Talk:Elagabalus (deity)

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[edit] El and Sol

There is confusion of names here. The stone needs to be Elagabal and the emperor Elagabalus.

The Semitic El was originally a Sun-god anyway, for it is the origin of the Greek Sun-god HElios or Elios. Yahweh was the equivalent Semitic Moon deity, to add duality, after the Egyptian Yah for Moon.

Thus the Elagabal was most certainly a Sun-god, and the shape does indeed suggest 'Sun Mountain'. Narwhal-tooth (talk) 23:38, 5 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] The east

"In the East, there were many solar deities, including the Greek Helios, who was largely displaced by Apollo. Some of these used the title 'Sol Invictus' (the unconquered sun). " True enough about solar deities. But the use of "some' in these cases always raises doubts. Latin was not used much in the east. Is anything being quoted here? ... or is this just hogwash? --Wetman

The title of this page is a larger problem. Who says that Elagabalus and Aurelian worshipped the same divinity? Septentrionalis PMAnderson 18:58, 3 August 2007 (UTC)

I don't think El Gabal, or El of the mountain, El manifested as the patron God of Emessa who favored the city apparently with a meteorite or Kaaba like black stone starts out as a Sun God. I think that this becomes a fusion with the Roman Sol Invictus. In any case there is so much more detail in the Elagablus article then there is in this one, that I am going to wipe out my earlier edits and just copy the thread from that one with the references, to wit:

• The name El-Gabal originally referred to the patron deity of the emperor's birthplace, Emesa.^[1] El refers to the chief Semitic deity, while Gabal, meaning mountain (compare with the Hebrew gevul and Arabic jebel), is his Emesene manifestation.^[2] The god was later imported and assimilated with the Roman sun god, who was known as Sol Indiges in republican times, and later Sol Invictus during the 2nd and 3rd centuries.^[3] High priests in antiquity were identified with the god they served, and thus Avitus was styled Elagabalus.^{[citation needed]}
• Godspeed John Glenn! Will 04:25, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Shambolic?

This article is shamolic in regards to recent scholarship. Elagabalus was not known by this name during his lifetime, he was Marcus Aurelius Antoninus as Emperor, and Varius Avitus Bassianus in his role as Priest-Lord of Emesa. Elagabal was NOT identified with Sol Indiges, any of the ancient sources can attest to this, and certainly not during the Republican era where no openly foreign deity would have been placed inside the pomerium. Please read any of Hijmans work on the Roman sun cult and see the discussion on wikipedia about Sol Invictus. I think thsi article should be completely rewritten. —Preceding unsigned comment added by God Save the Tsar (talk • contribs) 01:58, 5 December 2007 (UTC)