The New York Sale
Auction 48 14 Jan 2020
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Elagabalus. Silver Denarius (3.23 g), AD 218-222. Antioch, AD 218/9. ANTONINVS PIVS FEL AVG, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Elagabalus right. Reverse: SANCT DEO S-OL-I around, ELAGABAL in exergue, the Holy Stone (baetyl) of Emesa flanked by four parasols, on triumphal car drawn by four horses right. RIC 195; BMC 284; RSC 268. Rare. Lightly toned. NGC grade Ch XF; Strike: 4/5, Surface: 4/5. Value $2,500 - UP
Born in AD 205, Varius Avitus Bassianus, grandson of Julia Maesa and neice of the empress Julia Domna, was appointed High Priest of Baal of Emesa in his boyhood. In 218 he was proclaimed emperor by the Legions stationed in Syria. This uprising ended with the assassination of Macrinus and Diadumenian. Elagabalus left for Rome taking with him the cult statue of Baal, the Holy Stone of Emesa. In Rome, he made Sol Heliogabalus the first god of the Roman pantheon. The cult statue had its home in the Eliogabalium on the Palatine. The reign of Elagabalus was characterized by his religious fanaticism and other eccentricities which eventually led to his assassination by the Pretorians in AD 222.
Born in AD 205, Varius Avitus Bassianus, grandson of Julia Maesa and neice of the empress Julia Domna, was appointed High Priest of Baal of Emesa in his boyhood. In 218 he was proclaimed emperor by the Legions stationed in Syria. This uprising ended with the assassination of Macrinus and Diadumenian. Elagabalus left for Rome taking with him the cult statue of Baal, the Holy Stone of Emesa. In Rome, he made Sol Heliogabalus the first god of the Roman pantheon. The cult statue had its home in the Eliogabalium on the Palatine. The reign of Elagabalus was characterized by his religious fanaticism and other eccentricities which eventually led to his assassination by the Pretorians in AD 222.