a nickname bestowed on Caracalla, after his death, from a gladiator of diminutive stature and repulsive aspect. It is first mentioned by Dio Cassius in the ninth chapter of his seventy-eighth book, and in the subsequent portions of his history he uniformly designates the son of Severus by this appellation.
[W.R]A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology
Smith, William
A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. William Smith, LLD, ed. 1890