page_title: Elagabalus
hierarchical_section_title: Elagabalus
caption_attribution_description: Português: Palazzo Nuovo - Musei Capitolini - Rome
context_page_description: Elagabalus or Heliogabalus, officially known as Antoninus, was Roman emperor from 218 to 222. His short reign was conspicuous for sex scandals and religious controversy. He belonged to the imperial Severan dynasty, and came from a prominent Arab family in Emesa, Syria, where in his early youth he served as head priest of the namesake sun god Elagabalus. After the death of his cousin, the emperor Caracalla, Elagabalus was raised to the principate at barely 14 years of age in an army revolt instigated by his grandmother, Julia Maesa, against Caracalla's brief successor, Macrinus. As a private citizen, he was probably named Varius Avitus Bassianus. Upon becoming emperor he took the name Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. He was called Elagabalus only after his death.
  Later historians suggest Elagabalus showed a disregard for Roman religious traditions and sexual taboos. He replaced the traditional head of the Roman pantheon, Jupiter, with the deity Elagabalus, of whom he had been high priest. He forced leading members of Rome's government to participate in religious rites celebrating this deity, over which he personally presided.
context_section_description: Elagabalus or Heliogabalus (c. 204 – 11 March 222), officially known as Antoninus, was Roman emperor from 218 to 222. His short reign was conspicuous for sex scandals and religious controversy. He belonged to the imperial Severan dynasty, and came from a prominent Arab family in Emesa (modern day Homs), Syria, where in his early youth he served as head priest of the namesake sun god Elagabalus. After the death of his cousin, the emperor Caracalla, Elagabalus was raised to the principate at barely 14 years of age in an army revolt instigated by his grandmother, Julia Maesa, against Caracalla's brief successor, Macrinus. As a private citizen, he was probably named Varius Avitus Bassianus. Upon becoming emperor he took the name Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. He was called Elagabalus only after his death.
  Later historians suggest Elagabalus showed a disregard for Roman religious traditions and sexual taboos. He replaced the traditional head of the Roman pantheon, Jupiter, with the deity Elagabalus, of whom he had been high priest. He forced leading members of Rome's government to participate in religious rites celebrating this deity, over which he personally presided. Elagabalus married four women, including a Vestal Virgin, and lavished favours on male courtiers popularly thought to have been his lovers. He was also reported to have prostituted himself. His behavior estranged the Praetorian Guard, the Senate, and the common people alike. Amidst growing opposition, Elagabalus, just 18 years old, was assassinated and replaced by his cousin Severus Alexander in March 222. The assassination plot against Elagabalus was devised by his grandmother, Julia Maesa, and carried out by disaffected members of the Praetorian Guard.
  Elagabalus developed a reputation among his contemporaries for extreme eccentricity, decadence, and zealotry. This tradition has persisted, and with writers of the early modern age he suffers one of the worst reputations among Roman emperors. Edward Gibbon, for example, wrote that Elagabalus "abandoned himself to the grossest pleasures with ungoverned fury". According to Barthold Georg Niebuhr, "The name Elagabalus is branded in history above all others" because of his "unspeakably disgusting life". An example of a modern historian's assessment would be Adrian Goldsworthy's: "Elagabalus was not a tyrant, but he was an incompetent, probably the least able emperor Rome had ever had." Despite universal condemnation, some scholars do write warmly about him, including 6th century Roman chronicler John Malalas, and Warwick Ball, a modern historian who described him as innovative and "a tragic enigma lost behind centuries of prejudice".
  Elagabalus is considered by some to be an early transgender figure and one of the first on record as seeking sex reassignment surgery.
caption: Head of Elagabalus, 
  from the Capitoline Museums
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