Roman Empire. AR denarius. Elagabalus (218- 222 CE). Obverse: Laureate bust left, scraggly beard, "horn" at top of head, legend around IMP ANTONINVS PIVS AVG. Reverse: Elagabalus standing left, sacrificing above tripod-altar, holding palm-branch in left hand, star in field legend around SVMMVS SACERDOS AVG (High Priest [and] Augustus). This coin: Frank S. Robinson Auction 126, lot 187 (December 6, 2024). Elagabalus was born around 203 CE and raised in Emesa, Syria. His grandmother, Julia Maesa, was the sister-in law of the emperor Septimius Severus. Despite his youth he became a priest of a locally important god, Elagabal, from which his most commonly used name Elagabalus is derived. (His original birth name is not certain, but may have been Bassianus, and he reigned as Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus.) In 217, Caracalla was killed by Macrinus, who exiled Julia Maesa and her family to their Syrian estate. From there, she was able to organize the overthrow and death of Macrinus, and had her grandson named emperor in 218. The new emperor instituted worship of Elagabal at Rome and showed little interest in the traditional gods. Overall, he showed exactly as much maturity and restraint as you would expect for a teenager suddenly given virtually unlimited resources and authority. He spent lavishly on luxuries and parties, often giving outrageously expensive gifts. (At one dinner party, he allegedly had so many flower petals dropped on the guests that some were smothered to death.) He was married and divorced five times; one of his wives was a Vestal Virgin, which was extremely illegal under Roman law, but who would dare to prosecute him? He also had several male lovers, and some sources claim he dabbled as a male prostitute. Some of his other actions have led a few recent historians to suggest Elagabalus was actually transgender; I personally don't find the arguments compelling, but thought I should at least mention the idea to be fair. There are quite a few vivid stories of him in the ancient sources, many of them unprintable here, and while many of these stories may be false or exaggerated, they paint a consistent portrait of a thoroughly debauched young man who had no business being in power. By 222, Elagabalus's grandmother could sense the growing unhappiness with his reign, and she had him murdered, and her other grandson, Severus Alexander, took over the throne. The reverse of this coin shows very clearly Elagabalus' commitment to his religion, listing his title of High Priest even before that of Augustus and showing him in the middle of a sacrifice. Or, in the colorful description in Seth W. Stevenson's "Dictionary of Roman Coins" (1889): "We here indeed see him officiating at those rites, for which functions, as his hateful biography informs us, that loathsome young maniac 'circumcised himself and abstained from swine's flesh'. These coins also exhibit the sort of dress which he used in those sacerdotal ministrations- viz., something between the Phoenician sacred robe and the cloak of the Medes, according to Herodianus' description of it; and as the author says in another passage, 'he (Elagabalus) walked in barbarian costume, with purple tunic interwoven with gold, long-sleeved and down to the feet.'" The star in the field probably symbolizes the sun (Helios), which was associated with the god Heliogabalus. (However, the form Elagabalus has also been plausibly derived from the Arabic allah al-jabal (God of the Mountain). My guess is that there's some syncretism going on here.) The "horn" seen on the obverse portrait is also of interest. Traditionally, it has been assumed to be a symbolic manifestation of divinity, as seen on some Hellenistic portraiture. However, a more recent theory suggests that it is actually the dried penis of a sacrificial bull, which the priest wore during ceremonies. Whatever its significance, the horn appeared in issues from about the last year of Elagabalus' reign, but is absent again in his very last coins struck. Please post your coins of Elagabalus, or whatever else is related.
Elagabalus as invincible priest: Denarius, Rome 221 - 222 AD 17 mm, 3.427 g RIC IV Elagabalus 88b; Cohen 61; RSC III 61b; BMCRE V 209; SRCV II 7518 var. (horned); Ob.: IMP ANTONINVS PI(V)S AVG Laureate, draped and bearded bust right; no horn. Rev.: INVIC(T)VS SACERDOS A(VG),Elagabalus standing to left, sacrificing over altar, holding patera in r. hand and club in l., bull lying down behind altar; in l. field star. This coin type was issued in the final emission of coinage under Elagabalus. During the previous year, a "horn" was added to Elagabalus' portrait, commonly believed to be a mark indicating divine status. The emperor's megalomania had grown to such proportions that such an unconventional symbol was to be added to his portrait. During this last issue final emission, though, the "horn" disappeared from the coinage soon after the beginning of TR P V on December 10, 221 AD. This coin has a double strike error (Fr. Tréflag; trefoil) on the reverse. One can see part of the pearled border perpendicular to where it should have been struck. An interesting class of coin error is the double struck coin. This type of error occurs when a minted coin is struck again or even several times by the coining dies before it has left the coining press completely. This usually results in a partial impression of the coin over the previously struck image. Double struck ancient coins are fairly common. These coins were hand struck without any collar holding the coin in place so the coin could easily move when being struck and quality control wasn't so strict so the coin made it into circulation. They are interesting as an oddity but really don't command any additional value. This coin without the horn is dated to ca. mid-January to his death on March 11, 222 AD.
I did build a collection of these sacrifice variations a while back. Here is one of them. Obv:– IMP ANTONINVS PIVS AVG, laureate, horned, draped and cuirassed bust right Rev:– INVICTVS SACERDOS AVG, Elagabalus standing holding patera over an altar and branch. Star in right field. Horn on ground to his left Minted in Rome. A.D. 222 Reference– BMC 209 note. RIC 87 (where it is rated Common citing Cohen). RSC III 58. Cohen 58 (illustrated with star in right field) valued at 50 Fr. No examples in RD. ex Numismatica Ars Classica NAC AG Sale 42, Lot 379, 20th November 2007, ex Barry Feirstein Collection, previously privately purchased from Harlan J. Berk. Described as Lightly toned and good extremely fine by NAC. 21 mm. 3.11 gms. 0 degrees. The coin would certainly seem to be scarcer than the "Common" rating given in RIC would imply. No examples in RD, only one example on acsearch (this coin). No examples on Wildwinds (the RIC 87 there would appear to be in error).
Are we absolutely sure Elagabalus was that crazy teenager only devoted to silliness and debauchery? This is what is told in mainstream modern history books, and what we can read from Cassius Dio (a senator who didn't live in Rome under Elagabalus and wasn't neutral regarding political questions) and the Historia Augusta (a late 4th c. work very suspect of historical inaccuracy). Herodian, who lived in Rome and was contemporary with Elagabalus, is much less severe. This should be noticed. Elagabalus' name was Varius Avitus Bassianus. His mother, Julia Soaemias, was Julia Domna's niece. He was probably not born in Emesa but in Rome, as a member of the imperial family. His father, Sextius Varius Marcellus, held several high offices in Rome from 204 to c. 215 : the young Bassianus was more than probably educated in Rome, not in Emesa. He moved with his mother and grandmother to Emesa in 217, under Macrinus, after Caracalla was assassinated; maybe a little earlier if his mother left Rome after her husband's death in 215. In Emesa he became the high priest of Elagabal, the local Sun-god. This is the most significant moment of his life : he became a radical believer. When his grandmother Julia Maesa made him an emperor, pretending he was Caracalla's son, he accepted ONLY if he could transfer the sacred stone of Elagabal to Rome, make Rome the new holy city of this god, and continue to worship him publicly as his high priest. He valued this more than being emperor ! His project was more serious than usually said, and everything he did in Rome was in conformity with Roman law, Roman mos majorum and oriental religious traditions. Moving the sacred stone to Rome and building a new temple for it on the Palatine hill was in conformity with the mos majorum : it had already been done in the 200s BC when the Black Stone of Pessinus had been settled on the Palatine hill, with all its picturesque and scandalous priests. Being Augustus meant being Pontifex Maximus, a status enabling him to touch sacred things nobody else had the right to touch : he had the right to move sacred relics such as the Palladium and the ancilia (shields) of Mars, he had the right to marry a vestal virgin (his supposed father, Caracalla, had already slept with a vestal virgin too). Prostitution, male or female, was a sacred practice in Oriental religions at the time. Bringing these religious practices in Rome, he could summon all Rome's prostitutes and address them as their leader, for in Syrian religious traditions these women were not whores but priestesses. To sum up, Elagabalus wasn't so crazy, after all... He has been defamed after his assassination to make his cousin and successor, Severus Alexander, look a good emperor. Introducing in Rome the Sun-god Sol Invictus (that was Elagabal's Roman name) as the new supreme deity wasn't so foolish : Aurelianus did exactly the same thing a few decades later, not to mention Constantine !... AE coin from Laodicaea (Lattaqiyeh, Syria)
I agree. Historical accounts can be biased and Elagabalus is certainly not exempt from this issue. History is replete with revisionism to suit the political situation. Elagabalus, sestertius, Rome, 218-222 AD. BM-360 17.83 grams Here's the old envelope that accompanied the coin, incorrectly ascribing the coin to Caracalla.
