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Author: Leonardo de Arrizabalaga y Prado
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2010-05-27
Total Pages: 421
ISBN-13: 0521895553
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →The first study to subject the life and reign of the so-called Emperor Elagabalus to a thorough historical investigation.
Author: Martijn Icks
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2011-08-30
Total Pages: 288
ISBN-13: 0857720171
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Elagabalus was one of the most notorious of Rome's 'bad emperors': a sexually-depraved and eccentric hedonist who in his short and riotous reign made unprecedented changes to Roman state religion and defied all taboos. An oriental boy-priest from Syria - aged just fourteen when he was elevated to power in 218 CE - he placed the sun god El-Gabal at the head of the established Roman pantheon, engaged in orgiastic rituals, took male and female lovers, wore feminine dress and was alleged to have prostituted himself in taverns and even inside the imperial palace. Since his assassination by the Praetorian Guard at the age of eighteen, Elagabalus has been an object of fascination to historians and a source of inspiration for artists and writers. This immensely readable book examines the life of one of the Roman Empire's most colourful figures, and charts the many guises of his legacy: from evil tyrant to firebrand rebel, from mystical androgyne to modern gay teenager, from decadent sensualist to ancient pop star.
Author: Darrell L. Minor
Publisher: Darrell L. Minor
Published: 2020-06-18
Total Pages: 53
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Set in the backdrop of 3rd century Rome, a time of turmoil and decay, the empire finds itself on the brink of collapse. The social fabric is unraveling, and the once thriving economy is now in shambles. However, amidst this bleak scenario, a young and inexperienced fourteen-year-old boy named Varius Avitus Bassianus unexpectedly ascends to the throne. Known to history as Emperor Elagabalus, his reign is marked by controversy and scandal, leaving a lasting impact on the Roman senate and the empire as a whole. In this alternate historical drama, the narrative delves into the first four years of Varius's reign, presenting a different turn of events. The young emperor's life becomes a battleground, not only against the crumbling state of the empire but also against his own power-hungry grandmother, Julia Maesa. As Varius grapples with the challenges of governance, he finds himself entangled in a fierce struggle for control and influence with his grandmother, who seeks to manipulate him for her own gain. Alongside the political power struggle, Varius also faces the consequences of his personal choices and secrets. This alternate narrative sheds light on the hidden aspects of his life, exploring the scandals and controversies that surround him. From his religious background to his unconventional sexual preferences, each passing day on the throne further fuels the growing animosity of the Roman senate and the empire towards their young emperor. As the story unfolds, the audience witnesses the complex web of intrigue, power dynamics, and personal struggles that shape Varius's reign, offering a fresh perspective on this tumultuous period in Roman history.
Author:
Publisher: BRILL
Published: 2016-11-28
Total Pages: 376
ISBN-13: 9004335315
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Cassius Dio: Greek Intellectual and Roman Politician brings together case studies that highlight various aspects of Cassius Dio’s Roman History. It puts emphasis on Dio’s text in its historiographical setting, thus allowing us to link and understand the different parts of his work.
Author: Harry Sidebottom
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Published: 2022-10-06
Total Pages: 381
ISBN-13: 0861542541
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →'Buy the book; it's very entertaining.' David Aaronovitch, The Times A Financial Times, BBC History and Spectator Book of the Year On 8 June 218 AD, a fourteen-year-old Syrian boy, egged on by his grandmother, led an army to battle in a Roman civil war. Against all expectations, he was victorious. Varius Avitus Bassianus, known to the modern world as Heliogabalus, was proclaimed emperor. The next four years were to be the strangest in the history of the empire. Heliogabalus humiliated the prestigious Senators and threw extravagant dinner parties for lower-class friends. He ousted Jupiter from his summit among the gods and replaced him with Elagabal. He married a Vestal Virgin – twice. Rumours abounded that he was a prostitute. In the first biography of Heliogabalus in over half a century, Harry Sidebottom unveils the high drama of sex, religion, power and culture in Ancient Rome as we’ve never seen it before.
Author: Andrew G. Scott
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2018
Total Pages: 217
ISBN-13: 0190879599
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →This historical commentary examines books 79(78)-80(80) of Cassius Dio's Roman History, which cover the period from the death of Caracalla in A. D. 217. to the reign of Severus Alexander and Cassius Dio's retirement from political life in 229. Cassius Dio, a Roman Senator, provides a valuable eyewitness account of this turbulent period, which was marked by the assassination of Caracalla, the rise of Macrinus, Rome's first equestrian emperor, and his subsequent overthrow, the tempestuous, and by all accounts peculiar, reign of Elagabalus, and the continuation of the Severan dynasty under the young Severus Alexander. In addition to elucidating important passages from these books, this study assesses Cassius Dio's political life and its relationship to his literary career; his call to history and time of composition; his historical method; and his attitude toward and subsequent presentation of the later Severan dynasty. In its investigation of books 79(78)-80(80), the work assesses an important stretch of Dio's actual text, which for other parts has been preserved largely in epitome and excerpts. Finally, the work aims to fill a gap in scholarship, as no commentary on these books of Cassius Dio's history has been produced since the nineteenth century, and its publication coincides with a renewed interest in the history and historiography of the Severan period.
Author: Leonardo de Arrizabalaga y Prado
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Published: 2017-05-11
Total Pages: 575
ISBN-13: 1443893854
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Varius is the nomen of the Roman emperor misnamed Elagabalus or Heliogabalus. These are names of the Syrian sun god Elagabal, whose high priest Varius was while emperor. There is no evidence that he was ever so called when alive. Thus named, his posthumous legendary or mythical avatar thrives, in academic prose and popular imagination, as a Semitic monster of cruelty, depravity, fanaticism, mockery and extravagance. Recently, this monster has metamorphosed into an anarchist saint and martyr of gay liberation. This volume explores the historical individual behind Elagabalus and Heliogabalus. Varius was probably born AD 204 in Rome, to Syro-Roman parents linked to the Severan dynasty, and brought up at the imperial court, which spent 208–211 in Britain. After his father’s death in Numidia or Italy, sometime between 214 and 218 Varius went to Syria, where, like a maternal ancestor, he became a priest of Elagabal. In Syria in 217, Macrinus murdered and succeeded the Severan emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, even then known by his nickname, Caracalla. In 218, in a coup against Macrinus, Varius, fourteen, was proclaimed emperor, on the basis of the lie, launched by his grandmother, Caracalla’s aunt, and abetted by his mother, Caracalla’s cousin, that he was Caracalla’s bastard. Varius’ grandmother intended to rule while he reigned. But Varius, now Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, had other ideas. Taking the god Elagabal, a meteorite, to Rome he sought to combine the incompatible personae of Roman emperor and High Priest of Elagabal. He was murdered in 222 before reaching eighteen by his praetorian guards, under the orders of his grandmother and aunt, to make way for his younger, more docile cousin, Alexianus, who reigned as Severus Alexander. Rhetorical invective against Varius was promptly launched to justify his murder. It grew into his mythical or legendary avatar: Elagabalus or Heliogabalus. That avatar came completely to overshadow the historical Varius. This book serves to rescue Varius for history from eighteen centuries spent in fantasy and fiction.
Author: Clare Rowan
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2012
Total Pages: 321
ISBN-13: 1107020123
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Exploration of the role played by deities in the negotiation of imperial power under the Severan dynasty (AD 193-235).
Author: Phillip Barlag
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Published: 2021-06-15
Total Pages: 237
ISBN-13: 1633886913
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Nero fiddled while Rome burned. As catchy as that aphorism is, it’s sadly untrue, even if it has a nice ring to it. The one thing Nero is well-known for is the one thing he actually didn’t do. But fear not, the truth of his life, his rule and what he did with unrestrained power, is plenty weird, salacious and horrifying. And he is not alone. Roman history, from the very foundation of the city, is replete with people and stories that shock our modern sensibilities. Evil Roman Emperors puts the worst of Rome’s rulers in one place and offers a review of their lives and a historical context for what made them into what they became. It concludes by ranking them, counting down to the worst ruler in Rome’s long history. Lucius Tarquinius Suburbus called peace conferences with warring states, only to slaughter foreign leaders; Commodus sold offices of the empire to the highest bidder; Caligula demanded to be worshipped as a god, and marched troops all the way to the ocean simply to collect seashells as “proof” of their conquest; even the Roman Senate itself was made up of oppressors, exploiters, and murderers of all stripes. Author Phillip Barlag profiles a host of evil Roman rulers across the history of their empire, along with the faceless governing bodies that condoned and even carried out heinous acts. Roman history, deviant or otherwise, is a subject of endless fascination. What’s never been done before is to look at the worst of the worst at the same time, comparing them side by side, and ranking them against one another. Until now.
