Reply to Thread

Message:: [QUOTE="Roman Collector, post: 2985823, member: 75937"]The emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Elagabalus, AD 218-222, was the son of Julia Soaemias Bassiana and took his name from the sun-god of Emesa in Syria, for whom he was the hereditary priest. Barely fourteen-years-old at the time, he was installed on the throne in a coup, when forces hired by his grandmother, Julia Maesa, overthrew Macrinus, who had overthrown the boy emperor's first cousin once-removed, Caracalla, the previous year. He was married four times to three different women. He was widely despised by his subjects because of his decadence. During his rule, Elagabalus showed a disregard for Roman religious traditions and sexual taboos. He replaced the traditional head of the Roman pantheon, Jupiter, with a lesser god and forced leading members of the government to participate in religious rites he personally lead. [ATTACH=full]735489[/ATTACH] Elagabalus, AD 218-222 Roman AR Antoninianus; 5.17 g, 21.3 mm, 12 hRome, AD 219 Obv: IMP ANTONINVS AVG, radiate and draped bust, right Rev: P M TR PII COSII P P, Fortuna enthroned left, holding rudder on globe and cornucopiae; wheel below seat Refs: RIC 18; BMCRE 94; Cohen 148; RCV 7495. Julia Cornelia Paula had the misfortune of becoming Elagabalus' first wife. She came from an aristocratic family in Rome and married the emperor probably in the summer of AD 219, when he was about 16. The marriage may well have been an effort to improve relations between the emperor and the Senate. The nuptials were accompanied by an expensive celebration with elaborate banquets, gladiatorial contests, and the slaughter of some 51 tigers. Julia Paula was given the title Augusta, and her name appeared on coins. Elagabalus, whose behavior became increasingly bizarre, divorced her within a year, claiming that she had a blemish of some sort on her body. She returned to private life; her successor, Julia Aquilia Severa, would be hardly more successful as the emperor’s wife. [ATTACH=full]735491[/ATTACH] Julia Paula, AD 219-220Roman AR denarius; 2.8 g, 19.0 mm, 6 hAntioch, AD 220  Obv: IVLIA PAVLA AVG, bare-headed and draped bust, rightRev: CONCORDIA, Concordia enthroned left, holding patera; star in left fieldRIC 211; BMCRE 172 var.; Cohen 6; RCV 7655; CRE 449 Elagabalus' second and fourth wife, Julia Aquilia Severa, was a Vestal Virgin pressed into marriage by the increasingly unstable emperor in AD 219 or 220 after he divorced Julia Cornelia Paula. In a letter to the Senate, Elagabalus wrote that not only had he fallen in love with Julia #2, but it was fitting that he, the high priest, should marry a Vestal Virgin, a high priestess, to create godlike children. Subsequently, he divorced Julia Aquilia Severa, married and divorced Annia Faustina (and possibly other women), and then again married her in 221. Elagabalus was murdered the following year. [ATTACH=full]735490[/ATTACH] Julia Aquilia Severa, AD 220-222Roman AR denarius; 3.18 gm, 19 mm, 6 hRome, AD 220-222Obv: IVLIA AQVILIA SEVERA AVG, bare-headed and draped bust, rightRev: CONCORDIA, Concordia standing left, sacrificing with patera over altar and holding double cornucopiae; star in left fieldRefs: RIC 225; BMCRE 336; Cohen 2; Thirion 476; RCV --; CRE 458 In the year 221, Roman Emperor Elagabalus was induced to end his highly controversial and politically damaging marriage to the Vestal Virgin Aquilia Severa by his grandmother Julia Maesa in a desperate attempt to salvage the boy-emperor's faltering regime. In its place he was advised to marry Maesa's friend, Annia Aurelia Faustina, to form an alliance with the powerful Antonine clan because she was descended from Marcus Aurelius on both sides of her family. Annia Aurelia Faustina was recently widowed as her late husband, Pomponius Bassus, had been executed for subversion and treason. She was between 35 and 45 years old -- about twice the age of Elagabalus -- at the time of her marriage to him in June or July of AD 221. Elagabalus, in his role as high-priest of Heliogabal, performed a parallel set of nuptuals, declaring Heliogabal divorced from Vesta when he himself divorced his Vestal Virgin second wife, Aquilia Severa, and then marrying the sun god Heliogabal to the lunar goddess Dea Caelestis. However, despite the obvious merits of this third earthly and second celestial marriage, Elagabalus soon tired of her and divorced her after a few months, returning to his Vestal virgin second wife, Aquilia Severa. The couple were married a second time, late in AD 221, though the celestial marriage of Heliogabal to Dea Caelestis remained unbroken. Aquilia Severa remained his wife until his murder some six months later, March 11, AD 222. [ATTACH=full]735504[/ATTACH]Annia Faustina, AD 221 Roman provincial AE 25.0 mm, 8.55 gm Pisidia, Isinda, AD 221 Obv: ANNIAN FAVCTEINAN, bare-headed and draped bust right Rev: [ΙΣ] ΙΝ ΔΕΩΝ, Confronted heads of Serapis and Isis, in field, E-Delta (yr. 4 ). Refs: Ex Lindgren I A1322A, ex von Aulock, Pisidia I 833 (Plate coin for both references). Post anything you feel is relevant![/QUOTE]

Create my FREE Account!

Log in or Sign up

Reply to Thread

Useful Searches