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Aquilia Severa

 
Aquilia Severa

 
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Aquilia Severa
 
 
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Iulia Aquilia Severa was the second and fourth wife of Emperor
Roman Emperor

The Roman Emperor was the ruler of the Roman Empire during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office: Latin language titles such as imperator , Augustus , Caesar and princeps were all associated with it....
 Elagabalus
Elagabalus

Elagabalus , also known as Heliogabalus or Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, was a Roman Emperor of the Severan dynasty who reigned from 218 to 222....
. She was the daughter of Quintus Aquilius, twice consul
Consul

Consul was the highest elected office of the Roman Republic and an appointive office under the Roman Empire. The title was also used in other city states, and revived in modern states, notably French Republic before the Napoleon I of Franceic counter-revolution....
 under Caracalla
Caracalla

Caracalla , born Lucius Septimius Bassianus and later called Marcus Aurelius Antoninus and Marcus Aurelius Severus Antoninus, was the eldest son of Septimius Severus and Roman Emperor from 211 – 217....
. The praenomen
Praenomen

In Roman naming conventions, the praenomen was the only name in which parents had some choice, roughly equivalent to the given name of today....
 of Julia was given to her after becoming an empress.

Severa was a Vestal Virgin
Vestal Virgin

In Ancient Rome, the Vestal Virgins , were the virgin holy female priests of Vesta , the goddess of the hearth. Their primary task was to maintain the sacred fire of Vesta....
.






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Sestertius Aquilia Severa Ric 0390
Iulia Aquilia Severa was the second and fourth wife of Emperor
Roman Emperor

The Roman Emperor was the ruler of the Roman Empire during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office: Latin language titles such as imperator , Augustus , Caesar and princeps were all associated with it....
 Elagabalus
Elagabalus

Elagabalus , also known as Heliogabalus or Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, was a Roman Emperor of the Severan dynasty who reigned from 218 to 222....
. She was the daughter of Quintus Aquilius, twice consul
Consul

Consul was the highest elected office of the Roman Republic and an appointive office under the Roman Empire. The title was also used in other city states, and revived in modern states, notably French Republic before the Napoleon I of Franceic counter-revolution....
 under Caracalla
Caracalla

Caracalla , born Lucius Septimius Bassianus and later called Marcus Aurelius Antoninus and Marcus Aurelius Severus Antoninus, was the eldest son of Septimius Severus and Roman Emperor from 211 – 217....
. The praenomen
Praenomen

In Roman naming conventions, the praenomen was the only name in which parents had some choice, roughly equivalent to the given name of today....
 of Julia was given to her after becoming an empress.

Severa was a Vestal Virgin
Vestal Virgin

In Ancient Rome, the Vestal Virgins , were the virgin holy female priests of Vesta , the goddess of the hearth. Their primary task was to maintain the sacred fire of Vesta....
. As such, her marriage to Elagabalus in 220
220

EventsBy PlaceRoman Empire* The Goths invade Asia Minor and the Balkans.* An Indian delegation visits Roman emperor Elagabalus....
 was the cause of enormous controversy — traditionally, the punishment for breaking the thirty-year vow of celibacy was death. Elagabalus is believed to have had religious reasons for marrying Severa — he himself was a follower of the eastern sun god El-Gabal, and when marrying himself to Severa, he also conducted a symbolic marriage of his god to Vesta
Vesta (mythology)

Vesta was the virgin goddess of the hearth, home, and family in Roman mythology. Although she is often mistaken as analogous to Hestia in Greek mythology, she had a large, albeit mysterious, role in Roman religion long before she appeared in Greece....
.

Both these marriages were revoked shortly afterwards, however. This was possibly on the urging of Julia Maesa
Julia Maesa

Julia Maesa was a Ancient Rome citizenShahid, Irfan . Rome and The Arabs: A Prolegomenon to the Study of Byzantium and the Arabs and daughter of Julius Bassianus, priest of the sun god Heliogabalus , the patron god of Emesa in the Roman province of Syria , and grandmother of both the Roman emperors Elagabalus and Alexander...
, the grandmother who had engineered Elagabalus' rise to the imperial throne. Elagabalus then married Annia Faustina
Annia Faustina

Annia Faustina or Annia Aurelia Faustina was the Empress of Rome and third wife of Roman Emperor Elagabalus briefly in 221. She was the great-granddaughter of Marcus Aurelius....
, a more generally acceptable choice. Within a short time, however, Elagabalus had divorced Faustina and returned to living with Severa, claiming that the original divorce was invalid. It is believed that Severa remained with Elagabalus until his assassination in 222
222

Events...
. The two are not believed to have had any children.

Severa's own opinions about the entire affair are not very well recorded. Some sources state that she was forced to marry
Forced marriage

Forced marriage is a term used to describe a marriage in which one or more of the parties is marriage without his or her consent or against his or her will....
 against her will, and others go further, alleging rape
Rape

Rape, also referred to as sexual assault, is an assault by a person involving sexual intercourse with or sexual penetration of another person without that person's consent....
. It is claimed by some historians, however, that many stories about Elagabalus have been exaggerated by his enemies, and so there is no certainty about what actually happened. It is unclear whether Elagabalus had any real feelings towards Severa, or whether he was more concerned with the symbolism of the marriage. Elagabalus appears to have been either homosexual
Homosexuality

Homosexuality refers to human sexual behavior or same-sex attraction between people of the same sex or to homosexual orientation. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "having sexual and romantic attraction primarily or exclusively to members of one?s own sex"; "it also refers to an individual?s sense of personal and social identi...
 or bisexual
Bisexuality

Bisexuality refers to sexual behavior with or physical attraction to people of both genders , or a bisexual orientation. People who have a bisexual orientation "can experience sexual attraction, emotional, and affectional attraction to both their own sex and the opposite sex"; "it also refers to an individual?s sense of personal and social i...
, and the historian Cassius Dio claims that Elagabalus had a more stable relationship with his chariot driver, Hierocles
Hierocles (charioteer)

Hierocles was a favorite and lover of the Roman Empire Roman emperor Elagabalus. He was from Caria and was at some point enslaved and became a chariot racing in the service of Elagabalus....
, than with any of his wives.

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