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For nearly half a century, from 193-235 CE, the Roman Empire was governed by a family of Emesa, an ancient sacerdotal state, where on the edge of the Syrian desert rose the splendid temple of Elagabalus. The ambitious princesses, Julia Domna, Sohaemias, Maesa, and Mammaea, whose intellectual ascendancy was so considerable, became missionaries of their national religion. Officials of all ranks, senators and officers, rivalled each other in devotion to the gods who protected their sovereigns and were protected by them. The bold proclamation of the emperor Elagabalus in 218 CE desired to elevate this solar deity and the black stone of his god from Emesa to the rank of sovereign divinity of the empire, subordinating the entire pantheon of antiquity to Sol Invictus Elagabal, as he termed in inscriptions. The Greeks named him Heliogabalus in order to recall his solar character. The attempt of Heliogabalus to establish in heaven a kind of solar monotheism corresponding to the monarchy that ruled on earth was doubtless violent and premature - it miscarried and provoked the assassination of its author. But it corresponded to the aspirations of the day and it was renewed half a century later, this time with complete success.
In 274, Aurelian was inspired with the same idea, when he created a new cult of the “Invincible Sun.” Worshipped in a splendid temple, served by pontiffs who were raised to the level of the ancient pontiffs of Rome, celebrated every fourth year by magnificent games, Sol Invictus was definitely promoted to the highest rank in the divine hierarchy and became the official protector of the sovereigns and of the empire. The country in which Aurelian discovered the model which he sought to reproduce was Syria: he placed in his new sanctuary the images of Bel and Helios, which he captured in Palmyra. In establishing this new state cult, Aurelian in reality proclaimed the dethronement of the old Roman idolatry and the accession of Oriental Sun-worship. With Constantinus Chlorus (305 CE) there ascended the throne a solar dynasty which connected itself with Claudius II Gothicus, a votary of the worship of Apollo, professed to have Sol Invictus as its special protector and ancestor. Even the Christian emperors, Constantine and Constantius, did not altogether forget the pretensions which they could derive from so illustrius a descent, and the last pagan who occupied the throne of the Caesars, Julian the Emperor, has left us a discourse in which in the style of a subtle theologian he expressed his adoration of the King Star, of whom he considered himself the spiritual son and heaven-sent champion.
Bibliography
| Cumont 1912, 96-99 | Cumont, Franz. Astrology and Religion among the Greeks and Romans. American Lectures on the History of Religions 8. New York, London: G. P. Putnam's Sons 1912. |
Amar Annus
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