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Elagabalus
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (born Sextus Varius Avitus Bassianus, 204 – 13 March 222), better known by his posthumous nicknames Elagabalus ( ) and Heliogabalus ( ), was Roman emperor from 218 to 222, while he was still a teenager. His short reign was notorious for religious controversy and alleged sexual debauchery. A close relative to the Severan dynasty, he came from a prominent Syrian Arabs, Syrian Arab family in Emesa (Homs), Roman Syria, Syria, where he served as the head priest of the Solar deity, sun god Elagabalus (deity), Elagabal from a young age. 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. Elagabalus is largely known from accounts by the contemporary senator Cassius Dio who was strongly hostile to him, Herodian, who lik ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Julia Maesa
Julia Maesa (7 May before 160 AD – AD) was a member of the Severan dynasty of the Roman Empire who was the grandmother of emperors Elagabalus and Severus Alexander, elder sister of empress Julia Domna, and mother of Julia Soaemias and Julia Mamaea. She wielded influence during the reigns of her grandsons as List of Augustae, Augusta of the Empire from 218 to her death, especially on their elevation to emperors. Born in Homs, Emesa, Roman Syria, Syria (modern day Homs), to an Arab family of priests of the deity Elagabalus (deity), Elagabalus, Maesa and her sister Domna were the daughters of Julius Bassianus. Through her sister's marriage, Maesa became sister-in-law to Septimius Severus and aunt of Caracalla and Geta (emperor), Geta, who all became emperors. She married fellow Syrian Julius Avitus, who was of consular rank. They had two daughters, Soaemias and Mamaea, who became mothers of Elagabalus and Severus Alexander, respectively. As one of the Severan dynasty's prominen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Severan Dynasty
The Severan dynasty, sometimes called the Septimian dynasty, ruled the Roman Empire between 193 and 235. It was founded by the emperor Septimius Severus () and Julia Domna, his wife, when Septimius emerged victorious from civil war of 193 - 197, which began with the Year of the Five Emperors. Their two sons, Caracalla () and Geta (emperor), Geta (), ruled briefly after the death of Septimius. In 217 - 218 there was a short interruption of dynasty's control over the empire by reigns of Macrinus () and his son Diadumenian () before Julia Domna's relatives assumed power by raising her two grandnephews, Elagabalus () and Severus Alexander (), in succession to the imperial office. The dynasty's women, Julia Domna, the mother of Caracalla and Geta, and her sister, Julia Maesa, the mother of Julia Soaemias and Julia Mamaea, mothers of Elagabalus and Severus Alexander respectively, were all powerful ''augusta (title), augustae''. They were also instrumental in securing imperial positions ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Julia Soaemias Bassiana
Julia Soaemias Bassiana (180 – 11 March 222) was a Syrian noblewoman and the mother of Roman emperor Elagabalus, who ruled over the Roman Empire from 218 to 222. She was one of his chief advisors, initially with the support and accompaniment of her mother Julia Maesa. She and her mother guided the young emperor until growing unrest and a family division led to her son's replacement by her nephew Severus Alexander. Julia Soaemias was killed along with her son by the Praetorian Guard. Julia Soaemias was born and raised in Homs, Emesa, Roman Syria, Syria and through her mother was related to the Royal family of Emesa, and through marriage, to the Severan dynasty of Ancient Rome. Family She was the first daughter of the powerful Syrian Roman noblewoman Julia Maesa and Gaius Julius Avitus Alexianus, sister of Julia Avita Mamaea, niece of Julia Domna, and a niece by marriage of Emperor Lucius Septimius Severus. At some point, she married Roman Syria, Syrian Roman equestrian order, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elagabalus (deity)
Elagabalus (), Aelagabalus, Heliogabalus () or simply Elagabal (Aramaic alphabet, Aramaic: 𐡀𐡋𐡄𐡀𐡂𐡁𐡋 ''ʾĕlāhaʾgabāl'') was an Ancient Semitic religion, Arab-Roman mythology, Roman sun god, initially venerated in Emesa (modern-day Homs), Syria. Although there were many variations of the name, the god was consistently referred to as ''Elagabalus'' in Roman coins and inscriptions from AD 218 on, during the reign of Emperor Elagabalus. Cult Elagabalus was initially venerated at Emesa in Syria, where the Arab Emesan dynasty acted as its priests. The name is the Latinisation of names, Latinised form of the Arabic "''Ilah al-Jabal''" ("إله الجبل"), the Emesene manifestation of the deity, which is Arabic for "God of the Mountain." Elagabalus was the religious "lord", or Ba'al, of Emesa. The deity successfully preserved Arab characteristics, both in his names and representations. The cult of the deity spread to other parts of the Roman Empire in the secon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Macrinus
Marcus Opellius Macrinus (; – June 218) was a Roman emperor who reigned from April 217 to June 218, jointly with his young son Diadumenianus. Born in Caesarea (now called Cherchell, in modern Algeria), in the Roman province of Mauretania Caesariensis to an equestrian family of Berber origins, he became the first emperor who did not hail from the senatorial class and also the first emperor who never visited Rome during his reign. Before becoming emperor, Macrinus served under Emperor Caracalla as a praetorian prefect and dealt with Rome's civil affairs. He later conspired against Caracalla and had him murdered in a bid to protect his own life and succeeded Caracalla as emperor. Macrinus was proclaimed emperor of Rome by 11 April 217 while in the eastern provinces of the empire and was subsequently confirmed as such by the Senate; however, for the duration of his reign, he never had the opportunity to return to Rome. His predecessor's policies had left Rome's coffers empty ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Severus Alexander
Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexander (1 October 208 – March 235), also known as Alexander Severus, was Roman emperor from 222 until 235. He was the last emperor from the Severan dynasty. Alexander took power in 222, when he succeeded his slain cousin Elagabalus at the age of 13. Alexander himself was eventually assassinated in 235, and his death marked the beginning of the events of the Crisis of the Third Century, which included nearly fifty years of civil war, foreign invasion, and the collapse of the monetary economy. Alexander was the heir to his cousin, the 18-year-old Emperor Elagabalus. The latter had been murdered along with his mother Julia Soaemias by his own guards, who, as a mark of contempt, had their remains cast into the Tiber river. Alexander and his cousin were both grandsons of Julia Maesa, who was the sister of empress Julia Domna and had arranged for Elagabalus's acclamation as emperor by the Third Gallic Legion. Alexander's 13-year reign was the longest r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aquilia Severa
Julia Aquilia Severa (d. after 222) was the second and fourth wife of Roman emperor Elagabalus. She was the daughter of Gaius Julius Severus. Life Severa was a Vestal Virgin and, as such, her marriage to Elagabalus in late 220 was the cause of enormous controversy – traditionally, the punishment for breaking the thirty-year vow of celibacy was death by being buried alive. Elagabalus is believed to have had religious reasons for marrying Severa – he himself was a follower of the eastern sun god El-Gabal, and when marrying himself to Severa, he also conducted a symbolic marriage of his god to Vesta.Cassius Dio, ''Roman History'LXXX.9/ref> Both these marriages were revoked shortly afterwards, however. This was possibly on the urging of Julia Maesa, the grandmother who had engineered Elagabalus' rise to the imperial throne. Elagabalus then married Annia Faustina, a more generally acceptable choice to the senatorial elite. Within a short time, however, Elagabalus had divor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Annia Faustina
Annia Aurelia Faustina (fl. 201 – c. 222 CE) was an Anatolian Roman noblewoman. She was briefly married to the Roman emperor Elagabalus in 221 CE and thus was a Roman empress. She was Elagabalus' third wife. Ancestry and family Faustina was of noble descent, the daughter and only child of the wealthy heiress Annia Faustina and the Roman Senator, consul Tiberius Claudius Severus Proculus. Her parents were maternal second-cousins. Her paternal grandparents were the Pontian Greek Roman Senator and Peripatetic Philosopher, Gnaeus Claudius Severus and his second wife, the Roman Princess Annia Galeria Aurelia Faustina. Her maternal grandparents were wealthy Roman heiress Ummidia Cornificia Faustina and a Roman senator whose name is unknown. Her paternal half-uncle was Marcus Claudius Ummidius Quadratus, who had been adopted by the Roman Consul Marcus Ummidius Quadratus Annianus, the nephew of the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius. She was a Roman citizen of Pontic Greek and I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Julia Cornelia Paula
Julia Cornelia Paula (lived 3rd century AD) was a distinguished Roman noblewoman who became Empress of Rome as the first wife of the Roman emperor Elagabalus, who divorced her. Life Paula was a lady, according to Herodian, of very noble descent: a relative of the gens Cornelia through her mother, her father, Julius Paulus, was an important jurist active throughout the Severan Dynasty, who subsequently served as praetorian prefect between 228 and 235. In early 219, Julia Maesa, eldest sister of dowager empress Julia Domna, arranged for Cornelia Paula to marry her grandson, the new emperor Elagabalus. Their wedding was lavishly celebrated in Rome. Cornelia Paula, Elagabalus' first wife, was given the honorific title '' Augusta''. In late 220, Elagabalus divorced her to marry the Vestal Virgin Aquilia Severa in a union that was considered scandalous because she was still a Vestal. Apart from falling in love with Severa, Elagabalus married Severa as a part of the religious pro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Homs
Homs ( ; ), known in pre-Islamic times as Emesa ( ; ), is a city in western Syria and the capital of the Homs Governorate. It is Metres above sea level, above sea level and is located north of Damascus. Located on the Orontes River, Homs is also the central link between the interior cities and the Mediterranean coast. Before the Syrian civil war, Homs was a major industrial hub with a population of at least 652,609 people in 2004, it was the third-largest city in Syria after Aleppo to the north and the capital Damascus to the south. Its population reflected Syria's general religious diversity, composed of Sunni and Alawite Muslims, and Eastern Christianity, Christians. There are a number of historic mosques and churches in the city, and it is close to the Krak des Chevaliers castle, a World Heritage Site. Homs did not emerge into the historical record until the 1st century BC in the Seleucid Empire, becoming the capital of a kingdom ruled by the Emesene dynasty who gave the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roman Senate
The Roman Senate () was the highest and constituting assembly of ancient Rome and its aristocracy. With different powers throughout its existence it lasted from the first days of the city of Rome (traditionally founded in 753 BC) as the Senate of the Roman Kingdom, to the Senate of the Roman Republic and Senate of the Roman Empire and eventually the Byzantine Senate of the Eastern Roman Empire, existing well into the post-classical era and Middle Ages. During the days of the Roman Kingdom, the Senate was generally little more than an advisory council to the king. However, as Rome was an electoral monarchy, the Senate also elected new Roman kings. The last king of Rome, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, was overthrown following a coup d'état led by Lucius Junius Brutus, who founded the Roman Republic. During the early Republic, the Senate was politically weak, while the various executive Roman magistrates who appointed the senators for life (or until expulsion by Roma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sextus Varius Marcellus
Sextus Varius Marcellus (c. 165 – c. 215) was a Roman aristocrat and politician from the province of Syria. He was the legal father of the emperor Elagabalus. Family and career Little is known about the origins of Marcellus, other than he was born and raised in the city of Apamea in Syria. Marcellus was a Roman citizen from the Equestrian order.Bunson, ''Encyclopedia of the Roman Empire'', p. 346 Marcellus had a long and distinguished political career. He was present at the Secular Games in Rome in 204. From 200 to 205, like Gaius Julius Avitus Alexianus,Birley, ''Septimius Severus: The African Emperor'', p. 223 Marcellus did not serve in a significant Roman military or political position, probably due to Roman emperor Lucius Septimius Severus views about him being influenced by the Praetorian prefect Gaius Fulvius Plautianus. When Plautianus was killed in 205, Marcellus' career was able to move ahead. From 205 to about 207, Marcellus was a Procurator for the Roman a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
