The crimes and vices of Elagabalus: Building blocks for a character assassination

The literary sources paint a very hostile picture of Elagabalus, scorning him for his alleged effeminacy, excessive luxury and circle of unworthy favourites, among many other points of criticism. While the veracity of these claims is sometimes hard to establish, it is clear that they are part of a discourse that seeks to discredit the emperor by emphasizing his flaws and downplaying or denying any positive traits he may have possessed. As such, they can be regarded as a posthumous character assassination, a term which refers to the deliberate destruction of an individual’s reputation. In this paper, I will examine various “building blocks” that contributed to this character assassination, tracing how allegations against Elagabalus built on well-worn tropes or contemporary concerns, and how they developed over time.