Il Culto del Deus Elagabalus dal I al III secolo d.C. attraverso le testimonianze epigrafiche, letterarie e numismatiche

The research on "The cult of Deus Elagabalus from I to III century AD through epigraphic, numismatic and literary evidence" deals with the worship of the Syrian god Elagabalus, a native of Emesa that, during the so-called second Severian age, marked by the principality of emperors Heliogabalus and Severus Alexander, had disputed the first place in the Roman pantheon with Iuppiter.Until now, the criticism has focused its attention rather than the worship of the Syrian god, on the princeps which it made official the position of god in Rome: Varius Avitus Bassianus, high priest of the Emesene deity, became emperor under the name of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus in 218 AD. Here we discussed in depth issues unpublished or previously treated in a marginal way, focusing primarily on the origins of the cult and its diffusion in the western provinces of the Empire, everything after the end of Heliogabalus’s principality which proved to be only a step in the affirmation of the god of Emesa outside the original East Area.The work has been structured according to a coherent plan that covers a time span ranging from the first to the third century AD, since the first Syrian epigraphic evidence in Aramaic language until you get to the representations of aniconic bethel, depicted in emissions coin beaten by the mint of Emesa under the usurper Uranius Antoninus (253/254), last member of the Emesene priestly dynasty, under whose reign the cult of the Syrian god will live his final season before finally eclipsed.