Elagabalus as High Priest

224, Lot: 572. Estimate $100. Sold for $88. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Elagabalus. AD 218-222. AR Denarius (19mm, 2.96 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck AD 221. Laureate and draped bust right, with “horn” above forehead / SVMMVS SACERDOS AVG, Elagabalus standing left, sacrificing from patera over altar and holding branch; star to left. RIC IV 146; RSC 276. Good VF.

At the age of fourteen, Varius Avitus Bassianus (Elagabalus) inherited the office of high priest of the sun god El-Gabal at Emesa in Syria. The cult of his god was represented by a sacred stone, and in AD 219 when he moved from Emesa to Rome, he took the stone, probably a meteorite, with him. During his reign, Elagabalus devoted his efforts to the promotion of his cult god. The reverse type and legend on the present coin proudly presents the young emperor as high priest of El-Gabal.