A Brief History
On May 16, 218, Elagabalus was proclaimed the true emperor of Rome by his mother and grandmother. After plots, intrigues, and some battles, Elagabulus captured and executed the previous emperor, Macrinus, and had the throne to himself at age 14.
Digging Deeper
If you think, “hey, a 14 year old emperor of Rome, what could go wrong?” then you would be thinking along the right track. After initially making peace with the Senate by granting amnesty for those who opposed him, and promising to obey the laws of Rome, Elagabalus went right off on his own, cracked track.
Elagabalus had Gannys, the soldier who basically won the battles for the throne, executed and upset the religious status quo by placing the god Elagabal above the usual Roman chief god, Jupiter. Forcing high officials to pay public homage to the god he was named after, Elagabalus also scandalized his position as emperor by marrying 5 times during his 4 year reign and taking many lovers, male and female. Marrying a Vestal Virgin outraged Roman sensibilities as well. Elagabalus is even said to have offered a large reward to any physician that could perform sex change surgery on him! In fact, many historians have speculated that Elagabalus was indeed transgender, or certainly strove to be.
Probably the best stunt he pulled was using whoopee cushions at dinner parties, which apparently did not amuse the stuffy aristocracy. In keeping with his disregard for decorum, Elagabalus is said to have prostituted himself in his own palace!
Not only the Praetorian Guard (kind of like the Roman version of the Secret Service, the emperor’s bodyguards) become distraught at his antics, but the common people lost respect and support for him. When Elagabalus’ own scheming grandmother (the one that basically put him on the throne) had enough, the reign of Elagabalus was soon over. Assassinated at age 18, he was replaced by Alexander Sevrus as emperor.
If you wonder why you have not heard much about this wayward youth that became emperor of Rome, it is probably because he is considered to be one of the worst emperors in the long history of the Roman empire. (No surprise there!) Historians have said of him the he “abandoned himself to the grossest pleasures” (Edward Gibbon) and called his time on Earth “unspeakably disgusting life” (B.G. Niebuhr).
As is the fashion of royalty even today, the official name Elagabalus took upon ascension to the throne was much more complex than just, Elagabalus (kind of catchy in its own right). Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus was the name he used as emperor, a fabrication to give his claim to the throne more credibility. The British royal family goes by the family name, Windsor, known as The House of Windsor, although their original name was Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, a Germanic name. King George V had the name changed in 1917 due to the First World War where Germany was the main enemy of Britain. (And the British people just went along with it!)
How true are all these reports of depravity and mayhem? As with the more famous Caligula, some analysts believe stories regarding the chaos of the reign of Elagabalus might be exaggerated to fit the justification for killing and replacing him. On the other hand, much of the history was written by those that actually witnessed the events, and not decades or centuries later as is the case with Alexander the Great and even Julius Caesar.
Question for students (and subscribers): With a name like Elagabalus, how could you go wrong? 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.
Prado, Leonardo de Arrizabalaga y. The Emperor Elagabalus: Fact or Fiction? Cambridge University Press, 2010.
The featured image in this article, a photograph by Grombo of a rubber whoopee cushion on a chair, is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="2228 http://www.crackedhistory.com/?p=2228">59 Comments
Another interesting emperor, it seems like most of the emperors that manage to succeed are the ones who respect their guards the most while the ones who ignore or abuse their guards end up having a very short reign.
It seems that for every great leader in the Roman Empire there is an equally terrible ruler.
Many of the Roman emperors of the time seem to have similar stories in overview. They come into power by either plotting on their predecessor or having someone else do it for them, they might seem like promising emperors at first then turn out to become ruthless, terrible ones. Elagabalus seems to fit right into this mold. However he is probably the only one to prostitute himself in his own palace.
It is truly amazing that he made it four years! — DAVID WARDLE
The ratio of good to bad rulers seems equal. There’s always a good one for every bad one. I’m surprised that he even lasted that 4 years.
I would give him credit for having a sense of humor, if nothing else. Though it takes more then that to rule a country.
Hard to believe someone like that lasted four years.
I guess the statement boys will be boys spans all throughout history
I’m shocked that Elagabalus wasn’t assassinated earlier after all the shenanigans he did.
The title of the article made me laugh. What did people expect from a ruler who came to the throne at age 14? That he would be mature enough to run a country? I bet for the aristocracy of Rome those 4 years must of felt like forever.
It seemed like this young teenager viewed the world as his own personal toy box and was just out for his own personal enjoyment.
It was all about satisfying his human pleasures. It’s no wonder why he is the worst emperor because it was all about him and not the people of Rome.
just another example of a crazy Roman emperor.
Why is all of the roman emperors so crazy ?
It really is amazing that the public or the guards did not step up sooner to put a stop to this mischief. Honor and civility were favorable qualities in that time and Elagabalus had neither.
He seems like a very interesting person having killed for the throne at age 14 and marrying five times betweens the ages of 14 and 18.
Interesting to see that he married 5 times before the age of 18.
I feel as if age back then meant nothing to the people of Rome. Because it seemed more of what social class you had grown up into determined your power of social hierarchy
This is absolutely hilarious considering that he was one of the worst leaders of all time (Rome or otherwise), and the fact that he invented something that is so juvenile in such a serious and historically volatile time period. It’s hilarious to think of societies like Greece and Egypt which contributed to advances in medicine, mathematics, philosophy, and architecture and then compare it to the massive amounts of culture that Rome contributed to Europe…. and then to compare it to this. It’s almost as if this event in history was altered by historians as a parody to make fun of how horrible some of the emperors in Rome truly were.
It’s so funny how the whoopee cushion was invented during this early time. I thought for sure it was invented during the early 1900s or something like that.
I think it is crazy that a Roman Emperor, basically the most powerful person in the world of that day, was younger than most college students, and that he did so many crazy activities which were frowned upon.
With a 14 year old as emperor, I can’t help but wonder whether or not the city or other members of the Senate expected anything less than maturity. I’m surprised that during ancient times an age minimum was not put into order.
I don’t understand how Rome had so many terrible emperors. Elagabalus was so incredibly young yet he married 5 different people in 4 only years! Not only that but he participated in perverse acts and he was only 14! I just don’t understand how he could be doing all of that and still have a curfew!
I really wonder why the general Roman public let this happen…a 14 year old in the emperor’s chair is not a good idea in any history text I’ve ever read. Yes he was a bad emperor, but could something have been done earlier, I think so.
Again, this is just a laughable situation which show that ’emperors’ or ‘deities’ were no better than the everyday common man.
But seriously, would could possibly go wrong with letting a 14 year old rule? It seems logical to me!
I think this was the people’s own fault for letting a 14 year old rule. I think that all 14 year olds out there would not be able to do this. Even though they all might not do all the horrible things that Elagabulus did
How did the community take a 14 year old emperor seriously? How they would bow down, and take orders years and years younger than them and not laugh in his face is beyond me…
I think it would have been pretty hard to take orders from a 14 year old. I would have laughed in his face if he told me to do something.
Not sure what made them think giving a 14 year old power would be a good idea.
This is a perfect example of how children and teenagers should not be given any sort of serious power due to the fact that their immaturity will overpower their ability to think as they should in a position of leadership.
I would say if he wasn’t the worse Emperor he was at least the strangest, then again, Rome had so many bad rulers that he has competition still.
It is crazy to see whoopee cushions were used back then and it is weird that he would prostitute himself! Also, I would imagine it would be hard to listen to 14 year old, especially when he is doing all that!
wow, crazy to see that whoopee cushions were used way back then
I’m surpised the whoopee cushion was around back then. but he not the weirdest emperor or the worst rome ever had but I know for a fact I would not listen to a 14 year old to young and immature.
He was too young for that much power. Maybe it was a case of affluenza. Actually, after reading a few of these stories, I think many Roman emperors were crazy- maybe it was contagious?
Hooray for whoopee cushions!
This article struck me as funny, interesting and a little odd. It is crazy to see that whoopee cushions were even a thing way back then. I also find it odd that they would even have someone that young be a ruler. I guess that goes to show that people of young age can not always be taken seriously and more than likely should not be given that much power.
was that you?
Well, at least I now know who to thank for this disgusting part of my childhood! This was a fun article
It made me laugh to learn that whoopie cushions have been used for so many years
it’s hard to blame him for his misbehavior when he was given that kind of power and responsibility at such a young age
It is funny to think about who was the one to come up with the whoopie cushion. As a child it was one of my favorites toys.
Weird to think about how it is one of the most iconic images of a prank to joke with people and it originated from an emperor.
Roman emperors where all crazy!
Funny that something like the whoopee cushion has roots that far back. Can’t believe I haven’t heard about this!
It is very funny that the whoopee cushion has been round for all of this time and was originated by an emperor out of all people.
Elagabalus was his own special kind of out there to be considered worse than some of the other Roman emperors.
Funny that the whoopee cushion has roots so far back. Glad someone invented it.
The age of 14… crazy!
I knew that the whoopie cushion dated much farther back, but I never would have guessed this far back. How classy that a young emperor invented it.
Out of all the people who are meant to be very serious in the world, you would never guess that an Emperor was the originator of the whoopee cushion.
that hilarious that a powerful ruler is the creator behind a whoopie cushin i would have never guessed
Sounds like he had a good time in “high school”, can’t believe he even made it to his “senior year.”
When you are an Emperor who has it all…you have to make your own fun!
I had no idea an emperor created the whoopee cushion
An emperor created the whoopee cushion?!?! Very interesting.
You would think that someone that powerful would be very serious, its nice to see he was still a prankster.
this is what happens when young kids are given immense power! they are still children and are not able to handle the power and pressure.