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The Mad Emperor
- Author
- Harry Sidebottom
- Narrator
- Saul Reichlin
- Publisher
- Tantor Media, Inc
- Publish Date
- 27 June 2023
- Run Time
- 12 hours 17 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
What to expect
On 8 June 218 AD, a fourteen-year-old Syrian boy, egged on by his grandmother, led an army to battle in a Roman civil war. Against all expectations, he was victorious.
Varius Avitus Bassianus, known to the modern world as Heliogabalus, was proclaimed emperor. The next four years were to be the strangest in the history of the empire.
Heliogabalus humiliated the prestigious Senators and threw extravagant dinner parties for lower-class friends. He ousted Jupiter from his summit among the gods and replaced him with Elagabal. He married a Vestal Virgin—twice. Rumors abounded that he was a prostitute. In the first biography of Heliogabalus in over half a century, Harry Sidebottom unveils the high drama of sex, religion, power, and culture in Ancient Rome as we've never seen it before.
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Details
- Author
- Harry Sidebottom
- Narrator
- Saul Reichlin
- Duration
- 12 hours 17 minutes
- Release Date
- 27 June 2023
- ISBN
- 9798350858709
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Tantor Media, Inc
- Genre
- European history: the Romans, European history, Social and cultural history
Synopsis
A Financial Times, BBC History, and Spectator Book of the YearOn 8 June 218 AD, a fourteen-year-old Syrian boy, egged on by his grandmother, led an army to battle in a Roman civil war. Against all expectations, he was victorious.Varius Avitus Bassianus, known to the modern world as Heliogabalus, was proclaimed emperor. The next four years were to be the strangest in the history of the empire.Heliogabalus humiliated the prestigious Senators and threw extravagant dinner parties for lower-class friends. He ousted Jupiter from his summit among the gods and replaced him with Elagabal. He married a Vestal Virgin—twice. Rumors abounded that he was a prostitute. In the first biography of Heliogabalus in over half a century, Harry Sidebottom unveils the high drama of sex, religion, power, and culture in Ancient Rome as we've never seen it before.
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