Category:Elagabalus (subject)
Varius Avitus Bassianus Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, known as Elagabalus (203 – 222 CE) reigned from 218 till 222 CE.
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Overview
Elagabalus, a cousin of Caracalla was proclaimed emperor in 218 CE. His short reign was characterized by the introduction of the Syrian cult of Elagabalus at Rome. In 222 C.E. Elagabalus was murdered together with his mother Julia Soemias. He was succeeded by his cousin Alexander Severus.
Early Career
Varius Avitus Bassus was born in 203 CE at Emesa. His father, Sextus Varius Marcellus, originally was a member of the equestrian class, was elevated to Senatorial rank. His paternal family holds the hereditary priesthood of the god Elagabalus, who had a temple in Emesa. Elagabalus was the Latinized form of the Syrian name of the god, the Ba’al of the Mountain. The Romans syncretized this god with the sun – god, and he was known also as Sol Invictus. In the temple of Emesa stood a betyle, a black conical meteorite. The mother of Elagabalus was Julia Soemias, the daughter of Julia Maesa, who was the sister of Julia Domna, the wife of the emperor Septimius Severus and the mother of Caracalla. Elagabalus relatives also included Julia Mamaea, the sister of his mother Julia Soemias, and thus her aunt. Julia Mamaea was the wife of Marcus Julius Gessius Marcianus and the mother of the future emperor Alexander Severus. After the murder of Caracalla, his successor Macrinus, in an act of conciliation, exiled the various members of the Severan dynasty to Emesa.
Imperial Succession
Julia Maesa began a plot to put on the throne her grand son Elagabalus. She then announced that Elagabalus was the illegitimate son of Caracalla, of whom in fact he was a cousin. Elagabalus was thus acclaimed emperor by the soldiers of the Legio III Gallica, under the command of Valerius Comazon Eutychianus, at Raphanea in 218 CE. Elagabalus assumed the name of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus to strengthen his tie with Caracalla. Although Macrinus was successful in enlisting the help of the Roman Senate, which outlawed Elagabalus and his mother, however he was soon deserted by his soldiers and defeated near Antioch by an army under the command of Gannys, the eunuch adviser and tutor of Elagabalus. Macrinus and his son Diadumenianus were captured and executed. Although Elagabalus had been proclaimed emperor in spite of the Senate, he soon sent letters of reconciliation to Rome. The Senate answered to the conciliatory gesture of Elagabalus with the deification of both Caracalla and Julia Domna. Elagabalus then moved slowly to Rome, bringing with him the betyle of the temple of Emesa, his god Elagabalus, of which, he was the high priest as well. Elagabalus spent the winter of 218 at Nicomedia in Bythinia. In the same time he had to quell the mutinies of the Legio III Gallica, and the Legio IV Scythica. Elagabalus reached Rome in 219 CE. Julia Maesa in fact served as regent, while Valerius Comazon Eutychianus was appointed praetorian prefect. The relationship with the Senate was quite tense. Despite that, both Julia Maesa and Julia Soemias were allowed in the Senate, Soemias with the title of clarissima and Julia Maesa with the title of Mater Castrorum et Senatus. However soon the young Elagabalus proved himself impossible to check and his excesses alienated him the Senate and the army. His religious behavior scandalized the upper classes of Rome. Elagabalus had his god from Emesa, renamed Deus Sol Invictus, proclaimed as the chief god of Rome instead of Jupiter. He set a temple to his god on the Palatine. Moreover Elagabalus married Aquilia Severa, a Vestal Virgin. A year later, however, he abandoned her, and married instead Annia Faustina, a descendant of the Antonine dynasty. His sexual behavior, Elagabalus was a transsexual, did not help either the public image of the young emperor. Elagabulus tried to have his presumed lover Hierocles appointed Caesar. Another lover, Zoticus was appointed to the prominent position of cubicularius, or head chamberlain. Julia Maesa soon decided that the situation had become unbearable. Thus she was successful in convincing first Elagabalus to appoint Alexander Severus, the son of Julia Mamaea, his aunt, as heir. However, as Elagabalus became suspicious and tried to have Alexander Severus executed, Julia Maesa was successful in convincing the Praetorian Guard to kill Elagabalus and his mother instead. They were killed in 222 CE. Following his assassination, the Roman Senate decreed his damnatio memoriae, his body and that of his mother had been cut to pieces and thrown in the Cloaca Maxima, women were bared from entering the Senate, and the betyle of Elagabalus was sent back to Rome. Elagabalus was succeeded by his cousin Alexander Severus.
Elagabalus and the Jews
The Life of Antoninus Heliogabalus refers twice to Jews. The first time (SHA, Antoninus Heliogabalus 3: 4-5) it mentions that Heliogabalus wished that the religious rites of the Jews should be performed in his palace on the Palatine, while the second time, it mentions a joke of the emperor on Jewish dietary laws. (SHA, Antoninus Heliogabalus 28: 1-4).
Elagabalus in ancient sources
- Elagabalus (sources) -- survey of ancient sources
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