Elagabalus           218 - 222 A.D.

This teenager's big break came directly as a result of the revolt his grandmother, Julia Maesa, instigated against Macrinus. Claiming that Elagabalus was the son of Caracalla, (Julia Maesa was Julia Domna's sister, Caracalla's mother) the army was induced to revolt against Macrinus and restore the supposed dynasty. Macrinus was ill-prepared for the sudden revolt and still in the early stages of recovering from the heavy hand of Caracalla's rule. Finding only lukewarm support from within his own legions, Macrinus was defeated by the upstart in battle. Elagabalus and his puppeteers were able to restore peace at a local level and make their way to Rome to legitimize their claim. On arrival Elagalabus quickly became hated by imposing his Syrian religion as the official state religion and forcing all the members of the Senate to follow its rituals. Add to this the scandal of his open homosexuality and marrying, divorcing and then remarrying a Vestal Virgin which was a taboo of the highest order. He gained so many enemies, in fact, that none other than Julia Maesa herself arranged to have him murdered.

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