Elagabalus

Elagabalus (c. 204–222), born Varius Avitus Bassianus, was Roman emperor from 218 to 222, a Syrian teenager from Emesa who served as hereditary high priest of the sun god Elagabal. A rumour backed by his mother claimed he was Caracalla’s son; when Macrinus exiled them, his grandmother Julia Maesa plotted a revolt and the legions defeated Macrinus at Antioch in 218.

In Rome from 219, he made Elagabal chief god in 220, housing the god’s black stone in a new Palatine temple, and shocked the city by marrying Vestal Virgin Aquilia Severa. Hostile writers add tales of debauchery modern scholars treat with caution.

As support faded, Maesa had him adopt Severus Alexander as Caesar in 221. When he tried to remove the boy, the Praetorian Guard killed him and his mother in 222; the eighteen-year-old was thrown into the Tiber, his memory condemned, and Severus Alexander took the throne.