Julius Alexander

Julius Alexander,^[1] also known as Julius Alexander of Emesa,^[2] was a prince from the royal family of Emesa^[3] who lived in the 2nd century.

Although Alexander was a nobleman from Emesa, Syria,^[4] little is known of his origins. He may have been the son of Sohaemus of Armenia also known as Gaius Julius Sohaemus,^[5] who served as a Roman client king of Armenia from 144 until 161, then again in 163 perhaps up to 186. He may have been a possible kinsman of the Roman Empress Julia Domna,^[6] which could explain him as a possible ancestor of the Roman emperor of the 3rd century Alexander Severus. Alexander and Severus share the same cognomen, Alexander.^[7] The name Alexander is a dynastic name in the Emesan dynasty.

Alexander became a Bestiarius, also known as an animal fighter.^[8] Alexander became skilled at lion-hunting.^[9] He was known to have brought down a lion with his javelin while on horseback.^[10] His prowess provoked the jealousy of the Roman emperor Commodus.^[11]

Commodus ordered Alexander to be hunted down and killed in Emesa c. 190.^[12] Alexander could have escaped from Commodus’ soldiers, but lost time because he didn't want to leave behind his youthful male lover, who was himself an excellent horseman.^[13] Alexander tried to escape the assassins together with his lover, but they were overtaken and killed.

Alexander was buried in the Emesan dynastic tomb in Emesa.^[14] Julius Alexander is mentioned in the histories of Cassius Dio and in the Historia Augusta, in The Life of Commodus.

• Bestiarii

• A.R. Birley, Septimius Severus: The African Emperor, Routledge, 2002
• B. Levick, Julia Domna: Syrian Empress, Routledge, 2007
• L. de Arrizabalaga y Prado, The Emperor Elagabalus: Fact or Fiction?, Cambridge University Press, 2010
• Roman Emperors: Commodus