Heliogabalus or Elagabalus (Varius Avitus Bassianus) (c. 203 - March 11 222) was Roman Emperor from 218 to 222 under the name of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. He is born, to 203, at Emesa, in Syria. He is the son of Julia and Soemias Varius Marcellus. By his mother, he is the great-grand-son of Julius Bassianus of Emesa, the great-nephew by marriage of the emperor Septimius Severus, who had married his great-aunt Julia Domna second wife, and nephew of Caracalla. Women, called "the Syrian princesses" are inseparable from the fate of Heliogabalus.