page_title: Elagabalus (deity)
section_title: Cult
hierarchical_section_title: Elagabalus (deity) / Cult
caption_attribution_description: English: Uranius Antoninus. 253-254 AD. Æ 32mm (21.42 gm). Struck in year 565 of the Seleukid era or 253/254 AD in Emesa. AYTOK. COYΛΠ. ANTΩNINOC CE., laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right; viewed from behind EMICΩN KOΛΩN , hexastyle temple containing the conical stone of El Gabal (ornamented with a facing eagle), shaded by two umbrellas; pediment ornamented with crescent; date EΞΦ in the exergue. BMC Galatia etc. pg. 241, 24; Delbrück, "Uranius of Emesa," NumChron (1948), pg. 12, 2d; Baldus 38-42 (pl. IV, dies I/5). Uranius Antoninus is unknown from the ancient literary sources, although Zosimus perhaps confuses this usurper with two usurpers he names as Antoninus and Uranius during the reign of Severus Alexander. He established his government at Emesa in Syria, probably in response to repeated Persian attacks rather than as a challenge to Rome. In any event, it appears he was finally subdued when Valerian I marched to recover the East.
context_page_description: Elagabalus, Aelagabalus, Heliogabalus, or simply Elagabal was an Arab-Roman sun god, initially venerated in Emesa, Syria. Although there were many variations of the name, the god was consistently referred to as Elagabalus in Roman coins and inscriptions from AD 218 on, during the reign of emperor Elagabalus.
context_section_description: Elagabalus was initially venerated at Emesa in Syria, where the Arab Emesan Dynasty acted as its priests. The name is the Latinised form of the Arabic "Ilah Al-Gabal" ("إله الجبل"), the Emesene manifestation of the deity, which is Arabic for "God of the Mountain." Elagabalus was the religious "lord", or Ba'al, of Emesa. The deity successfully preserved Arab characteristics, both in his names and in his representations.
  The cult of the deity spread to other parts of the Roman Empire in the second century, where he would be revered as Elagabalos (Ἐλαγάβαλος Elagábalos) by the Greeks and Elagabalus by the Romans. For example, a dedication has been found as far away as Woerden, in the modern-day Netherlands.
caption: The temple at Emesa, containing the holy stone, on the reverse of this bronze coin by Roman usurper Uranius
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