Elagabalus

Roman Emperor (218-222)

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Lived 203–222, aged 19Italy

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Era
203–222
Aged 19

Summary

Updated 2026-06-08

He ruled Rome for four years as a teenager, dragged a sacred black stone across the empire to install his Syrian sun god above Jupiter, married a Vestal Virgin, and died in a palace assassination at 18. The surviving accounts—written by senators who despised him—made his name shorthand for imperial excess.

Biography

About

Born Sextus Varius Avitus Bassianus around 204 in Emesa, Syria, he served as head priest of the sun god Elagabal before his grandmother Julia Maesa engineered an army revolt that made him emperor at 14 in 218, overthrowing Macrinus after the death of his cousin Caracalla. He brought the cult's large baetyl stone to Rome and forced the Senate to participate in its rites, disregarding Roman religious tradition. Contemporary senator Cassius Dio and later sources accused him of marrying four women including a Vestal Virgin, lavishing favours on male courtiers suggested as lovers, and prostituting…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from Elagabalus

Elagabalus

saidundated

He undertook to disparage my age when he himself had appointed his ten-year-old son.

— Referring to the Emperor Macrinus and his declaration of his son Diadumenianus to be '"Caesar". The head of Diadumenianus was presented to

Elagabalus

saidundated

I am emperor. It is I who know what is best for Rome. Not you traitors. Now, let go of my horses!

— Statement as he prepared to flee a camp after angry exchanges and insults with his Praetorian Guard; as quoted in The Gigantic Book of

Elagabalus

saidundated

[He was] delighted to be called the mistress, the wife, the Queen of Hierocles.

— Harry Benjamin in The Transsexual Phenomenon (1966)

Elagabalus

saidundated

Scholars have often viewed the failure of Elagabalus' reign as a clash of cultures between "Eastern" (Syrian) and "Western" (Roman), but this dichotomy is not very useful.

— Michael L. Meckler, in "Elagabalus (218-222 A.D.)" in De Imperatoribus Romanis : An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Emperors (1997)

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