ELAGABALUS SOL INVICTUS

'Elagabalus Sol Invictus' was a Roman sun god, introduced in Rome, during the Severan dynasty, by the Roman emperor Elagabalus (also called "Heliogabalus"), who was the hereditary high priest of the god, Baal ("lord") of Emesa (in ancient Syria), or ''El-Gabal'', latinised as 'Elagabalus'.
The name El-Gabal originally referred to the patron deity of the emperor's birthplace, Emesa.^[1] El refers to the chief Semitic deity, while Gabal, meaning mountain (compare with the Hebrew ''gevul'' and Arabic ''jebel''), is his Emesene manifestation.^[1] The god was later imported and assimilated with the Roman sun god, who was known as Sol Indiges in republican times, and later Sol Invictus during the 2nd and 3rd centuries.^[3] High priests in antiquity were identified with the god they served, and thus Avitus was styled Elagabalus.

When Elagabalus became emperor, he brought his deity Elagabalus Sol Invictus to Rome.
El-Gabal, renamed ''Deus Sol Invictus'' or ''God the Undefeated Sun'', was placed over even Jupiter.^[4] As a sign of the union between the two religions, Elagabalus gave either Astarte, Minerva, Urania, or some combination of the three, to El-Gabal as a wife.^[5]
A temple called the Elagabalium was built on the east face of the Palatine Hill, to house El-Gabal, a black conical meteorite^[6].
Speaking of this stone, Herodian says "this stone is worshipped as though it were sent from heaven; on it there are some small projecting pieces and markings that are pointed out, which the people would like to believe are a rough picture of the sun, because this is how they see them"^[7].
To become the high priest of El-Gabal, Elagabalus had himself circumcised. Herodian writes that Elagabalus forced senators to watch while he danced around the altar of El-Gabal to the sound of drums and cymbals, and that each summer solstice became a great festival to El-Gabal popular with the masses because of its widely distributed food. During this festival, Elagabalus placed El-Gabal on a chariot adorned with gold and jewels, which he paraded through the city:
:A six horse chariot carried the divinity, the horses huge and flawlessly white, with expensive gold fittings and rich ornaments. No one held the reins, and no one rode in the chariot; the vehicle was escorted as if the god himself were the charioteer. Elagabalus ran backward in front of the chariot, facing the god and holding the horses reins. He made the whole journey in this reverse fashion, looking up into the face of his god.
The most sacred relics from the Roman religion were transferred from their respective shrines to the Elagabalium, including the Great Mother, the fire of Vesta, the Shields of the Salii and the Palladium, so that no other God except El-Gabal would be worshipped.^[8]
With his death in 222, Elagabalus' religious edicts were reversed and El-Gabal was returned to Emesa.^[9],
the god reverted to being a Syrian god.

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References

References

1.
2.
3. De Cultus van Sol Invictus: Een vergelijkende studie tussen keizer Elagabalus (218-222) en keizer Aurelianus (270-275) Devlaminck, Pieter
4. Cassius Dio, ''Roman History'' ★ class=wikiexternal target=_blank>.html#79-11 LXXX.11
5. Herodian, ''Roman History'' V.6
6. Herodian, ''Roman History'' V.5
7. Herodian, ''Roman History'' V.3
8. ''Augustan History'', Life of Elagabalus ★ class=wikiexternal target=_blank>.html#3.4 3
9. Herodian, ''Roman History'' VI.6