Carrhae. Three days later, Macrinus was declared augustus. His most significant early decision was to make peace with the Parthian Empire, but many thought that the terms were degrading to the Romans. However, his downfall was his refusal to award the pay and privileges promised to the eastern troops by Caracalla. He also kept those forces wintered in Syria, where they became attracted to the young Elagabalus. After months of mild rebellion by the bulk of the army in Syria, Macrinus took his loyal troops to meet the army of Elagabalus near Antioch. Despite a good fight by the Praetorian Guard, his soldiers were defeated. Macrinus managed to escape to Chalcedon but his authority was lost. He was betrayed and executed after a reign of only 14 months. Marcus Opelius Diadumenianus (known as Diadumenian) was the son of Macrinus, born in 208. He was given the imperial rank of caesar in 217, when his father became augustus. After his father's defeat outside Antioch, he tried to escape east to Parthia but was captured and killed. Elagabalus (218–222) Elagabalus was born Varius Avitus Bassianus in 204 and became known later as Marcus Aurelius Antonius. The name "Elagabalus" followed the Latin nomenclature for the Syrian sun god Elagabal, of whom he had become a priest at an early age. Elagabal was represented by a large, dark rock called a baetyl. Elagabalus's grandmother, Julia Maesa, Julia Domna's sister and sister-in-law of Emperor Septimius Severus, arranged for the restoration of the Severan dynasty and persuaded soldiers from the Gallic Third Legion, which was stationed near Emesa, by using her enormous wealth as well as the claim that Caracalla had slept with her daughter and that the boy was his bastard to swear fealty to Elagabalus. He was later invited alongside his mother and daughters to the military camp, clad in imperial purple and crowned as emperor by the soldiers. His reign in Rome has long been known for being outrageous although the historical sources are few and in many cases not to be fully trusted. He is said to have smothered guests at a banquet by flooding the room with rose petals, married his male lover (who was later referred to as the "empress's husband") and married a Vestal Virgin called Aquilia Severa. Dio suggests that he was transgender and offered large sums to the physician who could give him female genitalia. Seeing that