(218-222)

Rome's Decadent Emperor

Genuine ancient Roman silver coin of the notorious Emperor Elagabalus, renowned for his debauchery and decadence.

The cousin of the Emperor , whose assassination in A.D. 217 led to a short period of crisis, Elagabalus was installed on the throne by his canny grandmother a year later. Although he was just fourteen years of age, the new was anything but an innocent child. Uninterested in the military or affairs of state, the young emperor made use of his imperial godhead to, as put it, “abandon himself to the grossest pleasures and ungoverned fury.”

Indeed, the stereotype of the decadent Roman orgy derives from the court of Elagabalus, whose debauchery rivaled that of . It is said that the Emperor took multiple wives but consorted with paramours of both sexes, that he openly dressed as a woman, and that his carnal tastes ran to the extreme and cruel. Legend has it that he murdered an entire dinner party by locking the doors and filling the room with so many rose petals that all the guests suffocated to death.

Whether these stories are completely true, wild exaggerations, or outright lies fomented after the fact by his many detractors, we cannot be certain. What we do know is that he was assassinated in 222, when he was eighteen, in a plot hatched by the same grandmother who had installed him in the first place. Elagabalus, also known as Heliogabalus, was considered a hero by the nineteenth-century Decadent movement, as has been the subject of numerous novels, plays, ballets, operas, poems, and paintings.

This genuine Roman silver denarii was struck during the reign of the Emperor Elagabalus (218-222). Portrait and legend are on the obverse; reverses vary, but tend to feature religious or military themes. W: 2.4-3.1 g; D: 18-20 mm.

All coins in each set are protected in an archival capsule and beautifully displayed in a mahogany- like box. The box set is accompanied with a story card, certificate of authenticity, and a black gift box.

Image shows typical coin, not to scale and Box measures: 3.87” x 3.87” x 1.25” is for illustration purpose only. Order code: ELAGABALUSBOX