Editing Elagabalus (section)

=== Modern historians ===
[[File:Elagabalus aureus - obverse only.png|thumb|209x209px|''Aureus'' of Elagabalus, inscribed: {{Smallcaps|{{abbr|imp·c·|IMPERATOR CAESAR}} {{abbr|m·aur·|MARCUS AURELIUS}} antoninus {{abbr|p·f· aug·|PIUS FELIX AUGUSTUS}}}}]]
For readers of the modern age, ''[[The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire]]'' by [[Edward Gibbon]] (1737–1794) further cemented the scandalous reputation of Elagabalus. Gibbon not only accepted and expressed outrage at the allegations of the ancient historians, but he might have added some details of his own; for example, he is the first historian known to claim that [[Gannys]] was a [[eunuch]].<ref>Leonardo de Arrizabalaga y Prado, [http://www.cambridge.org/gb/download_file/202595/ "Pseudo-Eunuchs in the Court of Elagabalus"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210404013038/https://www.cambridge.org/gb/files/7113/6689/9908/8871_Pseudo-eunuchs_in_the_court_of_Elagabalus.pdf |date=4 April 2021 }}, 1999, p. 4.</ref> Gibbon wrote:

{{blockquote|To confound the order of the season and climate, to sport with the passions and prejudices of his subjects, and to subvert every law of nature and decency, were in the number of his most delicious amusements. A long train of concubines, and a rapid succession of wives, among whom was a vestal virgin, ravished by force from her sacred asylum, were insufficient to satisfy the impotence of his passions. The master of the Roman world affected to copy the manners and dress of the female sex, preferring the distaff to the sceptre, and dishonored the principal dignities of the empire by distributing them among his numerous lovers; one of whom was publicly invested with the title and authority of the emperor's, or, as he more properly styled himself, the empress's husband. It may seem probable, the vices and follies of Elagabalus have been adorned by fancy, and blackened by prejudice. Yet, confining ourselves to the public scenes displayed before the Roman people, and attested by grave and contemporary historians, their inexpressible infamy surpasses that of any other age or country.<ref>Gibbon, Edward, ''The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'', Chapter VI</ref>}}

The 20th-century anthropologist [[James George Frazer]] (author of ''[[The Golden Bough]]'') took seriously the monotheistic aspirations of the emperor, but also ridiculed him: "The dainty priest of the Sun [was] the most abandoned reprobate who ever sat upon a throne&nbsp;... It was the intention of this eminently religious but crack-brained despot to supersede the worship of all the gods, not only at Rome but throughout the world, by the single worship of Elagabalus or the Sun".<ref>Fraser, J. G., [https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.70276/2015.70276.Worship-Of-Nature-Vol1#page/n515/mode/2up ''The Worship of Nature, Volume I''], London: MacMillan and Co., 1926, pp. 496–498.</ref>
The first book-length biography was ''The Amazing Emperor Heliogabalus''{{sfn|Hay|1911}} (1911) by J. Stuart Hay, "a serious and systematic study"<ref>[[J. B. Bury]] in introduction to {{harvtxt|Hay|1911|p=xxiii}}</ref> more sympathetic than that of previous historians, which nonetheless stressed the [[exoticism]] of Elagabalus, calling his reign one of "enormous wealth and excessive prodigality, luxury and aestheticism, carried to their ultimate extreme, and sensuality in all the refinements of its Eastern habit".{{sfn|Hay|1911|p=2}}

[[File:Medal of Elagabalus.jpg|thumb|Medal of Elagabalus, [[Louvre Museum]]. Inscription: {{Smallcaps|{{abbr|imp·|IMPERATOR}} antoninus pius {{abbr|aug·|AUGUSTUS}}}}]]
Some recent historians paint a more favourable picture of the emperor's rule. Martijn Icks, in ''Images of Elagabalus'' (2008; republished as ''The Crimes of Elagabalus'' in 2011 and 2012), doubts the reliability of the ancient sources and argues that it was the emperor's unorthodox religious policies that alienated the power elite of Rome, to the point that his grandmother saw fit to eliminate him and replace him with his cousin. He described ancient stories pertaining to the emperor as "part of a long tradition of '[[character assassination]]' in ancient historiography and biography".{{sfn|Icks|2011|pp=345–346}}

Leonardo de Arrizabalaga y Prado, in ''The Emperor Elagabalus: Fact or Fiction?'' (2008), is also critical of the ancient historians and speculates that neither religion nor sexuality played a role in the fall of the young emperor. Prado instead suggests Elagabalus was the loser in a power struggle within the imperial family, that the loyalty of the Praetorian Guards was up for sale, and that Julia Maesa had the resources to outmaneuver and outbribe her grandson. In this version of events, once Elagabalus, his mother, and his immediate circle had been murdered, a campaign of character assassination began, resulting in a grotesque caricature that has persisted to the present day.{{sfn|de Arrizabalaga y Prado|2010|pp=1–13}} Other historians, including Icks, criticized Prado for being overly skeptical of primary sources.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Leadbetter |first1=Bill |title=An eccentic book on Elagabalus (or Varius) – Leonardo de Arrizabalaga y Prado (2020), ''The Emperor Elagabalus: Fact or Fiction?'' |type=book review |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-roman-archaeology/article/an-eccentic-book-on-elagabalus-or-varius-leonardo-de-arrizabalaga-y-prado-the-emperor-elagabalus-fact-or-fiction-cambridge-university-press-2010-pp-xxxvii-381-figs-isbn-9780521895552-99/42A0C3AAC8C849F011421E7C83A88CB7 |journal=Journal of Roman Archaeology |pages=677–680 |doi=10.1017/S1047759414001731 |year=2014 |volume=27 |s2cid=220616205 }}</ref>

[[Warwick Ball]], in his book ''Rome in the East'', writes an apologetic account of the emperor, arguing that descriptions of his religious rites were exaggerated and should be dismissed as propaganda, similar to how pagan descriptions of Christian rites have since been dismissed. Ball describes the emperor's ritual processions as sound political and religious policy, arguing that [[syncretism]] of eastern and western deities deserves praise rather than ridicule. Ultimately, he paints Elagabalus as a child forced to become emperor who, as expected of the high-priest of a cult, continued his rituals even after becoming emperor. Ball justified Elagabalus's executions of prominent Roman figures who criticized his religious activities in the same way. Finally, Ball asserts Elagabalus's eventual victory in the sense that his deity would be welcomed by Rome in its [[Sol Invictus]] form 50 years later. Ball claims that Sol Invictus came to influence the monotheist Christian beliefs of [[Constantine the Great|Constantine]], asserting that this influence remains in Christianity to this day.{{sfn|Ball|2016|pp=462–466}}