CARACALLA, in Antiquity, an outer garment provided with a capuchin or hood, and not unlike the Roman lacerna. The caracalla, as worn in Gaul, reached no lower than the knee; but after its introduction by the Emperor Aurelius Antoninus Bassianus (who thence obtained the surname of Caracalla), it was lengthened so as to reach the ankle, and its use became general among the Romans, both in the city and the camp. Such garments were commonly called Antonian, to distinguish them from the Gallic caracalla. (Aurel. Vict. Epit. 21; De Cas. 21; Spartian. Ser. 21.) Salmasius, Scaliger, and after them Du Cange, derive the word caraque or cassock from caraque, for caracalla; and St Jerome mentions (Ep. 128) that the caracalla, with a retrenchment of the capuchin, became an ecclesiastical garment.