Emesene dynasty آل شمسيغرام Āl Shamsīghirām Sampsigeramids | |
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Country | Kingdom of Emesa (Roman client kingdom) |
Founded | by 46 BC |
Founder | Sampsigeramus I |
Final ruler | likely Gaius Julius Alexion or, before him, Sohaemus of Emesa[1] |
Titles | thought to have been priest-kings |
Traditions | cult of Elagabalus[2] |
Deposition | as kings, likely between 72 and 78/79, at latest by 161[1] |
The Emesene (or Emesan) dynasty, also called the Sampsigeramids[3] or the Sampsigerami[4] or the House of Sampsigeramus[5][6] (Arabic: آل شمسيغرام, romanized: ʾĀl Šamsīġirām),[7][8][9] were a Roman client dynasty of Syrian priest-kings known to have ruled by 46 BC from Arethusa and later from Emesa, Syria, until between 72 and 78/79, or at the latest the reign of Emperor Antoninus Pius (138–161). Iamblichus, the famous Neoplatonist philosopher of the third century, was one of their descendants, as was empress Julia Domna, matriarch of the Severan dynasty.