407, Lot: 292. Estimate $100. Sold for $65. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SELEUCIS and PIERIA, Emesa. Julia Domna. Augusta, AD 193-217. Æ (26mm, 16.11 g, 6h). Draped bust right / Altar of El-Gabal, with six niches containing sculpture; ZKΦ (date) in exergue. BMC 10; SNG Copenhagen –; Price & Trell 681. Fine, brown patina, some roughness.

From the François Righetti Collection.

Emesa was the major cult center for the deity El-Gabal, who was worshipped there in the form of a baetyl (an aniconic stone idol; in the case of El-Gabal, a large black conical stone, often interpreted as a meteorite). Just a few years after this coin was struck, in 218, a teenage priest of the god, Varius Avitus Bassianus, was declared emperor and took the name Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, although he is more commonly known as Elagabalus for his devotion to El-Gabal. Elagabalus moved the baetyl to Rome upon his accession and, for a brief period, it seemed that El-Gabal might become the principle deity in the Roman pantheon. Wishing to distance himself from Elagabalus’ unpopular religious practices, his successor Severus Alexander sent the baetyl back to Emesa. The cult of El-Gabal saw a resurgence in Rome under Aurelian, who wisely promoted the worship of the deity in an iconic form more acceptable to westerners.