The Crimes of Elagabalus

ISBN: 9781780765501 出版年：2011 页码：296 Martijn Icks Bloomsbury Publishing

Elagabalus was one of the most notorious of Rome's 'bad emperors': a sexually-depraved and eccentric hedonist who in his short and riotous reign made unprecedented changes to Roman state religion and defied all taboos. An oriental boy-priest from Syria - aged just fourteelevated to power in 218 the sun god El-Gabal at testablished Roman pantheon, engaged in orgiastic rituals, took male and female lovers, wore feminine dress and was alleged to have prostituted himself in taverns athe imperial palace. Since his assassination by the Praetorian Guard at the age of eighteen, Elagabalus has been an object of fascination to historians and a source of inspiration for artists and writers. This immensely readable book examines tof the Roman Empire's most colourful figures, and charts tof his legacy: frto firebrand rebel, from mystical androgyne to modern gay teenager, from decadent sensualist to ancient pop star.