a native of Apameia, the husband of Julia Soemias, by whom he was the father of Elagabalus.
[See genealogical table prefixed to CARACALLA.] He frequently
discharged the duties of an imperial procurator, and was admitted into the senate. His various
designations, titles, and distinctions, have been preserved in a bilinguar inscription
discovered near Velitrae, which was published at Rome in 1765, accompanied by a dissertation,
and which are given by Eckhel, vol. vii. p. 245. After him, Elagabalus was originally called
Varius Avitus Bassianus, and he gave his name to the