Following the death of the Roman Emperor <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Septimius_Severus" id="mwEQ" rel="mw:WikiLink" title="Septimius Severus">Septimius Severus</a> at Eboracum (modern York, England) while preparing to lead a campaign against the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caledonians" id="mwEg" rel="mw:WikiLink" title="Caledonians">Caledonians</a>, the empire is left in the control of his two quarrelling sons, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caracalla" id="mwEw" rel="mw:WikiLink" title="Caracalla">Caracalla</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geta_(emperor)" id="mwFA" rel="mw:WikiLink" title="Geta (emperor)">Geta</a>, whom he had instructed to make peace.<sup about="#mwt15" class="mw-ref reference" data-mw='{"name":"ref","attrs":{},"body":{"id":"mw-reference-text-cite_note-1"}}' id="cite_ref-1" rel="dc:references" typeof="mw:Extension/ref"><a href="./February_4#cite_note-1" id="mwFQ" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 1;"><span class="mw-reflink-text" id="mwFg">[1]</span></a></sup>
<span class="mw-reference-text" id="mw-reference-text-cite_note-1"><cite about="#mwt12" class="citation book cs1" id="CITEREFBirley2002"><a href="./Anthony_Birley" id="mwBb4" rel="mw:WikiLink" title="Anthony Birley">Birley, Anthony R</a> (1 June 2002). <a class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=z8iEAgAAQBAJ&amp;pg=PT238" id="mwBb8" rel="mw:ExtLink nofollow"><i id="mwBcA">Septimius Severus: The African Emperor</i></a>. Routledge. p.<span id="mwBcE" typeof="mw:Entity"> </span>238. <a class="mw-redirect" href="./ISBN_(identifier)" id="mwBcI" rel="mw:WikiLink" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a><span id="mwBcM" typeof="mw:Entity"> </span><a href="./Special:BookSources/978-1-134-70745-4" id="mwBcQ" rel="mw:WikiLink" title="Special:BookSources/978-1-134-70745-4"><bdi id="mwBcU">978-1-134-70745-4</bdi></a>.</cite><span about="#mwt12" class="Z3988" id="mwBcY" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&amp;rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&amp;rft.genre=book&amp;rft.btitle=Septimius+Severus%3A+The+African+Emperor&amp;rft.pages=238&amp;rft.pub=Routledge&amp;rft.date=2002-06-01&amp;rft.isbn=978-1-134-70745-4&amp;rft.aulast=Birley&amp;rft.aufirst=Anthony+R&amp;rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3Dz8iEAgAAQBAJ%26pg%3DPT238&amp;rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AFebruary+4"></span></span>