Emperor Elagabalus: When Rome's Wildest Teenager Became Emperor

Elagabalus became Roman Emperor at age 14 and spent the next four years shocking Rome with behavior so outrageous that historians still debate whether the accounts are real or exaggerated propaganda. He married and divorced five times in four years, allegedly worked as a prostitute in the palace, and may have been one of history's first transgender rulers.

The teenage emperor brought his Syrian sun god to Rome - literally a black stone he worshipped - and forced the Senate to watch him perform exotic religious rituals. He threw lavish parties where guests could suffocate under tons of rose petals dropped from the ceiling. He allegedly offered huge rewards to any physician who could give him female genitalia, married a male athlete in a public ...