210-229 Six Roman Emperors!
In this twenty year period there were six Roman Emperors, one of which was the colorful Syrian, Elagabalus (pictured), who was murdered by his aunt.
The period started with the rule of the Roman Emperor Severus, an aristocrac from the Punic city of Lepcis Magna in Africa, who died in York in 211 while restoring military order in the north of England. He was succeeded by his sons Antoninus and Geta; then by the usurpers Macrinas and Elagabalus in 217; and then finally Alexander in 221.
Antoninus had Geta murdered in 212. He preferred the life of the common soldier to one of leisure and likened himself to Alexander the Great. He took up residence in Antioch, Syria, then Alexandria in Egypt (where he sacked the city because of imagined slights and then returned to Syria resolved to conquer the Parthian Empire.
He marched his troops beyond the Tigris, met no enemy, lost prestige among his men and a conspiracy of officers assassinated him in 217
Antoninus left a legacy for the Empire by issuing an edict by which all free inhabitants of the Empire were entitled to become Roman citizens.
Macrinas was a lawyer, he made peace with the Parthians by paying them off, but was executed following the proclamation in Syria that Antoninus had a son by the niece of Severus' Syrian wife.
It was a lie, but the priestly Syrian family of Severus' deceased wife was fabulously wealthy and accordingly influential, and as they had acquired Roman citizenship the boy, Elagabalus became Emperor in 217, arriving in Rome in 219 wearing the colorful robes of his priestly office, building a temple for the god that bears his name, marrying the Chief of the Vestal Virgins to create a divine marriage, naming his cousin as successor, and filling the administration with Syrians.
His cousin, Alexander, was better accepted by the Romans and as such Alexander's mother engineered in 221 the death of Elagabalus and his mother - her sister - and installed her son as emperor with her pulling the strings.
The period started with the rule of the Roman Emperor Severus, an aristocrac from the Punic city of Lepcis Magna in Africa, who died in York in 211 while restoring military order in the north of England. He was succeeded by his sons Antoninus and Geta; then by the usurpers Macrinas and Elagabalus in 217; and then finally Alexander in 221.
Antoninus had Geta murdered in 212. He preferred the life of the common soldier to one of leisure and likened himself to Alexander the Great. He took up residence in Antioch, Syria, then Alexandria in Egypt (where he sacked the city because of imagined slights and then returned to Syria resolved to conquer the Parthian Empire.
He marched his troops beyond the Tigris, met no enemy, lost prestige among his men and a conspiracy of officers assassinated him in 217
Antoninus left a legacy for the Empire by issuing an edict by which all free inhabitants of the Empire were entitled to become Roman citizens.
Macrinas was a lawyer, he made peace with the Parthians by paying them off, but was executed following the proclamation in Syria that Antoninus had a son by the niece of Severus' Syrian wife.
It was a lie, but the priestly Syrian family of Severus' deceased wife was fabulously wealthy and accordingly influential, and as they had acquired Roman citizenship the boy, Elagabalus became Emperor in 217, arriving in Rome in 219 wearing the colorful robes of his priestly office, building a temple for the god that bears his name, marrying the Chief of the Vestal Virgins to create a divine marriage, naming his cousin as successor, and filling the administration with Syrians.
His cousin, Alexander, was better accepted by the Romans and as such Alexander's mother engineered in 221 the death of Elagabalus and his mother - her sister - and installed her son as emperor with her pulling the strings.
Labels: 210, alexander graham bell, antonius, elagabalus, geta, macrinas, roman citizens, roman emperors, severus, syrians, tigris
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