The Mad Emperor Av Harry Sidebottom

<B>What happens when you put the Roman Empire in the hands of a teenage boy? The life and times of the worst Roman emperor of all.</B><BR><BR><B>What happens when you put the Roman Empire in the hands of a teenage boy? Discover the scandalous life and times of Rome''s <I>worst </I>emperor. </B><BR><BR><B>''Buy the book; it''s very entertaining.'' David Aaronovitch, <I>The Times</I></B><BR><BR>On 8 June 218 AD, a fourteen-year-old Syrian boy, egged on by his grandmother, led an army to battle in a Roman civil war. Against all expectations, he was victorious.<BR><BR>Varius 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.<BR><BR>Heliogabalus humiliated the prestigious Senators and threw extravagant dinner parties for lower-class friends. He ousted Jupiter from his summit among the gods and replaced him with Elagabal. He married a Vestal Virgin – <I>twice</I>. Rumours abound