Emperor Elagabalus: When Rome's Wildest Teenager Became Emperor

Elagabalus became Roman Emperor at age 14 and spent the next four years shocking Rome with behavior so outrageous that historians still debate whether the accounts are real or exaggerated propaganda. He married and divorced five times in four years, allegedly worked as a prostitute in the palace, and may have been one of history's first transgender rulers.

The teenage emperor brought his Syrian sun god to Rome - literally a black stone he worshipped - and forced the Senate to watch him perform exotic religious rituals. He threw lavish parties where guests could suffocate under tons of rose petals dropped from the ceiling. He allegedly offered huge rewards to any physician who could give him female genitalia, married a male athlete in a public ceremony, and insisted on being called "empress" rather than emperor.

His grandmother and the Praetorian Guard grew increasingly alarmed as Elagabalus elevated former slaves and charioteers to high positions based purely on their physical attributes. When he tried to make his lover co-emperor, it was the final straw. At 18, he was assassinated along with his mother, their bodies dragged through Rome and thrown into the Tiber River.

This episode explores whether Elagabalus was truly Rome's most scandalous ruler or the victim of hostile historians who wanted to destroy his reputation. Either way, his four-year reign remains one of the most bizarre periods in Roman history.

Keywords: weird history, Elagabalus, Roman emperors, ancient Rome, Roman history, transgender history, LGBTQ history, Roman scandals, teenage emperors, ancient history

Perfect for listeners who love: Roman history, royal scandals, LGBTQ history, ancient mysteries, and rulers who defied all expectations.