At sunrise May 16, in the year 218AD, a woman named Elagabalus was declared Emperor of the Roman Empire by the commander of the Roman Third Legion. She would reign for only four years.

Somewhat understandably, this declaration was very concerning to the current emperor, a man named Macrinus. Macrinus had risen to power by assassinating his predecessor, a man named Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, but better known by his nickname Caracalla. So, to strengthen her claim to the throne, Elagabalus took the name Marcus Aurelius Antoninus and claimed to be the illegitimate son of the assassinated emperor. This was untrue - Elegabalus's grandmother was merely cousin to emperor Caracalla. But Caracalla was so beloved by certain factions that merely the claim was enough.

What followed can only be categorized as chaos. Another praetorian prefect declared war on the Third Legion, but his soldiers killed their officers and joined Elagabalus' forces instead. Emperor Macrinus then tried to convince the Roman Senate to declare Elegabalus to be a "false Anoninus". When they complied and declared war on Elegabalus, her armies, and her family, Elegabalus responded by sending a messenger to deliver the severed head of his defeated prefect Julianus to him at a banquet. After this, the Second Legion shifted its loyalties to Elegabalus, forcing Macrinus to retreat to Antioch, fearing for his life.

On June 8th, 218AD, just one month after declaring herself emperor, Elegabalus' legionnaires defeated Macrinus and his Praetorian Guard at The Battle of Antioch. Macrinus attempted to flee but was captured and executed.

Thus began the short, strange reign of Emperor Elegabalus. That month, Elagabalus wrote to the Senate, assuming the imperial titles without waiting for senatorial approval. Elegabalus extended amnesty to the Senate which had declared war on her, and officially recognized its laws and authority. The Senate responded by acknowledging Elegabalus as Emperor of Rome, and by accepting her claim to be the son of Caracalla.

The memory of Macrinus was officially expunged from the record, showing Elegabalus as directly succeeding Caracalla, and both Caracalla himself and Elegabalus' grandmother were deified by the Roman Senate. The very next month, Elegabalus was named both "Pater Patriae" (an political honorific roughly translating to "Father of the Fatherland") by the Roman Senate, and also inducted into the Roman priesthood as "Pontifex Maximus" (the highest religious office in Rome, roughly akin to "Pope").

Elegabalus returned to Rome from Antioch, and using the religious authority granted to her, began making significant changes to the official Roman pantheon. She instated her own god, Elegabal, as prime deity above Jupiter, and began holding religious ceremonies and chariot parades celebrating this new sun god. A lavish temple, called the Elegabalium, was built on the eastern face of the Palatine Hill to house Elegabal, who was represented there by a black conical meteorite. Sometimes she took this meteorite out of the Elegabalium on chariot parades through the streets of Rome so that all the citizens could see the new god and worship.

Around this time, Elegabalus was viewing a chariot race when an enslaved man named Hierocles fell in front of her. She was so captivated by his beauty that she granted him his freedom and took him as her lover and husband. She reportedly even wanted to declare him Caesar, but her grandmother was deeply opposed to it.

Elegabalus began wearing wigs and dresses, and stylized herself as the Lady Elagabalus. She is credited in several sources as having declared "[I am] delighted to be called the mistress, the wife, the Queen of Hierocles." She reportedly even offered vast sums of money for any physician who could provide her with a vagina by means of incision. Though some historians treat these tales with caution, saying that accounts of Elagabalus' life can tend to be antagonistic and untrustworthy, this claim has caused many to credit Elegabalus as being the first trans woman in recorded history to actively seek sex reassignment surgery.

Later that year, another athlete, a man named Zoticus, also caught Elegabalus' eye. In addition to being known for his beautiful body, Zoticus was also famed for having large sexual organs. When the emperor's envoys, sent around for this purpose, learned of this fame, they had him accompanied to Rome with a gigantic escort.

At the capital, he was adorned with garlands and declared "cubicularius", a title meaning "attendant to the emperor's bedroom". Elagabalus opened the doors of the palace dancing and, when Zoticus greeted her calling her "Lord Emperor", Elagabalus replied: "Call me not Lord, for I am a Lady."

The accounts on the outcome of this evening vary. In one account, the two retired to the baths together, and Elegabalus prepared for an evening with Zoticus as her lover. However, Hierocles, fearing that Zoticus might supplant him in the favor of the emperor, drugged his drink. Zoticus, unable to satisfy his lover, was stripped of his titles, and banished from Italy. In the other account, no such attempt occurred, and Elagabalus publicly married Zoticus as his bride, even having a female bride's maid which would be traditional in a Roman marriage, and then the two consummated their union. It is this second account that is thought to be accurate.

Popular support for Elagabalus had begun to wane, primarily among Rome's elite. Some were uncomfortable with her perceptibly foreign conduct. Others were upset by her religious proclamations. Many were outraged that she had lifted the ban on women in the Senate. Sensing this waning of public favor Elagabalus' grandmother decided that she and her mother both needed to be replaced. She arranged to to have the son of another of her daughters, a fifteen year old boy named Severus Alexander, declared Elegabalus' successer and granted the title Caesar. Alexander was elevated to Caesar in either June or July of 221AD, and both he and Elagabalus were each designated consul designitus (a political title involving representation in the Senate) for the following year.

Alexander shared the consulship with Elagabalus until 222AD, but she began to suspect that the Praetorian Guard preferred his cousin to herself, and became dissatisfied with the arrangement. After attempting and failing to convince the Senate to strip Alexander of the title, Elagabalus spread a rumor among the Praetorian Guard that Alexander was near death, to see how they would react. A riot ensued, and the Guard insisted on seeing both Elagabalus and Alexander in the Praetorian Camp.

The emperor complied. On their arrival the soldiers started cheering Alexander while ignoring Elagabalus, who ordered the summary arrest and execution of anyone who had taken part in this display of insubordination. In response, members of the Praetorian Guard attacked Elagabalus and killed her.

Following her assassination, many associates of Elagabalus were also executed, including her mother and her lover Hierocles. Her religious edicts were reversed. Women were again banned from attending the Senate. Coins bearing her likeness were seized and melted down. Many of her images, including a life-size statue of herself in Naples as Hercules were re-carved with the face of the new emperor, Severus Alexander. She was systematically erased from public memory. It was as if she had never existed.

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