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Decadent and Depraved Roman Emperors Who Shocked their Subjects

Khalid Elhassan February 11, 2025 15 min

5. Unfortunately for Elagabalus, His Kind of Homosexuality Was Outside the Boundaries of Roman Tolerance

Busts of Hadrian, left, and his lover Antinous. British Museum

Many Roman emperors had homosexual relations with other men, and their standing suffered no damage. Most famous among them was the Emperor Hadrian. He was so passionate about a young gay lover, Antinous, that he had him made into a god after his unexpected accidental death. However, such emperors were all tops, and did not engage in effeminate behavior. Elagabalus broke that taboo, was open about his role as a bottom, and was notoriously effeminate. He was widely reviled and came to grief as a result. Such perceived effeminacy were unacceptable in a Roman emperor, and opened Elagabalus to ridicule and contempt, which facilitated his assassination in 222.

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.