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Encyclopedia Britannica



HELIOGABALUS (ELAGABALUS)

This article appears in Volume V13, Page 223 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: HEG-HIG
HELIOGABALUS (ELAGABALUS) , Roman emperor (A.D. 218-222), was born at Emesa about 205. His real name was Varius Avitus. On the murder of Caracalla (217), Julia Maesa, Varius's grandmother and Caracalla's aunt, left Rome and retired to Emesa, accompanied by her grandsons (Varius and Alexander Severus). Varius, though still only a boy, was appointed high priest of the Syrian sun-god Elagabalus, one of the
chief
  seats of whose
worship
  was Emesa (Horns). His beauty, and the splendid ceremonials at which he presided, made him a
great
  favourite with the troops stationed in that part of Syria, and Maesa increased his popularity by spreading reports that he was in reality the illegitimate son of Caracalla. Macrinus, the successor and instigator of the murder of Caracalla, was very unpopular with the army; an insurrection was easily set on foot, and on the 16th of May 218 Varius was proclaimed emperor as Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. The troops sent to quell the revolt went over to him, and Macrinus was defeated near Antioch on the 8th of June.
Heliogabalus
  was at once recognized by the senate as emperor. After spending the winter in
Nicomedia
 , he proceeded in 219 to Rome, where he made it his business to exalt the deity whose priest he was and whose name he assumed. The Syrian god was proclaimed the
chief
  deity in Rome, and all other gods his servants; splendid ceremonies in his honour were celebrated, at which
Heliogabalus
  danced in public, and it was believed that
secret
  rites accompanied by human sacrifice were performed in his honour. In addition to these affronts upon the state religion, he insulted the intelligence of the community by horseplay of the wildest description and by childish
practical
  joking. The shameless profligacy of the emperor's life was such as to
shock
  even a Roman public. His popularity with the army declined, and Maesa, perceiving that the soldiers were in favour of Alexander Severus, persuaded Heliogabalus to raise his
cousin
  to the dignity of Caesar (221), a step of which he soon repented. An attempt to murder Alexander was frustrated by the watchful Maesa. Another attempt in 22 2 produced a mutiny among the praetorians, in which Heliogabalus and his mother Soemias (Soaemias) were slain (probably in the first half of
March
 ).


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