Dates: May 7, about 165 - August 3, about 224 or 226
Known for: grandmother of Roman emperors Elagabalus and Alexander; one of the four Severan Julias or Roman Julias; sister of Julia Domna and mother of Julia Soaemias and Julia Mamaea
Occupation: regent
Background, Family:
- Father: Julius Bassianus, high priest in Emesa of Syrian sun god Heliogabalus or Elagabalus, patron god of Emesa
- Sister: Julia Domna
Marriage, Children:
- husband: Julius Avitus, a Syrian nobleman
- children:
- Julia Soemias
- Julia Avita Mamaea
About Julia Maesa:
Julia Maesa was the daughter of a high priest in Emesa of Elagabal, patron god of Emesa, a city in western Syria. When the husband of her sister, Julia Domna, became the Roman emperor, she moved to Rome with her family. When her nephew, the emperor Caracallo, was murdered and her sister committed suicide, she moved back to Syria, ordered by the new emperor Macrinus.
From Syria, Julia Soaemias joined with her mother, Julia Maesa, in spreading the rumor that the son of Julia Soaemias, Varius Avitus Bassianus, was really the illegitimate son of Caracalla, cousin of Julia Soaemias and nephew of Julia Maesa. This would make him a more legitimate candidate for emperor than was Macrinus.
Julia Maesa helped overthrow Macrinus and install Julia Soaemias' son as emperor. When he became emperor, he took the name Elagabalus, named for the sun god Elagabal, chief god of the Syrian city of Emesa, of whom his great-grandfather Bessianus, had been high priest. Elagabalus gave his mother the title "Augusta avia Augustus." Elagabalus served as a high priest of Elagabal, too, and began promoting worship of this and other Syrian deities in Roman. His second marriage to a Vestal Virgin outraged many in Rome.
Julia Maesa forced her grandson Elagabalus to adopt his nephew, Alexander, as his son and heir, and Elagabalus was then murdered in 222. Julia Maesa ruled as regent with her daughter Julia Mamaea during Alexander's reign, until her death in 224 or 226. After Julia Maesa died, she was deified, as her sister had been.
