Lots of research. I'll take the author's word for it. He tries to rehabilitate Caracalla's reputation. There's a lot of conjecture. Fair enough. He bags Cassius Dio all the time. Indeed, it felt like criticising Dio was the main reason to write this book. I could be wrong.
Caracalla was an unpleasant man. Reading this... I guess he was okay at leading armies. But he was a shit. I mean, even reading this book gives this impression. He was always lying to people, misleading, slaughtering. The writer keeps excusing him. It's also a homophobic book full of cracks about "effiminate" Macrinus and saying it was natural for straight people to be revulsed by homosexuals and claiming it was good for the peace of the realm that Caracalla slaughtered all these locals. I mean Caracalla empowered the dopey army, didn't leave any long term benefits.
It's a nasty book and the writer comes across as unpleasant.
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