Sol Invictus
Sol Invictus
In recent years, the scholarly community has become divided on Sol between traditionalists and a growing group of revisionists. In the traditional view, Sol Invictus was the second of two different sun gods in Rome. The first of these, Sol Indiges), or Sol, was believed to be an early Roman god of minor importance whose cult had petered out by the first century AD. Sol Invictus, on the other hand, was believed to be a Syrian sun god whose cult was first promoted in Rome under Elagabalus, without success. Some fifty years later, in 274 AD, Aurelian established the cult of Sol Invictus as an official religion. There has never been consensus on which Syrian sun god he might have been: some scholars opted for the sky god of Emesa, Elagabal), while others preferred Malakbel of Palmyra. In the revisionist view, there was only one cult of Sol in Rome, continuous from the monarchy to the end of antiquity. There were at least three temples of Sol in Rome, all active during the Empire and all dating from the earlier Republic.
Invictus as epithet
!Dedication made by a priest of [Jupiter Dolichenus on behalf of the well-being (salus) of the emperors, to Sol Invictus and the Genius) of the military unit equites singulares Augusti](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/ca/SteleSolInvictusTerme.jpg/330px-SteleSolInvictusTerme.jpg)
Invictus as epithet
Invictus) ("unconquered, invincible") was an epithet utilized for several Roman deities, including Jupiter), Mars), Hercules, Apollo, and Silvanus). It had been in use from the 3rd century BC. The Roman cult to Sol) is continuous from the "earliest history" of the city until the institution of Christianity as the exclusive state religion. Scholars have sometimes regarded the traditional Sol Indiges and Sol Invictus as two separate deities, but the rejection of this view by S. E. Hijmans has found supporters.
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