Now Featured: Elagabalus

Elagabalus bust at the Capitoline Museum, Rome.  Photo by Giovanni Dall'Orto.
Elagabalus isn't a household name like Caligula, Nero, or even Honorius. Probably more than his better-known peers, however, Elagabalus fits the stereotype of the ineffectual, do-nothing emperor who was far more interested in art, music, fashion, or just about anything else than he was in the business of governing.

He is the subject of today's "Featured Article" on Wikipedia, so perhaps he'll make up a tiny bit of ground on the name recognition front.

Judith Weingarten wrote a fantastic series of entries last year on some of the women who pulled the levers behind the curtain of the Severan dynasty. After you read the Wikipedia article, have a look at her take on Elagabalus through the nervous eyes of his grandmother, Julia Maesa.

[Photo credit: Giovanni Dall'Orto]

Comments

Now I finally know what a Wikipedia 'featured article' is. Thanks for this, and for writing about my friend Elagabalus ... and for your kind words.
David, I'm afraid I've tagged you. See if the mood takes you :-)

http://judithweingarten.blogspot.com/2008/07/ive-been-tagged.html

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