Corocotta

In response to this, Corocotta turned himself in to the Roman Emperor with the purpose of claiming the big financial reward himself and he willingly offering his life (head) in exchange.

[1]According to Peter Michael Swan the main purpose of the story is to contrast the clemency of Augustus with the vindictiveness of Dio's bête noire, Septimius Severus.

[2] Thomas Grünewald says that Dio wished to stress that Augustus had "a strong sense of humour and unshakeable self-confidence", and to compare this with the brutality that was the product of Severus' insecurity, represented by his vicious treatment of a similar "noble bandit" called Bulla Felix.

[4] The name "corocotta" has been interpreted as a nickname indicative of his ferocity, a variant of crocotta, a word used to refer to a type of canine-like beast from Africa, most likely a hyena or jackal.

[2][5] In the words of Grünewald, "It can have been no accident that the infamous Corocotta shared his name with an exotic predator, well known to circus audiences as a terrifying beast.

[9] Schulten argued that he was more likely to have been an anti-Roman rebel than a simple bandit, and should be seen in the context of the Cantabrian wars (29–19 BC), the last stand of independent Spanish Celtic tribes against Roman control.

[7][10] Peter Michael Swan quotes F. Diego Santos describing him as "a Cantabrian guerrilla leader; his surrender possibly belongs to Augustus’ sojourn in Spain ca.

She suggests that Corocotta was merely a bandit, and surmises that he was probably of North African origin on the basis that the crocotta was said by most authors to come from Africa.