Transport of the Baetyl of El-Gabal to Rome

294, Lot: 735. Estimate $500. Sold for $1100. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Elagabalus. AD 218-222. AR Denarius (17mm, 2.89 g, 6h). Antioch mint. Struck AD 218-219. Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right, seen from behind / SANCT DEO SOLI, ELAGABAL in exergue, quadriga right bearing stone of Emesa upon which is an eagle; four parasols around. RIC IV 195; RSC 268. Near EF, toned, lightly porous. Rare.

From the RCM Collection. Ex Hirsch 233 (12 February 2004), lot 1957.

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 sun god was represented by a sacred stone and, in AD 219, when he moved from Emesa to Rome, he took the stone with him. This coin type commemorates this event.