Heliogabalus (203-11 March 222), also called Elagabalus, was Emperor of the Roman Empire from 218 to 222, succeeding Macrinus and preceding Alexander Severus.
Biography[]
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus was the second son of Sextus Varius Marcellus and Julia Soaemias, and in his early youth he served as a priest of the god Elagabal. He was the cousin of Caracalla, and his mother instigated a rebellion against Caracalla's murderer Macrinus in 218 and made Heliogabalus the new emperor. Heliogabalus was fourteen when he became emperor, and his reign was troubled. He replaced the Roman god Jupiter with Elagabal as the patron deity of the Roman Empire, and he was very scandalous. He married and divorced five women, referred to his charioteer Hierocles as his husband, maried athlete Zoticus from Smyrna in Emesa, dressed as a woman and prostituted himself at taverns, brothels, and the imperial palace, and offered vast sums of money to any physician who could give him female genitalia. He made his cousin Alexander Severus his heir due to his lack of any offspring.
On 11 March 222, rioters demanded to see Heliogabalus, his mother, and Alexander in the Praetorian Guard camp in Rome. The Praetorians attacked Heliogabalus and his mother, with the soldiers cheering Alexander while they slew Heliogabalus and his mother. Alexander was acclaimed as the new emperor of the Roman Empire.