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HELIOGABALUS (ELAGABALUS)

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Originally appearing in Volume V13, Page 223 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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HELIOGABALUS (ELAGABALUS) , See also:Roman See also:emperor (A.D. 218-222), was See also:born at Emesa about 205. His real name was Varius Avitus. On the See also:murder of See also:Caracalla (217), Julia Maesa, Varius's grandmother and Caracalla's aunt, See also:left See also:Rome and retired to Emesa, accompanied by her grandsons (Varius and See also:Alexander See also:Severus). Varius, though still only a boy, was appointed high See also:priest of the Syrian See also:sun-See also:god Elagabalus, one of the See also:chief seats of whose See also:worship was Emesa (Horns). His beauty, and the splendid ceremonials at which he presided, made him a See also:great favourite with the troops stationed in that See also:part of See also:Syria, and Maesa increased his popularity by spreading reports that he was in reality the illegitimate son of Caracalla. Macrinus, the successor and instigator of the murder of Caracalla, was very unpopular with the See also:army; an insurrection was easily set on See also:foot, and on the 16th of May 218 Varius was proclaimed emperor as See also:Marcus Aurelius See also:Antoninus. The troops sent to quell the revolt went over to him, and Macrinus was defeated near See also:Antioch on the 8th of See also:June. Heliogabalus was at once recognized by the See also:senate as emperor. After spending the See also:winter in See also:Nicomedia, he proceeded in 219 to Rome, where he made it his business to exalt the deity whose priest he was and whose name he assumed. The Syrian god was proclaimed the chief deity in Rome, and all other gods his servants; splendid ceremonies in his See also:honour were celebrated, at which Heliogabalus danced in public, and it was believed that See also:secret See also:rites accompanied by human See also:sacrifice were performed in his honour. In addition to these affronts upon the See also:state See also:religion, he insulted the intelligence of the community by horseplay of the wildest description and by childish See also:practical joking.

The shameless profligacy of the emperor's See also:

life was such as to See also:shock even a Roman public. His popularity with the army declined, and Maesa, perceiving that the soldiers were in favour of Alexander Severus, persuaded Heliogabalus to raise his See also:cousin to the dignity of See also:Caesar (221), a step of which he soon repented. An See also:attempt to murder Alexander was frustrated by the watchful Maesa. Another attempt in 22 2 produced a See also:mutiny among the See also:praetorians, in which Heliogabalus and his See also:mother Soemias (Soaemias) were slain (probably in the first See also:half of See also:March).

End of Article: HELIOGABALUS (ELAGABALUS)

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