Elagabalus (Heliogabalus) coins Roman Imperial catalog
Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus "Elagabalus" (218-222)
Antoninus Bassianus was born in 204 to Marcellus, governor of the province of Numidia and Julius Soemia, daughter of Julia Mesa, sister of Empress Julia Domna (wife of Septimius Severus and mother of Emperor Caracalla). Bassianus' grandfather (Julius Bassianus, Julia Domna's father) was the hereditary priest of the cult of the Phoenician sun god Elagabalus in Syria, and this position passed to his grandson after his death.
It was said that Elagabalus' mother was Caracalla's mistress in her youth and it was on this that Julius Mesa built an intrigue against Emperor Macrinus. The soldiers of the Gallic legion, standing not far from the luxurious temple of Elagabalus, where the priest was young Bassianus, mesmerized by the beauty and wealth of the young man proclaimed him Caesar and rebelled against Macrinus, who was not popular. Probably the money of Bassianus' grandmother (who took the name Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, exactly like Caracalla's) also played a role. Macrinus was defeated, captured and killed.
On June 8, 218 the Senate recognized Elagabalus as emperor, and, judging by the documents, he took power immediately after Caracalla and there was no Macrinus at all.
Elagabalus (or in Greek Heliogabalus) remained the high priest of the god of the same name and established his cult in Rome, which, in general, was not any violation - the Romans recognized any gods, including foreign ones. But Elagabalus was declared the supreme deity, more important than Jupiter, and this did not please many people. The emperor, with eyeliner and eyebrows, with whitened face and blushed cheeks, in a Syrian suit, in the presence of all the officials of Rome, daily worshiped in front of a cone-shaped stone (apparently a meteorite) brought from Emesa.
Then he married a Vestal, which was unthinkable for the Romans and caused even greater indignation. But the young man was brought up in the eastern spirit and ruled as an eastern despot, paying no attention to anything. It is truer to say that he lived like that, and ruled for him, mainly his grandmother - Julia Mesa.
About the personal life of the Emperor went a lot of rumors, it is not known how reliable, but at least his sexual promiscuity no one denied For example, he considered himself the wife of a certain Gierokla, a former slave.
Julia Mesa, realizing that long thus do not reign, persuaded Elagabalus to proclaim Caesar cousin Alexander, ostensibly in order to give that "formal" rule, and himself to focus on priestly duties. The latter reluctantly complied. A few months later he spread a rumor about Alexander's fatal illness to check to whom the army was loyal. On March 11, 222, the Praetorians demanded a meeting with both co-rulers, and when it was held, only Alexander was welcomed. Elagabalus demanded the execution of the apostates, but, instead, he himself was killed, along with his mother.
IMP ANTONINVS PIVS AVG
P M TR P III COS III P P
denarius 220
silver
17 mm.
Rome
Draped bust in a wreath right / Emperor Antoninus Pius Augustus
Sol left with a raised hand, holds lash / Great Pontífix People's Tribune Consul 3 times, Father of the Fatherland 3 times
Coin value - $50-70
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