The Mad Emperor: Heliogabalus and the Decadence of Rome

Sifting fact from fiction, historian and novelist Sidebottom (ancient history, Oxford; author of the “Warrior of Rome” historical fiction series) pieces together the short, controversial reign of the second-century CE Roman emperor Heliogabalus in this fascinating biography. The teenage scion of a noble Syrian family was reviled by historians of his era for his financial extravagance and disregard for Roman sexual taboos (he married four women, including two vestal virgins, and allegedly prostituted himself and took male lovers). Examining sculptural inscriptions, Roman coinage, and surviving documents, Sidebottom identifies a more complicated reason for Heliogabalus’s disastrous reign, centered on the young emperor’s failure to appease the constituencies vital to Imperial success; he argues that Heliogabalus’s sexuality and devotion to an Eastern solar deity alienated the Roman elite. Sidebottom also discusses life in the Principate era, including race relations, social status, the imagery of Imperial propaganda, and reciprocal obligations of the ruler and the ruled; more than a biography of a single emperor, this book analyzes the sources of Imperial authority.