A Brief History
On March 11, 222, Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, known better as Elagabalus, was assassinated by the Praetorian Guard and replaced by his 14-year-old cousin.
Digging Deeper
Elagabalus served four years as Emperor and died at age 18, after a depraved reign of murder, torture, and perversity. Some of the other Roman Emperors that vie for the title of “Worst” include:
Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, known as Caligula, who was so awful that a major motion picture was made about his bizarre reign.
Nero, although not guilty of fiddling while Rome burned, was pretty bad, murderous, depraved, and fond of extravagance, yet managed to rule for 14 years before killing himself to prevent his own murder.
Vitellius was so reviled that after being murdered he was dragged through Rome and thrown into the Tiber River.
Finally, Commodus was another allegedly crazy emperor who served as the main villain in a major motion picture.
Question for students (and subscribers): Which Roman emperor was the worst? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Icks, Martijn. The Crimes of Elagabalus: The Life and Legacy of Rome’s Decadent Boy Emperor. Harvard University Press, 2012.
Trafford, LJ. Ancient Rome’s Worst Emperors. Pen and Sword History, 2024.
The featured image in this article, a scan of a postcard by Henri-Paul Motte (1846-1922) of Elagabalus’s Feast, at which he frightened his guests with tame lions (according to the Historia Augusta), is a faithful photographic reproduction of a two-dimensional, public domain work of art. The work of art itself is in the public domain for the following reason: This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author’s life plus 70 years or fewer.
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