Description
Elagabalus.
Silver Denarius.
Elagabalus- Born in 204 AD, in Syria, the son of Sextus Varius Marcellus and Julia Soaemias. Varius Avitas Bassianus, took the name Marcus Aurelius Antoninus upon God his accession he was appointed priest of the Sun Elagabalus, it is by this name that he is best known. He was proclaimed emperor on May 16, 218 AD in a coup against Macrinus engineered by Julia Maesa. His reign was notorious for religious fanaticism, cruelty, bloodshed and excesses of every description. In less than two years he married three different women, divorcing them all in turn and finally remarrying his second wife. Elagabalus and his mother were murdered in a coup engineered by Maesa. Their bodies were dragged through the streets of Rome.