[The following takes place during the last days of the short-lived rule of the lackluster Roman Emperor Macrinus, in 218 CE.]
Elagabalus’ troops, no doubt unimpressed at being commanded by a slave, put up a half-hearted defence when Macrinus’ stripped-down Praetorians came running to the attack. When men began pulling out of Elagabalus’ rear ranks, the boy’s mother and grandmother jumped down from their chariots and ran among them, urging the soldiers to return to the struggle. Then the youngster himself was seen riding towards the fight with sword in hand. The defence stiffened, but Elagabalus would not have been victorious had not Macrinus again lost his nerve. The emperor rode off back to Antioch accompanied by a few men, leaving his troops to continue the fighting. Seeing this, his Praetorians lost heart, and capitulated.
On entering Antioch, Macrinus told the Antiochans that he had won the battle. He then put his son in the care of a trusted freedman and sent them riding east, making for Parthia, where, the freedman was instructed, they should seek the protection of King Artabanes. Macrinus then shaved off his bushy beard and shaved his head. That night, wearing a dark, hooded civilian cloak, he slipped out of the city with a few loyal companions. He succeeded in reaching Cilicia, where, pretending to be a soldier, he secured a carriage of the Cursus Publicus Velox, the government courier service. Using this he drove all the way through Cappadocia, Galatia, and Bithynia, to reach the port of Eribolon.
From Eribolon, planning to return to Rome, where he was sure he would still have the support of the Senate, Macrinus took a merchant ship around the Bithynian coast to Chalcedon, modern Kadekoy in Turkey. This was just across the water from Byzantium. From Chalcedon, Macrinus sent a message to the local procurator seeking money to enable him to continue his journey. But this was a mistake. The procurator, choosing Elagabalus over Macrinus, had the fugitive emperor arrested. A centurion who had orders to return Macrinus to Syria took him as far as Cappadocia. There, Macrinus learned that his 10-year-old son had been arrested at Zeugma by a centurion of the 4th Scythica Legion while trying to cross the Euphrates.
Macrinus now threw himself from the carriage carrying him, only to fracture his shoulder. Another centurion, Marcianus Taurus, under orders to ensure that the emperor did not reach Antioch alive, met Macrinus’ party in Cappadocia shortly afterwards, and put Macrinus to the sword. Young Elagabalus saw Macrtinus’ body when he passed by some time later on his way from Syria to Bithynia, and gloated over it.
Source:
Dando-Collins, Stephen. “Part III: The Battles – Macrinus Against Elagabalus.” Legions of Rome: The Definitive History of Every Imperial Roman Legion. Thomas Dunne Books, 2012. 491-92. Print.
Original Source Listed:
Dio, LXXIX, 40.
Further Reading:
Macrinus (Latin: Marcus Opellius Severus Macrinus Augustus)
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