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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;expat, post: 24806026, member: 111067&quot;]Born Sextus Varius Avitus Bassianus in 204AD, better known by his nicknames Elagabalus and Heliogabalus, was Roman Emperor from 218 to 222, while he was still a teenager. His short reign was notorious for sex scandals and religious controversy. A close relative to the Severan dynasty, he came from a prominent Arab family in Emesa (Homs), Syria, where since his early youth he served as head priest of the sun god Elagabal. After the death of his cousin, the emperor Caracalla, Elagabalus was raised to the principate at 14 years of age in an army revolt instigated by his grandmother Julia Maesa against Caracalla&#039;s short-lived successor, Macrinus. He only posthumously became known by the Latinised name of his god. Later historians suggest Elagabalus showed a disregard for Roman religious traditions and sexual taboos. He replaced the traditional head of the Roman pantheon, Jupiter, with the deity Elagabal, of whom he had been high priest. He forced leading members of Rome&#039;s government to participate in religious rites celebrating this deity, presiding over them in person. He married four women, including a Vestal Virgin, in addition to lavishing favours on male courtiers thought to have been his lovers. He was also reported to have prostituted himself.</p><p>His behavior estranged the Praetorian Guard, the Senate and the common people alike. Amidst growing opposition, at just 18 years of age he was assassinated and replaced by his cousin Severus Alexander in March 222. The assassination plot against Elagabalus was devised by Julia Maesa and carried out by disaffected members of the Praetorian Guard.</p><p><br /></p><p>Elagabalus developed a reputation among his contemporaries for extreme eccentricity, decadence, zealotry and sexual promiscuity. This tradition has persisted; among writers of the early modern age he endured one of the worst reputations among Roman emperors. Edward Gibbon, notably, wrote that Elagabalus &quot;abandoned himself to the grossest pleasures with ungoverned fury&quot;. According to Barthold Georg Niebuhr, &quot;the name Elagabalus is branded in history above all others&quot; because of his &quot;unspeakably disgusting life&quot;.</p><p>Herodian writes that when the emperor Macrinus came to power, he suppressed the threat to his reign from the family of his assassinated predecessor, Caracalla, by exiling them—Julia Maesa, her two daughters, and her eldest grandson Elagabalus—to their estate at Emesa in Syria. Almost upon arrival in Syria, Maesa began a plot with her advisor and Elagabalus&#039;s tutor, Gannys, to overthrow Macrinus and elevate the fourteen-year-old Elagabalus to the imperial throne.</p><p><br /></p><p>Maesa spread a rumor, which Soaemias publicly supported, that Elagabalus was the illegitimate child of Caracalla and so deserved the loyalty of Roman soldiers and senators who had sworn allegiance to Caracalla. The soldiers of the Third Legion Gallica at Raphana, who had enjoyed greater privileges under Caracalla and resented Macrinus (and may have been impressed or bribed by Maesa&#039;s wealth), supported this claim. As a tribute to the military for their support, he adopted the same name Caracalla used as Emperor, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus.</p><p><b>Elagabalus AR Denarius, Rome 220-222 AD</b></p><p><b>IMP ANTONINVS PIVS AVG, laureate draped bust right / VICTORIA AVG, Victory flying left, open diadem in both hands, shields to both sides, star in right field. RSC 300. RIC 161. BMC 234. 2,8 g - 18,5 mm </b></p><p><b>[ATTACH=full]1587482[/ATTACH] </b></p><p><b>Please post your coins of Elagabalus or his family.</b>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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