ENGLISH

The Mad Emperor: Heliogabalus and the Decadence of Rome

By Harry Sidebottom

Book information

Publisher
Oneworld Publications
Year
2022
ISBN
0861542533, 9780861542536
Language
english
Format
EPUB
Filesize
4 MB (4481586 bytes)
Pages
350\0
Time added
2022-10-26 10:06:29

Description

What happens when you put the Roman Empire in the hands of a teenage boy? The life and times of the worst Roman emperor of all. On 8 June AD218 a fourteen-year-old Syrian boy, egged on by his grandmother, led an army to battle in a Roman civil war. Against all expectations, he was victorious. 'Buy the book; it's very entertaining.' David Aaronovith, The Times Varius Avitus Bassianus, known to the modern world as Heliogabalus, was proclaimed emperor. The next four years were to be the strangest in the history of the empire. Heliogabalus humiliated the prestigious Senators and threw extravagant dinner parties for lower-class friends. He ousted Jupiter from his summit among the gods and replaced him with Elagabal. He married a Vestal Virgin – twice. Rumours abounded that he was a prostitute. In the first biography of Heliogabalus in over half a century, Harry Sidebottom unveils the high drama of sex, religion, power and culture in Ancient Rome as we’ve never seen it before.

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