Here comes the sun (the Beatles)

Here’s a little darling who’s had a long cold lonely winter

 

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Emperor Elagabalus (AD 218-222) introduced the festival of Elah-Gabal, a Syrian sun god.


Elagabalus Denarius - Sol Advancing
Silver, 19 mm, 1.49 gm, struck AD 221 Rome, catalog: RIC 40
Obverse: Laureate and draped bust right
IMP ANTONINVS PIVS AVG
Reverse: Sol advancing left with raised hand and whip
PM TRP II II COS III PP


Elagabalus Denarius - Sol Standing
Silver, 18 mm, 2.98 gm, struck AD 219 Rome, catalog: RIC 17
Obverse: Laureate and draped bust right
IMP ANTONINVS PIVS AVG
Reverse: Sol standing left, right hand raised, left hand holding whip
PM TRP II COS II PP

 

I love that reverse type! A classic of Roman numismatic iconography!

 

Me too! I admit, though, that I'm not quite sure where Sol's legs are supposed to be. Sticking out horizontally?

 

Digging around concerning later Roman religions this morning I put “Aurelian Sol” into Google, and was auto-redirected to over 4 million sites about “Aurelion Sol”. Some sort of computer game I never heard of.

So I made it revert to “Aurelian Sol”, and it appears about 50% of the links there are from computer game players who do not spell accurately.

At this rate of progress - perhaps the internet will become completely useless for any intellectual purpose within a decade or so?

Rob T