Page "Elagabalus" Paragraph 4

Elagabalus developed a reputation among his contemporaries for extreme eccentricity, decadence and zealotry which was likely exaggerated by his successors and political rivals.

This tradition has persisted, and in writers of the early modern age he suffers one of the worst reputations among Roman emperors.

Edward Gibbon, for example, wrote that Elagabalus " abandoned himself to the grossest pleasures and ungoverned fury.

" According to B. G.

Niebuhr, " The name Elagabalus is branded in history above all others " because of his " unspeakably disgusting life.

" More recent writers have tried to separate fact from fiction, presenting a more guarded view of Elagabalus and his emperorship.