Sol Invictus

Sol Invictus(Classical Latin:[ˈsoːɫɪnˈwɪktʊs], "Invincible Sun" or "Unconquered Sun") was the officialsun godof the lateRoman Empireand a later version of the godSol. The emperorAurelianrevived his cult in  274 AD and promoted Sol Invictus as the chief god of the empire.From Aurelian onward, Sol Invictus often appeared on imperial coinage, usually shown wearing asun crownand driving a horse-drawn chariot through the sky. His prominence lasted until the emperorConstantine Ilegalized Christianity and restricted paganism.The last known inscription referring to Sol Invictus dates to AD 387,although there were enough devotees in the fifth century that the Christian theologianAugustinefound it necessary to preach against them.
In recent years, the scholarly community has become divided on Sol between traditionalists and a growing group of revisionists.In the traditional view,Sol Invictuswas the second of two different sun gods in Rome. The first of these,Sol Indiges, orSol, was believed to be an early Roman god of minor importance whose cult had petered out by the first century AD.Sol Invictus, on the other hand, was believed to be a Syrian sun god whose cult was first promoted in Rome underElagabalus, without success. Some fifty years later, in 274 AD, Aurelian established the cult ofSol Invictusas an official religion.There has never been consensus onwhichSyrian sun god he might have been: some scholars opted for the sky god of Emesa,Elagabal,while others preferredMalakbelofPalmyra.In the revisionist view, there was only one cult of Sol in Rome, continuous from themonarchyto theend of antiquity. There were at least three temples of Sol in Rome, all active during the Empire and all dating from the earlier Republic.
Invictus("unconquered, invincible") was anepithetutilized for severalRoman deities, includingJupiter,Mars,Hercules,Apollo, andSilvanus.It had been in use from the 3rd century BC.The Roman cult toSolis continuous from the "earliest history" of the city until the institution of Christianity as the exclusive state religion. Scholars have sometimes regarded the traditionalSol IndigesandSol Invictusas two separate deities, but the rejection of this view by S. E. Hijmans has found supporters.
An inscription of AD 102 records a restoration of a portico of Sol in what is now the Trastevere area of Rome by a certain Gaius Iulius Anicetus.While he may have had in mind an allusion to his owncognomen, which is the Latinized form of the Greek equivalent ofinvictus, ἀνίκητος (anikētos),the earliest extant dated inscription that usesinvictusas an epithet of Sol is from AD 158.Another, stylistically dated to the 2nd century, is inscribed on a Romanphalera(ornamental disk):INVENTORI LUCIS SOLI INVICTO AUGUSTO("I glorify the unconquerable sun, the creator of light.")Augustusis a regular epithet linking deities to theImperial cult.Sol Invictus played a prominent role in theMithraic mysteries, and was equated with Mithras.The relation of the Mithraic Sol Invictus to the public cult of the deity with the same name is unclear and perhaps non-existent.
According to theHistoria Augusta,Elagabalus, the teenaged Severan heir, adopted the name of his deity and brought his cult image from Emesa to Rome. Once installed as emperor, he neglected Rome's traditional State deities and promoted his own as Rome's most powerful deity. This ended with his murder in 222. TheHistoria Augustaequates the deity Elagabalus with Jupiter and Sol:fuit autem Heliogabali vel Iovis vel Solis sacerdos, "He was also a priest of Heliogabalus, orJove, or Sol".While this has been seen as an attempt to import the Syrian sun god to Rome,the Roman cult of Sol had existed in Rome at least since the earlyRepublic.
The Romangens Aureliawas associated with the cult of Sol.After his victories in the East, the EmperorAurelianthoroughly reformed the Roman cult of Sol, elevating the sun-god to one of the premier divinities of the Empire. Where previously priests of Sol had been simplysacerdotesand tended to belong to lower ranks of Roman society,they were nowpontificesand members of the newcollege of pontificesinstituted by Aurelian. Every pontifex of Sol was a member of the senatorial elite, indicating that the priesthood of Sol was now highly prestigious. Almost all these senators held other priesthoods as well, however, and some of these other priesthoods take precedence in the inscriptions in which they are listed, suggesting that they were considered more prestigious than the priesthood of Sol.Aurelian also built a newtemple for Sol, which was dedicated on 25 December 274,and brought the total number of temples for the god in Rome to (at least) four.He also instituted games in honor of the sun god, held every four years from 274 onwards.
The identity of Aurelian's Sol Invictus has long been a subject of scholarly debate. Based on theAugustan History, some scholars have argued that it was based onSol Elagablus(or Elagabla) ofEmesa. Others, basing their argument onZosimus, suggest that it was based on theŠams, the solar god ofPalmyraon the grounds that Aurelian placed and consecrated a cult statue of the sun god looted from Palmyra in the temple of Sol Invictus.Forsythe (2012)discusses these arguments and adds a third more recent one, based on the work of Steven Hijmans. Hijmans argues that Aurelian's solar deity was simply the traditional Greco-RomanSOL INVICTUS.
Emperors portrayedSOL INVICTUSon their official coinage, with a wide range of legends, only a few of which incorporated the epithetINVICTUS, such as the legendSOLI INVICTO COMITI, claiming the "Unconquered Sun" as a companion to the Emperor, used with particular frequency by Constantine.Statuettes of Sol Invictus, carried by the standard-bearers, appear in three places in reliefs on theArch of Constantine. Constantine's official coinage continues to bear images of Sol until 325/326. Asolidusof Constantine as well as a gold medallion from his reign depict the Emperor's bust in profile twinned (jugate) with Sol Invictus, with the legendINVICTUS CONSTANTINUS
Constantine decreed (March 7, 321)DIES SOLIS– the day of the Sun, "Sunday" – as the Roman day of rest
Constantine's triumphal arch was carefully positioned to align with thecolossal statue of Solby theColosseum, so that Sol formed the dominant backdrop when seen from the direction of the main approach towards the arch.
Berrens (2004)deals with coin-evidence of Imperial connection to the Solar cult. Sol is depicted sporadically on imperial coins in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD, then more frequently fromSeptimius Severusonwards until AD 325–326.SOL INVICTUSappears on coin legends from AD 261, well before the reign of Aurelian.
Connections between the imperialradiate crownand the cult of Sol are postulated.Augustuswas posthumously depicted with radiate crown, as were living emperors fromNero(after AD 65) toConstantine. Some modern scholarship interprets the imperial radiate crown as a divine, solar association rather than an overt symbol of Sol; Bergmann calls it a pseudo-object designed to disguise the divine and solar connotations that would otherwise be politically controversialbut there is broad agreement that coin-images showing the imperial radiate crown are stylistically distinct from those of the solar crown of rays; the imperial radiate crown is depicted as a real object rather than as symbolic light.
Hijmans argues that the Imperial radiate crown represents the honorary wreath awarded toAugustus, perhaps posthumously, to commemorate his victory at theBattle of Actium; he points out that henceforth, living emperors were depicted with radiate crowns, but statediviwere not. Hijmans believes this implies that the radiate crown of living emperors is a symbolic link to Augustus. His successors automatically inherited (or sometimes acquired) the same offices and honours due to Octavian as "saviour of the Republic" through his victory at Actium, piously attributed toApollo-Helios.
Furthermore, radiate crowns were not solely worn by emperors: The wreaths awarded to victors at theActian Gameswere radiate.
According to some scholars, the emperorAurelianinstituted in AD 274 the festivalDies Natalis Solis Invicti('birthday of the Invincible Sun') on 25 December,the date of thewinter solsticein the Roman calendar.In Rome, this yearly festival was celebrated with thirty chariot races.Gary Forsythe, Professor of Ancient History, says "This celebration would have formed a welcome addition to the seven-day period of theSaturnalia(December 17–23), Rome's most joyous holiday season since Republican times, characterized by parties, banquets, and exchanges of gifts".Before Aurelian, the Calendar ofAntiochus of Athens,c.second century AD, had marked 25 December as the "birthday of theSun" but did not refer to any religious festival being held on that date.Around AD 238,Censorinushad written inDe Die Natalithat the winter solstice was the "birth of the Sun".
The festival ofNatalis Inviction December 25 is marked in theChronograph of 354(or Calendar of Filocalus). Historians generally agree that this part of the text was written in Rome in AD 336,and most scholars see this as referring to theNatalis Solis Invicti.Steven Hijmans questions whether this actually refers to a feast of Sol Invictus, as "Sol" is not included in the festival name, and the number ofchariot racesgiven for the feast is not a multiple of twelve unlike other feasts dedicated to him. Hijmans argues that there is no evidence for a feast dedicated to Sol Invictus at the Roman winter solstice before Julian, and doubts that the feast was actually instituted by Aurelian.Wallraff (2001) says there is limited evidence for the festival before the mid-4th century.
Aurelian also instituted theAgonSolis(sacred contest forSol), held every fourth year, as StJerome'sChroniconattests.In AD 362, the emperorJulianwrote in hisHymn to KingHeliosthat theAgon Soliswas held in late December, between the end of the Saturnalia and the New Year.Julian says it is dedicated to Helios and the "Invincible Sun".Most scholars therefore date the festival to December 25 and associate it with theNatalis Solis Invicti.Dissenting from this view, Hijmans argues that Julian never said theAgon Soliswas held on that date, but believes Julian celebrated a different festival of Sol at the winter solstice.
A widely-held theory is that the early Churchchose December 25 as Jesus Christ's birthday(Dies Natalis Christi) to appropriate the festival of Sol Invictus's birthday (Dies Natalis Solis Invicti), held on the same date.The Calendar of Filocalus (c.336 AD) is the earliest record of both theNatalis Invictiand Christ's birthday being marked on December 25. Steven Hijmans argues that the earliest certain evidence for a festival ofSol Invictuson December 25 is from Julian, thirty years later; he suggests that the pagan feast might have been a reaction to the Christian one rather thanvice versa.
The early Church linked Jesus Christ to the Sun and referred to him as the 'true Sun' (Sol verus),or the 'Sun of Righteousness' (Sol Justitiae) prophesied byMalachi.The Christian treatiseDe solstitiis et aequinoctiis, from the latefourth century AD, associates Jesus' birth with the "birthday of the sun" and Sol Invictus:
In a late fourth century Christmas sermon,Augustine of Hipposaid:
The theory is mentioned in an annotation of uncertain date added to a manuscript by 12th-century Syrian bishopJacob Bar-Salibi. The scribe wrote:
Another theory is that Christmas was calculated as nine months after a date chosen as Christ's conception (theAnnunciation): March 25, the Roman date of thespring equinox. This theory was first proposed by French priest and historianLouis Duchesnein 1889.
Imagery of Sol may have been appropriated by Christians. A mosaic dated to around 300 AD in theTomb of the Julii, an apparently Christian tomb in theVatican Necropolis, is generally thought to depict Jesus as Sol,Helios,orApollo.Steven Hijmans suggests that it is simply a representation of Sol, or a figure representing the Sun.
A mosaic floor inHamat TiberiaspresentsDavidas Helios surrounded by a ring with the signs of thezodiac.As well as in Hamat Tiberias, figures of Helios or Sol Invictus also appear in several of the very few surviving schemes of decoration surviving from Late Antiquesynagogues, includingBeth Alpha, Husefa, all now inIsrael, andNaaranin the West Bank. He is shown in floor mosaics, with the usual radiate halo, and sometimes in aquadriga, in the central roundel of a circular representation of the zodiac or the seasons. These combinations "may have represented to an agricultural Jewish community the perpetuation of the annual cycle of the universe or ... the central part of a calendar".