A Financial Times, BBC History, and Spectator Book of the Year
On 8 June 218 AD, a fourteen-year-old Syrian boy, egged on by his grandmother, led an army to battle in a Roman civil war. Against all expectations, he was victorious.
Varius Avitus Bassianus, known to the modern world as Heliogabalus, was proclaimed emperor. The next four years were to be the strangest in the history of the empire.
Heliogabalus humiliated the prestigious Senators and threw extravagant dinner parties for lower-class friends. He ousted Jupiter from his summit among the gods and replaced him with Elagabal. He married a Vestal Virgin—twice. Rumors abounded that he was a prostitute. In the first biography of Heliogabalus in over half a century, Harry Sidebottom unveils the high drama of sex, religion, power, and culture in Ancient Rome as we've never seen it before.
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Harry Sidebottom received his doctorate in ancient history at Corpus Christi College, Oxford. He has taught at various universities, including his alma mater, where he is now a fellow and director of studies in ancient history at St. Benet's Hall and lecturer in ancient history at Lincoln College.
Saul Reichlin is a narrator, actor, producer, and director. He has lent his voice to more than fifty television documentaries.