Elagabalus (AD 218-222). AR denarius (19mm, 2.76 gm, 12h). NGC Choice AU S 5/5 - 5/5. Antioch. ANTONINVS PIVS FEL AVG, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Elagabalus right, seen from behind / FELICIT-AS/TEMP, war galley right, with seven rowers and a pilot, standard and acrostolium; furled sail at prow. RIC IV.II 187. Glittering surfaces with clear devices struck from fresh dies. Ex Morris Collection (Heritage Auctions, Auction 61160, 10 May 2020), lot 97403. Without doubt, the four-year reign of Elagabalus stands as one of the strangest interludes in all Roman history. His rise to power was engineered by his grandmother, Julia Maesa, the sister of the powerful Roman Empress Julia Domna. Maesa, determined to restore the Severan-Emesan dynasty to power, seized upon her 13-year-old grandson, Varius Avitus Bassianus, as the means. The boy, who was the hereditary high priest of the god Elagabal, greatly resembled a young Caracalla, and Maesa had it put about to the soldiers that he was the emperor's natural son and true successor. That, plus a liberal sprinkling of gold, induced the troops to revolt and proclaim Avitus (now renamed Antoninus, but widely known as Elagabalus after his god) as emperor. Improbably, Macrinus was defeated and killed, and Elagabalus with his retinue made their way to Rome, where the people greeted their new ruler with mixed bafflement, amusement, and horror. Elagabalus was also what would today be called transgendered and totally committed to the orgiastic rites of his cult. He married three times in rapid succession, including a scandalous union with a Vestal Virgin. The populace and soldiery soon became disgusted with this un-Roman behavior. Maesa finally decided that he must be replaced to save the dynasty. She persuaded Elagabalus to adopt his more docile cousin Alexander as Caesar, then coolly arranged for the Praetorians to murder their oddball emperor along with his mother, Julia Soaemias, in March, AD 222. HID09801242017 © 2023 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved

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