DURING the festival of the Saturnalia in late December of the year 129 AD, Hadrian and Antinous visited the city of Emesa in Syria to pay their respects to the androgynous sun deity Elegabal at the Solstice.
The city of Emesa in Syria was sacred to the God Elagabal, a sun deity and patron god of the later Emperor known as Elagabalus ... history's first recorded transgender teen emperor. The god of Emesa was Phoenician in origin, but had become somewhat Hellenized.
Elagabalus the Emperor lived almost exactly one hundred years after Antinous, and died when he was 18 or 19 years old ... almost exactly the same age that Antinous died ... after being emperor only four years.
Imperator Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus was born on an unknown date in the winter of 204 AD in the city of Emesa. His birth name was Varius Avitus Bassianus, and he is believed to have been the son of Caracalla, for which reason he was declared Emperor by the Legions of Syria during an uprising against the short-lived Emperor Macrinus who had assassinated Caracalla and taken the throne.Varius Bassianus was only 14 years old when he became sole ruler of the Roman Empire and took the name of Antoninus.
He was the last Emperor to bear the sacred name of the most glorious rulers of the world, the Antonines. He is known to history as Elagabalus, because he was from birth the high priest(ess) of the androgynous sun deity Elagabal.
He brought his strange, phallic religion to Rome, and very shortly began to impose Elagabal, going so far as to nullify all other cults and force the Romans to accept his one god. It is even claimed that he closed and demolished the temple of Antinous at Tibur and perhaps others, but this is rumor.
What Elagabalus is famous for is that he was an extreme homosexual phallus worshipper with an insatiable fondness for chariot racers who he often elevated to the highest positions of authority simply based on the size and grace of their penises.
He is criticized by ancient historians for portraying himself as Venus on Mount Ida, and allowing himself to be sodomized on stage by his chariot racers in the roles of various gods in full view of an audience.
This despite the fact that he was not particularly cruel or demonstrably mad. He simply offended the sensibilities of later historians ... particularly Victorian historians who were appalled by the fact that a trans teen had been acclaimed emperor of Rome.
Victorian historians record Elagabalus' life as scandalous, yet an examination of their remarks reveal a troubled trans youth struggling with his identity:
"Not only was he bi-sexual, but also a transvestite. He would go to the taverns at night wearing a wig, woman's clothes and makeup and ply the trade of a prostitute. This activity only ended when he met Hierocles, a Carian slave, and became his wife. Hierocles was even permitted to beat the emperor when displeased, as any man might beat his wife. Even more scandalous Elagabalus not only acted and dressed like a woman, but he wanted to be physically transformed into one. He asked his physicians to contrive a vagina for him, promising huge rewards for success."
In other words, he was a transgender teenager who had the power and money at his disposal to create the gender-bending reality he desired to live in.
None of his works, or generous gifts to the people, were sufficient to offset his reputation among the elite, tarnished by his promiscuous behavior with men and women. But we must remember that most teenagers be self-indulgent if they suddenly found themselves with absolute powers. Many of the adult emperors did no less.
He was assassinated by his own Praetorian guards, and his body was dragged through the streets before being hurled into the Tiber, the punishment for the most vile criminals.
Flamen Antonyus Subia says:
"He is considered to be one of the most perverted and cruel of all the Emperors, but the open phallicism that he imposed upon Rome, and the dramatic exhibition of his homosexuality warrant his deification. He is included as a saint of Ecclesia Antinoi because he was a homosexual of extreme proportions, and because he was the last Emperor to bear the name Antoninus. Antinous blessed and was blessed by the God Elagabal on this occasion, the Saturnalia in Emesus, and it was from this consecration that the power of the later Emperor Elagabalus came forth. We consecrate ourselves to the Phallic Sun God Elagabal, in memory of the Last Antonine."
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