This volume is the third of the three-volume Varian Studies edited by de Arrizabalaga y Prado. Volume 1 of the series explores the historical figure of the Roman emperor Elagabalus (called Varius by de Arrizabalaga y Prado), volume 2 explores the historical evidence for the emperor's reign in the city of Rome, while this volume highlights the reception of the emperor from antiquity to the present day. This later image of the emperor is labelled by de Arrizabalaga y Prado as the emperor's ‘avatar’ Elagabalus, to distinguish the reception of the emperor from the ‘historical’ emperor Varius, terminology also seen in his earlier monograph The Emperor Elagabalus: Fact or Fiction? (2014) (the usefulness of such idiosyncratic terminology is questioned by one of the volume's contributors on p. 63). Most of the contributions come from a symposium held in Cambridge in 2005.
Similar eccentricities to those found in de Arrizabalaga y Prado's earlier monograph are found here (see JRA 14 [2014], 677 for an overview). The table of contents does not reflect the actual contents of the volume but rather the speakers at the original 2005 conference; not all speakers converted their papers for the volume, and so de Arrizabalaga y Prado has instead inserted their handouts (e.g. C. Bertrand-Dagenbach), his own summary of their paper (e.g. C. Clay) or personal memories of the event and speaker (e.g. P. Sarris). It is not always clear whether permission from the various authors for this type of treatment was granted (e.g. p. 99, M. Calcagno). This rather unusual approach is also reflected in the uneven nature of the papers that have been included; these range in size and depth of coverage, and one of the chapters is a complete Masters thesis (K. Devine). This chapter and de Arrizabalaga y Prado's own contribution constitute more than a third of the volume.
The contributions are arranged chronologically, beginning with discussions of how Elagabalus is presented in sources from antiquity. F.G. Naerebout presents an updated version of an idea published elsewhere (in O. Hekster, S. Schmidt-Hofner and C. Witschel [edd.], Ritual Dynamics and Religious Change in the Roman Empire [2009], pp. 143–58). He explores the presentation of Elagabalus as an emperor who performed cultic dances (in Herodian, Cassius Dio, the Historia Augusta), and concludes that it is likely the emperor may have danced as part of the Emesene cult, but that this particular type of dancing was seen as foreign by the Roman elite, which meant that it could be used as a topos to blacken his reputation.
E. Krengel presents a detailed analysis of how the emperor is presented on Roman coinage. More specifically, through a very close examination of the evidence, Krengel identifies the differences between the coin types showing the emperor sacrificing: variations in dress, altars and accompanying implements. She suggests that these differences reflect different aspects of the emperor's religious roles: he is shown on coinage sacrificing as high priest of the Emesene god (RIC 131), to Sol Invictus (RIC 49, 51, 88) and as high priest ‘of all the cults gathered together in his temple’ (RIC 52, 146 var.). Although readers may disagree with the final conclusions (a fuller analysis of all known coins and parallel pieces of evidence would make the suggestions more convincing), Krengel successfully shows the differences in the numismatic representation of Elagabalus, which, as she points out, must have been intentional. Krengel then examines Elagabalus’ attire with detailed iconographic analysis of the emperor's clothes, footwear and headgear. She also points out the foreign nature of the multi-level altar that appears on some of the emperor's coinage, the first time such an artefact had been portrayed on Roman coinage. A useful reconstruction of the garments worn by Elagabalus, including the dried bull's penis (JNG 47 [1997], 53–72), is reproduced as Fig. 17 (p. 57). This very detailed discussion will be of use to scholars studying the presentation of the emperor.
S.C. Zinsli discusses the life of Elagabalus in the Historia Augusta (HA), which, as Zinsli notes, is a summary of ideas he has published in his more extensive commentary (Kommentar zur Vita Heliogabali der Historia Augusta [2014]). Much of the contribution presents well-known ideas about the author, his context and purpose as well as on the role played by this particular life within the broader work. Zinsli follows G. Mader's analysis (ClassAnt 24 [2005], 131–72), which sees the life of Elagabalus in the HA as ‘an exercise in amplificatio, a topos run amok’ (p. 92). But Zinsli also notes parallels between the HA’s presentation of the emperor, which draws direct comparisons with the emperor Constantine, and Eusebius’ Life of Constantine (pp. 88–90). He suggests that the author of the HA in passage 35.6 and elsewhere might have been using this section of his work to criticise Eusebius’ account and its method: that by praising Constantine Eusebius had deformed Constantine's predecessors and those that would follow his rule. Here Zinsli returns to a thesis he has published more fully in Wiener Studien 118 (2005), 117–38.
D. Watkin's contribution examining Lawrence Alma-Tadema's The Roses of Heliogabalus is the first examining the reception of the emperor in the more modern era. Watkin provides an excellent detailed discussion of the (art) historical context of the painting, its painter, buyer and reception, including details such as where the painting was originally hung as well as the possible historical sources used by Alma-Tadema and where he chose to diverge from them. The detailed treatment of the contemporary circumstances that led to the creation of the painting will be of use to historians or Classicists interested in the reception of the emperor. This level of detail is continued in C. de Westenholz's contribution, which examines the representation of Elagabalus in Jean Lombard's L'Agonie, Louis Couperus’ De berg van licht and the painting Lui by Gustave Adolf Mossa. Each case study highlights how Elagabalus served as an example to explore a theme dear to the artist or author: the androgyne and Christianity with Lombard, an interest in psychology and reincarnation for Couperus and the idea of the androgynous, effeminate man and the femme fatale for Mossa (another painting, Elle, forms a companion piece to Lui). Mossa's work was painted in the same year in which the second volume of Couperus’ novel was published, and Westenholz discusses, without arriving at a firm conclusion, whether Mossa was influenced by the work.
A. Musk presents a discussion of the three-act tragedie-lyrique Héliogabale by Déodat de Séverac and Emile Sicard. The production, performed at Béziers in 1910, reflected the contemporary concerns of France in the Third Republic, particularly the mechanisms through which national identity was to be fostered and the role of Roman antiquity. M. Icks then provides a useful overview of how Elagabalus has been treated by modern scholarship, bringing together in one handy chapter various modern scholars and their views, information that is scattered throughout his 2011 monograph, The Crimes of Elagabalus. Beginning with Edward Gibbon, Icks charts the scholars and movements of scholars up until the twentieth century, ending before the present day. In the following contribution A. D'Hautcourt discusses the short film Héliogabale directed by Louis Feuillade, situating the piece within the development of the French film industry, in particular le film esthétique; it is worth noting, as D'Hautcourt does, that Feuillade had received classical training at school and that ancient stories were free from any authorial rights, which may have contributed to Feuillade's decision to use them (pp. 196, 211). I. Kitani concludes the reception discussion with an examination of how Elagabalus has been utilised in Japan; the emperor first appears in works in the mid-twentieth century and has been used since in literature, theatre and manga to explore ideas surrounding sexuality. The inclusion of a case study from outside Europe is especially welcome and adds something new to our understanding of Elagabalus’ reception.
This is followed by a chapter that reproduces a Masters thesis by Devine, who used the surviving portraiture of Elagabalus to reconstruct the physiognomy of the emperor, resulting in a wax model (p. 303). The thesis is presented as having been edited by de Arrizabalaga y Prado, but still contains most features of a UK Masters thesis, including the thesis declaration (pp. 309–10); more editing might have been performed to make the work fit better within the broader volume. Devine concludes that, given the nature of the evidence she had at hand, it is impossible to know whether the reconstruction is accurate or not (p. 305). This is followed by a chapter by de Arrizabalaga y Prado exploring three individuals named in historical accounts of Elagabalus’ reign: Gannys, Eutychianus and Comazon. The author admits that a more refined version of this argument has already been published elsewhere and that his ideas have moved on since he first gave this particular paper in 1999, but he has nonetheless decided not to revise it for publication here, in order that it might ‘suggest how historical insight develops’ (p. 316). This somewhat unusual decision fits with de Arrizabalaga y Prado's work elsewhere, notably The Emperor Elagabalus: Fact or Fiction? (2014), which is often more interested in the historical process than the reign of Elagabalus.
The overall result is an idiosyncratic, uneven volume, which reproduces many ideas that have been published in detail elsewhere. Nonetheless the scholar of Elagabalus’ reception may still open the volume and find some benefit. Icks's The Crimes of Elagabalus (2011) did much to develop this area as a field of scholarship and will remain the first port of call; indeed, he covers many of the works mentioned here. Given the delay between the original conference and its publication, the authors have not been able to make use of Icks's work or develop upon it, which is a pity. As the exploration of the reception of the emperor in Japan by Kitani illustrates, Elagabalus has an enduring appeal as a figure through which to explore contemporary concerns, a figure ‘to think with’ or ‘through’. Further work in the field will no doubt continue to uncover the multitude of ways this has manifested in various media. The volume has some minor grammatical and spelling errors (e.g. p. 60 n. 1, ‘responsability’), and at times the images were too pixelated to be viewed properly (e.g. pp. 41, 126).
