Heliogabālus

, a deity among the Phœnicians.――Marcus Aurelius Ant on in us, a Roman emperor, son of Varius Mar cell us, called Helio gab alus, because he had been priest of that divinity in Phœnicia. After the death of Macrinus he was invested with the imperial purple, and the senate, however unwilling to submit to a youth only 14 years of age, approved of his election, and bestowed upon him the title of August us. Helio gab alus made his grandmother Mœsa and his mother Sœmias his colleagues on the throne; and to bestow more dignity upon the sex, he chose a senate of women, over which his mother presided, and prescribed all the modes and fashions which prevailed in the empire. Rome, however, soon displayed a scene of cruelty and debauchery; the imperial palace was full of prostitution, and the most infamous of the populace became the favourites of the prince. He raised his horse to the honours of the consulship, and obliged his subjects to pay adoration to the god Helio gab alus, which was no other than a large black stone, whose figure resembled that of a cone. To this ridiculous deity temples were raised at Rome, and the altars of the gods plundered to deck those of the new divinity. In the midst of his extravagances Helio gab alus married four wives, and not satisfied with following the plain laws of nature, he profe ed himself to be a woman, and gave himself up to one of his officers, called Hierocles. In this ridiculous farce he suffered the greatest indignities from his pretended husband without di atisfaction, and Hierocles, by stooping to infamy, became the most powerful of the favourites, and enriched himself by selling favours and offices to the people. Such licentiousne soon displeased the populace, and Helio gab alus, unable to appease the seditions of his soldiers, whom his rapacity and debaucheries had irritated, hid himself in the filth and excrements of the camp, where he was found in the arms of his mother. His head was severed from his body the 10th of March, A.D. 222, in the 18th year of his age, after a reign of three years, nine months, and four days. He was succeeded by Alexander Severus. His cruelties were as conspicuous as his licentiousne . He burdened his subjects with the most oppre ive taxes; his halls were covered with carpets of gold and silver ti ue, and his mats were made with the down of hares, and with the soft feathers which were found under the wings of partridges. He was fond of covering his shoes with precious stones, to draw the admiration of the people as he walked along the streets, and he was the first Roman who ever wore a dre of silk. He often invited the most common of the people to share his banquets, and made them sit down on large bellows full of wind, which, by suddenly emptying themselves, threw the guests on the ground, and left them a prey to wild beasts. He often tied some of his favourites on a large wheel, and was particularly delighted to see them whirled round like Ixions, and sometimes suspended in the air, or sunk beneath the water.