Qui es va casar amb Elagabalus?

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (born Sextus Varius Avitus Bassianus, c. 204 – 13 March 222), better known by his posthumous nicknames Elagabalus ( EL-ə-GAB-ə-ləs) and Heliogabalus ( HEE-lee-ə-, -⁠lee-oh-), was Roman emperor from 218 to 222, while he was still a teenager. His short reign was notorious for religious controversy and alleged sexual debauchery. A close relative to the Severan dynasty, he came from a prominent Syrian Arab family in Emesa (Homs), Syria, where he served as the head priest of the sun god Elagabal from a young age. After the death of his cousin, the emperor Caracalla, Elagabalus was raised to the principate at 14 years of age in an army revolt instigated by his grandmother Julia Maesa against Caracalla's short-lived successor, Macrinus. He only posthumously became known by the Latinised name of his god.

Elagabalus is largely known from accounts by the contemporary senator Cassius Dio who was strongly hostile to him, Herodian, who likely relied extensively on Dio, and the much later Historia Augusta. The reliability of the accounts of Cassius Dio and the Historia Augusta, particularly their most salacious elements, has been strongly questioned. Elagabalus showed a disregard for Roman religious traditions. He brought the cult of Elagabal (including the large baetyl stone that represented the god) to Rome, making it a prominent part of religious life in the city. He forced leading members of Rome's government to participate in religious rites celebrating this deity, presiding over them in person. According to the accounts of Cassius Dio and the Augusta, he married four women, including a Vestal Virgin, in addition to lavishing favours on male courtiers they suggested to have been his lovers, and prostituted himself. His behaviour estranged the Praetorian Guard, the Senate, and the common people alike. Amidst growing opposition, at just 18 years of age he was assassinated and replaced by his cousin Severus Alexander in March 222. The assassination plot against Elagabalus was devised by Julia Maesa and carried out by disaffected members of the Praetorian Guard.

Elagabalus developed a posthumous reputation for extreme eccentricity, decadence, zealotry, and sexual promiscuity. Among writers of the early modern age, he endured one of the worst reputations among Roman emperors. Edward Gibbon, notably, wrote that Elagabalus "abandoned himself to the grossest pleasures with ungoverned fury". According to Barthold Georg Niebuhr, "the name of Elagabalus is branded in history above all others; [...] "Elagabalus had nothing at all to make up for his vices, which are of such a kind that it is too disgusting even to allude to them". An example of a modern historian's assessment is Adrian Goldsworthy's: "Elagabalus was not a tyrant, but he was an incompetent, probably the least able emperor Rome had ever had". Despite near-universal condemnation of his reign, some scholars write warmly about his religious innovations, including the 6th-century Byzantine chronicler John Malalas, as well as Warwick Ball, a modern historian who described him as "a tragic enigma lost behind centuries of prejudice".

Modern scholars have questioned the accuracy of Roman accounts of his reign, with suggestions that the reports of his salacious behaviour and sexual excess likely reflected a desire to politically discredit him in the immediate aftermath of his death, as well as reflecting Roman stereotypes regarding people from the Orient as effeminate.

Júlia Cornèlia Paula (llatí: Julia Cornelia Paula) va ser una dama romana que va viure al segle iii i que havia nascut a Síria. El seu pare, Juli Corneli Paulus, havia estat prefecte de la guàrdia pretoriana. Formava part de la gens Cornèlia.

L'any 219, Júlia Mesa, la germana gran de l'emperadriu Júlia Domna, havia arreglat el matrimoni entre Júlia Cornèlia Paula i el seu net, l'emperador Elagàbal. El seu casament es va celebrar amb gran pompa a Roma l'any 219 quan Elagàbal va tornar d'Àsia. Júlia va obtenir el títol d'Augusta.

A l'any següent l'emperador i Paula es van divorciar, i ella va ser privada del títol d'Augusta. La causa del divorci i la seva vida posterior són desconeguts. Elagàbal, en divorciar-se, es va casar amb la verge vestal Aquília Severa, cosa que va provocar gran escàndol a la ciutat.

Júlia Aquília Severa (en llatí Julia Aquilia Severa) va ser la segona (220-221) i quarta (221-222) muller de l'emperador romà Elagàbal. Formava part de la gens Aquíl·lia, una família romana d'origen patrici i plebeu.

Severa era una verge vestal, i com a tal, les seves noces amb Elagàbal el 220 van ser la causa de molt d'enrenou. Tradicionalment, el càstig per trencar el vot de celibat de trenta anys que les vestals feien, era la mort. S'ha dit que Elagàbal va prendre Severa per muller per raons religioses, ja que ell era un seguidor del culte oriental del déu sol El-Gabal (de fet, n'era el seu sacerdot suprem), i en casar-se amb ella tenia un segon significat d'unió del seu déu amb la deessa romana Vesta.

Malgrat tot, ambdós casaments van ser considerats il·lícits poc després, probablement per mediació de Júlia Mesa, l'àvia d'Elagàbal, i qui l'havia posat al tron imperial. L'emperador tot seguit es va casar amb Ànnia Faustina, una elecció que es va considerar més encertada. Elagàbal, però, no va trigar gaire temps a divorciar-se de la seva nova esposa i va tornar a viure amb Severa, sota el pretext que el divorci havia estat invàlid. Es creu que Severa va estar-se amb Elagàbal fins que ell va ser assassinat l'any 222. No es creu que la parella hagués tingut cap fill.

L'opinió de Severa sobre aquest afer no es coneix prou bé. Algunes fonts diuen que va ser forçada a prendre Elagàbal per marit contra la seva voluntat, mentre que d'altres van encara més lluny i diuen que la va violar. Tot i això, se sap que moltes de les històries que envolten Elagàbal van ser exagerades pels seus enemics i per la història posterior, de manera que no hi ha cap certesa que res d'això passés. No és clar si Elagàbal sentia alguna cosa per Severa, o si el matrimoni era més aviat simbòlic, ja que sembla que Elagàbal era o homosexual o bisexual, i l'historiador Cassi Dió narra que va tenir una relació més estable amb el seu esclau Hièrocles que amb qualsevol de les seves esposes.

Annia o Ania Aurelia Faustina fue una emperatriz de Roma y tercera esposa del emperador Heliogábalo durante un corto período en el año 221. Era la bisnieta de Marco Aurelio.