Elagabalus Denarius Pick Up

Everyone, It's been awhile anyway I'm getting this worn but nice silver Denarius of Emperor Elagabalus this week too. Coin info: Issuer: Elagabalus
Date Ruled: A.D. 218-222
Metal: Silver
Denomination: Denarius
Struck / Cast: struck
Date Struck: A.D. 221
Diameter: 19.3 mm
Weight: 2.57 g
Die Axis: 6 h
Obverse Legend: IMP ANTONINVS PIVS AVG
Obverse Description: Laureate draped and horned bust right
Reverse Legend: P M TR P IIII COS III P P
Reverse Description: Elagabalus standing left, sacrificing from patera over lit altar, holding club or cypress branch, star in left field
Mint: Rome
Primary Reference: RIC 046
Reference3: RSC 196. Also info about him too: Elagabalus (/#716;#603;l#601;#712;#609;æb#601;l#601;s/), also known as Heliogabalus (Latin: Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus; c. 203 - March 11, 222 AD), was Roman emperor from 218 to 222 AD. A member of the Severan dynasty, he was Syrian, the second son of Julia Soaemias and Sextus Varius Marcellus. In his early youth he served as a priest of the god Elagabalus in the hometown of his mother's family, Emesa. As a private citizen, he was probably named Sextus Varius Avitus Bassianus.[1] Upon becoming emperor he took the name Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus. He was called Elagabalus only after his death.

In 217, the emperor Caracalla was assassinated and replaced by his Praetorian prefect, Marcus Opellius Macrinus. Caracalla's maternal aunt, Julia Maesa, successfully instigated a revolt among the Third Legion to have her eldest grandson (and Caracalla's cousin), Elagabalus, declared emperor in his place. Macrinus was defeated on 8 June 218 AD at the Battle of Antioch. Elagabalus, barely 14 years old, became emperor, initiating a reign remembered mainly for sex scandals and religious controversy.

Later historians suggest Elagabalus showed a disregard for Roman religious traditions and sexual taboos. He replaced the traditional head of the Roman pantheon, Jupiter, with the deity Elagabalus, of whom he had been high priest. He forced leading members of Rome's government to participate in religious rites celebrating this deity, over which he personally presided. Elagabalus was supposedly "married" as many as five times, lavishing favours on male courtiers popularly thought to have been his lovers, and was reported to have prostituted himself in the imperial palace. His behavior estranged the Praetorian Guard, the Senate, and the common people alike. Amidst growing opposition, Elagabalus, just 18 years old, was assassinated and replaced by his cousin Severus Alexander on 11 March 222, who ruled for 13 years before his own assassination which would mark the epoch event for the Crisis of the Third Century. The assassination plot against Elagabalus was devised by his grandmother, Julia Maesa, and carried out by disaffected members of the Praetorian Guard.

Elagabalus developed a reputation among his contemporaries for extreme eccentricity, decadence, and zealotry. This tradition has persisted, and with writers of the early modern age he suffers one of the worst reputations among Roman emperors. Edward Gibbon, for example, wrote that Elagabalus "abandoned himself to the grossest pleasures and ungoverned fury". According to Barthold Georg Niebuhr, "The name Elagabalus is branded in history above all others" because of his "unspeakably disgusting life" Pics