Elagabalus in Wikipedia
Varius Avitus Bassianus[1] (ca. 203 – March 11, 222),
commonly known as Elagabalus or Heliogabalus, was Roman
Emperor from 218 to 222. A member of the Severan Dynasty, he
was Syrian on his mother's side, the son of Julia Soaemias
and Sextus Varius Marcellus. Early in his early youth he
served as a priest of the god El-Gabal at his hometown,
Emesa. Upon becoming emperor he took the name Marcus
Aurelius Antoninus Augustus, and was called Elagabalus only
a long time after his death.
In 217, the emperor Caracalla was assassinated and replaced
by his Praetorian prefect, Marcus Opellius Macrinus.
Caracalla's maternal aunt, Julia Maesa, successfully
instigated a revolt among the Third Legion to have her
eldest grandson, Elagabalus, declared as emperor in his
place. Macrinus was defeated on June 8, 218, at the Battle
of Antioch, upon which Elagabalus, barely fourteen years
old, ascended to the imperial power and began a reign that
was marred by infamous controversies.
During his rule, Elagabalus showed a disregard for Roman
religious traditions and sexual taboos. He replaced the
traditional head of the Roman pantheon, Jupiter, with a
lesser god, Deus Sol Invictus, and forced leading members of
Rome's government to participate in religious rites
celebrating this deity, which he personally led. Elagabalus
was married as many as five times, lavished favors on
courtiers popularly assumed to have been his homosexual
lovers, and was reported to have prostituted himself in the
imperial palace. His reputed behaviour infuriated the
Praetorian Guard, the Senate and the common people alike.
Amidst growing opposition, Elagabalus, only 18 years old,
was assassinated and replaced by his cousin Alexander
Severus on March 11, 222, in a plot formed by his
grandmother, Julia Maesa, and disgruntled members of the
Praetorian Guard. Elagabalus developed a reputation among
his contemporaries for extreme eccentricity, decadence, and
zealotry which was likely exaggerated by his successors and
political rivals.[2] This likely propaganda was passed on
and, as a result, he was one of the most reviled Roman
emperors to early historians. For example, Edward Gibbon
wrote that Elagabalus "abandoned himself to the grossest
pleasures and ungoverned fury."[3] "The name Elagabalus is
branded in history above all others" because of his
"unspeakably disgusting life," wrote B.G. Niebuhr...
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