Description
Julia Maesa was a very powerful and influential figure in the Severan dynasty. She was the sister of Julia Domna and brother in law to her husband, Septimius Severus. Her father was Gaius Julius Bassianus, the priest of the sun god Elagabal, the patron god of Emesa (modern Homs). As grandmother of both the Roman emperors Elagabalus and Alexander Severus, she figured prominently in their reigns. Orchestrating the assassination of Elagabalus when he became a liability and ensuring Alexander Severus’s accession in his place. She died during his reign and was deified.
