The emperor currently called "Elagabalus" is often considered one of the worst emperors Rome ever had, who allegedly devoted his reign to debauchery. But his historical importance is much underestimated. Let's see this nice little denarius : Elagabalus, AR denarius, Rome 221-2. Obv.: IMP ANTONINVS PIVS AVG, laureate draped and cuirassed bust right, with a horn on top of his head. Rev.: SVMMVS SACERDOS AVG, the emperor standing left, laureate, in Syrian priestly robes, holding patera and cypress(?) branch, sacrificing over altar, in field six-pointed star. RIC IV Elagabalus 146 The Roman religion was a very old tradition, with its colleges of priests like the Flamines, the Pontiffs, the Arvales Brethren, the Salians, the Vestal Virgins (the only female college), etc. There was a religious calendar and a number of holidays on which certain rites and sacrifices had to be accomplished in order to preserve the Pax Deorum, the Peace with the Gods. The head of the Roman religion was the Pontifex Maximus, Supreme Pontiff. He was the only one who could touch was was sacred. His role was so important and so essential that all Roman emperors took this title. In the early middle ages this ancient title was given to the bishop of Rome, AKA the Pope. Being Pontifex Maximus, every emperor had the #1 duty of being pius, organize celebrations and perform all due sacrifices. In 218 the young Bassianus, the son of Caracalla's cousin Julia Soaemias, was hailed as Augustus in Syria by the IIIrd Legion Gallica who toppled the emperor Macrinus. This coup was organized by his grandmother Julia Maesa, sister of Julia Domna. She declared her daughter had an affair with her cousin Caracalla and that Bassianus was indeed Caracalla's son. Bassianus had his name changed and became Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, like his new official father. The Severian dynasty was restored and the senate, in Rome, recognized the new emperor. Of course, he was Pontifex Maximus like his late father and all other emperors before him. But there was a problem. Bassianus was aged 13 and in Emesa where he lived (today Homs in Syria) he was the High Priest of the local god Elagabal. And he was taking this very seriously... Elagabal (or Elaiagabal according to Herodian) means "God, or My God, of the Mountain". A mountain god, like other Arab or Hebrew male deities of the Middle East (the Nabataean god Dusares was Dhu-Shara, "the One of Mount Shara", or the Jewish god Yahweh was initially the god of Mount Horeb or Sinai). Elagabal was also a solar god, called in Greek Helios Aniketos, in Latin Sol Invictus, the Unconquered Sun. He was worshiped in his Emesene temple under the form of a baetyl, a conical black stone. Like some people today who count letters or words in sacred texts like the Bible or the Quran, notice small tiny details and say they discover hidden miraculous meanings, worshippers in Emesa observed tiny details on the surface of the black stone and drew the same kind of conclusions : "No statue made by man in the likeness of the god stands in this temple, as in Greek and Roman temples. The temple does, however, contain a huge black stone with a pointed end and round base in the shape of a cone. The Phoenicians solemnly maintain that this stone came down from Zeus; pointing out certain small figures in relief, they assert that it is an unwrought image of the sun, for naturally this is what they wish to see." (Herodian 5.3.5). This is called faith, and the young high priest was one of the most fervent believers. For him, his raison d'être in this world was being the High Priest of the Baetyl, the black stone, and his new rank of Augustus, Roman emperor, only came second. He accepted to go to Rome, but only if he could bring the Black Stone with him, what he did. He refused to wear the Roman toga and sent the Senate a portrait of himself wearing the Syrian priestly robes and sacrificing to the Black Stone. In Rome he had a temple built for his god on the Palatine, overlooking the Colosseum : Rome was from now on the new holy city of Sol Invictus Elagabal. Because he was also Pontifex Maximus, and knew very well what it meant, he removed the holiest and most sacred relics of Rome nobody had the right to touch but himself : the Palladium from Vesta's temple and the Ancilia, the sacred shields from the Regia, were relocated in the new Elagabalium. All senators were ordered to officially worship Elagabal in celebrations led by himself as "Summus Sacerdos". This title was not Roman, there had never been a summus sacerdos in Rome. It is the Latin translation of a typical Near-Eastern religious institution like, for example, in Hebrew, the Kohen ha-Gadol (high priest) of the Jerusalem Temple. In Palmyra there was also a high priest of Bel called in Greek archiereus. Roman emperors could have been made "archiereis" in Oriental cities, like Antioch for example, but a Summus Sacerdos in Rome was unprecedented. On this denarius the emperor has a small horn on the top of his head. This is an Oriental symbol of divinity, the gods being horned, some kings or prophets too, such as the Akkadian king Naram-Sin as early as the 3rd Millienium BC, Moses or Alexander the Great on coins (in the Quran he is named Dhu-l Qarnayim, "the One with Two Horns"). Elagabalus is the only Roman emperor who has been represented with a horn on Roman coinage. His beard may be exaggerated on this official portrait, for he was only 16 or 17 years old. On the reverse we see him sacrificing to Sol Invictus Elagabal. The aniconic god (Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image) is represented as a simple star and the emperor as "summus sacerdos" is wearing not the Roman toga but the Syrian priestly robes with a belt around his waist and tied on his belly. This image is surely a reduction of the official portrait of him he had sent to the Senate on his way to Rome: "Since, however, he wished the Senate and the Roman people to grow accustomed to seeing him in this costume and wished to test their reaction to this exotic sight, before he returned to Rome he had a full-length portrait painted, showing him performing his priestly duties in public. His native god also appeared in the painting; the emperor was depicted sacrificing to him under favorable auspices. Heliogabalus sent this picture to Rome to be hung in the centre of the Senate house, high above the statue of Victory before which each senator burns frankincense and pours a libation of wine upon entering the chamber." (Herodian 5.5.6-7). In Roman coinage, this image comes with three different legends : Invictus sacerdos (aureus, denarius, sestertius, as), Summus sacerdos (denarius only), Sacerd(os) dei Solis Elagab(ali) (denarius, quinarius, sestertius, dupondius), or just the emperor's titles P M TR P IIII or V COS III P P. Sol Invictus Elagabal was now the new supreme god of Rome. "He directed all Roman officials who perform public sacrifices to call upon the new god Heliogabalus before all the other gods whom they invoke in their rites" (Herodian 5.5.7). A Roman reaction came some time after. The young emperor was assassinated at the age of 17 in 222 and replaced by his younger cousin Alexianus, renamed Severus Alexander. He inherited the title of High Priest of Elagabal, too, but the first thing he did was to close the Elagabalium and convert it into a temple of Jupiter Ultor (Jupiter the Avenger), and to send the Black Stone back to Emesa. ... but the worshipping of Sol Invictus remained popular among the Romans and in the army, even if the Syrian name Elagabal was left aside. Gallienus later erected a solar colossus on the Esquiline, and Aurelian re-introduced Sol Invictus as the supreme god of Rome and the Empire. He dedicated his new Roman temple on 25 december 274, which seems to be the origin of Christmas day. Constantine was a staunch devout of Sol Invictus and claimed he was his "companion". In the late 3rd and early 4th c. the old traditional Roman religion was replaced by the religion of Sol Invictus, and when the emperors switched to Christianity, it was replaced by the Christian faith which is today Rome's official religion.
Elagabalus (218 - 222 A.D.)AR Denarius Struck 220-222 AD. O: IMP ANTONINVS PIVS AVG, Laureate and draped bust right, horn on head. R: SACRED DEI SOLIS ELAGAB, Elagabalus standing right, holding branch (?) and sacrificing from patera over lighted altar; star in right field. Rome 19mm 3.5g RIC IV 131; BMCRE 225 note; RSC 246 Ex. VAuctions Sale : 269 Lot: 165
@GinoLR Excellent write-up! Thanks for taking the time to do so! I'm particularly interested and appreciative of your post because I have an example of the same type. (Albeit a humble example compared to yours, due to rough surfaces -- and wear.) Not surprisingly, my example was struck from different dies.
