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Family Favourites

by Alfred Duggan

First published 1960

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3.7(25)

The teenage Syrian priest Varius Avitus is proclaimed emperor after his family and supporters overthrow Macrinus. Taking the name Elagabalus, he brings the cult of his sun god to Rome and discovers that military loyalty, dynastic influence and religious authority do not translate easily into stable government.

Observed from within the imperial household and army, his reign becomes a contest between the emperor’s determination to remake Roman public life and the efforts of his formidable relatives to preserve the dynasty. As the Senate, the Praetorian Guard and his cousin Alexander gain importance, private family manoeuvring becomes inseparable from the survival of the empire.

Historical Periods

Severan Dynasty193–235 CE

Genres

Biographical Fiction Court & Political Fiction Dynastic & Royal Fiction

Historical people

Elagabalus203–222 Macrinusc. 164–218

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