Abstract
On 8. April 217, during his expeditio felicissima orientalis, the emperor Caracalla left the town of Edessa in northern Mesopotamia (modern Şanlıurfa) together with a military escort of soldiers, officers and high-ranking equestrian commanders. Caracalla would never arrive. He was assassinated halfway there, in the midst of his 'protectores' while alleviating himself. 'Protectores' are not heard of before this event but are a well-known elevated rank in the Roman army in later years. Yet who Who were Caracalla’s ineffective protectors? How could such a disastrous blunder happen in the midst of Rome’s most carefully selected, best equipped and most thoroughly trained soldiers of the imperial guard?
Speidel, Michael Alexander