septimius Severus died in Eboracum in the beginning of 211, Caracalla and Geta were proclaimed joint emperors and returned to Rome.
Regardless, the shared throne was not a success: the brothers argued about every decision, from law to political appointments. Later sources speculate about the desire of the two of splitting the empire in two halves. By the end of the year, the situation was unbearable. Caracalla tried to murder Geta during the festival of Saturnalia without success. Later in December he arranged a meeting with his brother in his mother’s apartments, and had him murdered in her arms by centurions.
Following Geta’s assassination, Caracalla damned his memoryy and ordered his name to be removed from all inscriptions. The now sole emperor also took the opportunity to get rid of his political enemies, on the grounds of conspiracy with the deceased. Cassius Dio stated that around 20,000 persons of both sexes were killed and/or proscribed during this time.
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