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Decadent and Depraved Roman Emperors Who Shocked their Subjects

Khalid Elhassan February 11, 2025 15 min

8. History’s Most Flamboyantly Gay Ruler

Decadent - Elagabalus made a dramatic entry into Rome — Elagabalus made a dramatic entry into Rome. People Pill

Elagabalus took his god’s name as his own when he ascended the throne, and brought its worship to Rome, where he built Elagabal a great temple. There, he shocked Romans by dancing around the deity’s altar amidst a cacophony of cymbals and drums. What got him in the most trouble however is that he might have been the most flamboyantly homosexual ruler in history. Elagabalus openly went about in women’s clothing, and fawned upon and engaged in public displays of affection with his male lovers, whom he frequently elevated to high positions. For example, he sought to have a favored charioteer declared Caesar, and bestowed powerful government positions upon an athlete who caught his fancy.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.