Bassianus

Bassianus is a Latin given name and cognomen used in ancient Rome and in later literature. The most notable bearer is Lucius Septimius Bassianus, who became the emperor Caracalla. Born around 188 CE to Septimius Severus and Julia Domna, he bore the birth name Lucius Septimius Bassianus. He was proclaimed Caesar in 198 and later ruled as emperor, first jointly with his father and then with his brother Geta after Severus’s death in 211. After Geta’s murder in 212, Caracalla ruled alone. His reign is remembered for the Constitutio Antoniniana of 212, which extended Roman citizenship to nearly all free inhabitants of the empire, and for large-scale building projects in Rome. He was assassinated in 217.

In English literature, Bassianus appears as a minor nobleman in William Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus. In the play, he is a suitor of Lavinia and is killed during the course of the plot, an event that helps drive the ensuing cycle of vengeance and political violence.

In onomastics, Bassianus is a Latin cognomen formed from the root Bassus with the suffix -ianus, a common pattern for indicating belonging to a family or branch. The name is attested in late antique inscriptions and in the nomenclature surrounding Roman imperial officials, and it persists in literary usage as a historical or fictional proper noun.