c. 164–218
Marcus Opellius Macrinus rose through the equestrian administration and became praetorian prefect under Caracalla. During the emperor’s eastern campaign, a prophecy and fear for his own safety contributed to a conspiracy that ended in Caracalla’s assassination near Carrhae in 217. Macrinus then became the first Roman emperor who had not previously served as a senator.
In Emperor’s Lion and Emperor’s Fate, Macrinus belongs to the network of court officials and commanders surrounding Caracalla. His historical ascent provides the political endpoint for Silus’s growing conflict between service to the emperor and resistance to a destructive regime.
In Alex Gough’s Emperor’s Fate, as Macrinus and other officers confront the danger of Caracalla’s suspicions, Silus must decide whether his duty is to guard the emperor or permit a conspiracy that may save those marked for death. In Alex Gough’s Emperor’s Lion, Caracalla remains protected by the army and by fear, but the careers of Macrinus and Adventus show how quickly men within the praetorian command can become alternatives to the ruler they serve. In Alfred Duggan’s Family Favourites, the teenage Syrian priest Varius Avitus is proclaimed emperor after his family and supporters overthrow Macrinus. Taking the name Elagabalus, he brings the cult of his sun god to Rome and discovers that military loyalty, dynastic influence and religious authority do not translate easily into stable government. Observed from within the imperial household and army, his reign becomes a contest between the emperor’s determination to remake Roman public life and the efforts of his formidable relatives to preserve the dynasty.
