DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18096#0279
Africa under Alexander Severus 211
rule of Macrinus, which was conspicuous for many acts of
cruelty and an utter disregard for the value of human life.
Another inscription found on a milliariunt discovered at Turris
(Telmina) mentions both father and son in connection with a
new highway.1 But their record is very slight, the name of
Macrinus not being associated with any movement that had the
slightest influence on the progress and civilisation of North
Africa.
IMP • CAES • M • OPEL
LIVS • SEVERVS ■ MACRI
NVS • PIVS • FELIX • AVG
COS • ET • M • OPELLIVS
ANTON I NVS • DIADVME
NIANVS • NOS • CAES • VIA
M • STRATAM • NOV
INSTITVERVNT ■
IIIIX
Of their successor Aurelius Antoninus Varius, commonly
known as Heliogabalus,2 the less said the better about a loath-
some career that did not betray one single quality commend-
able in mankind. As a link in the chain of African history,
apart from the disgusting personality of this half-African youth
who disgraced the Empire for a space of nearly four years, it
brings into unusual prominence the extraordinary influence
exercised by his mother Soaemias and his grandmother Julia
Maesa. Both these women were ambitious and greedy of
power. By the intrigues of the former and the wealth of the
latter Macrinus and his son were got rid of, and this stripling
just entering his fourteenth year, a legitimate son of Soaemias
by her first husband, Varius Marcellus, was declared to be the
legitimate son of Caracalla by Soaemias, and consequently the
rightful heir to the throne.3 Historians of this period have
dealt leniently with this depraved ill-trained youth, and con-
temporary records on stone or marble are almost a blank. It
is some satisfaction to find, in turning over the long pages of
published inscriptions which have been brought to light in
1 C.I.L. No. 10056. Tissot descrip.
2 The name is written in various ways. Lampridius writes it Heliogabalus, which
is the direct pronunciation of the Greek word employed by Herodian. On coins it
is spelt Elagabalus. English writers usually accept the authority of Lampridius.
3 Justinus, in his life of this Emperor, says that he was the son of Caracalla by
his cousin-german Soaemias, and that he was privately begotten in adultery.
P 2
rule of Macrinus, which was conspicuous for many acts of
cruelty and an utter disregard for the value of human life.
Another inscription found on a milliariunt discovered at Turris
(Telmina) mentions both father and son in connection with a
new highway.1 But their record is very slight, the name of
Macrinus not being associated with any movement that had the
slightest influence on the progress and civilisation of North
Africa.
IMP • CAES • M • OPEL
LIVS • SEVERVS ■ MACRI
NVS • PIVS • FELIX • AVG
COS • ET • M • OPELLIVS
ANTON I NVS • DIADVME
NIANVS • NOS • CAES • VIA
M • STRATAM • NOV
INSTITVERVNT ■
IIIIX
Of their successor Aurelius Antoninus Varius, commonly
known as Heliogabalus,2 the less said the better about a loath-
some career that did not betray one single quality commend-
able in mankind. As a link in the chain of African history,
apart from the disgusting personality of this half-African youth
who disgraced the Empire for a space of nearly four years, it
brings into unusual prominence the extraordinary influence
exercised by his mother Soaemias and his grandmother Julia
Maesa. Both these women were ambitious and greedy of
power. By the intrigues of the former and the wealth of the
latter Macrinus and his son were got rid of, and this stripling
just entering his fourteenth year, a legitimate son of Soaemias
by her first husband, Varius Marcellus, was declared to be the
legitimate son of Caracalla by Soaemias, and consequently the
rightful heir to the throne.3 Historians of this period have
dealt leniently with this depraved ill-trained youth, and con-
temporary records on stone or marble are almost a blank. It
is some satisfaction to find, in turning over the long pages of
published inscriptions which have been brought to light in
1 C.I.L. No. 10056. Tissot descrip.
2 The name is written in various ways. Lampridius writes it Heliogabalus, which
is the direct pronunciation of the Greek word employed by Herodian. On coins it
is spelt Elagabalus. English writers usually accept the authority of Lampridius.
3 Justinus, in his life of this Emperor, says that he was the son of Caracalla by
his cousin-german Soaemias, and that he was privately begotten in adultery.
P 2