Elagabal (deity)

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Aureus of Emperor Elagabal. The reverse shows the holy stone on a quadriga .

Elagabal ( ancient Greek Ἐλαγάβαλος Elagábalos , Latinized Elagabalus or Heliogabalus ) is the name of an ancient sun god , whose cult had its center in the Syrian city ​​of Emesa . There was an Elagabal temple where a sacred stone was venerated. In the period from 219 to 222 the cult of Elagabal expanded to the city of Rome as a result of its sponsorship by the emperor Elagabal ; its center was moved there by transferring the stone and a large temple was built in the imperial capital. The Syrian religion, which was perceived as alien, caused severe irritation in the ruling class of the empire . With the death of the emperor in 222, the state cult in Rome ended. From then on, the worship of the sun deity of Emesa was largely restricted to its area of ​​origin.

The sacred stone

Among different peoples in the Mediterranean region, especially the Phoenicians , including the Carthaginians , was stone cult practiced. Certain stones received religious veneration. They were associated with gods or were considered divine themselves. Such stones are called batyle (also betyle , Greek baitýlia or baítyloi ). The word is derived from Aramaic bet el ("house of God"). In the center of the Elagabal cult was a beehive-shaped, humped black batyl, which was kept in the temple of Emesa. Maybe it was a meteorite ; it was believed to have fallen from heaven. At some times - probably on festive days - the stone was covered with fabric. A similar stone cult existed in Harran . The batyl there was assigned to the moon god Sin .

history

origin

The previously controversial origin and meaning of the name Elagabal has been clarified. It consists of the Semitic words ilaha (Aramaic and Arabic “god”) and gabal (Arabic “mountain”). The original meaning was "the god mountain", not "god of the mountain", because ilaha is not in the status constructus , but in the status emphaticus. The worship of mountains as deities was widespread in the Middle East. What is meant here is the rocky fortress hill in the south of Homs, on which the large, magnificent Elagabal temple was located; this "mountain" is only 30 m high ( gabal can also mean a hill). It is likely to be a local cult that was later adopted by immigrant Arab nomads who settled there.

A sun cult in Emesa was reported as early as the 3rd century BC. The historian Phylarchus , who is quoted in Athenaios ; According to his statements, at that time - unlike Elagabal later - only honey and no wine could be offered to this god, since drunkenness was alien to the world-ruling god. A connection between the sun worship and the cult of Elagabal has not been documented before the Roman Empire.

The imperial cult in Emesa

The Elagabal Temple of Emesa with the holy stone on a 3rd century coin

Already in the 1st century BC Emesa was ruled by Arab princes, who perhaps already regarded Elagabal as a patron god. The oldest evidence of the cult and the name of God is a stele from the 1st century AD. From around the beginning of the Roman Empire , the city experienced an economic and cultural boom thanks to its location on the caravan route to the Persian Gulf . The princes of Emesa were dependent on the Roman Empire. Their independence ended in the late 1st century when the Romans incorporated the area into their empire.

Elagabal was not only the deity of the hill and the batyl of Emesa, but also the sun god for his followers during the Roman Empire and as such the highest of all gods. As its name shows, its original function was only that of a local god. The enormous expansion of the power and responsibility ascribed to him, which was connected with his role as sun god, only occurred in a later phase of his worship.

As the supreme god, Elagabal corresponded to the Greek Zeus or the Roman Iuppiter , and like them the eagle was sacred to him as the most distinguished bird. In his capacity as sun god, he was equated with the Greek Helios . Hence its name was interpreted in terms of folk etymology as Heliogabalos .

From the time of Emperor Antoninus Pius (138–161), the batyl was depicted on Emesa's coins. In the 3rd century the Elagabal cult was in full bloom. Foreign rulers annually sent valuable offerings for the temple, which was adorned with a lot of gold and silver and precious stones. Following the example of the Pythian Games in Delphi , sports festivals (Helia Pythia) were held regularly in Emesa in honor of Elagabal. As an oracle god, Elagabal also gave information to those seeking advice. The dignity of the high priest was hereditary in a family that presumably descended from the old princely family of Emesa.

An inscription from the year 249 testifies to Elagabal's nickname Ammudates . This is the Latinized form of the Aramaic word ʿammūdā (stone pillar, standing stone).

In 253 Uranius Antoninus was raised to the rank of anti -emperor in Emesa . He had the batyl depicted on his coins, with which he confessed to the local sun cult. After his victory over the army of the Palmyrenian ruler Zenobia in 272, the emperor Aurelian is said to have gone to Emesa to fulfill a vow there in the Elagabal temple and to show gratitude for the support of the sun god in the battle. Allegedly he came across the figure of the deity in the temple who had appeared to him as a helper in battle. In the following years, Aurelian emerged as a follower of the Roman god Sol invictus ("undefeated sun"), whom he had venerated as the patron of the Roman Empire. That he attributed his victory to the intervention of the sun god may be true, but he did not specifically have Elagabal in mind; the state sun cult that he organized in Rome was not linked to that practiced in Emesa.

In the 4th century, the poet Avienus described the Elagabal temple of Emesa in his "Description of the World" (Descriptio orbis terrae) , the existence of which is attested for the last time by this mention.

The spread of the cult under Emperor Elagabal

Location of the Elagabal Temple on the Palatine Hill in Rome

In the late adoptive imperial period , the high priest of the Temple of Elagabal in Emesa was a man named Julius Bassianus. The name "Bassianus" (female "Bassiana"), which some of his descendants also carried, was probably derived from the priestly title Basus . Julius Bassianus had two daughters, Julia Domna and Julia Maesa . His clan gained world historical importance through the marriage of Julia Domna to the future emperor Septimius Severus (193–211), who came from Africa and who founded the Severan dynasty . Julia Domna was the mother of Emperor Caracalla (211-217), who was named after his grandfather Bassianus, and his younger brother Geta , who was Caracallas co-regent in 211. Her sister Julia Maesa was the grandmother of the last two emperors of the Severer dynasty, Elagabal (218–222) and Severus Alexander (222–235). Thus, all Severan emperors, except for the founder of the dynasty, descended from the Elagabal priest Julius Bassianus.

The older of Julia Maesa's two imperial grandsons was Varius Avitus Bassianus. Because of his intense veneration for Elagabal, he has been called "Elagabal" since late antiquity . But this is only a nickname, because during his lifetime the divine name was reserved for the divinity. At the age of thirteen he took over the hereditary office of high priest in the Elagabal Temple in Emesa in 217, because he was the oldest male descendant of Julius Bassianus who was still alive. When he achieved the Roman emperor in the following year and moved to Rome, he retained the priesthood, which was very important to him. He transferred the holy stone from Emesa to Rome and raised the Elagabal cult to the state religion of Rome. As a result, the Elagabal veneration briefly acquired world historical significance.

The young emperor had a large, magnificent Elagabal temple built on the Palatine Hill . The building was on what is now known as the Vigna Barberini terrace. The building rose on an area of ​​160 by 110 meters. The assumption that only an already existing building was given a new purpose has proven to be incorrect in view of the archaeological findings. Another temple was built outside the city.

The Syrian customs associated with the Elagabal cult did not become at home in Rome. Rather, it met with violent and widespread rejection in the Roman ruling class because it was incompatible with conventional Roman customs. Outrage aroused in particular the order of the emperor that Elagabal should be superior to the Roman Iuppiter as the highest state god. The installation of a large picture showing the emperor as Elagabal priest making sacrifices in the Curia Iulia , the assembly building of the Senate , above the altar of the goddess of victory Victoria, had to cause offense. The emperor's priestly activities in the context of an alien cult played a major role in making him hated in the capital of the empire and were one of the reasons for his overthrow. After his murder on March 11th, 222 the holy stone was brought back to Emesa. This ended the episode of the state cult of Elagabal in Rome. A private cult in the capital that had existed in the early Severan times may have continued.

In the provinces too, under Emperor Elagabal, worship of his god began in some places. These were probably individual local initiatives, not a systematic missionary work carried out by the emperor. Some cities minted coins on which the batyl was depicted. In Altava in the province of Mauretania Caesariensis , wealthy citizens built an Elagabal temple in 221. Elagabalia - competitions in honor of the god from Emesa - were set up in the town of Sardis , Asia Minor .

Eastern and Western sun cult

In older research, the view was held that Elagabal should be equated with the Roman sun god Sol invictus. The growing importance of the Sol invictus in the 3rd century is a symptom of the penetration of oriental influences in the religious thought of the Romans. In fact, Invictus Sol Elagabalus is attested in writing. In the sense of this interpretation, all sources for the "undefeated" sun god in the west of the empire were interpreted as evidence of the spread of an oriental sun religion propagated by Emesa. Some scholars saw it as a sign of cultural decay, which was the result of "orientalization", the advance of un-Roman customs of Eastern origin. Later research was able to show that the cult of Sol invictus in the West had primarily native roots and was not based on the adoption of Eastern ideas. The state worship of Sol invictus in the 3rd and 4th centuries was based on a religious-political concept that could be based on an already existing, independent Roman tradition. The Elagabal cult, on the other hand, was a Syrian religion that was only able to gain a foothold in Rome for a short time, as the Romans perceived it as a foreign body in religious life.

The cult practice

Regulations and rites

Details of the ritual worship of Elagabal emerge from the reports of Roman historians about the spectacular transplantation of the cult to Rome under Emperor Elagabal. The sources are the historical works of two contemporaries of the emperor, Cassius Dio and Herodian , as well as the late antique Historia Augusta . The source value of these representations is, however, impaired by the tendentious view of their authors. The Roman historians condemned Emperor Elagabal's behavior and understanding of religion emphatically. Cassius Dio described the Elagabal cult from the point of view of a conservative senator with great indignation, but included many important, probably authentic details in his report. Herodian wrote more distantly; he too apparently had good information, but his propensity for embellishment and exaggeration must be taken into account. The unknown author of the Historia Augusta apparently also had access to a good contemporary source that has now been lost. However, the credibility of his statements is controversial. He was a pagan , and as a follower of the ancient Roman religion, he wanted to discredit Christianity. Therefore, he made the generally hated Emperor Elagabal a forerunner of Christian emperors from late antiquity by assuming religious intolerance to him.

The descriptions in the sources suggest that the Roman Elagabal cult faithfully copied that of Emesa, i.e. that no adaptation was made to western ideas. According to these reports, there was a daily worship service, with the magnificently dressed and adorned high priest wearing numerous amulets dancing and singing in front of the altar together with women to the accompaniment of music - wind instruments, cymbals and drums are mentioned in particular. It was also smoked. The priests were circumcised and were not allowed to eat pork.

The daily offerings included wine in particular. Numerous animal sacrifices were made, the blood of the slaughtered sacrificial animals was mixed with the wine. The reports, on the other hand, that ritual human sacrifices are also part of common practice, are considered inaccurate in research or are at least viewed with skepticism. It is possible, however, that there was an old custom of child sacrifice that was still practiced by individual Elagabal worshipers in the 3rd century. In any case, the spread of such rumors shows that the Roman public was ready to trust the Elagabal supporters with any horror.

Every year in midsummer there was a procession led by the emperor from the temple on the Palatine Hill to the other Elagabal temple outside the city. The batyl was carried on a wagon pulled by six white horses. The emperor strode ahead of the chariot, looking back at the batyl and steering the horses; no one sat on the wagon.

Emperor Elagabal wore precious silk robes, his priestly official costume, in which he also appeared in public. He didn't like Roman wool clothes. He was resented for this as an inappropriate luxury and an expression of effeminacy and unmanliness. The reason, however, was probably a religious rule on priestly clothing; in the east certain elements of clothing of animal origin, including leather shoes, were considered impure.

Apparently the religious activity of the Elagabal followers was limited to the performance of the rites, which were supposed to get them the goodwill of God. The sources do not speak of a doctrine of the hereafter or ethical norms.

The holy wedding

In the Arab tradition of Emesa, Elagabal had two companions. One was the goddess of war al-Lāt , the other presumably al-Uzzā . The two goddesses were also worshiped on the Arabian Peninsula and are mentioned in the Koran . In the Roman Empire, al-Lāt was identified with the virgin Athena of the Greeks - the Roman Minerva -; in al-Uzzā one saw the correspondence with the Greek Aphrodite and the Roman Venus , the goddess of love.

Emperor Elagabal oriented himself to this idea of ​​a connection between masculine and feminine in the world of gods when he celebrated the hierarchy (“holy marriage”) of his god in Rome . It was about the marriage of the sun god with the Carthaginian tinnite , the Latin "sky goddess" (Dea Caelestis) , Greek called Urania. In this hierarchy she assumed the function of al-Uzzā. For the purpose of the wedding celebration, the emperor had the famous cult image of the sky goddess, who was also considered the moon goddess, brought from Carthage to Rome. He stated that it was fitting that the sun god should marry the moon goddess. The nature of the relationship between the virgin Athena and the sun god in the context of the cult practiced in Rome is not exactly known. Herodian's statement that Emperor Elagabal first chose Athena to be the wife of his god, but ultimately decided in favor of Aphrodite, is incorrect.

The important role of the two goddesses shows that the Elagabal religion was not, as was sometimes assumed in older research literature, monotheistic . The characteristics and responsibilities of Elagabal and his companions were not syncretistically mixed, but clearly distinguished. Elagabal was not the only, but the supreme god. Even after the death of the emperor Elagabal, the idea of ​​a connection between the sun god and the two goddesses in Emesa seems to have remained alive, as the minting of the counter-emperor Uranius Antoninus, who was raised there in 253, shows.

The promiscuity and prostitution , which the emperor Elagabal was accused of as a personal habit, is to be interpreted as part of religious rites that did not belong to the cult of the god Elagabal, but to that of Dea Caelestis . Religious prostitution was widespread in oriental religious traditions as part of the fertility cult.

iconography

Elagabal was not anthropomorphic (human-shaped). In the pictorial representations of his cult he never appears in a certain shape, but can only be recognized by the lettering and its symbols. Such a cult is called anikonisch ("pictureless", without images of the deity). Iconographically, the aniconical Elagabal was not mixed with the anthropomorphic Roman Sol invictus. An eagle, which usually has a crown in its beak, often appears as a symbol of the deity. The mountain from which the divine name is derived is depicted on the stele from the 1st century AD. The eagle sits on the mountain composed of boulders.

The most important element of the representations is the batyl. He is often shown on a quadriga (team of four), i.e. during the procession. A figure capital from a Roman Elagabal cult site shows the batyl with the seated eagle and the two companions of the god, each with a hand on the tip of the stone. On coins, the eagle covers the batyl with its outspread wings.

A coin from the middle of the 3rd century shows the batyl in the temple of Emesa and thus allows a look inside the sanctuary. Next to the stone there are two ornate, mushroom-shaped objects, which in numismatics are usually interpreted as parasols. Flames can be seen in the bowls of two candelabra . In front of the base on which the stone rests, there is a large amphora . In front of the batyl an eagle can be seen looking to the left, which is perhaps a relief on the stone.

literature

General

  • Christian Augé, Pascale Linant de Bellefonds: Elagabalos . In: Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC) . Volume 3, Artemis, Zurich 1986, ISBN 3-7608-8751-1 , pp. 705–708 (table volume p. 542)
  • Edward Lipiński : Elaha Gabal d'Émèse dans son contexte historique . In: Latomus 70, 2011, pp. 1081-1101
  • Henri Seyrig : Antiquités syriennes. Le culte du Soleil en Syrie à l'époque romaine . In: Syria. Revue d'art oriental et d'archéologie 48, 1971, pp. 337–373
  • Jean Starcky: Stèle d'Elahagabal . In: Mélanges de l'Université Saint-Joseph 49/2, 1975–1976, pp. 501–520

Transplantation of the Elagabal cult to Rome

  • Martin Frey: Studies on religion and the religious policy of the emperor Elagabal. Franz Steiner, Stuttgart 1989, ISBN 3-515-05370-0
  • Michael Pietrzykowski: The religious policy of the emperor Elagabal. In: Rise and Fall of the Roman World , Volume II 16.3, ed. by Wolfgang Haase. De Gruyter, Berlin 1986, ISBN 3-11-008289-6 , pp. 1806-1825
  • Ruprecht Ziegler : The castle hill of Anazarbos in Kilikien and the cult of Elagabal in the years 218 to 222 AD. In: Chiron 34, 2004, pp. 59–85

Web links

Commons : Elagabal  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ The shape can be seen from the illustrations; in Herodian 5,3,5 the stone is described as very large and conical.
  2. ↑ Herodian 5,3,5.
  3. ↑ For the wrapping, which is shown on a coin, see Hans Roland Baldus : Uranius Antoninus. Coin Minting and History , Bonn 1971, pp. 146–147.
  4. ^ Jean Starcky: Stèle d'Elahagabal . In: Mélanges de l'Université Saint-Joseph 49/2, 1975–1976, pp. 501–520, here: 503–504, 509–510; Edward Lipiński: Elaha Gabal d'Émèse dans son contexte historique . In: Latomus 70, 2011, pp. 1081–1101, here: 1085f.
  5. ↑ Ruprecht Ziegler: The castle hill of Anazarbos in Cilicia and the cult of Elagabal in the years 218 to 222 AD. In: Chiron 34, 2004, pp. 59–85, here: 67; Majed Moussli: Greek inscriptions from Emesa and Laodicea ad Libanum . In: Philologus 126, 1982, pp. 254-261, here: 257-258; Edward Lipiński: Elaha Gabal d'Émèse dans son contexte historique . In: Latomus 70, 2011, pp. 1081–1101, here: 1087. The older hypothesis, according to which the temple was on the site of the current great mosque of Homs, is thus outdated.
  6. ^ Michael Pietrzykowski: The religious policy of the emperor Elagabal. In: Rise and decline of the Roman world , Volume II 16.3, Berlin 1986, pp. 1806–1825, here: 1812; Henri Seyrig: Antiquités syriennes. Le culte du Soleil en Syrie à l'époque romaine . In: Syria. Revue d'art oriental et d'archéologie 48, 1971, pp. 337–373, here: 342–343.
  7. ↑ Athenaios 15,693e – f.
  8. ↑ Carlos Chad: Les dynastes d'Émèse , Beirut 1972, pp. 74-75.
  9. ↑ Martin Frey: Studies on Religion and Religious Policy of Emperor Elagabal , Stuttgart 1989, p. 45f .; Michael Pietrzykowski: The religious policy of the emperor Elagabal. In: Rise and decline of the Roman world , Volume II 16.3, Berlin 1986, pp. 1806–1825, here: 1812; Fergus Millar : The Roman Near East 31 BC - AD 337 , Cambridge (Massachusetts) 1993, pp. 305f .; Hans Roland Baldus: Uranius Antoninus. Coin Minting and History , Bonn 1971, pp. 152–153.
  10. ^ Michael Pietrzykowski: The religious policy of the emperor Elagabal. In: Rise and Fall of the Roman World , Volume II 16.3, Berlin 1986, pp. 1806–1825, here: 1811.
  11. ↑ Herodian 5,3,4.
  12. ^ Michael Pietrzykowski: The religious policy of the emperor Elagabal. In: Rise and Fall of the Roman World , Volume II 16.3, Berlin 1986, pp. 1806–1825, here: 1821.
  13. ↑ Edward Lipiński: Elaha Gabal d'Emese dans son contexte historique . In: Latomus 70, 2011, pp. 1081–1101, here: 1094f .; Martin Frey: Studies on religion and the religious policy of the emperor Elagabal , Stuttgart 1989, pp. 46–47.
  14. ↑ CIL III, 4300 .
  15. ^ Edward Lipiński: The Aramaeans , Leuven 2000, pp. 599f.
  16. ↑ Historia Augusta , Aurelianus 25: 3-5.
  17. ↑ Martin Frey: Studies on Religion and Religious Policy of Emperor Elagabal , Stuttgart 1989, pp. 67–68; Stephan Berrens: Sun cult and imperialism from the Severers to Constantine I (193–337 AD) , Stuttgart 2004, pp. 92–97.
  18. ↑ Avienus, Descriptio orbis terrae 1083-1093.
  19. ↑ Herodian 3, 5, 6.
  20. ↑ On the excavations see Henri Broise, Yvon Thébert: Élagabal et le complexe religieux de la Vigna Barberini . In: Mélanges de l'École française de Rome. Antiquité 111, 1999, pp. 729-747; Martijn Icks: The crimes of Elagabalus , London 2011, pp. 27–28 (reconstruction: plates 11 and 12). See Filippo Coarelli : Heliogabalus, templum; Heliogabalium . In: Eva Margareta Steinby (Ed.): Lexicon Topographicum Urbis Romae . Volume 3. Quasar, Rome 1996, pp. 10-11.
  21. ↑ Herodian 5,6,6. For the location of the suburban temple see Christer Bruun: Kaiser Elagabal and a new testimony to the cult of the sun god Elagabalus in Italy . In: Tyche 12, 1997, pp. 1–5, here: p. 2 and note 9.
  22. ↑ Cassius Dio 80 (79), 11.1. When specifying some of the books of Cassius Dio's work, different counts are used; a different book count is given here and below in brackets. Herodian 5: 5, 7 also reports on the new hierarchy of the gods. See Martin Frey: Investigations on Religion and Religious Policy of Emperor Elagabal , Stuttgart 1989, p. 80; Ruth Stepper: Augustus et sacerdos , Stuttgart 2003, pp. 81–82, 179–181.
  23. ↑ Herodian 5: 5, 6-7. See also Michael Pietrzykowski: The religious policy of the emperor Elagabal. In: Rise and Fall of the Roman World , Volume II 16.3, Berlin 1986, pp. 1806–1825, here: 1815; Hans Roland Baldus: The 'imagination painting' of the Heliogabal. A previously unrecognized numismatic testimony . In: Chiron 19, 1989, pp. 467-476.
  24. ↑ Leonardo de Arrizabalaga y Prado: The Emperor Elagabalus: Fact or Fiction? , Cambridge 2010, pp. 141, 147, 150, 157, 168, 181, 197, 220; François Chausson: Vel Iovi vel Soli: quatre études autour de la Vigna Barberini (191–354) . In: Mélanges de l'École française de Rome. Antiquité 107, 1995, pp. 661-765, here: 679-685, 693-701, 705, 712-715.
  25. ^ Louis Robert : Monnaies grecques de l'époque impériale . In: Revue Numismatique 18, 1976, pp. 25–56, here: 51–53; Martijn Icks: Empire of the Sun? Civic Responses to the Rise and Fall of Sol Elagabal in the Roman Empire . In: Oliver Hekster et al. (Ed.): Ritual Dynamics and Religious Change in the Roman Empire , Leiden 2009, pp. 111–120; Martijn Icks: The crimes of Elagabalus , London 2011, pp. 84-87; Ruprecht Ziegler: The castle hill of Anazarbos in Cilicia and the cult of Elagabal in the years 218 to 222 AD. In: Chiron 34, 2004, pp. 59–85, here: 72–84.
  26. ↑ CIL X, 5827 .
  27. ↑ This view was mainly represented by Gaston H. Halsberghe: The cult of Sol Invictus , Leiden 1972. See Martin Frey: Investigations on Religion and Religious Policy of the Emperor Elagabal , Stuttgart 1989, pp. 4–5.
  28. ^ Steven E. Hijmans: The Sun which did not rise in the East; the Cult of Sol Invictus in the Light of Non-Literary Evidence . In: Babesch. Bulletin Antieke Beschaving 71, 1996, pp. 115-150, here: 120-123, 149.
  29. ^ Steven E. Hijmans: The Sun which did not rise in the East; the Cult of Sol Invictus in the Light of Non-Literary Evidence . In: Babesch. Bulletin Antieke Beschaving 71, 1996, pp. 115-150; Jean-Pierre Martin: Sol Invictus: des Sévères à la tétrarchie d'après les monnaies . In: Cahiers du Center Gustave-Glotz 11, 2000, pp. 297-307; Stephan Berrens: Sun cult and imperialism from the Severans to Constantine I (193–337 AD) , Stuttgart 2004, p. 53.
  30. ↑ For an assessment of the sources see Martin Frey: Investigations on Religion and Religious Policy of Emperor Elagabal , Stuttgart 1989, pp. 9–13; Michael Pietrzykowski: The religious policy of the emperor Elagabal. In: Rise and Decline of the Roman World , Volume II 16.3, Berlin 1986, pp. 1806–1825, here: 1808–1810; Glen W. Bowersock : Herodian and Elagabalus . In: Yale Classical Studies 24, 1975, pp. 229-236; Martin Zimmermann : Kaiser and Event , Munich 1999, pp. 222–233.
  31. ↑ Martin Frey: Studies on Religion and Religious Policy of Emperor Elagabal , Stuttgart 1989, pp. 64–71.
  32. ↑ Cassius Dio 80 (79), 11.1; Herodian 5,3,8; 5,5,4; 5.5.9. See Martin Frey: Investigations on Religion and Religious Policy of Emperor Elagabal , Stuttgart 1989, p. 14.
  33. ↑ Herodian 5,5,8.
  34. ↑ Herodian 5: 5, 8-9.
  35. ^ Martin Frey: Studies on Religion and Religious Policy of Emperor Elagabal , Stuttgart 1989, pp. 34–42; Michael Pietrzykowski: The religious policy of the emperor Elagabal. In: Rise and Fall of the Roman World , Volume II 16.3, Berlin 1986, pp. 1806–1825, here: 1820.
  36. ↑ The course of the procession is described in Herodian 5: 6, 6-10.
  37. ↑ Herodian 5, 5, 3–5 and 5, 8, 1; Cassius Dio 80 (79), 11.2.
  38. ^ Michael Pietrzykowski: The religious policy of the emperor Elagabal. In: Rise and Fall of the Roman World , Volume II 16.3, Berlin 1986, pp. 1806–1825, here: 1815–1816.
  39. ↑ Martin Frey: Studies on Religion and Religious Policy of the Emperor Elagabal , Stuttgart 1989, pp. 50–53; Michael Pietrzykowski: The religious policy of the emperor Elagabal. In: Rise and Fall of the Roman World , Volume II 16.3, Berlin 1986, pp. 1806–1825, here: 1813, 1817–1819.
  40. ↑ Herodian 5: 6,3-5. See Martin Frey: Investigations on Religion and Religious Policy of the Emperor Elagabal , Stuttgart 1989, pp. 52–54.
  41. ↑ Martin Frey: Studies on Religion and Religious Policy of the Emperor Elagabal , Stuttgart 1989, pp. 43–44, 64–67.
  42. ^ Hans Roland Baldus: Uranius Antoninus. Coin Coining and History , Bonn 1971, pp. 56–58, 149–151, 154–156; Stephan Berrens: Sun cult and imperialism from the Severers to Constantine I (193–337 AD) , Stuttgart 2004, p. 56.
  43. ^ Cassius Dio 80 (79), 13.
  44. ↑ Martin Frey: Studies on Religion and Religious Policy of Emperor Elagabal , Stuttgart 1989, pp. 15-27.
  45. ↑ On the aniconical character see Herodian 5,3,5. The Roman historian notes that there was no cult image with the image of the god in the temple of Emesa.
  46. ^ Martijn Icks: The crimes of Elagabalus , London 2011, p. 74.
  47. ^ Hans Roland Baldus: Uranius Antoninus. Coin Minting and History , Bonn 1971, pp. 151–152. On the alleged parasols, see Martin Frey: Investigations on religion and on the religious policy of Emperor Elagabal , Stuttgart 1989, pp. 61–63.
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