Editing Sextus Varius Marcellus (section)

==Marriage and children==
Marcellus married the Syrian Roman noblewoman [[Julia Soaemias]] Bassiana who was the first daughter of the powerful Syrian nobles [[Julia Maesa]] and Gaius [[Julius Avitus]] Alexianus.<ref>Bunson, ''Encyclopedia of the Roman Empire'', p. 153</ref> The maternal aunt of Soaemias was the Roman empress [[Julia Domna]]; her maternal uncle-in-marriage was the Roman emperor Lucius [[Septimius Severus]]; her maternal cousins were the Roman emperors [[Caracalla]] and [[Publius Septimius Geta]] and she was the maternal aunt of the Roman emperor [[Alexander Severus]].<ref name=livius/> Through marriage, Marcellus was related both to the [[Severan dynasty]] of the [[Roman Empire]] and the [[royal family of Emesa]], Syria.

Their marriage may have taken place in 192 or 194,<ref name=livius/> or even perhaps around 200.<ref>Millar, ''The Roman Near East: 31 BC-AD 337'', p. 119</ref> Marcellus and Soaemias' marriage may have been arranged to strengthen Lucius Septimius Severus' position in the Roman East.<ref name=livius/>

Soaemias and Marcellus bore the following children who were born and raised in Rome:
* A child whose name is unknown,<ref>Birley, ''Septimius Severus: The African Emperor'', pp. 217, 222–223</ref> who was their first son and child. The first son was named after the father of Marcellus, whose name is likewise unknown<ref name=livius/>
* Sextus Varius Avitus Bassianus,<ref>Prado, ''The Emperor Elagabalus: Fact or Fiction?'', p. 231</ref> who became the Severan Roman emperor [[Elagabalus]]<ref name=Bunson-346/> from 218 until 222.<ref>Birley, ''Septimius Severus: The African Emperor''</ref>