caldrail Posted March 25, 2022 Report Share Posted March 25, 2022 Does anyone know when the worship of Sol Invictus began? I ask because I'm watching a tv documentary where the investigator is shown a cave used by early Christian worship (c. ad68 specifically) and that a Sol Invictus engraving on a rock surface shows some Roman legionaries in what is now Israel were in fact spreading worship of Jesus. Doesn't sound right to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Novosedoff Posted March 25, 2022 Report Share Posted March 25, 2022 The ancestor of the founders of Rome, Aeneas, escaped from Troy when it was destroyed by the Sea people around 13-12 century BC. The main god of Troy was Apollo, a solar deity: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_solar_deities?wprov=sfla1 So Romulus and his twin brother Remus must have had some prior knowledge of the Sun cult. The temple of Apollo Sosianus proves that the cult had presence in Rome in the early republican period. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Ancient_Roman_temples?wprov=sfla1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Novosedoff Posted March 25, 2022 Report Share Posted March 25, 2022 (edited) Btw I remember I came across this interesting article not long ago https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/karahan-tepe-winter-solstice-0016212 A couple more articles about ancient solar temples as we move from Turkey to Stonehenge in the UK https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/stonehenge-solar-calendar-0016484 https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/stonehenge-solar-calendar-0016574 Edited March 28, 2022 by Novosedoff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Novosedoff Posted September 8, 2022 Report Share Posted September 8, 2022 On 3/25/2022 at 3:31 AM, caldrail said: Does anyone know when the worship of Sol Invictus began? One of your Welsh compatriots has just published this post about the origins of Zodiac in Wales https://members.ancient-origins.net/articles/zodiac-0 The guy runs the whole website dedicated to this topic and records some videos too https://originofthezodiac.com/ https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YpTw8_aUFYE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guy Posted September 8, 2022 Report Share Posted September 8, 2022 (edited) On 3/24/2022 at 5:31 PM, caldrail said: Does anyone know when the worship of Sol Invictus began? I found this excellent article below very helpful on the subject with numismatic evidence. It appears that Sol was probably always part of the Roman Empire's pantheon of gods (at least till the outlawing of pagan gods by Theodoseus I in AD 381). It was not till Aurelian, however, that Sol was elevated to the highest position among the gods (reign AD 270-275). Quote The sun as a deity, called Helios in Greek (ηλιος) and Sol in Latin, was well known throughout the ancient world. The Colossus of Rhodes, which is often said to have stood astride the entrance to Rhodes' harbour, was a large statue of Helios – though, not so large that it could actually stand in such a pose. It stood on one side of the entrance. Quote The obverse of a bronze coin from Rhodes, showing the head of Helios Quote The head of Sol on the reverse of a Roman denarius of Mark Antony. Quote [Below the bronze coin from Rhodes] is a silver denarius struck by Mark Antony in 38 BCE, which shows the radiate head of Sol. As you can see, at that time there was no difference between representations of Sol and Helios. This coin has several test punches and a banker's mark – typical for the period, especially for a coin which, like this one, has seen decades of circulation and (as it was minted in Athens) probably crossed borders. Before Aurelian, Sol was no more prominent than many other deities. The denarius of Trajan from 111 CE demonstrates this; it shows the heads of Sol and Luna being carried by Aeternitas, symbolising that day and night are component parts of eternity. Hadrian also struck coins showing the radiate head of Sol; sometimes they were labelled Oriens, meaning the rising sun in the east. Quote The reverse of a denarius of Trajan showing Sol and Luna being carried by Aeternitas. Quote Aurelian promoted the worship of Sol Invictus and made it Rome's major official religion in 270 CE. That's when it really began to come to life on the coinage, in a particularly aggressive way. Quote The reverse of an antoninianus of Aurelian showing Sol with two captives. Sol and Oriens on Roman Coins (forumancientcoins.com) I'm sorry I missed your original post. Below is an older post on the subject. Edited September 8, 2022 by guy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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