Caracalla's maternal aunt, Julia Maesa, successfully instigated a revolt among the Third Legion to have her eldest grandson ( and Caracalla's cousin ), Elagabalus, declared emperor in his place.

Elagabalus declared the date of the victory at Antioch to be the beginning of his reign and assumed the imperial titles without prior senatorial approval, which violated tradition but was a common practice among 3rd-century emperors nonetheless.

The Romans are recorded — the veracity of the accounts depending on the case — to have dragged the bodies of a number of people to the sewers rather than give them proper burial, among them the emperor Elagabalus and Saint Sebastian: the latter scene is the subject of a well-known artwork by Lodovico Carracci.

When the controversial emperor Elagabalus ( reigned 218-222 ) transferred the most sacred relics of Roman religion from their respective shrines to the Elagabalium, the Palladium was among them.

He succeeded his cousin Elagabalus upon the latter's assassination in 222, and was ultimately assassinated himself, marking the epoch event for the Crisis of the Third Century — nearly fifty years of civil wars, foreign invasion, and collapse of the monetary economy.

He and his cousin were both grandsons of the influential and powerful Julia Maesa, who had arranged for Elagabalus ' acclamation as emperor by the famed Third Gallic Legion.

* The Evidence for Aelian's Katêgoria tou gunnidos regarding Aelian's presumed invective against Elagabalus

Elagabalus, barely fourteen years old, became emperor, initiating a reign remembered mainly for sexual scandal and religious controversy.

If later, hostile historians can be believed, Elagabalus showed a disregard for Roman religious traditions and sexual taboos.

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

In Greek the sun god is Helios, hence Heliogabalus, another variant name for Elagabalus.

While Elagabalus was still on his way to Rome, brief revolts broke out by the Fourth Legion at the instigation of Gellius Maximus, and the Third Legion, which itself had been responsible for the elevation of Elagabalus to the throne, under the command of Senator Verus.

As a token of respect for Roman religion, however, Elagabalus joined either Astarte, Minerva, Urania, or some combination of the three to Elagabal as wife.

Elagabalus had to beg the troops to let him live, and this humiliation could not last for long.

Born Marcus Julius Gessius Bassianus Alexianus, Alexander was adopted as heir apparent by his slightly older and very unpopular cousin, the Emperor Elagabalus at the urging of the influential and powerful Julia Maesa — who was grandmother of both cousins and who'd arranged for the emperor's acclamation by the Third Legion.

* Julia Maesa arranges for her grandson Elagabalus a marriage with Julia Paula.

This has been seen as an abortive attempt to impose the Syrian sun god on Rome ; but because it is now clear that the Roman cult of Sol remained firmly established in Rome throughout the Roman period, this Syrian Sol Elagabalus has become no more relevant to our understanding of the Roman Sol than, for example, the Syrian Jupiter Dolichenus is for our understanding of the Roman Jupiter.

He was the commander of the Legio III Gallica, a legion located in Syria, which supported Elagabalus bid for power ( 218 ).

As such, her marriage to Elagabalus in 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.

When she married Elagabalus, it seemed for a time that the Nerva – Antonine dynasty rule had returned to Rome.

Towards the end of 221, Elagabalus divorced her for unknown reasons.

During this festival, Elagabalus placed the Emesa stone on a chariot adorned with gold and jewels, which he paraded through the city:

Born Varius Avitus Bassianus on May 16, 205, known later as M. Aurelius Antonius, he was appointed at an early age to be priest of the sun God, Elagabalus, represented by a phallus, by which name he is known to historians ( his name is sometimes written " Heliogabalus ").

Herodian also relates that Elagabalus forced senators to watch while he danced around his deity's altar to the sound of drums and cymbals, and at each summer solstice celebrated a great festival, popular with the masses because of food distributions, during which he placed the holy stone on a chariot adorned with gold and jewels, which he paraded through the city:

She largely donated to the legion, which, in turn, proclaimed emperor Julia Maesa's grandson, the fourteen years old Elagabalus, on the dawn of 16 May.

Elagabalus unsuccessfully tried to have Hierocles declared Caesar, which would have made him the emperor's successor.

It was the rumor of Alexander's death that triggered the assassination of Elagabalus and his mother.

His mother Julia Avita Mamaea was the second daughter of Julia Maesa and Syrian noble Julius Avitus and maternal aunt of Emperor Elagabalus.

In the following year, on 11 March, Elagabalus was murdered, and Alexander was proclaimed emperor by the Praetorians and accepted by the Senate.

235 ) (), often seen as just Aelian, born at Praeneste, was a Roman author and teacher of rhetoric who flourished under Septimius Severus and probably outlived Elagabalus, who died in 222.

He was called Elagabalus only after his death.

Elagabalus was married as many as five times, lavished favors on male courtiers popularly thought to have been his lovers, employed a prototype of whoopee cushions at dinner parties, and was reported to have prostituted himself in the imperial palace.

Amidst growing opposition, Elagabalus, just 18 years old, was assassinated and replaced by his cousin Alexander Severus on 11 March 222, in a plot formulated by his grandmother, Julia Maesa, and carried out by disaffected members of the Praetorian Guard.

Elagabalus was born around the year 203 to Sextus Varius Marcellus and Julia Soaemias Bassiana.

Elagabalus's family held hereditary rights to the priesthood of the sun god Elagabal, of whom Elagabalus was the high priest at Emesa ( modern Homs ) in Syria.

The deity Elagabalus was initially venerated at Emesa.

Elagabalus ' mother publicly declared that he was the illegitimate son of Caracalla, therefore due the loyalties of Roman soldiers and senators who had sworn allegiance to Caracalla.

Macrinus now sent letters to the Senate denouncing Elagabalus as the False Antoninus and claiming he was insane.

The contemporary historian Cassius Dio suggests that Gannys was in fact killed by the new emperor because he was forcing Elagabalus to live " temperately and prudently.

Elagabalus tried to have his presumed lover, the charioteer Hierocles, declared Caesar, while another alleged lover, the athlete Aurelius Zoticus, was appointed to the non-administrative but influential position of Master of the Chamber, or Cubicularius.

Pope Saint Callixtus I or Callistus I was pope from about 217 to about 222, during the reigns of the Roman Emperors Elagabalus and Alexander Severus.

In the 3rd century Syria was home to Elagabalus, a Roman emperor of the Severan dynasty who reigned from 218 to 222.

Elagabalus ' family held hereditary rights to the priesthood of the sun god El-Gabal, of whom Elagabalus was the high priest at Emesa ( modern Homs ) in Syria.