Invincible sun

Stamped silver disc with the image of Sol Invictus, Rome, 3rd century ( British Museum )

Invincible Sun ( Latin: Sol Invictus ) - the official Roman god of the sun of the solar cult, created by Emperor Aurelian in 274 AD e. His cult was superior to other Eastern cults in importance up to the ban on polytheistic religions under Theodosius I. It is generally recognized that the earliest inscription linking the invincible emperor with the sun is a legend on a bronze ornament dating from its style to the second century: INVENTORI LUCIS SOLI INVICTO AUGUSTO ^[1] .

It was previously believed that the Romans held a sun festival on December 25, also called Dies Natalis Solis Invicti ("the birthday of the invincible sun"). December 25 was the first day after the winter solstice , when there was a noticeable lengthening of daylight hours. Currently, from the sources available to modern historical science, only the solar celebrations celebrated in August are reliably known ^[2] .

The name Sol Invictus also applied to some other solar deities during this period. The name Sol Invictus, which is not a specific name, appears on imperial coins since the rise of Septimius Severus ^[3] . The solid minted under Constantine , as well as the gold medallion from the time of his reign, depicts an imperial bust doubled with Sol Invictus. The inscription on the medallion reads: INVICTUS CONSTANTINUS ^[4] .

Although, starting in the middle of the second century, a considerable number of Eastern cults were practiced unofficially among the Roman legions , only the Sol Invictus cult was officially approved and specially prescribed for the army ^[5] .

Content

Use of the term

Sol invictus

The name Sol Invictus (“The Invincible Sun”) applied to at least three different deities during the later Empire : Heliogabal , descended from Syrian Emesa , unsuccessfully nominated as head of the official pantheon by the emperor of the same name ; to Miter ; and to Saul .

The earlier agrarian cult of Sol Indiges was practiced (“native sun” or “called sun” - the etymology and meaning of the word “indiges” are the subject of discussion).

Heliogabal

The term Sol Invictus first gained fame during the reign of Emperor Heliogabal , who tried unsuccessfully to establish worship of the sun god from his hometown of Ames in Syria . Although the cult disappeared with the death of the emperor in 222, the emperors continued to be depicted on coins with crowns from the sun for about a century.

Mithra

Secondly, the epithet invictus was applied to Miter in personal inscriptions made by his admirers. It was also used in relation to Mars .

Aurelian

Aurelian in his crown with sunbeams on a silver-plated bronze coin of Roman coinage, 274-275

After victories in the east, Emperor Aurelian introduced the official cult of Sol Invictus, establishing the sun god as the main deity of the empire. Aurelian also began to wear a crown with outgoing sunbeams. He founded the College of Pontiffs and dedicated the Temple to the Invincible Sun in 274. The cult of the Invincible Sun was the main official cult of the early fourth century.

In legions, where the policy of individual religious freedom is attested to by personal inscriptions on tombs and sworn oaths in all corners of the Empire, except for military camps, the only officially permitted Eastern cult, probably since the reign of Aurelian and precisely under Constantine, was the cult of the Invincible Sun ^[6] .

In popular culture

Sol Invictus is a neo-folk music group.

Notes

↑ Margherita Guarducci, "Sol invictus augustus," Rendiconti della Pont. Accademia Romana deiarcheologia , 3rd series 30/31 (1957/59) pp 161ff; it is also illustrated by Ernst H. Kantorowicz, “Gods in Uniform” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 105 .4 (August 1961): 368-393), p. 383, fig. 34.
↑ Aurelian, Constantine, and Sol in Late Antiquity
↑ Hoey AS Official Policy towards Oriental Cults in the Roman Army // Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association. 70. 1939. P. 470, 479f and notes.
↑ The medallion is depicted in Toynbee JMC Roman Medallions. 1944, reprinted 1987. plate xvii, no. eleven; solid depicted in Maurice J., Numismatique Constantinienne. vol. II, p. 236, plate vii, no. 14
↑ Hoey 1939: 456.
↑ Hoey 1939: 456, 479ff.

Literature

Amphitheaters A. V. Christmas of the “Invincible Sun” // Old in New. - SPb. : Comrade "The public good", 1907.

[1] Margherita Guarducci, "Sol invictus augustus," Rendiconti della Pont. Accademia Romana deiarcheologia , 3rd series 30/31 (1957/59) pp 161ff; it is also illustrated by Ernst H. Kantorowicz, “Gods in Uniform” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 105 .4 (August 1961): 368-393), p. 383, fig. 34.

[2] Aurelian, Constantine, and Sol in Late Antiquity

[3] Hoey AS Official Policy towards Oriental Cults in the Roman Army // Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association. 70. 1939. P. 470, 479f and notes.

[4] The medallion is depicted in Toynbee JMC Roman Medallions. 1944, reprinted 1987. plate xvii, no. eleven; solid depicted in Maurice J., Numismatique Constantinienne. vol. II, p. 236, plate vii, no. 14

[5] Hoey 1939: 456.

[6] Hoey 1939: 456, 479ff.