I thought showing this lead cult plaque (actually, the upper part of a canonical four-row 'Danubian horsemen' icon, minus the upper left corner with serpent/dragon) might be appropriate at the time of Sol's birthday. Although these icons are quite abundant in the wider area of central and lower Danube, little is known about the cult itself, apart from its apparent popularity among the local population roughly between 2nd and 4th century A.D. However, the central figure of the cult is not Sol shown here in his standard four-horse chariot, but rather the mysterious female (deity) standing in the center of the bottom (originally third) row, and/or two horsemen (deities) approaching her from left and right.
PROBUS Antoninianus OBVERSE:IMP C M AVR PROBVS P F AVG, radiate, mantled & cuirassed bust left holding eagle-tipped sceptre REVERSE: SOLI INVICTO, Sol in spread quadriga, holding globe and raising right hand. Mintmark KA Delta Struck at Serdica, 276-282 AD 3.2g, 24mm RIC V 861, D
The Syrian version of Sol, El-Gabal: Elagabalus. AR denarius, Eastern mint, struck 218–9 CE. 3.24g, 12h. BMCRE 287, RIC 196, RSC 269 (Cohen, 25 Fr.). Obv: ANTONINVS PIVS FELIX AVG; laureate head right. Rx: SANCT DEO SOLI / ELAGABAL in exergue; slow quadriga right, bearing conical stone of Elagabalus of Emesa, on front of which, an eagle; about it, four parasols. Very rare obverse variant showing FELIX in legend, and head only rather than bust draped and cuirassed; none in Reka Devnia. According to C. Clay, Vienna has a denarius of this type (RIC 196, RSC 269) from the same FELIX/Head only obverse die. A coin in the BM collection is also die linked to the obverse of the present coin. EF. Reference: Trustees of the British Museum, “1977,0208.1,” Collection online (London, n.d.), (obverse die link).
