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Julia Soaemias Bassiana (180 – 11 March 222) was a Syrian noblewoman and the mother ofRoman emperor Elagabalus, who ruled over theRoman Empire from 218 to 222. She was one of his chief advisors, initially with the support and accompaniment of her motherJulia Maesa. She and her mother guided the young emperor until growing unrest and a family division led to her son's replacement by her nephewSeverus Alexander. Julia Soaemias was killed along with her son by thePraetorian Guard.

Julia Soaemias was born and raised inEmesa,Syria and through her mother was related to theRoyal family of Emesa, and through marriage, to theSeveran dynasty ofAncient Rome.

Family

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She was the first daughter of the powerful Syrian Roman noblewomanJulia Maesa and GaiusJulius Avitus Alexianus, sister ofJulia Avita Mamaea, niece ofJulia Domna, and a niece by marriage of Emperor LuciusSeptimius Severus.

At some point, she marriedSyrian equestrian and politicianSextus Varius Marcellus, a native ofApamea. As members of the imperial Roman family of theSeveran dynasty, they resided inRome, and Julia's husband rose to the Roman senate.^[1] Julia bore Marcellus at least two children: only one is known by name, Sextus Varius Avitus Bassianus, who became theRoman emperor Elagabalus.^[2]

Her husband died in c. 215, during his time asRoman governor inNumidia. The recently widowed Soaemias and her children later dedicated a tombstone to him, which was found inVelletri, not far from Rome.^[2] The tombstone has two preserved bilingual inscriptions^[2] in Latin andGreek. The inscriptions reveal his political career, his various titles, designations and distinctions he received.^[2]

In Rome

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Background

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In 217, her maternal cousin, the Roman emperorCaracalla, was killed andMacrinus ascended to the imperial throne. Her family was allowed to return to Syria with their enormous wealth, and they returned to Emesa.^[3] Back in Emesa, her son, Bassianus, ascended as the chief priest of the Syrian deityElagabalus.^[3]

Restoration of the Severan dynasty

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A coin ofElagabalus, Soaemias' son and future emperor

Using her enormous wealth^[1] and the claim that Caracalla had slept with her daughter and that the boy was his bastard,^[4]^[3] Julia Maesa, Soaemias's mother, persuaded soldiers fromThe Gallic Third Legion stationed near Emesa to swear loyalty to Bassianus. Later, Bassianus was invited alongside his mother and her daughters to the military camp, clad in imperial purple and crowned as emperor by the soldiers.^[4]

Cassius Dio records a different story, citing that Gannys, a "youth who has not yet reached manhood" and the lover of Soaemias was the reason for the revolt.^[4] Since the boy's father was no longer alive, Gannys acted as the boy's protector and foster father, and late at night, he dressed him in Caracalla's clothing and smuggled him to camp, without either Maesa or Soaemias's knowledge, and persuaded the soldiers to swear loyalty to him.^[4]

The story is likely a fabrication, seeing as it is unlikely that Maesa, who has much to gain if her grandson would become emperor, would be totally unaware of the coup,^[4] Herodian's story, which tells that the coup was handled by Maesa and her family alone is also unlikely, seeing that Dio's story tells that the boy later had the support of many Equestrians and Senators fromEmesa, which was most likely.^[4]

Whatever the circumstances for Elagabalus's rise to the purple were, he laterrode to battle against Macrinus, and entered the city of Antioch emerging as emperor, with Macrinus fleeing, before being captured nearChalcedon and executed inCappadocia.

Reign of Elagabalus

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A full-body statue of Soaemias, in the Antalya Archaeological Museum, Turkey

Bassianus emerged as emperor and was styledMarcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus. Soaemias, his mother, was styled asIulia Soaemias Augusta.^[1] Elagabalus as emperor was mainly concerned with religious matters, and assun worship had increased throughout the Empire since the reign of his maternal great-uncle by marriage,Septimius Severus,^[5] Elagabalus and his mother saw this as an opportunity to install Elagabal as the chief deity of theRoman pantheon. The god was renamedDeus Sol Invictus, meaningGod of the Undefeated Sun, and was honored even aboveJupiter.^[6]

Elagabalus and his entourage spent the winter of 218 inBithynia atNicomedia,^[7] where the emperor's religious beliefs first presented themselves as a problem. The contemporary historianCassius Dio suggests that Gannys was killed by the new emperor because he pressured Elagabalus to live "temperately and prudently".^[8] To help Romans adjust to having an oriental priest as emperor, Julia Maesa (Soaemias's mother) had a painting of Elagabalus in priestly robes sent to Rome and hung over a statue of the goddessVictoria in theSenate House.^[7] This placed senators in the awkward position of having to make offerings to Elagabalus whenever they made offerings to Victoria.^[9]

The duo attempted to gain popularity with Roman religion, and as a token of respect, joined eitherAstarte,Minerva, orUrania to Elagabal as his consort.^[10] Julia Soaemias and her mother feature in literary accounts of Elagabaus's reign, and were credited with exercising much influence.^[11] Julia Soaemias and her mother significantly assisted the emperor, and appeared in the Senate beside Elagabalus during his adoption ofSeverus Alexander.^[12] She assumed the senatorial title ofclarissima and also held a "Women's Senate" deciding on matters of fashion and protocol.^[11] She was honored with various titles, honours and privileges, including 'Augusta, mater Augusti' (Augusta, mother of Augustus) and 'Mater castrorum et senatus et totius domus divinae' (Mother of camp and the senate and the all divine house).^[11]

Their rule was not popular, and soon discontent arose, mainly because of the strange sexual behaviour and the Eastern religious practices of Elagabalus. Elagabalus lost the favour of both thePraetorian Guard and the senate, mainly because of his many eccentricities. In particular his relationship with Hierocles increasingly provoked the Praetorians.^[13] When Elagabalus' grandmother Julia Maesa perceived that popular support for the emperor was waning, she decided that he and his mother, who had encouraged his religious practices, had to be replaced.^[13] As alternatives, she turned to her other daughter,Julia Avita Mamaea, and her grandson, the thirteen-year-oldSeverus Alexander.^[13]

Controversy and transition of power

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Maesa arranged for Elagabalus to appoint his cousin Severus Alexander as his heir and to give him the title ofCaesar. Alexander shared the consulship with the emperor that year.^[13] Elagabalus reconsidered this arrangement when he began to suspect that the Praetorian Guard preferred his cousin to himself.^[14]

Death

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After failing in various attempts to slay his cousin, Elagabalus decided to strip Alexander of his titles and revoked his consulship. Elagabalus then invented the rumor that Alexander was near death, in order to see how the Praetorians would react.^[14] A riot ensued, and the Guard demanded to see Elagabalus and Alexander in thePraetorian camp.^[14]

Julia Soaemias entered the camp to protect her son, and was slain along with Elagabalus by thePraetorian Guard in 222.^[1] Their bodies were dragged through the streets and disposed of in the Tiber River.^[1] Julia Soaemias was later declared a public enemy and hername erased from all records.

Severan dynasty family tree

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Severan family tree

Septimius Macer

Gaius Claudius Septimius Aper

Fulvius Pius

Lucius Septimius Severus

Publius Septimius Aper

Gaius Septimius Aper

Fulvia Pia

Publius Septimius Geta

Septimia Polla

Julius Bassianus

Septimius

Publius Septimius Geta

Septimia Octavilla

Paccia Marciana (1)

Septimius Severus
(r. 193–211)[i]

Julia Domna (2)

Julia Maesa

Gaius Julius Avitus Alexianus

Gaius Septimius Severus Aper

Fulvia Plautilla

Caracalla
(r. 197–217)[ii]

Geta
(r. 209–211)[iii]

Julia Soaemias

Sextus Varius Marcellus

Julia Avita Mamaea

Unknown^[iv] (2)

Julia Cornelia Paula (1)

Aquilia Severa (2 and 4)

Elagabalus
(r. 218–222)[v]

Annia Faustina (3)

Sallustia Orbiana

Severus Alexander
(r. 222–235)[v]

(1) = 1st spouse
(2) = 2nd spouse
(3) = 3rd spouse
(4) = 4th spouse
Dark green indicates anemperor of the Severan dynasty

Notes:

Except where otherwise noted, the notes below indicate that an individual's parentage is as shown in the above family tree.

^Birley, Anthony R. (1999).Septimius Severus: The African Emperor. London: Routledge. p. i.
^Burrell, Barbara (2004).Neokoroi: Greek Cities and Roman Emperors. BRILL. p. 216.ISBN 90-04-12578-7.
^Burrell, Barbara (2004).Neokoroi: Greek Cities and Roman Emperors. BRILL. p. 247.ISBN 90-04-12578-7.
^Icks, Martijn (2011).The Crimes of Elagabalus: The Life and Legacy of Rome's Decadent Boy Emperor. London: I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd. pp. 57–58.ISBN 978-1-84885-362-1.
^^a ^bGibbon, Edward; Smith, William (1889).The Student's Gibbon: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. pp. 45–47.

Bibliography:

Birley, Anthony R. (1999).Septimius Severus: The African Emperor. London: Routledge.ISBN 0415165911.
Gibbon, Edward; Smith, William (1889).The Student's Gibbon: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. London: Murray.OCLC 993285639.

References

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^^a ^b ^c ^d ^eThe Severan Women
^^a ^b ^c ^d"Sextus Varius Marcellus' article at Livius.org". Archived fromthe original on 14 October 2012. Retrieved26 March 2020.
^^a ^b ^cGibbon, Edward (1776).The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. p. 182.
^^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^fIcks, Martijn (2011).The Crimes of Elagabalus: The Life and Legacy of Rome's Decadent Boy Emperor. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. p. 11.ISBN 978-1848853621.
^Halsberghe, Gaston H. (1972).The Cult of Sol Invictus. Leiden: Brill. p. 36.
^Cassius Dio,Roman HistoryLXXX.11
^^a ^bHerodian,Roman HistoryV.5 Archived 4 November 2015 at theWayback Machine
^Cassius Dio,Roman HistoryLXXX.6
^van Zoonen, Lauren (2005)."Heliogabalus"Archived 9 June 2016 at theWayback Machine. livius.org. Retrieved 10 July 2016
^Herodian,Roman HistoryV.6 Archived 4 November 2015 at theWayback Machine
^^a ^b ^cIcks, Martijn (2011).The Crimes of Elagabalus: The Life and Legacy of Rome's Decadent Boy Emperor. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. p. 19.ISBN 978-1848853621.
^Cassius Dio 50.17.2
^^a ^b ^c ^dHerodian,Roman HistoryV.7 Archived 5 November 2014 at theWayback Machine
^^a ^b ^cHerodian,Roman HistoryV.8 Archived 5 November 2014 at theWayback Machine