By Carole Raddato CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=45906105

The historical record is often fragile and often it is the most popular accounts that survive, regardless of how strictly they hold to the truth of the events they purport to describe. Marcus Aurelius Antonius, born Sextus Varius Avitus Bassianus some time in 203 or 204 CE, but better known by the nicknames he was given after death, Elagabalus or Heliogabalus, lived a life that was mostly recorded by Lucius Cassius Dio, better known as Cassius Dio, who was a senator who lived at the same time but was hostile toward Elagabalus. Later historians relied on Cassius Dio's accounts of Elagabalus' life, which many modern historians think '[i]t is clear that Dio was not attempting an accurate portrayal of the emperor' and that he used 'literary exaggeration' liberally leaving Elagabalus 'a tragic enigma lost behind ccenturies of prejudice'.

Elagabalus' father was of the equestrian class and was later promoted to the senatorial class. His mother was Emperor Caracalla, who reigned from 198-217 CE, though rumors abounded and were later supported by his mother, that Elagabalus was really the son of Emperor Caracalla. He had at least one sibling, though their name is not recorded in any way that survived to the modern era. He was born in Syria, or possibly in Rome and traveled to Emesa, Syria, near modern day Homs, Syria, as their family had rich holdings there, as well as hereditary rights to the priesthood of Elagabal, whose Latinized name is Elagabalus, which comes from the Arabic إِلٰهُ الْجَبَلِ Ilāh al-Jabal, which means 'God of the Mountain', who was the sun god, a manifestation of Ba'al. Heliogabalus was a combination of the Greek sun god, Helios, with Elagabal's name. Elagabalus was the high priest of the cult.

By PHGCOM - Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6184620

After Caracalla was assassinated and Macrinus came to power, Julia Maesa, her two daughters, and Elagabalus, who was 14 at the time, were exiled to their estate in Emesa to minimize the threat to Macrinus. His grandmother, the sister-in-law to Septimus Severus, who was emperor from 193-211, and aunt to Caracalla, began spreading the rumor that Elagabalus was the son of Caracalla, which his mother supported, along with her wealth to persuade a legion to swear fealty to Elagabalus and they later proclaimed him emperor and he was dressed in imperial purple. He adopted Caracalla's name, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. She worked with Gannys, who was her advisor and Elagabalus' tutor. In addition to the legion, they also likely had the support of the local equestrian and senatorial classes.

The Praetorian prefect, a very high ranking official and commander of the Praetorian Guard, attempted to put down the rebellion, but was killed by his men, who joined Elagabalus' side. Before he knew of the prefect's death, Macrinus' had the Senate denounce Elagabalus and declared war on him. Macrinus tried to garner the loyalty of a legion through 'large cash payments', and made his son co-emperor. When Macrinus was presented with the prefect's head, he retreated to Antioch, Syria, near modern day Antakya, Turkey, which lost him the support of the legion. Led by Gannys, Elagabalus' troops defeated Macrinus' on 8 June 218, partially aided by Macrinus' troops scattering when Macrinus fled. Macrinus was later captured and executed along with his son.

By Classical Numismatic Group, Inc. http://www.cngcoins.com, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2522196

Elagabalus sent letters to the Senate to inform them of his ascension to the imperial titles as well as giving them amnesty for following Macrinus' administration. The Senate accepted Elagabalus as emperor and that he was Caracalla's son. He was also made consul, the highest elected public official, and his mother and grandmother were made Augustae, or empresses, at the time. There was also an effort to remove Macrinus from the record. Elagabalus was also inducted as pontifex maxiumus in the College of Pontifs, and named the Pater Patriae, or father of the country.

Elagabalus remained around Antioch for a while putting down various mutinies, not reaching Italy until 219, which went against the tradition of having 10 years between consulships, during which he continued as consul in addition to his being emperor. He arrived in Rome sometime between August and September 218 and held a ceremonial entrance to the city known as an adventus. He made the commander of the first legion to support him, Publius Valerius Comazon, praetorian prefect and appointed him consul in 220 and kept him in that office until 222. He developed Horti Spei Veterius on the Esqiline Hill in the southeastern part of the city into an imperial palace that included the Amphitheatrum Castrense and the Circus Varianus hippodrome to allow him to indulge in his hobby of driving chariots.

In the beginning of Elagabalus' reign, he and his mother and grandmother all got along well. His mother and grandmother were the first women allowed into the Senate because Macrinus declared war on them as well as Elagabalus, and they recieved titles from the Senate, with his grandmother becoming Mater Castrorum et Senatus, the 'Mother of the army camp and of the Senate' and his mother becoming Clarissima, or 'most renowned'. They held great 'influence over the young emperor through his reign and are found on many coins and inscriptions, a rare honour for Roman women'.

By Jean Lombard (26 September 1854 – 17 July 1891) - L'agonie, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=50535114

In 220, likely on the winter solstice, Elagabalus installed 'Elagabal as the chief deity of the Roman pantheon' and he was 'entitled…sacerdos amplissimus dei invicti Soli Elagabali, pontifex maximus, lit. "highest priest of the unconquered god, the Sun Elgabal, supreme pontif"'. This did not go well with Romans who saw Jupiter. To try and smooth this over, Elagabalus stated that Elagabal had either Astarte, Minerva, or Urania as consort, or some combination of the three, joining him to one of the more traditional goddesses. Further inflaming the religious dissent, he married the Vestal Virgin high priestess, a flagrant violation of both Roman tradition and law, which held that 'any Vestal found to have engaged in sexual intercourse was to be burned alive'. He also built a baetyl, a house for a god, for Elagabal, on the Palatine Hill. Elagabal was held to be 'represented by a black conical meteorite from Emesa' and Herodian, a historian, wrote 'his stone is worshipped as though it were sent from heaven; on it there are some small projecting pieces and markings that are pointed out, which the people would like to believe are a rough picture of the sun, because this is how they see them'. Elagabalus tried to promote his own piety by having himself circumcised and abstaining from swine, as well as making senators watch him dance around the altar of Elagabal, and parading the adorned stone around the city. He further took all the sacred objects of the various Roman gods into the baetyl, 'so that no other god could be worshipped except in association with Elagabal'.

Elagabalus was married five times to four women, with the first prior to 29 August 219, when he was about 15 or 16. Then he divorced her on 28 August 220 to marry the Vestal Virgin, then divorced her, took another wife who was a widow of someone he had executed, then he remarried the Vestal Virgin after divorcing his fourth wife. Cassius Dio held that another 'husband of this woman [Elagabalus] was Hierocles', who was a chariot driver and former slave from Caria, and the 'Historia Augustua claims that Elagabalus also married a man named Zoticus, an athlete from Smyrna, while Dio says only that Soticus was his cubicularius [a title used for the eunuch chamberlains on the imperial palace]'. Dio also added that 'Elagabalus prostitued himself in taverns and brothels'.

By Lawrence Alma-Tadema - Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=755081

Speculating on someone's sexuality or gender identity in the past is difficult, especially when the primary source about them is someone who is highly critical of and who tended to use 'literary exaggeration'. Cassius Dio does say that Elagabalus 'came to be called "woman, lady, empress" after marrying Hierocles', also reportedly wearing women's accessories and makeup and sought out 'any physician who could provide him with a vagina by means of incision' according to Cassius Dio.

Elagabalus' having alienated the much of the Praetorian Guard and Rome's elites had his grandmother turning against his mother, who'd encouraged his 'religious provocation', and decided to turn her support to her other daughter's son, Severus Alexander, then 15 years old. She encouraged Elagabalus to adopt Alexander and they shared consulship in 222. When Alexander started to seem more popular with the Praetorian Guard, Elagabalus began to feel out getting Alexander assassinated since the Senate wouldn't allow him to just strip Alexander of his titles.

Using rumors, Elagabalus made the Praetorian Guard believe that Alexander was near death. The Guard demanded to see Alexander and Elagabalus in their camp. On 13 March, Elagabalus complied, bringing Alexander and his mother with him to the Praetorian camp. The Guard lauded Alexander's arrival and ignored Elagabalus and Elagabalus tried to order the Guards executed for their 'display of insubordination', but the Guard turned on him and his mother. According to Cassius Dio, 'He made an attempt to flee, and would have got away somewhere by being placed in a chest had he not been discovered and slain, at the age of eighteen. His mother, who embraced him and clung tightly to him, perished with him; their heads were cut off and their bodies, after being stripped naked, were first dragged all over the city, and then the mother's body was cast aside somewhere or other, while his was thrown into the Tiber'. Hierocles was also executed.

By ho visto nina volare from Italy - Napoli, museo archeologico, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=52249396

Dio 36,27

Supporting Pompeius ✅

Using Pompeius against his will ✅

Being OK with Pompeius dying ✅

Dio 36,28

Cornificia and Cassius Dio from @kamaandhallie ‘s Cassius Dio novel! You can check it out here!

"There was a further fact that weighed strongly against [Gabinius]: he had not received a certain lieutenant sent ahead by Crassus to succeed him in the office, but held on to the position as if he had received it for all time."

https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/39*.html#60