Aurelius Zoticus (

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

: Αύρήλιος Ζωτικός; active c. 219 – 221) was a ''

cubicularius ''Cubicularius'', Hellenized as ''koubikoularios'' (), was a title used for the eunuch chamberlains of the imperial palace in the later Roman Empire and in the Byzantine Empire. The feminine version, used for the ladies-in-waiting of the empres ...

'' and famous male lover of the young Roman emperor

Elagabalus Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (born Sextus Varius Avitus Bassianus, 204 – 13 March 222), better known by his posthumous nicknames Elagabalus ( ) and Heliogabalus ( ), was Roman emperor from 218 to 222, while he was still a teenager. His short r ...

. His story is known in two versions, one told by

Cassius Dio Lucius Cassius Dio (), also known as Dio Cassius ( ), was a Roman historian and senator of maternal Greek origin. He published 80 volumes of the history of ancient Rome, beginning with the arrival of Aeneas in Italy. The volumes documented the ...

and one contained in the later ''

Historia Augusta The ''Historia Augusta'' (English: ''Augustan History'') is a late Roman collection of biographies, written in Latin, of the Roman emperors, their junior colleagues, Caesar (title), designated heirs and Roman usurper, usurpers from 117 to 284. S ...

''.

Version of Dio

The contemporary historian Dio tells that Aurelius Zoticus was an athlete originally from

Smyrna Smyrna ( ; , or ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek city located at a strategic point on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, Turkey. Due to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence, and its good inland connections, Smyrna ...

, the son of a cook, for which he had the nickname Mageiros ("cook"). In addition to having a beautiful body, Zotico was known for having large sexual organs; when the emperor's envoys, sent around for this purpose, learned of this fame, they had him accompanied to Rome with a gigantic escort. In the capital he received the title of

, (attendant to the emperor's bedroom), obtained the honor of bearing the name Avitus (which belonged to Elagabalus' grandfather,

Gaius Julius Avitus Alexianus Gaius Julius Avitus AlexianusHazel, ''Who's who in the Roman World'', p. 34 (died 217) was a Roman nobleman of Syria and held high military and political commands. Background and career Although Alexianus was a Roman citizen who was born and rais ...

), was adorned with garlands and brought to the imperial palace accompanied by many torches. Elagabalus opened the doors of the palace dancing and, when Zoticus greeted him calling him "Lord Emperor", Elagabalus replied: "Call me not Lord, for I am a Lady." Elagabalus and Zoticus went to take a bath, where the emperor found out that the athlete lived up to his fame, and prepared for a night. However, Hierocles, a charioteer who had become the emperor's lover, had Zoticus served a drugged drink, fearing that he might supplant him in the favor of the emperor. Because of the drug, Zoticus was unable to satisfy his lover and, stripped of his honors, was exiled from Italy. According to Dio, this saved him from death that would soon meet the emperor's collaborators and allies.

Version of ''Historia Augusta''

'', probably written in the 4th century, reports a slightly different version, contained in the first half of the book ''Life of Antoninus Elagabalus'', It is considered more likely. According to this story, Zoticus was for a long time a close collaborator of Elagabalus, so much so that the members of the court considered him the emperor's consort; Zoticus exploited the intimacy granted to him by Elagabalus, revealing the views and intentions of the emperor concerning the interested party upon payment, thus accumulating considerable wealth. Upon coming out of an audience with the emperor, he would go to each interested party revealing to them what concerned them, but in reality his confidences, both threatening and promising, were false. According to this version, Elagabalus married Zoticus as the athlete's bride, even having the woman who accompanied the bride in a Roman marriage, and consummated their union.

References

Bibliography

, ''

Roman History The history of Rome includes the history of the Rome, city of Rome as well as the Ancient Rome, civilisation of ancient Rome. Roman history has been influential on the modern world, especially in the history of the Catholic Church, and Roman la ...

''
book 79.16
* ''

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