Sol Invictus

Coin of Emperor Probus, circa 280, with Sol Invictus riding a quadriga, with legend SOLI INVICTO, "to the Unconquered Sun". Note how the Emperor (on the left) wears a radiated solar crown, worn also by the god (to the right).

Sol Invictus ("Unconquered Sun") was the Roman Sol with an epithet, invictus (unconquered) that was commonly given to Sol from the second century AD onwards. There is much confusion about this Sol Invictus because modern scholarship long maintained that he was actually a distinct sun god introduced from Syria by the emperor Aurelian in 274.^[1] In recent publications this older view has been definitively refuted, and it now seems certain that the Romans revered the sun, Sol (with various epithets, including invictus) as a god, without interruption, from as far back as we can trace Roman religion until the end of antiquity. ^[2]

As a result of these new studies, many of the older, cherished notions concerning the role of the sun god in Late Antiquity are falling by the wayside.

Use of the phrase

Repoussé silver disc of Sol Invictus, Roman, 3rd century, found at Pessinus (British Museum)

Invictus is simply a Roman religious title or epithet applied to various distinct divinities in the Roman Empire without substantially changing their identities: on the Roman Calendar of the early empire we find Jupiter Invictus and Mars Invictus. Hercules was often named invictus in the late Republic and throughout the imperial period, as were a range of other deities including, for instance, Apollo and Silvanus. Thus this epithet was well-established when the title invictus was applied to Mithras in private inscriptions by devotees from the second c. onwards. It was also the epithet of choice for the aniconic Elagabalus local to Emesa, when he was put forward briefly (and unsuccessfully) as the head of the official pantheon by his namesake emperor. It became a common epithet for Sol as well, but at no point was the term invictus used to differentiate the Roman sun god of the later empire from the the sun god who had been present in Rome from the earliest history of the city. It is now accepted by scholars in the field that the Romans maintained this early cult of Sol without interruption until the end of Roman (pagan) religion.^[3]

The earliest precisely dated use of invictus is in an inscription from Rome which was erected in AD 158.^[4] Another example of the use of invictus with Sol in the second c. AD is the legend on a bronze phalera dated by its numismatic parallels to the second century, in the Vatican collections: INVENTORI LUCIS SOLI INVICTO AUGUSTO (to the contriver of light, Sol Invictus Augustus).^[5] Too much has been made of the addition of the epithet Augustus on this phalera, and the connection it may imply between Sol and the emperor. In point of fact, Augustus is a very common epithet applied to over 100 different Roman deities.^[6] Scholars tend now to place the initiative for calling a god augustus with the dedicant(s) rather than the emperor. Whether the epithet is simply used to exalt the divinity, or is added to invoke the deity's special protection for the emperor, is debated, but few now accept the notion that it reflects an imperial claim to a special relationship with the Augustan deity.^[7]

These examples represent a few of the earliest securely dated cases in which Sol is called invictus. They prove that by the middle of the second century CE the term invictus was applied to Sol, but do not indicate how much earlier that practice first began. Hijmans (2009, 486, n. 22) remarks on the fact that in AD 102 a certain Anicetus restored a shrine of Sol, stating "It is tempting to link Anicetus' predilection for Sol with his name, the Latinized form of the Greek word ἀνίκητος, which means invictus".^[8]

Elagabalus

The first sun god to be fairly consistently given the epithet invictus was the Syrian god Elagabalus who briefly, but famously, gained prominence under the emperor Elagabalus. This young lad (he was 14 when he became emperor) abortively attempted to impose the worship of Elagabalus, the supreme deity of his native city Emesa in Syria, on the Roman Empire as a whole. With the emperor's death in 222, however, this attempt was abandoned. In the past, this episode was seen as the first, abortive attempt to impose the Syrian sun god on Rome.^[9] But because it is now clear that the Roman cult of Sol remained firmly established in Rome throughout the Roman period,^[10] this Syrian Sol Elagabalus has become no more (and also no less) relevant to our understanding of the Roman Sol than for example the Syrian Jupiter Dolichenus is for our understanding of the Roman Jupiter.

Sol Invictus

Aurelian

Aurelian in his radiate crown, on a silvered bronze coin struck at Rome, 274-275

The Roman gens Aurelia was associated with the cult of Sol.^[11] After his victories in the East, the emperor Aurelian thoroughly reformed the Roman cult of Sol, elevating the sun-god to one of the premier divinities of the empire. Where previously the priests of Sol had been a sacerdos and tended to belong to lower ranks of Roman society,^[12] they were now a pontifex and member of the new college of pontifexes instituted by Aurelian. Every pontifex of Sol was a member of the senatorial elite, indicating that the priesthood of Sol was now highly prestigious. Almost all these senators held other priesthoods as well, however, and some of these other priesthoods take precedence in the inscriptions in which they are listed, suggesting that they were considered more prestigious than the priesthood of Sol.^[13] Aurelian also built a new temple for Sol, bringing the total number of temples for the god in Rome to (at least) four (the other three were in the Circus Maximus, on the Quirinal, and in Trastevere).^[14] He also instituted games in honor of the sun god, held every four years from AD 274 onwards.

The confusion surrounding Aurelian's reforms has been significant, much of it rooted in the mistaken opinion that he was introducing a new cult, which, as is now clear, he was not. The following constitute the most common errors of fact attributed to Aurelian and his reforms.

1. Aurelian called his sun god Sol Invictus to differentiate him from the earlier Roman god Sol.

Actually, Aurelian is twice as likely to call Sol Oriens on his coins as he is Sol Invictus.^[15] Only one of the fifteen or so pontifexes of Sol adds the epithet invictus; all others simply call themselves "pontifex Solis".^[16]

2. Aurelian built his new temple for a Syrian sun god, not the Roman one.

There is no credible evidence to support this, and ample to refute it. The "Syrian Sol-hypothesis" is therefore now rejected by all specialists in the field.^[17]

3. Aurelian inaugurated his new temple and held the first games for Sol on December 25th.

This is not only pure conjecture, but goes against the best evidence available.^[18] There is no record of celebrating Sol on December 25th prior to CE 354/362. Hijmans lists the known festivals of Sol as August 8 and/or 9, August 28, and December 11. There are no sources that indicate on which day Aurelian inaugurated his temple and held the first games for Sol, but we do know that these games were held every four years from CE 274 onwards. This means that they were presumably held in CE 354, a year for which perchance a Roman calendar, the Chronography of 354 (or calendar of Filocalus), has survived. This calendar lists a festival for Sol and Luna on August 28th, Ludi Solis (games for Sol) for October 19th-22nd, and a Natalis Invicti (birthday of the invincible one) on December 25th. While it is widely assumed that the invictus of December 25th is Sol, the calendar does not state this explicitly.^[19] The only explicit reference to a celebration of Sol in late December is made by Julian the Apostate in his hymn to King Helios written immediately afterwards in early CE 363. Julian explicitly differentiates between the one-day, annual celebration of late December 362 and the multi-day quadrennial games of Sol which, of course, had also been held in 362, but clearly at a different time.^[20] Taken together, the evidence of the Calendar of Filocalus and Julian's Hymn to Helios clearly shows, according to Hijmans and others, that the ludi of October 19th - 22nd were the Solar Games instituted by Aurelian. They presumably coincided with the dedication of his new temple for Sol.^[21]

4. After Aurelian, Sol became supreme deity of the Roman Empire.

Hijmans 2009, chapter 9[15] raises serious doubts about this contention.

Constantine

Coin of Emperor Constantine I depicting Sol Invictus with the legend SOLI INVICTO COMITI, circa 315.

Identical reverse as above but with Emperor Licinius on head

Emperors up to Constantine portrayed Sol Invictus on their official coinage, with a wide range of legends, only a few of which incorporated the epithet invictus, such as the legend SOLI INVICTO COMITI, claiming the Unconquered Sun as a companion to the Emperor, used with particular frequency by Constantine.^[22] Statuettes of Sol Invictus, carried by the standard-bearers, appear in three places in reliefs on the Arch of Constantine. Constantine's official coinage continues to bear images of Sol until 323. A solidus of Constantine as well as a gold medallion from his reign depict the Emperor's bust in profile twinned ("jugate") with Sol Invictus, with the legend INVICTUS CONSTANTINUS^[23]

Constantine decreed (March 7, 321) dies Solis—day of the sun, "Sunday"—as the Roman day of rest [CJ3.12.2]:

On the venerable day of the Sun let the magistrates and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed. In the country however persons engaged in agriculture may freely and lawfully continue their pursuits because it often happens that another day is not suitable for grain-sowing or vine planting; lest by neglecting the proper moment for such operations the bounty of heaven should be lost.^[24]

Constantine's triumphal arch was carefully positioned to align with the colossal statue of Sol by the Colosseum, so that Sol formed the dominant backdrop when seen from the direction of the main approach towards the arch.^[25]

Sol and the other Roman Emperors

A recent study by S. Berrens (2004), unfortunately available in German only, deals definitively with the imperial connection to the Solar cult, as witnessed by coins. Sol is depicted sporadically on imperial coins in the first and second centuries CE, but with notable frequency from Septimius Severus onwards, until CE 323. Interestingly, Sol is not called invictus on official coins until CE 261, i.e. generations after the Severi, but well before Aurelian.^[26]

Many scholars have postulated a connection between the imperial radiate crown and the cult of Sol. Augustus, posthumously, and then all living emperors from Nero (after CE 65) to Constantine without exception were routinely depicted on Roman coins with a radiate crown.^[27] There are two schools of thought on this imperial radiate crown. The one, best represented by Bergmann (1998) sees the crown as a divine, solar symbol. The other, now best represented by Hijmans, does not.^[28] Both schools agree that the imperial radiate crown is carefully and consistently differentiated from the solar crown of rays, because the imperial radiate crown is invariably depicted as a real object rather than as symbolic light.^[29] They differ on the reason for this. Bergmann calls it a pseudo-object designed to disguise the divine and solar connotations because they were politically controversial^[30]. Hijmans argues that it actually was a real object, which he believes was an honorary wreath awarded to Augustus, perhaps posthumously, to commemorate his victory at the battle of Actium. Hijmans points out that all living emperors were depicted radiate as a matter of course but that none of the actually deified emperors were depicted radiate posthumously, except Augustus. This makes sense if the object was a real honorary wreath linking the emperors to Augustus. Conversely it would be very strange to award a divine honor to all living emperors, but withhold it from those who, after their death, were actually deified. As for the rays, Hijmans points out that the Actian victory was attributed to Apollo-Helios and that all wreaths awarded to victorious competitors at the Actian Games were radiate.^[31]

Hijmans appears to build a more convincing case than Bergmann because he can make more sense of how the imperial crown was actually depicted and used. But it is too early to say whether his theory can stand up to scholarly criticism.

Sol Invictus and Christianity

There was not a longstanding tradition of a festival for the sun on December 25. Only one, late source mentions a Natalis Invicti, "the birthday of the unconquered one." on that day.^[32] It is true that December 25 was the Roman date for the winter solstice,^[33] with the first detectable lengthening of daylight hours, and in his Hymn to King Helios which was written in 362, the last pagan emperor, Julian, records a festival for Sol celebrated in late December, but his protestations that this festival was an ancient one do not ring true. There is no evidence that this festival was celebrated before the mid fourth century AD.^[34] Whether the 'Sol Invictus' festival "has a strong claim on the responsibility for our December date" of Christmas (Catholic Encyclopedia (1908)^[35]) or not has been called into question by Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, who challenged this theory by arguing that a December 25 date was determined simply by calculating nine months beyond March 25, regarded as the day of Jesus’ conception (the Feast of the Annunciation).^[36]

Just as Christmas coincides with the winter solstice, the March 25 date neatly coincides with the vernal equinox, and its pagan ritual themes of fertility and sexual congress with nature that were later associated with Christianity and Jesus. Other recent Christian commentators^[37][38] agree with Ratzinger that the identification of Christ's birthday pre-dates the Sol Invictus festival, noting the earliest record of the celebration of Christ's birthday on December 25 dates to 243 AD. The question of the historical origin of Christmas, and its relationship to the festival of Dies Natalis Solis Invicti remains unresolved (it should be noted that the Romans also celebrated the end of the year with a festival called the Saturnalia, which ended on December 23).

December 25 is 4 days after the winter solstice (from Latin solstitium, "the sun stays still"), and in this period, with the days starting to become visibly longer and the nights shorter, December 25 would have been a logical date to choose as the day of the rebirth of the sun, imagery then utilized by the Christian community. Some Christians accept the idea that Sol Invictus may be behind the date of Christmas, with the idea that the early church "baptized" the holiday by imbuing it with a new, Christian meaning. In the 5th c., Pope Leo I (the Great) spoke of this in several sermons on the Feast of the Nativity. Here is an excerpt from his 26th sermon:

But this Nativity which is to be adored in heaven and on earth is suggested to us by no day more than this when, with the early light still shedding its rays on nature, there is borne in upon our senses the brightness of this wondrous mystery.

But this sermon was not in any way related to Sol Invictus directly.

In his 22nd sermon, he directly addressed those who attributed the Nativity to Sol Invictus:

Having therefore so confident a hope, dearly beloved, abide firm in the Faith in which you are built: lest that same tempter whose tyranny over you, Christ has already destroyed, win you back again with any of his wiles, and mar even the joys of the present festival by his deceitful art, misleading simpler souls with the pestilential notion of some to whom this our solemn feast day seems to derive its honour, not so much from the nativity of Christ as, according to them, from the rising of the new sun. Such men's hearts are wrapped in total darkness, and have no growing perception of the true Light: for they are still drawn away by the foolish errors of heathendom, and because they cannot lift the eyes of their mind above that which their carnal sight beholds, they pay divine honour to the luminaries that minister to the world.

In this sermon, Pope Leo I clearly establishes that the two feasts were held on the same day, but that they are also not related.

Solar symbolism was popular with early Christian writers^[39] This is also apparent in the prayers and hymns of the Church, such as the Eastern Orthodox Troparion of the Nativity:

Thy birth, O Christ our God,
rose upon the world as the light of knowledge;
for through it those who worshipped the stars
were taught by a star to adore Thee, the Sun of Righteousness,
and to know Thee, the Sunrise from on high.
O Lord, glory to Thee.

Mosaic of Sol (the Sun) in Mausoleum M in the pre-fourth-century necropolis under St Peter's Basilica. Some have interpreted it as representing Christ.

According to the New Catholic Encyclopedia, 1967, article on Constantine the Great:

"Besides, the Sol Invictus had been adopted by the Christians in a Christian sense, as demonstrated in the Christ as Apollo-Helios in a mausoleum (c. 250) discovered beneath St. Peter's in the Vatican."

Indeed "...from the beginning of the 3rd century "Sun of Justice" appears as a title of Christ"^[40]. Some consider this to be in opposition to Sol Invictus^{[citation needed]}. Some see an allusion to Malachi 4:2.

The date for Christmas may also bear a relation to the sun worship. According to the scholiast on the Syriac bishop Jacob Bar-Salibi, writing in the twelfth century:

"It was a custom of the Pagans to celebrate on the same 25 December the birthday of the Sun, at which they kindled lights in token of festivity. In these solemnities and revelries the Christians also took part. Accordingly when the doctors of the Church perceived that the Christians had a leaning to this festival, they took counsel and resolved that the true Nativity should be solemnised on that day." (cited in Christianity and Paganism in the Fourth to Eighth Centuries, Ramsay MacMullen. Yale:1997, p. 155) However, this statement directly conflicts with what we know of the early Christians, namely, that they were ridiculed, tortured and cast apart from operative society precisely because they would not participate in the pagan feasts and celebrations. The early Christians set themselves directly in opposition to the paganism which ruled the day. "Since Christians worshipped an invisible God, pagans often declared them to be atheists." (cited in "The Story of Christianity, volume 1, The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation", HarperCollins Publishers, 1984, p36)

This pagan feast is first documented only in the Chronography of 354, which also contains the earliest certain reference to 25 December as the feast of the birth of Christ.^[41]

See also

• Saturnalia
• Victory over the Sun

Notes

Further reading

S. Berrens, Sonnenkult und Kaisertum von den Severern bis zu Constantin I. (193-337 n. Chr.). Stuttgart: Steiner 2004 (Historia-Einzelschriften 185).

Halsberghe, G. 1972. The Cult of Sol Invictus (Leiden). This book is thoroughly outdated, and not taken seriously by any current specialist in the field.

S.E. Hijmans, "The Sun which did not Rise in the East: the Cult of Sol Invictus in the Light of non-literary Evidence", Bulletin Antieke Beschaving 71 (1996), 115-150.

S.E. Hijmans, "Sol Invictus, the Winter Solstice, and the Origins of Christmas", Mouseion 3, 2003, 377-398.

S.E. Hijmans, Sol: the Sun in the Art and Religions of Rome, Groningen 2009. [16]

P. Matern, Helios und Sol. Kulte und Ikonographie des griechischen und römischen Sonnengottes, Istanbul, Ege 2002.

M. Wallraff, Christus Verus Sol: Sonnenverehrung und Christentum in der Spätantike, Jahrbuch für Antike und Christentum, Erg. Bd. 32, Aschendorff, Münster, 2001.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Sol Invictus

• Encyclopedia Britannica Online: Sol
• Probus and Sol, includes images of coins
• Roman-Emperors: Aurelian
• Gibbon's Decline and Fall: Triumph of Aurelian
• Gibbon's references for Aurelian's Temple of Sol Invictus
• Clement A. Miles, Christmas in Ritual and Tradition, Christian and Pagan (1912): December 25 and the Natalis Invicti
• Catholic Encyclopedia (1908): Christmas
• Ancient sources

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