Elagabalus Woodcut Translation

To the side are front and back of a woodcut (wikipedia) printed leaf from the 1550 AD edition of "Cosmographia Universalis" (2nd Book; On Italy) by Sebastian Münster (wikipedia). Printed in Basle, by Heinrich Petri, 1550. Text in German. The description of Elagabalus starts on the bottom half left and is continued on the first part of the right. Thank you to Dietger Reinhold (Old German to Modern German) and Christiane Reinhold (modern German to English) for their hard work on the translation.

Only the portion concerning Elagabalus:

Antoninus Varus Heliogabalus was born out of wedlock outside of the Antoninus family and had fled to the Temple of Jupiter when his father, Antoninus, was murdered by Macrinus. But not long after, with the help of his mother, he was proclaimed emperor by the military; she had provided generous gifts of money to the army so that Macrinus would be killed. After his proclamation to emperor, Heliogabalus sent messengers to Rome with a statue of the Jewish Heliogabalus after whom he had been named and let the Romans know that he was after all Bassianus Antoninus’ son, so to build his popularity with the Romans. So it happened, that he soon was elevated to the high aristocracy by the Senate. He was the first emperor who made his mother a senator. In the Senate, this lady took great pains to influence the laws governing female matters (of clothing). When Heliogabalus engaged in wild orgies, the soldiers regretted deeply that they had killed Macrinus and started favoring the son of Helogabalus’ mother’s sister. His name was Alexander and the army proclaimed him emperor. Heliogabalus had started to place unworthy men in public offices, he desecrated the holies of holies of the Roman people, for example the vestal virgins and not only compared his undeeds with those of Caligula and Nero, but even tried to outdo them by engaging in human sacrifice, etc. Because of his shameful way of life he was hated by all, especially by the army as he had ordered to have his cousin Alexander killed whom he had accepted as his son and then had made emperor. Since he wasn’t willing to make peace with Alexander, the soldiers killed him in his secret hidey-hole to which he had escaped and flung him into the Tiber like a dead dog so that he wouldn’t have a proper burial. With him was also killed his mother; it was also decided that henceforth no woman could be a member of the senate; Heliogabalus ruled four years.

Complete Translation of both pages:

Finally, Bassianus Antonius broke into the rooms of his unsuspecting brother and killed him in his mother’s arms. After this murder, Antoninus gave his soldiers generous gifts of money and food, so that they would proclaim him emperor. As emperor, he then embarked on making his way to Rome, moving against his brother’s followers and all the wealthy, where there was something to gain. This occasion he used to also have the famous law-maker Papinianus (murdered), because he wasn’t willing to absolve him of his brother’s murder. When the situation in Rome became too difficult, Antoninus left for the Danube, hooked up with the Germans, dressed like them, did the same in Macedoniua and compared himself to Alexander the great. Then he continued his tyrannical regime in Egypt and in Parthia and was subsequently stabbed by General Martialis in Mesopotamia when, with pants around his ankle, he was relieving himself. However, Martialis couldn’t escape Antoninus’ bodyguards and was shot dead with arrows as he attempted his escape. He was then 43 years old and had reigned six years.

Opilius Macrinus , who was of low birth and was as shrewd as they come, first was made provincial governor before he became emperor. The Senate acknowledged him readily in the hope that his reign would be more moderate than his predecessor’s, Bassianus Antoninus, who had been everyone’s enemy. Macrinus was very well aware that the Antoninus’ name was well-respected by the military; therefore he named his son Antoninus as well. So then he ordered the army to move again Parthia in order to right the bad name [of Antoninus] with a victory; this however helped little, as he and his son shortly after fell in a campaign. The legions then turned to Heliogabalus, who was one of Bassianus Antoninus’ sons.

Alexander, Heliogabalus’ mother’s sister’s son, was born to Julia Mamea; in his youth, he was made to study and to engage in military exercises and because of his strength, intelligence and inclination toward discipline he was given then name “Severus,” “the strict/severe one”. When he then was proclaimed emperor by the Senate, he started to clean out this conglomerate of the unworthy. At his court, he didn’t tolerate anybody of a bad reputation and he forbade the selling of high offices and with it the power associated. Many impoverished cities he rebuilt with state monies and ordered that poor people’s children of poor people should be brought up at public expense. The public life he defined was based on the principle: “What you don’t want to have done to you, don’t do unto another.” He introduced strict discipline in the army and moved stringently against thieves. Thieves he called enemies of the common good. When he arrived in Gallia with his legions during an campaign, he was murdered by an officer called Maximinus when he was 29 years old and had ruled 13 years. He had simply been too strict and wasn’t willing to let pass just any high-handedness. Maximinus originated in Thrakia and was a shepard in his youth; he was tall and strong, joined Alexander’s army and made it all the way to commander of the imperial bodyguard. He was gruff, arrogant and glutinous and was called also by some people “Hercules” or “Archilles”. After Alexander’s murder, with the Senate’s agreement, the military proclaimed Maximinus Thrax emperor. His wasn’t a rule of force, but one characterized by money and plunder.

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