Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (born Sextus Varius Avitus Bassianus, c. 204 – 11/12 March 222), better known by his nickname "Elagabalus", was Roman emperor from 218 to 222, while he was still a teenager. His short reign was conspicuous for sex scandals and religious controversy. A close relative to the Severan dynasty, he came from a prominent Arab family in Emesa (Homs), Syria, where since his early youth he served as head priest of the sun god Elagabal. After the death of his cousin, the emperor Caracalla, Elagabalus was raised to the principate at 14 years of age in an army revolt instigated by his grandmother Julia Maesa against Caracalla's short-lived successor, Macrinus. He only posthumously became known by the Latinised name of his god.
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 Elagabal, of whom he had been high priest. He forced leading members of Rome's government to participate in religious rites celebrating this deity, presiding over them in person. He married four women, including a Vestal Virgin, as well as lavished favours on male courtiers thought to have been his lovers.[5][6]
The question of Elagabalus's sexual orientation is confused, owing to salacious and unreliable sources. Cassius Dio states that Elagabalus was married five times (twice to the same woman).[53] His first wife was Julia Cornelia Paula, whom he married prior to 29 August 219; between then and 28 August 220, he divorced Paula, took the Vestal Virgin Julia Aquilia Severa as his second wife, divorced her,[53][77] and took a third wife, who Herodian says was Annia Aurelia Faustina, a descendant of Marcus Aurelius and the widow of a man Elagabalus had recently had executed, Pomponius Bassus.[53] In the last year of his reign, Elagabalus divorced Annia Faustina and remarried Aquilia Severa.[53]
Dio states that another husband of Elagabalus was Hierocles, an ex-slave and chariot driver from Caria.[6][78] The Augustan History claims that Elagabalus also married a man named Zoticus, an athlete from Smyrna, while Dio says only that Zoticus was his cubicularius.[6][79] Dio says that Elagabalus prostituted himself in taverns and brothels.[7]
Dio says Elagabalus delighted in being called Hierocles's mistress, wife, and queen.[80] The emperor reportedly wore makeup and wigs, preferred to be called a lady and not a lord, and supposedly offered vast sums to any physician who could provide him with a vagina.[80][81] For this reason, the emperor is seen by some writers as an early transgender figure and one of the first on record as seeking sex reassignment surgery.
His behavior estranged the Praetorian Guard, the Senate and the common people alike. Amidst growing opposition, at just 18 years of age he was assassinated and replaced by his cousin Severus Alexander in March 222. The assassination plot against Elagabalus was devised by Julia Maesa and carried out by disaffected members of the Praetorian Guard.
Following his assassination, many associates of Elagabalus were killed or deposed. His lover Hierocles was executed.[89] His religious edicts were reversed and the stone of Elagabal was sent back to Emesa.[93] Women were again barred from attending meetings of the Senate.[94] The practice of damnatio memoriae—erasing from the public record a disgraced personage formerly of note—was systematically applied in his case.[45][95] Several images, including an over-life-size statue of him as Hercules now in Naples, were re-carved with the face of Alexander Severus.[96]
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