{"product_id":"the-mad-emperor-harry-sidebottom-9780861542536","title":"The Mad Emperor","description":"\u003cp\u003eOn 8 June AD218 a fourteen-year-old Syrian boy led an army to battle in a Roman civil war. Rallying his retreating troops in person, against all expectations, he was victorious.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eVarius Avitus Bassianus, known to the modern world as Heliogabalus, was proclaimed emperor. The next four years were to be the strangest in the history of the empire.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHeliogabalus humiliated the prestigious Senators and threw extravagant dinner parties for his lower-class friends. He ousted Jupiter from his summit among the gods and replaced him with Elagabal. He married a Vestal Virgin - twice. Rumours abounded that he was a prostitute, that he enjoyed sex with men, that he wanted his physicians to give him a vagina. His contemporaries were unanimous: Heliogabalus was the worst emperor ever. For Antonin Artaud, his life was 'anarchy in action'.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBut we've forgotten all about him. How did a teenager from an obscure imperial outpost rise up to the very top? In the first biography of Heliogabalus in over half a century, Harry Sidebottom unveils the high drama of sex, religion, power and culture in Ancient Rome as we've never seen it before.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Harry Sidebottom","offers":[{"title":"New","offer_id":43656952545523,"sku":"9780861542536","price":42.99,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0634\/4284\/5939\/products\/9780861542536.jpg?v=1677092490","url":"https:\/\/www.harryhartog.com.au\/products\/the-mad-emperor-harry-sidebottom-9780861542536","provider":"Harry Hartog Bookseller","version":"1.0","type":"link"}