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Elagabalus

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              Elagabalus
      Emperor of the Roman Empire
          Bust of Elagabalus,
   from the Capitoline Museums
   Reign       218 - 222
   Full name   Varius Avitus Bassianus
               Marcus Aurelius Antoninus,
               known as Elagabalus
   Born        c. 203
   Died        11 March 222
   Predecessor Macrinus
   Successor   Alexander Severus
   Wife/wives  Julia Cornelia Paula
               Julia Aquilia Severa
               Annia Faustina
               two other women,
               names unknown
               Hierocles
   Issue       Alexander Severus (adoptive)
   Father      Sextus Varius Marcellus
   Mother      Julia Soaemias Bassiana

                                         CAPTION: Roman imperial dynasties
                                                           Severan dynasty

                                                   Septimius Severus alone
                                                                  Children
                                                                      Geta
                                                                 Caracalla
                                Septimius Severus, with Geta and Caracalla
                                                        Geta and Caracalla
                                                           Caracalla alone
                                                       Interlude, Macrinus
                                                                Elagabalus
                                                                  Children
                                               Alexander Severus, adoptive
                                                         Alexander Severus

   Elagabalus or Heliogabalus (c. 203– March 11, 222), born Varius Avitus
   Bassus and also known as Varius Avitus Bassianus Marcus Aurelius
   Antoninus, was a Roman emperor of the Severan dynasty who reigned from
   218 to 222. Elagabalus is one of the most controversial Roman emperors.
   During his reign, he showed a disregard for Roman religious traditions
   and sexual taboos. Elagabalus' name is a Latinized form of the Semitic
   deity El-Gabal, a manifestation of the Semitic deity Ēl. He replaced
   Jupiter, head of the Roman pantheon, with a new god, Deus Sol Invictus,
   which in Latin means "the Sun, Undefeated God". Elagabalus forced
   leading members of Rome's government to participate in religious rites
   celebrating Sol Invictus, which he personally led.

   He also took a Vestal Virgin as one of a succession of wives and openly
   boasted that his sexual interest in men was more than just a casual
   pastime, as it had been for previous emperors.

   Elagabalus developed a reputation among his contemporaries for
   eccentricity, decadence, and zealotry which was likely exaggerated by
   his successors. This black propaganda was passed on and, as such, he
   was one of the most reviled Roman emperors to early Christian
   historians and later became a hero to the Decadent movement of the late
   19th century.

Family

   Elagabalus was the son of Sextus Varius Marcellus and Julia Soaemias
   Bassiana. His father was initially a member of the equites class, but
   was later elevated to the rank of senator. His grandmother Julia Maesa
   was the widow of the Consul Julius Avitus, the sister of Julia Domna,
   and the sister-in-law of Emperor Septimius Severus. Julia Soaemias was
   a cousin of Caracalla. Other relatives included his aunt Julia Avita
   Mamaea and uncle Gessius Marcianus and their son Severus Alexander.
   Elagabalus' family held hereditary rights to the priesthood of the sun
   god El-Gabal, of whom Elagabalus was the high priest at Emesa (modern
   Homs) in Syria.

   The name Elagabalus is a Latin form of the name of the Semitic god
   El-Gabal. The name originally referred to the patron deity of the
   emperor's birthplace, Emesa. El refers to the chief Semitic deity,
   while Gabal meaning mountain (compare with the Hebrew gevul and Arabic
   jebel) is his Emesene manifestation. The god became a sun god in Roman
   times by a confusion of the original Semitic name with the Greek word
   helios (sun), resulting in the name variant Heliogabalus. High priests
   in antiquity were identified with the god they served, and thus the
   creation of the name Elagabalus.

Rise to power

   Coin minted by Elegabalus to celebrate Legio III Gallica, which
   supported Elagabalus bid for power.
   Enlarge
   Coin minted by Elegabalus to celebrate Legio III Gallica, which
   supported Elagabalus bid for power.

   When the Emperor Macrinus came to power he exiled Julia Maesa, her two
   daughters, and her eldest grandson, Elagabalus, to her estate at Emesa
   in Syria. She began a plot, with her eunuch advisor and Elagabalus'
   tutor Gannys, to overthrow Macrinus almost upon arrival in Syria. She
   decided to elevate the fourteen year old Elagabalus as emperor.
   Elagabalus and his mother readily complied and announced, falsely, that
   he was the illegitimate son of Caracalla. After Julia Maesa displayed
   her wealth to the III Gallica legion at Raphana they swore allegiance
   to Elagabalus. At sunrise on May 16, 218 P. Valerius Comazon
   Eutychianus, commander of the legion, declared him emperor. He assumed
   Caracalla's names, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, to strengthen his
   legitimacy through further propaganda.

   Macrinus sent letters to the Senate denouncing Elagabalus as the False
   Antoninus and claiming he was insane. Both consuls and other high
   ranking members of Rome's leadership, including a Praetorian, condemned
   him, and the Senate subsequently declared war on both Elagabalus and
   Julia Maesa. Macrinus and his son, weakened by the desertion of the II
   Parthica due to bribes and promises circulated by Julia Maesa, were
   defeated on June 8, 218 near Antioch by troops commanded by Gannys.
   Macrinus fled toward Italy, disguised as a courier. He was captured
   near Chalcedon and later executed in Cappadocia. His son Diadumenianus,
   sent for safety to the Parthian court, was captured at Zeugma and also
   put to death.

   Elagabalus declared the date of the victory at Antioch to be the
   beginning of his reign and assumed the imperial titles without prior
   Senatorial approval, which violated tradition but was a common practice
   among 3rd century emperors nonetheless. Letters of reconciliation were
   dispatched to Rome extending amnesty to the Senate and recognizing the
   laws. He also condemned his predecessor in the letters: "He undertook
   to disparage my age, when he himself had appointed his five-year-old
   son [emperor]."

   The Senators responded by acknowledging him as emperor and accepting
   his claim to be the son of Caracalla. Caracalla and Julia Domna were
   both deified by the Senate, both Julia Maesa and Julia Soaemias were
   elevated to the rank of Augustae, and the memory of Macrinus and
   Diadumenianus was condemned and vilified by the Senate.

Imperial power

   A coin commissioned by Elagabalus, bearing his likeness.
   Enlarge
   A coin commissioned by Elagabalus, bearing his likeness.

   Elagabalus and his entourage spent the winter of 218 in Bithynia at
   Nicomedia. It was at Nicomedia that Elagabalus' religious beliefs first
   manifested as a problem. The local Roman citizens were disturbed by his
   practices and Gannys was killed while trying to suppress the ensuing
   riots. The Historia Augusta suggests that Gannys was in fact killed by
   the new emperor because Gannys was forcing him to live 'temperately and
   prudently'. To help Romans adjust to the idea of having an oriental
   priest as emperor, Julia Maesa had a painting of Elagabalus in priestly
   robes sent to Rome and hung over a statue of the goddess Victoria in
   the Senate House. This placed Senators in the awkward position of
   having to make offerings to Elagabalus whenever they made offerings to
   Victoria.

   Elagabalus was delayed in Asia Minor while brief revolts by the Legio
   III Gallica, under the leadership of the senator Verus, and the IV
   Scythica, under command of Gellius Maximus, were crushed. When the
   entourage reached Rome in the Fall of 219, Comazon and other allies of
   Julia Maesa and Elagabalus were given powerful and lucrative positions,
   much to the outrage of many senators who did not consider them to be
   respectable. Comazon would serve as the city prefect of Rome three
   times and as consul twice. An official whose name solely survives as
   ...atus was moved though various positions including Suffect consul.
   Elagabalus tried to have his presumed lover Hierocles declared Caesar,
   while another alleged lover, Zoticus, was appointed to the
   non-administrative but influential position of Cubicularius. His offer
   of amnesty for the Roman leadership was largely honored, though the
   jurist Ulpian was exiled.

   The relationships between Julia Maesa, Julia Soaemias, and Elagabalus
   were strong, at first. His mother and grandmother became the first
   women to be allowed into the Senate, and both received Senatorial
   titles: Soaemias the established title of Clarissima and Maesa the more
   unorthodox Mater Castrorum et Senatus. While Julia Maesa tried to
   position herself as the power behind the throne and subsequently the
   most powerful woman in the world, Elagabalus would prove to be highly
   independent, set in his ways, and impossible to control.

Religious controversy

   The Emesa temple to the sun god El Gabal, with the holy stone, on the
   reverse of this bronze coin by Roman usurper Uranius Antoninus.
   Enlarge
   The Emesa temple to the sun god El Gabal, with the holy stone, on the
   reverse of this bronze coin by Roman usurper Uranius Antoninus.

   Since the reign of Septimius Severus, sun worship had increased
   throughout the Empire. Elagabalus saw this as an opportunity to set up
   his god, El-Gabal, as the chief deity of the Roman Pantheon. El-Gabal,
   renamed Deus Sol Invictus or God the Undefeated Sun, was placed over
   even Jupiter. As a sign of the union between the two religions,
   Elagabalus gave either Astarte, Minerva, Urania, or some combination of
   the three, to El-Gabal as a wife. Moreover, he himself married the
   Vestal Virgin Aquilia Severa, provoking great outrage; he said he would
   have "god-like children" from the marriage. A temple (the so-called
   Elagaballium) to house El-Gabal, a black conical meteorite, was built
   in Rome on the east face of the Palatine Hill and its foundations
   remain today. Speaking of this stone, Herodian says "this stone is
   worshipped as though it were sent from heaven; on it there are some
   small projecting pieces and markings that are pointed out, which the
   people would like to believe are a rough picture of the sun, because
   this is how they see them". To become the high priest of El-Gabal,
   Elagabalus had himself circumcised. Herodian writes that Elagabalus
   forced senators to watch while he danced around the altar of El-Gabal
   to the sound of drums and cymbals and that each summer solstice became
   a great festival to El-Gabal popular with the masses because of its
   widely distributed food. During this festival, Elagabalus placed
   El-Gabal:

          …in chariot adorned with gold and jewels and brought him out
          from the city to the suburbs. A six horse chariot carried the
          divinity, the horses huge and flawlessly white, with expensive
          gold fittings and rich ornaments. No one held the reins, and no
          one rode in the chariot; the vehicle was escorted as if the god
          himself were the charioteer. Elagabalus ran backward in front of
          the chariot, facing the god and holding the horses reins. He
          made the whole journey in this reverse fashion, looking up into
          the face of his god.

Sex/gender controversy

   Coin issued in the name of Julia Cornelia Paula, first wife of
   Elagabalus.
   Enlarge
   Coin issued in the name of Julia Cornelia Paula, first wife of
   Elagabalus.

   Elagabalus' sexual orientation and gender identity are the source of
   much controversy and debate. Elagabalus married and divorced five
   women, three of whom are known. His first wife was Julia Cornelia
   Paula; the second was the Vestal Virgin Julia Aquilia Severa. This was
   a flagrant breach of Roman law and tradition, which held that any
   Vestal found to have undertaken sexual intercourse would be buried
   alive. Within a year, he abandoned her and married Annia Faustina, a
   descendant of Marcus Aurelius and the widow of a man recently executed
   by Elagabalus. By the end of the year, he had returned to Severa, but
   according to a contemporary senator and historian, Cassius Dio, his
   most stable relationship seems to have been with his chariot driver, a
   blond slave from Caria named Hierocles, whom he referred to as his
   husband. Dio also wrote that Elagabalus used to:

          "stand nude… at the door of his room in the palace, as harlots
          do, and shake the curtain which hung from gold rings, while in a
          soft melting voice he solicited passers by."

   Herodian comments that Elagabalus pampered his natural good looks by
   wearing too much makeup. Elagabalus has also often been characterized
   by modern writers as transgender, most likely transsexual.

   He is described as having been "delighted to be called the mistress,
   the wife, the Queen of Hierocles" and is said to have offered half the
   Roman Empire to the physician who could equip him with female
   genitalia.

Fall from power

   Elagabalus' eccentricities, especially his habit of forcing others to
   participate in his religious practices, weighed heavily on Julia
   Maesa's mind and she decided he and his mother, Julia Soaemias, who had
   encouraged his religious practices, had to be replaced. She turned to
   her other daughter Julia Avita Mamaea and her son, the thirteen year
   old Severus Alexander, as alternatives. Maesa and Mamaea convinced
   Elagabalus to appoint Alexander as his heir. When he changed his mind
   later and ordered Alexander executed, Maesa and Mamaea bribed the
   Praetorian Guard before his orders could be carried out. Elagabalus and
   Julia Soaemias were murdered (according to the Historia Augusta, in the
   Emperor's latrine) on March 11, 222; their bodies were dragged through
   the streets of Rome and the Cloaca Maxima, and ultimately thrown into
   the Tiber.

After death

Cultural influence

   Due to these stories, Elagabalus became something of a hero to the
   Decadent movement in the late 19th century. He appears in many
   paintings and poems as the epitome of an amoral aesthete. His life and
   character has inspired or at least informed many famous artworks,
   including the following:
     * The Major-General's patter song in Gilbert and Sullivan's comic
       opera The Pirates of Penzance (1879), in which he brags of being
       able to "quote in elegiacs / all the crimes of Heliogabalus";
     * The painting The Roses of Heliogabalus (1888), by the Anglo-Dutch
       academician Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema;
     * A collection of poems by the German poet Stefan George which he
       entitled Algabal (1892-1919);
     * The painting Heliogabalus, High Priest of the Sun (1886), by the
       English decadent Simeon Solomon, once a close friend of Algernon
       Charles Swinburne;
     * The novel L'Agonie (Agony) (1889), by the French writer Jean
       Lombard;
     * The novel The Sun God (1904), by the English writer Arthur
       Westcott;
     * The novel De Berg van Licht (The Mountain of Light) (1905), by the
       Dutch writer Louis Couperus;
     * the silent movie Héliogabale (1909) by the French director André
       Calmettes;
     * A biography, The Amazing Emperor Heliogabalus (1911), by the Oxford
       don John Stuart Hay;
     * the short silent movie Héliogabale, ou L'orgie romaine (1911) by
       the French director Louis Feuillade;
     * The essay Héliogabale ou l'Anarchiste couronné (Heliogabalus, or
       the Crowned Anarchist) (1934), by the French surrealist Antonin
       Artaud;
     * The novel Family Favourites (1960), by the Anglo-Argentine writer
       Alfred Duggan;
     * The novel Child of the Sun (1966), by Lance Horner and Kyle
       Onstott, who were more famous for writing the novel behind the
       movie Mandingo;
     * An orchestral work, Heliogabalus Imperator (Emperor Heliogabalus)
       (1972), by the German composer Hans Werner Henze (1926– );
     * A mention in Kurt Vonnegut's book Breakfast of Champions (1973);
     * A mention in Danish writer Peter Laugesen's novel Guds ord fra
       landet (1974);
     * The CD Eliogabalus (1990) by the band Devil Doll;
     * The 24-hour comic Being an Account of the Life and Death of the
       Emperor Heliogabulus (1991) by Neil Gaiman;
     * The French experimental rock band Héliogabale (first album, Yolk,
       released in 1995);
     * A song on the global musician Momus (aka Nick Currie)'s 2001 album
       Folktronic.
     * The Novel Super-Eliogabalo by the Italian writer Alberto Arbasino
       (1969)

Note

    1. ^ Benjamin, Appendix C: "Transsexualism: Mythological, Historical,
       and Cross-Cultiral Aspects", by Richard Green, M.D.

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