Sale: Triton VI, Lot: 1053. Estimate $750.  Closing Date: Monday, 13 January 2003.  Sold For $750. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ELAGABALUS. 218-222 AD. AR Denarius (3.12 gm). Antioch mint. ANTONINVS PIVS FEL AVG, laureate bust right / SANCT DEO SOLI, ELAGABAL in exergue, quadriga right bearing stone of Emesa upon which is an eagle; four parasols around. RIC IV 195; BMCRE 284; RSC 268. EF, off-center strike. ($750)

At the age of fourteen, Varius Avitus Bassianus (Elagabalus) inherited the office of high priest of the sun-god Elagabalus at Emesa in Syria. The cult of his sun god was represented by a sacred stone, and in 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, building a lavish temple to house the stone. The reverse of this coin shows the stone on its annual procession through the streets of Rome.