Editing Elagabalus (section)

===Fall from power===
Elagabalus stoked the animus of Roman elites and the [[Praetorian Guard]] through his perceptibly foreign conduct and his religious provocations.{{sfn|Icks|2011|pp=83, 88–89}} When Elagabalus's grandmother Julia Maesa perceived that popular support for the emperor was waning, she decided that he and his mother, who had encouraged his religious practices, had to be replaced. As alternatives, she turned to her other daughter, [[Julia Avita Mamaea]], and her daughter's son, the fifteen-year-old [[Severus Alexander]].{{sfn|Bowman|Cameron|Garnsey|2005|p=22}}

Prevailing on Elagabalus, she arranged that he appoint his cousin Alexander as his heir and that the boy be given the title of [[Caesar (title)|''caesar'']].{{sfn|Bowman|Cameron|Garnsey|2005|p=22}} Alexander was elevated to ''caesar'' in June 221, possibly on 26 June.{{sfn|Kienast|1990|pp=165–170}} Elagabalus and Alexander were each named ''consul designatus'' for the following year, probably on 1 July.{{sfn|Kienast|1990|pp=165–170}} Elagabalus took up his fourth consulship for the year of 222.{{sfn|Kienast|1990|pp=165–170}} Alexander shared the consulship with the emperor that year.{{sfn|Bowman|Cameron|Garnsey|2005|p=22}} However, Elagabalus reconsidered this arrangement when he began to suspect that the Praetorian Guard preferred his cousin to himself.{{sfn|Icks|2011|p=74}}

Elagabalus ordered various attempts on Alexander's life,{{sfn|Icks|2011|p=75}} after failing to obtain approval from the Senate for stripping Alexander of his shared title.{{sfn|Icks|2011|p=77}} According to Dio, Elagabalus invented the rumor that Alexander was near death, in order to see how the Praetorians would react.{{sfn|Icks|2011|p=78}} A riot ensued, and the Guard demanded to see Elagabalus and Alexander in the [[Castra Praetoria|Praetorian camp]].{{sfn|Icks|2011|p=78}}

[[File:Napoli, museo archeologico (18330093110).jpg|thumb|Statue of Elagabalus as Hercules, re-faced as his successor, [[Alexander Severus]] ([[National Archaeological Museum, Naples]])]]

On 13 March,{{efn|{{harvnb|Dio|loc=80.3.3}} writes that he ruled "three years, nine months and four days during which he ruled,—reckoning from the battle in which he gained the supreme power". However, he's most likely not counting to Elagabalus' death, but to the official accession of his successor. Alexander was proclaimed ''[[imperator]]'' by the army in 13 March and was named ''[[augustus (title)|augustus]]'' by the Senate in 14 March, as attested in the ''[[Feriale Duranum]]''. Given Dio's account, Elagabalus' murder and Alexander's first acclamation almost certainly took place on 13 March.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Burgess |first=Richard W. |url=https://www.steiner-verlag.de/en/Roman-Imperial-Chronology-and-Early-Fourth-Century-Historiography/9783515107327 |title=Roman imperial chronology and early-fourth-century historiography |date=2014 |publisher=Steiner |isbn=978-3-515-10732-7 |series=Historia Einzelschriften |location=Stuttgart |pages=65–66, 121 |access-date=16 June 2024 |archive-date=14 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240614223454/https://www.steiner-verlag.de/en/Roman-Imperial-Chronology-and-Early-Fourth-Century-Historiography/9783515107327 |url-status=live }}</ref>}} the emperor complied and publicly presented his cousin along with his own mother, Julia Soaemias. On their arrival the soldiers started cheering Alexander while ignoring Elagabalus, who ordered the [[summary execution|summary arrest and execution]] of anyone who had taken part in this display of insubordination.{{sfn|Icks|2011|pp=77–79}} In response, members of the [[Praetorian Guard]] attacked Elagabalus and his mother:

{{blockquote|He made an attempt to flee, and would have got away somewhere by being placed in a chest had he not been discovered and slain, at the age of eighteen. His mother, who embraced him and clung tightly to him, perished with him; their heads were cut off and their bodies, after being stripped naked, were first dragged all over the city, and then the mother's body was cast aside somewhere or other, while his was thrown into the [[Tiber]].{{sfn|Dio|loc=Book [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/80*.html#79-20 80.20]}} }}

Following his assassination, many associates of Elagabalus were killed or deposed. His lover [[Hierocles (charioteer)|Hierocles]] was executed.{{sfn|Icks|2011|p=78}} His religious edicts were reversed and the stone of Elagabal was sent back to [[Emesa]].{{sfn|Icks|2011|p=15}} Women were again barred from attending meetings of the Senate.{{sfn|Hay|1911|p=124}} The practice of ''[[damnatio memoriae]]''—erasing from the public record a disgraced personage formerly of note—was systematically applied in his case.{{sfn|Kienast|1990|pp=165–170}}<ref>Hans Willer Laale, ''Ephesus (Ephesos): An Abbreviated History From Androclus to Constantine XI'' (2011) p. 269</ref> Several images, including an over-life-size statue of him as [[Hercules]] now in Naples, were re-carved with the face of Alexander Severus.{{sfn|Varner|2004|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=5IpPhTqnDJkC&pg=PA192 192–194]}}