The Severus Dynasty : Elagabalus

Imperator Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Pius Felix Augustus Proconsol 218 – 222 AD

Born: 203/4 AD at Emesa, Syria
Date of Accession: 16th May 218 AD
Died: Murdered 11th March 222 AD at Rome

Governors of Britannia Inferior during his reign:

Modius Julius by 219 AD
Tiberius Claudius Paulinus by 220 AD
Marius Valerianus 221 – 222 AD

Elagabalus reign was characterised by two factors. On one hand the promotion within the empire – of which inscriptions can be found in British forts – of the religion of Sol Invictus, on the other Elagabalus shocked a fairly broad minded Roman society with his outrageous behaviour in his private life.

Elagabalus

An emperor’s private life is never private however, and perhaps the debauched exploits of Elagabalus may have been exaggerated for effect by the histories. Whatever the reality, a consensus in the west that the Syrian dynasty was inherently degenerate manifested itself in Elagabalus’s time and it would remain to haunt his Syrian dynasty successor; his cousin Alexander Severus.

With his empire run for him by his close female relations Elagabalus’s antics continued unabated until the Praetorians – who had had enough – murdered him and his mother at their camp in 222 AD while he attempted to stir trouble up against his cousin Alexander Severus.

It may have been during Elagabalus’s reign that the vexillation fortress at Carpow and any other forts in Scotland at this time were abandoned. Scotland must have seemed a world away to such a pleasure seeker immersed so thoroughly in the decadence of Rome.

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