Difference between revisions of "Elagabalus"

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*This page is edited by [[Samuele Rocca]], Israel
#REDIRECT [[:Category:Elagabalus (subject)]]
*ANCIENT SOURCES: see [[Elagabalus (sources)]]
*SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see [[:Category: Elagabalus (subject)]]


[[Varius Avitus Bassianus Marcus Aurelius Antoninus]], known as Elagabalus (203 – 222 CE) reigned from 218 till 222 CE.
====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. [[Elagabalu]]s 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]] in Scholarship==
== [[Elagabalus]] in Fiction==
==Related categories==
*[[Roman Emperors]] / [[Elagabalus]]
==External links==
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/  Elagabalus Wikipedia]


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Latest revision as of 08:19, 17 March 2012

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