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Probus
–
Roman Emperor
: 276-282
A.D. –
Bronze Antoninianus 22mm (4.22 grams) Struck circa 276-282 A.D.
Reference: RIC 776h
IMPCMAVRPROBVSPFAVG – Radiate bust left, wearing
imperial mantle,
holding scepter with eagle atop.
SOLIINVICTO Exe: XXIA – Sol riding oncoming quadriga, raising hand and
holding whip with globe.
Sol Invictus (“the undefeated Sun”) or, more fully, Deus
Sol Invictus (“the undefeated sun god”) was a religious
title applied to at least three distinct divinities
during the later Roman Empire: El Gabal, Mithras, and
Sol.
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A
quadriga (Latin
quadri-, four, and iugum, yoke) is a car
or
chariot
drawn by four
horses
abreast (the
Roman Empire
‘s
equivalent of
Ancient Greek
tethrippon
). It was
raced in the
Ancient Olympic Games
and other contests. It is represented in profile as the
chariot of
gods and heroes
on
Greek vases
and in
bas-relief
. The
quadriga was adopted in
ancient Roman
chariot racing
.
Quadrigas were emblems of triumph;
Victory
and
Fame
often are depicted
as the triumphant woman driving it. In
classical mythology
,
the quadriga is the chariot of the gods;
Apollo
was depicted
driving his quadriga across the heavens, delivering
daylight and dispersing the night. The word quadriga
may refer to the chariot alone, the four horses without
it, or the combination.
Royal/Imperial symbols of power
Ruling dynasties often exploit pomp and ceremony with
the use of
regalia
:
crowns
,
robes
,
orb (globe) and sceptres
,
some of which are reflections of formerly practical
objects. The use of language mechanisms also support
this differentiation with subjects talking of “the
crown” and/or of “the
throne
” rather than
referring directly to personal names and items.
Monarchies
provide the
most explicit demonstration of tools to strengthen the
elevation of leaders. Thrones sit high on
daises
leading to
subjects lifting their gaze (if they have permission) to
contemplate the ruler. Architecture in general can set
leaders apart: note the symbolism inherent in the very
name of the Chinese imperial
Forbidden City
.
Roman Imperial
repoussé
silver
disc of Sol
Invictus (3rd century), found at
Pessinus
(British
Museum) Sol Invictus (“Unconquered Sun”) was the
official
sun god
of the later
Roman Empire
and a
patron of soldiers. In 274 the
Roman emperor
Aurelian
made it an
official
cult
alongside the
traditional Roman cults. Scholars disagree whether the
new deity was a refoundation of the ancient
Latin
cult of
Sol
,
a revival of the cult of
Elagabalus
or
completely new.The god was favored by emperors after
Aurelian and appeared on their coins until
Constantine
.The last
inscription referring to Sol Invictus dates to 387 AD
and there were enough devotees in the 5th century that
Augustine
found it
necessary to preach against them.
It is commonly claimed that the date of
25 December for
Christmas
was selected
in order to correspond with the Roman festival of
Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, or “Birthday of the
Unconquered Sun”, but this view is challenged
Invictus as epithet
Invictus
(“Unconquered, Invincible”) was an
epithet
for
several deities
of
classical Roman religion
,
including the supreme deity
Jupiter
, the war god
Mars
,
Hercules
,
Apollo
and
Silvanus
.[8]
Invictus was in use from the 3rd century BC, and
was well-established as a
cult
title when applied
to
Mithras
from the 2nd
century onwards. It has a clear association[vague]
with solar deities and solar monism; as such, it became
the preferred epithet of Rome’s traditional
Sol
and the novel,
short-lived Roman state cult to
Elagabalus
, an
Emesan
solar deity who
headed Rome’s official pantheon under his
namesake emperor
.
The earliest dated use of Sol invictus is in a
dedication from Rome, AD 158. Another, stylistically
dated to the 2nd century AD, is inscribed on a Roman
phalera
: “inventori
lucis soli invicto augusto” (to the contriver of
light, sol invictus augustus ). Here “augustus” is most
likely a further epithet of Sol as “august” (an elevated
being, divine or close to divinity), though the
association of Sol with the Imperial house would have
been unmistakable and was already established in
iconography and stoic monism. These are the earliest
attested examples of Sol as invictus, but in AD
102 a certain
Anicetus
restored a
shrine of Sol; Hijmans (2009, 486, n. 22) is tempted “to
link Anicetus’ predilection for Sol with his name, the
Latinized
form of the
Greek word ἀνίκητος, which means invictus“.
Elagabalus
The first sun god consistently termed invictus
was the
provincial Syrian
god
Elagabalus
. According
to the
Historia Augusta
,
the
teenaged Severan heir
adopted the name of his deity and brought his cult image
from Emesa to Rome. Once installed as emperor, he
neglected Rome’s traditional State deities and promoted
his own as Rome’s most powerful deity. This ended with
his murder in 222.
The Historia Augusta refers to the deity
Elagabalus as “also called Jupiter and Sol” (fuit
autem Heliogabali vel Iovis vel Solis).This has been
seen as an abortive attempt to impose the Syrian sun god
on Rome;
but because it is now clear that the
Roman cult of Sol remained firmly established in Rome
throughout the Roman period,this Syrian
Sol Elagabalus
has
become no more relevant to our understanding of the
Roman
Sol
than, for example,
the Syrian
Jupiter Dolichenus
is
for our understanding of the Roman Jupiter.
Aurelian
The Roman
gens
Aurelian was
associated with the cult of Sol. 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 priests of Sol had been simply
sacerdotes
and
tended to belong to lower ranks of Roman society, they
were now pontifices and members of the new
college of pontifices
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.Aurelian also built a new temple for
Sol, bringing the total number of temples for the god in
Rome to (at least) four[21]
He also instituted games in honor of the sun god, held
every four years from AD 274 onwards.
The identity of Aurelian’s Sol Invictus has long been
a subject of scholarly debate. Based on the
Historia Augusta
, some
scholars have argued that it was based on
Sol Elagablus
(or
Elagabla) of
Emesa
. Others, basing
their argument on
Zosimus
, suggest that
it was based on the
Helios
, the solar god
of
Palmyra
on the grounds
that Aurelian placed and consecrated a cult statue of
Helios looted from Palmyra in the temple of Sol Invictus.
Professor Gary Forsythe discusses these arguments and
add a third more recent one based on the work of Steven
Hijmans. Hijmans argues that Aurelian’s solar deity was
simply the traditional Greco-Roman Sol Invictus.
Constantine
Emperors 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.
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 325/6. 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
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.
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.[26]
Sol and the other Roman Emperors
Berrens
deals with coin-evidence of Imperial
connection to the Solar cult. Sol is depicted
sporadically on imperial coins in the 1st and 2nd
centuries AD, then more frequently from
Septimius Severus
onwards until AD 325/6. Sol invictus appears on
coin legends from AD 261, well before the reign of
Aurelian.
Connections between the imperial
radiate crown and the cult of Sol are postulated.
Augustus
was
posthumously depicted with radiate crown, as were living
emperors from
Nero
(after AD 65) to
Constantine
. Some
modern scholarship interprets the imperial radiate crown
as a divine, solar association rather than an overt
symbol of Sol; Bergmann calls it a pseudo-object
designed to disguise the divine and solar connotations
that would otherwise be politically controversial
but there is broad agreement that
coin-images showing the imperial radiate crown are
stylistically distinct from those of the solar crown of
rays; the imperial radiate crown is depicted as a real
object rather than as symbolic light. Hijmans argues
that the Imperial radiate crown represents the honorary
wreath awarded to
Augustus
, perhaps
posthumously, to commemorate his victory at the
battle of Actium
; he
points out that henceforth, living emperors were
depicted with radiate crowns, but state divi were
not. To Hijmans this implies the radiate crown of living
emperors as a link to Augustus. His successors
automatically inherited (or sometimes acquired) the same
offices and honours due to Octavian as “saviour of the
Republic” through his victory at Actium, piously
attributed to Apollo-Helios. Wreaths awarded to victors
at the Actian Games were radiate.
Sol Invictus and Christianity and Judaism
Mosaic of Christ as
Sol
or
Apollo-Helios
in Mausoleum M in the pre-4th-century
necropolis beneath[33]
St. Peter’s in the
Vatican
, which many interpret as
representing Christ
The
Philocalian calendar
of
AD 354 gives a festival of “Natalis Invicti” on 25
December. There is limited evidence that this festival
was celebrated before the mid-4th century.
The idea that Christians chose to celebrate the birth of
Jesus on 25 December because this was the date of an
already existing festival of the Sol Invictus was
expressed in an annotation to a manuscript of a work by
12th-century Syrian bishop
Jacob Bar-Salibi
. The
scribe who added it wrote: “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.”
This idea became popular especially in the 18th and
19th centuries
and is still widely accepted.
In the judgement of the Church of England Liturgical
Commission, this view has been seriously challenged
by a view based on an old tradition,
according to which the date of Christmas was fixed at
nine months after 25 March, the date of the vernal
equinox, on which the
Annunciation
was
celebrated.
The Jewish calendar date of 14 Nisan
was believed to be that of the beginning of creation, as
well as of the Exodus and so of Passover, and Christians
held that the new creation, both the death of Jesus and
the beginning of his human life, occurred on the same
date, which some put at 25 March in the Julian calendar.[40][42][43]
It was a traditional Jewish belief that great men lived
a whole number of years, without fractions, so that
Jesus was considered to have been conceived on 25 March,
as he died on 25 March, which was calculated to have
coincided with 14 Nisan.[44]
Sextus Julius Africanus
(c.160 – c.240) gave 25 March as the day of creation and
of the conception of Jesus.
The tractate De solstitia et
aequinoctia conceptionis et nativitatis Domini nostri
Iesu Christi et Iohannis Baptistae falsely
attributed to
John Chrysostom
also
argued that Jesus was conceived and crucified on the
same day of the year and calculated this as 25 March.
A passage of the Commentary on the
prophet Daniel by
Hippolytus of Rome
,
written in about 204, has also been appealed to.
Among those who have put forward this view are Louis
Duchesne,Thomas J. Talley, David J. Rothenberg, J. Neil
Alexander, and Hugh Wybrew.
Not all scholars who view the celebration of the
birth of Jesus on 25 December as motivated by the choice
of the winter solstice rather than calculated on the
basis of the belief that he was conceived and died on 25
March agree that it constituted a deliberate
Christianization of a festival of the Birthday of the
Unconquered Sun. Michael Alan Anderson writes:
Both the sun and Christ were said to be born anew
on December 25. But while the solar associations
with the birth of Christ created powerful metaphors,
the surviving evidence does not support such a
direct association with the Roman solar festivals.
The earliest documentary evidence for the feast of
Christmas makes no mention of the coincidence with
the winter solstice. Thomas Talley has shown that,
although the Emperor Aurelian’s dedication of a
temple to the sun god in the Campus Martius (C.E.
274) probably took place on the ‘Birthday of the
Invincible Sun’ on December 25, the cult of the sun
in pagan Rome ironically did not celebrate the
winter solstice nor any of the other quarter-tense
days, as one might expect. The origins of Christmas,
then, may not be expressly rooted in the Roman
festival.
The same point is made by Hijmans: “It is cosmic
symbolism…which inspired the Church leadership in Rome
to elect the southern solstice, December 25, as the
birthday of Christ … While they were aware that pagans
called this day the ‘birthday’ of Sol Invictus, this did
not concern them and it did not play any role in their
choice of date for Christmas.” He also states that,
“while the winter solstice on or around December 25 was
well established in the Roman imperial calendar, there
is no evidence that a religious celebration of Sol on
that day antedated the celebration of Christmas”.
The Oxford Companion to Christian Thought also
remarks on the uncertainty about the order of precedence
between the celebrations of the Birthday of the
Unconquered Sun and the birthday of Jesus: “This
‘calculations’ hypothesis potentially establishes 25
December as a Christian festival before Aurelian’s
decree, which, when promulgated, might have provided for
the Christian feast both opportunity and challenge.”
Susan K. Roll also calls “most extreme” the unproven
hypothesis that “would call Christmas point-blank a ‘christianization’
of Natalis Solis Invicti, a direct conscious
appropriation of the pre-Christian feast, arbitrarily
placed on the same calendar date, assimilating and
adapting some of its cosmic symbolism and abruptly
usurping any lingering habitual loyalty that
newly-converted Christians might feel to the feasts of
the state gods”.
The comparison of Christ with the
astronomical
Sun
is common in
ancient Christian writings.
In the 5th century,
Pope Leo I
(the Great)
spoke in several sermons on the Feast of the Nativity of
how the celebration of Christ’s birth coincided with
increase of the sun’s position in the sky. An example
is: “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.
Mosaic in the
Beth Alpha
synagogue, with the sun in the centre,
surrounded by the twelve zodiac
constellations and with the four seasons
associated inaccurately with the
constellations
A study of
Augustine of Hippo
remarks that his exhortation in a Christmas sermon, “Let
us celebrate this day as a feast not for the sake of
this sun, which is beheld by believers as much as by
ourselves, but for the sake of him who created the sun”,
shows that he was aware of the coincidence of the
celebration of Christmas and the Birthday of the
Unconquered Sun, although this pagan festival was
celebrated at only a few places and was originally a
peculiarity of the Roman city calendar. It adds: “He
also believes, however, that there is a reliable
tradition which gives 25 December as the actual date of
the birth of our Lord.”
By “the sun of righteousness” in
Malachi 4:2
“the
fathers
, from
Justin
downward, and
nearly all the earlier commentators understand Christ,
who is supposed to be described as the rising sun”.
The
New Testament
itself
contains a hymn fragment: “Awake, O sleeper, and arise
from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
Clement of Alexandria
wrote of “the Sun of the Resurrection, he who was born
before the dawn, whose beams give light”.
Christians adopted the image of the Sun (Helios
or Sol Invictus) to represent Christ. In this portrayal
he is a beardless figure with a flowing cloak in a
chariot drawn by four white horses, as in the mosaic in
Mausoleum M discovered under
Saint Peter’s Basilica
and in an early-4th-century catacomb fresco.
Clement of Alexandria had spoken of
Christ driving his chariot in this way across the sky.
The nimbus of the figure under Saint Peter’s Basilica is
described by some as rayed,
as in traditional pre-Christian
representations, but another has said: “Only the
cross-shaped nimbus makes the Christian significance
apparent” (emphasis added). Yet another has interpreted
the figure as a representation of the sun with no
explicit religious reference whatever, pagan or
Christian.
The traditional image of the sun is used also in
Jewish art. A mosaic floor in
Hamat Tiberias
presents
David
as Helios
surrounded by a ring with the signs of the
zodiac
.As well as in
Hamat Tiberias, figures of Helios or Sol Invictus also
appear in several of the very few surviving schemes of
decoration surviving from Late Antique
synagogues
, including
Beth Alpha
,
Husefah
(Husefa) and
Naaran
, all now in
Israel
. He is shown in
floor mosaics, with the usual radiate halo, and
sometimes in a
quadriga
, in the
central roundel of a circular representation of the
zodiac or the seasons. These combinations “may have
represented to an agricultural Jewish community the
perpetuation of the annual cycle of the universe or …
the central part of a calendar”.
Probus (Latin:
Marcus Aurelius Probus
Augustus; c. 19 August 232 –
September/October 282), was
Roman Emperor
from 276
to 282.
During his reign, the
Rhine
and
Danube
frontier was
strengthened after successful wars against several
Germanic tribes
such as
the
Goths
,
Alamanni
,
Longiones
,
Franks
,
Burgundians
, and
Vandals
. The
Agri Decumates
and much
of the
Limes Germanicus
in
Germania Superior
were
officially abandoned during his reign, with the Romans
withdrawing to the
Rhine
and
Danube
rivers.
Life
Born in 232 in
Sirmium
(modern day
Sremska Mitrovica
),
Pannonia Inferior
, the
son of Dalmatius, Probus entered the army around 250
upon reaching adulthood. Appointed as a
military tribune
by the
emperor
Valerian
, he later
distinguished himself under the emperors
Aurelian
and
Tacitus
. He was
appointed governor of the East by Tacitus, whose death
in 276 prompted Probus’ soldiers to proclaim him
emperor.
Florianus
, the
half-brother of Tacitus, was also proclaimed successor
by his soldiers, but he was killed after an indecisive
campaign.[9]
Probus travelled west, defeating the Goths along the
lower Danube in 277, and acquiring the title of
Gothicus. His position as emperor was ratified by
the
Senate
around this
time.
As Emperor
In 278, Probus campaigned successfully in
Gaul
against the
Alamanni
and
Longiones
; both tribes
had advanced through the
Neckar
valley and
across the Rhine into Roman territory. Meanwhile, his
generals defeated the
Franks
and these
operations were directed to clearing
Gaul
of Germanic
invaders (Franks
and
Burgundians
), allowing
Probus to adopt the titles of Gothicus Maximus
and Germanicus Maximus.
One of his principles was never to allow the soldiers
to be idle, and to employ them in time of peace on
useful works, such as the planting of vineyards in Gaul,
Pannonia and other districts, in order to restart the
economy in these devastated lands.[14]
Of a greater and more lasting significance, Probus began
the strategy of settling the Germanic tribes in the
devastated provinces of the empire.
Antoninianus
of Probus minted in 280. Depicts the solar
divinity
Sol Invictus
riding a
quadriga
.
Probus issued many different coins during
his six years of rule.
In 279–280, Probus was, according to
Zosimus
, in
Raetia
,
Illyricum
and
Lycia
, where he fought
the
Vandals
. In the same
years, Probus’ generals defeated the
Blemmyes
in
Egypt
. Probus then
ordered the reconstruction of bridges and canals along
the Nile, where the production of grain for the Empire
was centered.
In 280–281, Probus put down three usurpers,
Julius Saturninus
,
Proculus
and
Bonosus
. The extent of
these revolts is not clear, but there are clues that
they were not just local problems. In 281, the emperor
was in Rome, where he celebrated his
triumph
.
Probus was eager to start his eastern campaign,
delayed by the revolts in the west. He left Rome in 282,
travelling first towards Sirmium, his birth city. About
Probus’ death different accounts exist. According to
John Zonaras
, the
commander of the
Praetorian Guard
Marcus Aurelius Carus
had been proclaimed, more or less unwillingly, emperor
by his troops.
Assassination (282)
Probus sent some troops against the new usurper, but
when those troops changed sides and supported Carus,
Probus’ remaining soldiers assassinated him at Sirmium
(September/October 282). According to other sources,
however, Probus was killed by disgruntled soldiers, who
rebelled against his orders to be employed for civic
purposes, like draining marshes.[24]
Carus was proclaimed emperor after Probus’ death and
avenged the murder of his predecessor.
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