Featured The Worst Roman Emperor of All?

Elagabalus, AR antoninianus, RIC 155
IMP CAES M AVR ANTONINVS AVG, radiate, draped, cuirassed bust right /
VICTOR ANTONINI AVG, Victory walking right, holding wreath and palm branch.

 

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I did not know Elagabalus issued any of the double
denarii.

 

Elagabalus has at least 21 antoniniani reverse types , I checked his wildwinds page.
They were introduced to the monetary system some years before his reign by Caracalla.

 

Regardless of Elagabalus' sexual proclivities,the truth of what actually happened and what was rumored to have happened by those wishing to malign him , have long been lost to history. In any case, he more or less left the Empire as he found it , having contributed or detracted nothing.
On the other hand, Honorius was emperor for about 28 years and did nothing to prevent the multiple disasters befalling the empire. He apparently had more concern for his pet chicken (called Roma) than he did for the city by the same name.

4 Antoniniani of Elagabalus...

1. Felicitas Temproum ;
2. Victor Antonini (begs the question victor of what?)
3. Salus Antonini (OK, here's to his health as well) ; and
4. Fides Exercitus ( faithfullness of the army - Well how did that work out for him?)

 

I'm not sure I can say for certain that had I been born as Elagabalus, I wouldn't have been at least slightly tempted to have some people drowned in flowers.


The Roses of Heliogabalus by Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1888)


ELAGABALUS
AR Denarius. 3.38g, 18.8mm. Rome mint, AD 218-222. RIC 56. O: IMP ANTONINVS PIVS AVG, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right. R: ABVNDANTIA AVG, Abundantia standing left, emptying cornucopia; to left, star.

 

..o wow...that is a super wish coin for me...thanks to @TIF and hers...

 

For some odd reason I had thought that the double denarius ended with Caracalla only to reappear later after Maximus Thrax. I was surprised at the large number of the higher valued coin issued by Elagabalus. My only coin of that emperor is a denarius. I now have an excuse to look for one of his double denarius coins. My wife will undoubtedly concur with my decision to rectify this gap in my collection.

 

What a great write up! and such a weird emperor, I never heard of him or read about him. This makes me even more interested in Roman coinage and the Roman Empire actually

 

About ten days ago I put up an image of a double denarius in another thread and viewers pointed out that the coin which I thought to be one of Gordian III was a fake coin. The image did not much match with any known of Gordian III but the image rang a bell when I purchased it at a show and I thought to myself at the time that I had seen that guy before. The maker of the fake coin looks to me to have made or concocted an image based on that of Elagabalus rather than to have just imagined a generic young emperor. See the resemblance between the forgery and the actual image of Elagabalus on my previously posted fake coin.

 

I agree that Christian historians/panegyrists of the time whitewashed the crimes of Constantine in order to give us the story of his conversion and vision before the battle of the Milvian Bridge. He is even considered a saint by the Eastern Orthodox Church. He also was the man that officially ended the tetrarchy which had propped up the state, notwithstanding the civil wars during its latter period. If he had continued it, Rome's history and longevity may have been significantly different.

 

No conversation or information just coins. My sestertius and As are too awful to share

Some Ants...
(double strike on obverse)


and some denarii

 

I agree that Elagabalus was quite bad. It wasn't just sexual depravity and who knows how many of these stories were actually true? That's why it's important to post references. Elag also tried to change the fundamental religion of Rome.

Some of his most popular coins: mostly denarii but also antoninanni and aureii feature the "Black Stone of Emesa" being brought to Rome in a quadriga. This was an attempt to change the Roman religion. Also his reign ocurred just before the collapse of Roman hegemony: the period being known as the "Miltary Crisis of the 3rd Century" or "The Age of Rust" by the Roman historian Dio Cassius*.

*I need to check this reference actually myself...

My vote for one of the worst Emperors is Valens (364 - 378 AD). While he didn't have many listed depravities he also lost the entire Roman Army at Hadrianopolis: opening up the West for invasions by the barbarians. This was a battle he should have won but his impetuousness caused a disaster for the struggling Roman Empire from which it would NOT recover.

Recently I got an ms gold solidus of him.

 

Not to make too many posts but I just started reading Pat Southern's book: The Roman Empire from Severus to Constantine, 2nd ed., 2015. It's really excellent and mentions that's there's now some archaeology and numismatic evidence to help fill out this period.

 

Thank you guys. I have personally enjoyed the history lessons from you. Wish I had a few of you teaching me when I was in school.

 

The worst for whom? Probably Trajan for the dacians.

Elagabalus may have been the one who scandalized pious people the most because of the ostentatious behavior. But, Knowing what I know today, Tiberius offends me more.

As to worst for the Empire, Valens and Honorius way before Elag.

 

Ladies and gentlemen, I will point out that I did put a question mark at the end of the title.

Regardless if he was the worst or up the list a bit, Elagabalus was a pretty much of a worthless good for nothing, who should never have been emperor.

 

For my denarii, I would choose Commodus. With his reign came the tipping point of the Empire and the start of it's long decline.

 

Thanks. I am always looking for books just like this. New discoveries and different interpretations.

 

Well, I always wanted to have students like you. Good students make for good teachers.

 

This guy kinda started it all on a grand scale. I do not care for 90% of the Emperors, due to the institution created by destroying populations through genocide.

I am more interested in the Republic up to the Gracchi...

Today, many governments espouse the Ideals of the Republic, and eschew the Empire’s ways.

I posted this before.

This guy killed off a lot of my Ancestors... millions according to his commentaries... Celts and Germans.

We make him a historical hero...

Curious how we abhor political leaders who practiced human genocide in the 20th Century, but we enjoy the History of this man, who self-admittedly killed off HUGE percentages of ethnic populations? Then set the example for future leaders of that Empire... interesting perspectives... and somewhat hypocritical.

I captured this one because of it was minted during the last 2 weeks prior to Caesar's assassination. The symbol below the scepter is a STAR. Cool premonition prior to his death! Couple that up with the Seer's warning "Beware the EIde of Mar"!


Roman Imperatorial Era
Julius Caesar Lifetime
P Sepullius Macer AR Den
1st 2 weeks-Mar 44 BCE 4.03g.
CAESAR – DICT PERPETVO Veiled -
Venus Victory sceptre star
Syd 1074a Sear Imperators 107e Cr 480-14
Rare

Andrew Alföldi arranges Crawford 480 series coins in (44 BC) month order as follows:

RRC 480/1, Buca - January
RRC 480/2, DICT QVART - early February
RRC 480/3/4/5, CAESAR IMP - late February
RRC 480/6/7/8/9/10/11/12/13/14, DICT PERPETVO - early to mid March 44 BCE
RRC 480/17/18, CAESAR IMPER - late March
RRC 480/19/20, PARENS PATRIAE - April
RRC 480/15/16, MARIDIANVS - April
RRC 480/21/22, CLEMENTIAE CAESARIS and Mark Antony - April