On the murder of Caracalla (217 a.d.), Julia Maesa was forbidden the court by the new emperor Macrinus. She retired to her ancestral city Emesa with her daughters and grandsons. Varius Avitus, though still only a boy, was appointed high priest of the Syrian sun-god Elagabalus, one of the chief seats of whose worship was Emesa. His beauty, and the splendid ceremonials at which he presided, made him a great favourite with the troops stationed in that part of Syria, and Maesa increased his popularity by spreading reports that he was in reality the illegitimate son of Caracalla. Macrinus was very unpopular with the army; an insurrection w as easily raised, and Varius under his adopted name Heliogabalus was proclaimed emperor. The troops sent to quell the revolt joined the new emperor, and Macrinus, advancing in person against him, was defeated and soon afterwards slain (218). Heliogabalus was at once recognized by the senate as emperor. After spending the winter in Nicomedia, he proceeded in 219 to Rome. He made it his business to exalt the honour of the deity whose priest he was. . The Syrian god was proclaimed the chief deity in Rome, and all other gods his servants; splendid ceremonies in his honour were celebrated, at which Heliogabalus danced in public; and it w as believed that secret rites accompanied by human sacrifice were performed in his honour. The shameless profligacy of the emperor’s life was such as to shock even a Roman public. His popularity with the army declined, and Maesa perceiving that the liking of the soldiers inclined to Alexander Severus, persuaded him to raise his cousin to the dignity of Caesar(221). Heliogabalus soon repented of this step. An attempt to murder Alexander was frustrated by the watchful Maesa. Another such attempt in 222 produced a mutiny among the soldiers, in which Heliogabalus and his mother Soaemias were slain.