Editing Elagabalus (section)

===Journey to Rome and political appointments===

[[File:Elagabalus Denarius Fortuna.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|''[[Denarius]]'' of Elagabalus, inscribed: {{Smallcaps|{{abbr|imp·|IMPERATOR}} antoninus pius {{abbr|aug·|AUGUSTUS}}}} on the obverse and {{Smallcaps|fortunae {{abbr|aug·|AUGUSTI}}}} on the reverse, showing [[Fortuna]] with a ''[[cornucopia]]'' and a rudder on a globe]]
[[File:Orto s Croce e mura 1120340.JPG|thumb|upright=1.4|[[Amphitheatrum Castrense]] in the [[Horti Spei Veteris]] on the [[Esquiline Hill]] in Rome]]
[[File:Esquilino - Sessorium 1120325.JPG|thumb|upright=1.4|The apse of the Sessorium basilica in the Horti Spei Veteris]]

Elagabalus stayed for a time at Antioch, apparently to quell various mutinies.{{sfn|Scott|2018|p=116}} Dio outlines several<!-- (seemingly aiming to suggest that Elagabalus's claim to power was shaky from the start)-->, which historian [[Fergus Millar]] places prior to the winter of 218–219.{{sfn|Scott|2018|p=122}} These included one by [[Gellius Maximus]], who commanded the [[Legio IV Scythica|Fourth Legion]] and was executed,{{sfn|Scott|2018|p=122}} and one by [[Verus (senator)|Verus]], who commanded the Third Legion ''Gallica'', which was disbanded once the revolt was put down.<ref name="van Zoonen">{{cite web |last=van Zoonen |first=Lauren |year=2005 |title=Heliogabalus |publisher=livius.org |access-date=18 August 2007 |url=https://www.livius.org/articles/person/heliogabalus/heliogabalus-2/ |archive-date=14 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170314155402/http://www.livius.org/articles/person/heliogabalus/heliogabalus-2/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

Next, according to Herodian, Elagabalus and his entourage spent the winter of 218–219 in [[Bithynia]] at [[Nicomedia]], and then traveled through Thrace and [[Moesia]] to Italy in the first half of 219,{{sfn|Scott|2018|p=116}} the year of Elagabalus's second consulship.{{sfn|Kienast|1990|pp=165–170}} Herodian says that Elagabalus had a painting of himself sent ahead to Rome to be hung over a statue of the goddess [[Victoria (mythology)|Victoria]] in the [[Curia Julia|Senate House]] so people would not be surprised by his Eastern garb, but it is unclear if such a painting actually existed, and Dio does not mention it.{{sfn|Scott|2018|pp=129–130}}{{sfn|Arrizabalaga|2010|pp=82, 172}} If the painting was indeed hung over Victoria, it put senators in the position of seeming to make offerings to Elagabalus when they made offerings to Victoria.<ref name="van Zoonen"/>

On his way to Rome, Elagabalus and his allies executed several prominent supporters of Macrinus, such as Syrian governor Fabius Agrippinus and former Thracian governor C. Claudius Attalus Paterculianus.{{sfn|Scott|2018|pp=118–119}} Arriving at the imperial capital in August or September 219, Elagabalus staged an ''[[Adventus (ceremony)|adventus]]'', a ceremonial entrance to the city.{{sfn|Kienast|1990|pp=165–170}} In Rome, his offer of amnesty for the Roman upper class was largely honored, though the [[jurist]] [[Ulpian]] was exiled.{{sfn|Grant|1996|p=51}} Elagabalus made Comazon [[praetorian prefect]], and later [[Roman consul|consul]] (220) and prefect of the city (three times, 220–222), which Dio regarded as a violation of Roman norms.{{sfn|Scott|2018|pp=118–119}}  Elagabalus himself held a consulship for the third year in a row in 220.{{sfn|Kienast|1990|pp=165–170}} Herodian and the ''Augustan History'' say that Elagabalus alienated many by giving powerful positions to other<!-- supposedly unqualified--> allies.{{sfn|Icks|2011|p=48}}

He developed the imperial palace at [[Horti Spei Veteris]] with the inclusion of the nearby land inherited from his father [[Sextus Varius Marcellus]]. Elagabalus made it his favourite retreat and designed it (as for Nero's Domus Aurea project) as a vast suburban villa divided into various building and landscape nuclei with the [[Amphitheatrum Castrense]] which he built and the [[Circus Varianus]] hippodrome<ref>Barbera, M. (2000). "Dagli Horti Spei Veteris al Palatium Sessorianum," in Aurea Roma: Dalla Città Pagana alla Città Cristiana, eds S. Ensoli and E. La Rocca (Rome: L'Erma di Bretschneider, 104–112.</ref> fired by his unbridled passion for circuses and his habit of driving chariots inside the villa. He raced chariots under the family name of Varius.<ref>Cassius Dio LXXX 14, 2</ref>

Dio states that Elagabalus wanted to marry a charioteer named [[Hierocles (charioteer)|Hierocles]] and to declare him [[Caesar (title)|''caesar'']],{{sfn|Scott|2018|p=122}} just as (Dio says) he had previously wanted to marry Gannys and name him ''caesar''.{{sfn|Scott|2018|p=122}} The athlete [[Aurelius Zoticus]] is said by Dio to have been Elagabalus's lover and ''[[cubicularius]]'' (a non-administrative role), while the ''Augustan History'' says Zoticus was a husband to Elagabalus and held greater political influence.{{sfn|Scott|2018|p=137}}

Elagabalus's relationships to his mother Julia Soaemias and grandmother Julia Maesa were strong at first; they were influential supporters from the beginning, and Macrinus declared war on them as well as Elagabalus.<ref>Barbara Levick, ''Julia Domna: Syrian Empress'' (2007), p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=JIB_AgAAQBAJ&pg=PR71 71] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210404013100/https://www.google.com/books/edition/Julia_Domna/JIB_AgAAQBAJ?gbpv=1&pg=PR71 |date=4 April 2021 }}</ref> Accordingly, they became the first women allowed into the Senate,{{sfn|Burns|2006|p=214}} and both received senatorial titles: Soaemias the established title of ''Clarissima,'' and Maesa the more unorthodox ''Mater Castrorum et Senatus'' ("Mother of the army camp and of the Senate").<ref name="benario-soamias-mamaea"/> They exercised influence over the young emperor throughout his reign, and are found on many coins and inscriptions, a rare honour for Roman women.{{sfn|Icks|2011|p=19}}

Under Elagabalus, the gradual devaluation of Roman ''aurei'' and ''denarii'' continued (with the silver purity of the ''[[denarius]]'' dropping from 58% to 46.5%),<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.tulane.edu/~august/handouts/601cprin.htm|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081101003844/http://www.tulane.edu/~august/handouts/601cprin.htm|url-status=dead|title=Tulane University "Roman Currency of the Principate"|archive-date=1 November 2008|access-date=27 June 2022}}</ref> though [[antoninianus|''antoniniani'']] had a higher metal content than under Caracalla.{{sfn|Arrizabalaga|2010|p=60}}