View source for Sol Invictus

{{short description|Late Roman solar deity}}
{{About|the Roman sun god|other uses of Sol Invictus|Sol Invictus (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox deity
| type = Roman
| name = Sol Invictus
| deity_of = God of the Sun
| member_of = 
| image = Naiskos with relief of Sol (Lyon, Mus Gal-Rom 2001.0.326) 01.jpg
| alt = <!-- for alternate text of the title image per [[WP:ALT]] -->
| caption = A relief of Sol from Roman [[Lugdunum]], 2nd–3rd century AD
| other_names = [[Elagabalus (deity)|Elagabalus]]
| cult_center = [[Temple of the Sun (Rome)|Temple of the Sun]]
| symbols = [[Sunburst]], [[Halo (religious iconography)|halo]], [[radiate crown]]
| abode = The sky
| consort = 
| parents = 
| siblings = 
| offspring = 
| predecessor = 
| planet = [[Sun]]
| successor = 
| mount = 
| day = [[Sunday]]
| gender = Male
| Greek_equivalent = [[Helios]]
| equivalent1_type = Palmyran
| equivalent1 = [[Utu]]
| festivals = Dies Natalis Solis Invicti (25th December)
}}
'''Sol Invictus''' ({{IPA|la-x-classic|ˈsoːɫ ɪnˈwɪktʊs|lang|link=yes}}, "Invincible Sun" or "Unconquered Sun") was the official [[Solar deity|sun god]] of the late [[Roman Empire]] and a later version of the god [[Sol (Roman mythology)|Sol]]. The emperor [[Aurelian]] revived his cult in  274 AD and promoted Sol Invictus as the chief god of the empire.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sol {{!}} Roman god {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sol-Roman-god |access-date=2022-12-12 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2016-10-21 |title=Sol - Roman God |url=https://mythology.net/roman/roman-gods/sol_roman/ |access-date=2022-12-12 |website=Mythology.net |language=en-US}}</ref> From Aurelian onward, Sol Invictus often appeared on imperial coinage, usually shown wearing a [[sun crown]] and driving a horse-drawn chariot through the sky. His prominence lasted until the emperor [[Constantine the Great|Constantine I]] legalized Christianity and restricted paganism.{{efn|"Up to the conversion of Constantine the Great, the cult of {{sc|Deus Sol Invictus}} received the full support of the emperors: The many coins showing the sun god that these emperors struck provide official evidence of this."{{sfn|Halsberghe|1972|p=155}} and "the custom of representing {{sc|Deus Sol Invictus}} on coins came to an end in AD&nbsp;323."{{sfn|Halsberghe|1972|p=169}} }} The last known inscription referring to Sol Invictus dates to AD&nbsp;387,{{refn|"[[Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum]] {{CIL|6|1778}} dates from 387 AD"{{sfn|Halsberghe|1972|p=170, n.3}} }} although there were enough devotees in the fifth century that the Christian theologian [[Augustine of Hippo|Augustine]] found it necessary to preach against them.{{refn|Augustine, ''Sermones'', XII (see {{harvnb|Halsberghe|1972|p=170, n.4}}); also in ''Ennaratio in Psalmum'' XXV; ''Ennaratio'' II, 3.}}

In recent years, the scholarly community has become divided on Sol between traditionalists and a growing group of revisionists.<ref name=Hijmans-1996>{{cite journal |last=Hijmans |first=Steven |date=1996 |title=The sun that did not rise in the east |journal=Babesch |volume=71 |pages=115–150 |url=https://poj.peeters-leuven.be/content.php?url=issue&journal_code=BAB&issue=0&vol=71}}</ref> In the traditional view, ''Sol Invictus'' was the second of two different sun gods in Rome. The first of these, [[Sol (Roman mythology)|''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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sol Invictus and Christmas |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/calendar/invictus.html |access-date=2023-12-11 |website=penelope.uchicago.edu}}</ref> There has never been consensus on ''which'' Syrian sun god he might have been: some scholars opted for the sky god of Emesa, [[Elagabalus (deity)|Elagabal]],{{sfn|Halsberghe|1972}} while others preferred [[Malakbel]] of [[Palmyra]].<ref name=Oxford-Classical-2012/><ref name=Wissowa-1912/> In the revisionist view, there was only one cult of Sol in Rome, continuous from the [[Roman Kingdom|monarchy]] to the [[Late antiquity|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.<ref name=Hijmans-2010/>{{sfn|Matern|2002}}{{sfn|Berrens|2004}}{{sfn|Hijmans|2009}}

==''Invictus'' as epithet==
[[File:Stele Sol Invictus Terme.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|Dedication made by a priest of [[Jupiter Dolichenus]] on behalf of the well-being ''([[salus]])'' of the emperors, to Sol Invictus and the [[Genius (mythology)|Genius]] of the military unit ''[[equites singulares Augusti]]''<ref>''[[Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum]]'' {{CIL|6|31181}}</ref>]]

''[[Invictus (epithet)|Invictus]]'' ("unconquered, invincible") was an [[epithet]] utilized for several [[List of Roman deities|Roman deities]], including [[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter]], [[Mars (mythology)|Mars]], [[Hercules]], [[Apollo]], and [[Silvanus (mythology)|Silvanus]].<ref name=Hijmans-1996/>{{rp|page=124}} It had been in use from the 3rd century&nbsp;BC.{{sfn|Hijmans|2009|p=18}} The Roman cult to [[Sol (Roman mythology)|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.&nbsp;E. Hijmans has found supporters.{{refn|{{harvnb|Hijmans|2009|loc=Chapter 1}} (a reworking of Hijmans (1996)); {{harvnb|Matern|2002}}; {{harvnb|Wallraff|2001}}; and {{harvnb|Berrens|2004}} all follow Hijmans.}}

An inscription of AD&nbsp;102 records a restoration of a portico of Sol in what is now the Trastevere area of Rome by a certain Gaius Iulius Anicetus.{{sfn|Hijmans|2009|pp=483–508}} While he may have had in mind an allusion to his own ''[[cognomen]]'', which is the Latinized form of the Greek equivalent of ''Invictus'', i.e. Ἀνίκητος (''Anikētos'', Romanized: ''Anicetus''),{{sfn|Hijmans|2009|p=486, footnote 22}} the earliest extant dated inscription that uses ''Invictus'' as an epithet of Sol is from AD&nbsp;158.{{efn|{{sc|Soli Invicto deo / ex voto suscepto / accepta missione / honesta ex nume/ro eq(uitum) sing(ularium) Aug(usti) P(ublius) / Aelius Amandus / d(e)d(icavit) Tertullo et / Sacerdoti co(n)s(ulibus)}}<ref name=CIL-VI-715/><br/>''Publius Aelius Amandus dedicated this to the god Sol Invictus in accordance with the vow he had made, upon his honorable discharge from the equestrian guard of the emperor, during the consulship of Tertullus and Sacerdos'';<br/> ''see''<ref name=Campbell-1994/>{{sfn|Halsberghe|1972|p=45}} }} Indeed the Greek equivalent of ''Sol Invictus'' would therefore be ''Hēlios Anikētos''. Another, stylistically dated to the 2nd&nbsp;century, is inscribed on a Roman [[phalera (military decoration)|phalera]] (ornamental disk): {{sc|inventori lucis soli invicto augusto}} (''"I glorify the unconquerable sun, the creator of light."'')<ref name=Guarducci-1957-1959/>{{efn|An illustration is provided in<ref name=Kantorowicz-1961/>{{rp|page=383, fig.34}} }} ''[[List of Roman deities#Augustus and Augusta|Augustus]]'' is a regular epithet linking deities to the [[Imperial cult (ancient Rome)|Imperial cult]].<ref name=Brill-1993/> Sol Invictus played a prominent role in the [[Mithraic mysteries]], and was equated with Mithras.<ref name=Ulansey-1989/><ref name=Salzman-2004/><ref name=Alvar-Gordon-2008/> The relation of the Mithraic Sol Invictus to the public cult of the deity with the same name is unclear and perhaps non-existent.<ref name=Alvar-Gordon-2008/>{{rp|page=203}}

== Elagabalus ==
According to the ''[[Augustan History|Historia Augusta]]'', [[Elagabalus]], 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'' equates the deity Elagabalus with Jupiter and Sol: ''fuit autem Heliogabali vel Iovis vel Solis sacerdos'', "He was also a priest of Heliogabalus, or [[Jove]], or Sol".<ref>{{cite book |title=Historia Augusta |at=1, 5 |edition=English translation |publisher=Loeb |translator=David Magie |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Historia_Augusta/Elagabalus/1*.html#1.5 |chapter=Latin text |chapter-url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/L/Roman/Texts/Historia_Augusta/Elagabalus/1*.html#1.5 |via=[[LacusCurtius]] }}</ref> While this has been seen as an attempt to import the Syrian sun god to Rome,<ref>See in particular {{harvnb|Halsberghe|1972}}.</ref> the Roman cult of Sol had existed in Rome at least since the early [[Roman Republic|Republic]].<ref name=Hijmans-1996/>{{sfn|Matern|2002}}{{sfn|Wallraff|2001}}{{sfn|Berrens|2004}}{{sfn|Hijmans|2009}}

== Aurelian ==
[[File:Disc Sol BM GR1899.12-1.2.jpg|thumb|Roman Imperial [[repoussé]] [[silver]] disc of Sol Invictus (3rd century), found at [[Pessinus]] ([[British Museum]])]]

The Roman [[Aurelia (gens)|''gens Aurelia'']] was associated with the cult of Sol.<ref name=Richard-1976/> 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 ''[[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#sacerdos|sacerdotes]]'' and tended to belong to lower ranks of Roman society,{{sfn|Hijmans|2009|pp=504–505}} they were now ''pontifices'' and members of the new [[College of Pontiffs|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.{{efn|For a full list of the pontifices of Sol see J.&nbsp;Rupke (ed.), ''Fasti Sacerdotum'' (2005), p. 606. [[Memmius Vitrasius Orfitus]] lists his priesthoods as pontifex of [[Vesta (mythology)|Vesta]], one of the [[quindecimviri sacris faciundis]], and pontifex of Sol, in that order.<ref name="CIL-VI-1739–1742"/> In a list of eight priesthoods, [[Vettius Agorius Praetextatus]] puts ''Pontifex Solis'' in third place.<ref name=CIL-VI-1779/>}} Aurelian also built a new [[Temple of the Sun (Rome)|temple for Sol]], which was dedicated on 25&nbsp;December 274,<ref name=Clauss-2001>{{cite book |last=Clauss |first=Manfred |title=Die römischen Kaiser – 55&nbsp;historische Portraits von Caesar bis Iustinian |year=2001 |isbn=978-3-406-47288-6 |page=250|publisher=C.H.Beck }}</ref> and brought the total number of temples for the god in Rome to (at least) four.{{efn|The other three were in the [[Circus Maximus]], on the [[Quirinal]], and in [[Trastevere]].{{sfn|Hijmans|2009|loc=Chapter&nbsp;5}} }} He also instituted games in honor of the sun god, held every four years from 274 onwards.

The identity of Aurelian's Sol Invictus has long been a subject of scholarly debate. Based on the ''[[Augustan History]]'', some scholars have argued that it was based on [[Elagabalus (deity)|Sol Elagablus]] (or Elagabla) of [[Emesa]]. Others, basing their argument on [[Zosimus (historian)|Zosimus]], suggest that it was based on the [[Shamash|Šams]], the solar god of [[Palmyra]] on the grounds that Aurelian placed and consecrated a cult statue of the sun god looted from Palmyra in the temple of Sol Invictus.<ref name=Dirven-1999/> Forsythe (2012)<ref name=Forsythe-2012/> discusses these arguments and adds 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 {{sc|Sol Invictus}}.<ref name=Forsythe-2012/>

== Constantine ==
[[File:Follis-Constantine-lyons RIC VI 309.jpg|thumb|Coin of Emperor [[Constantine I (emperor)|Constantine I]] depicting Sol Invictus with the legend {{sc|SOLI INVICTO COMITI}}, c.&nbsp;315]]
Emperors portrayed {{sc|Sol Invictus}} on their official coinage, with a wide range of legends, only a few of which incorporated the epithet {{sc|invictus}}, such as the legend {{sc|SOLI INVICTO COMITI}}, claiming the "Unconquered Sun" as a companion to the Emperor, used with particular frequency by Constantine.{{efn|A comprehensive discussion of all sol-coinage and sol-legends per emperor from [[Septimius Severus]] to [[Constantine I (emperor)|Constantine]] can be found in Berrens (2004).{{sfn|Berrens|2004}} }} 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 325/326. A [[solidus (coin)|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 {{sc|INVICTUS CONSTANTINUS}}{{efn|The medal is illustrated in Toynbee (1944);<ref name=Toynbee-1944/> the solidus is illustrated in Maurice (n.d.)<ref name=Maurice-nd/>}}

Constantine decreed (March 7, 321){{efn|The civil edict of March 7, A.D. 321, was expressly issued by Constantine to command that "all judges and townships and all occupations of trade rest on the venerable day of the sun."<ref name=Odom-1950-05/>}} {{sc|dies Solis}}{{snd}}the day of the Sun, "[[Sunday]]"{{snd}}as the Roman day of rest

{{blockquote|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.<ref>{{cite book |author1=[[Philip Schaff|Schaff, Philip]] |title=From Constantine the Great to Gregory the Great, A.D. 311-600 |date=1867 |publisher=C. Scribner |page=380 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SgtOAAAAYAAJ&q=venerable+day+sun+7th+day+March&pg=PA380 |access-date=6 March 2021 |language=en}}</ref><ref>Excellent discussion of this decree by {{harvnb|Wallraff|2001|pp=96–102}}.</ref>}}

Constantine's triumphal arch was carefully positioned to align with the [[Colossus of Nero|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.<ref name=Marlowe-2006/>

== Sol and later Roman Emperors ==
Berrens (2004){{sfn|Berrens|2004}} 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 325–326. {{sc|Sol Invictus}} appears on coin legends from AD 261, well before the reign of Aurelian.{{efn|The coins issued under Elagabalus do not use {{sc|invictus}} for Roman Sol, nor for the Emesan Solar deity Elagabalus.{{sfn|Berrens|2004}} }}

{|style="margin: 0 auto;"
| [[File:Licinius315 Soli Invicto Comiti.JPG|thumb|Identical reverse as the coin of Constantine I but with Emperor [[Licinius]] on head]]
| [[File:ProbusCoin.jpg|thumb|Coin of Emperor [[Marcus Aurelius Probus|Probus]], c. 280, with ''Sol Invictus'' riding a [[quadriga]], with legend {{sc|SOLI INVICTO}}, "to the Unconquered Sun": the Emperor (at left) wears a radiated [[solar crown]], worn also by the god on the [[obverse]]]]
| [[File:Antoninianus-Aurelianus-Palmyra-s3262.jpg|thumb|[[Aurelian]] in his radiate crown, on a silvered bronze coin struck at Rome, 274–275]]
|}

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 I|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<ref name=Bergmann-1998/>{{rp|pages=121–123}}<ref name=Hijmans-2003-2006/>{{sfn|Hijmans|2009|pp=80–84, 509–548}} 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.<ref name=Bergmann-1998/>{{rp|pages=116–117}}{{sfn|Hijmans|2009|pp=82–83}}

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. Hijmans believes this implies that the radiate crown of living emperors is a symbolic 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]].

Furthermore, radiate crowns were not solely worn by emperors: The wreaths awarded to victors at the [[Actia|Actian Games]] were radiate.{{efn|{{harvnb|Hijmans|2009|pp=509–548}}. A mosaic floor in the Baths of the Porta Marina at Ostia depicts a radiate victory crown on a table as well as a victorious competitor wearing one.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ostia-antica.org/regio4/10/10-1.htm |title=Regio IV – Insula X – Terme di Porta Marina (IV, X, 1–2) |access-date=2009-11-12 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081109062717/http://www.ostia-antica.org/regio4/10/10-1.htm |archive-date=2008-11-09 }}</ref>}}

== Festival of ''Dies Natalis Solis Invicti''==
[[File:Lucretia2.jpg|thumb|Coin depicting Sol / crescent moon and seven stars]]

According to some scholars, the emperor [[Aurelian]] instituted in AD 274 the festival {{lang|la|Dies Natalis Solis Invicti}} ('birthday of the Invincible Sun') on 25 December,<ref name="Bradshaw">{{cite book |last1=Bradshaw |first1=Paul |editor1-last=Larsen |editor1-first=Timothy |title=The Oxford Handbook of Christmas |date=2020 |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=4–10 |chapter=The Dating of Christmas}}</ref> the date of the [[winter solstice]] in the Roman calendar.<ref name="Forsythe">{{cite book |last1=Forsythe |first1=Gary |title=Time in Roman Religion: One Thousand Years of Religious History |date=2012 |publisher=Routledge |page=141}}</ref>  In Rome, this yearly festival was celebrated with thirty chariot races.<ref name="Forsythe"/> Gary Forsythe, Professor of Ancient History, says "This celebration would have formed a welcome addition to the seven-day period of the [[Saturnalia]] (December 17–23), Rome's most joyous holiday season since Republican times, characterized by parties, banquets, and exchanges of gifts".<ref name="Forsythe"/> Before Aurelian, the Calendar of [[Antiochus of Athens]], {{circa}} second century AD, had marked 25 December as the "birthday of the [[Sun]]" but did not refer to any religious festival being held on that date.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Beck |first1=Roger |title=The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun |date=2006 |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=209–210, 254}}</ref>{{sfn|Hijmans|2024|p=1022 n. 54}} Around AD 238, [[Censorinus]] had written in ''De Die Natali'' that the winter solstice was the "birth of the Sun".<ref>[[Censorinus]], ''The Natal Day'', trans. by W. Maude. Cambridge Encyclopedia Co., 1900. p.33</ref>

The festival of ''Natalis Invicti'' on December 25 is marked in the [[Chronograph of 354]] (or Calendar of Filocalus). Historians generally agree that this part of the text was written in Rome in AD 336,<ref name="Bradshaw"/> and most scholars see this as referring to the ''Natalis Solis Invicti''.<ref name="Bradshaw"/> Steven Hijmans questions whether this actually refers to a feast of Sol Invictus, as "Sol" is not included in the festival name, and the number of [[chariot races]] given for the feast is not a multiple of twelve unlike other feasts dedicated to him. Hijmans argues that there is no evidence for a feast dedicated to Sol Invictus at the Roman winter solstice before Julian, and doubts that the feast was actually instituted by Aurelian.{{sfn|Hijmans|2024|pp=1021–1022}} Wallraff (2001) says there is limited evidence for the festival before the mid-4th century.{{sfn|Wallraff|2001|pp=174–177}}{{efn|"An inscription of unique interest from the reign of Licinius embodies the official prescription for the annual celebration by his army of a festival of Sol Invictus on December&nbsp;19".<ref>Hoey (1939) 480 {{full citation needed| date=June 2021}}</ref> The inscription<ref name=Dessau-nd/> actually prescribes an annual offering to Sol on ''November''&nbsp;18 ({{sc|die XIV Kal(endis) Decemb(ribus)}}, i.e., on the fourteenth day before the Kalends of December).}}<ref>{{cite web |title=Online text of inscription, Parts&nbsp;6 and 12 |website=tertullian.org |url=http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/index.htm#Chronography_of_354 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071204204128/http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/index.htm |archive-date=2007-12-04}}</ref>

Aurelian also instituted the ''[[Agon]] Solis'' (sacred contest for [[Sol (Roman mythology)|Sol]]), held every fourth year, as St [[Jerome]]'s ''[[Chronicon (Jerome)|Chronicon]]'' attests.<ref name="Remijsen"/> In AD 362, the emperor [[Julian (emperor)|Julian]] wrote in his ''Hymn to King [[Helios]]'' that the ''Agon Solis'' was held in late December, between the end of the Saturnalia and the New Year.<ref name="Remijsen">{{cite book |last1=Remijsen |first1=Sofie |title=The End of Greek Athletics in Late Antiquity |date=2015 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=133 |quote=Julian comes back to the ''agon'' and places it explicitly between the end of the month of Kronos (a reference to the ''Saturnalia'' in mid-December) and the New Year's feast.}}</ref> Julian says it is dedicated to Helios and the "Invincible Sun".<ref>{{cite web |title=The Works of the Emperor Julian (Volume 1) with an English Translation by Wilmer Cave Wright |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/48664/48664-pdf.pdf |website=[[Project Gutenberg]] |publisher=Harvard University Press |pages=326–237}}</ref> Most scholars therefore date the festival to December 25 and associate it with the ''Natalis Solis Invicti''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Elm |first1=Susanna |title=Sons of Hellenism, Fathers of the Church |date=2012 |publisher=University of California Press |page=287 |quote=Within days of writing the ''Caesars'', the emperor switched registers and composed an entirely different opus: the ''Hymn to King Helios''. The occasion was the ''agon Solis'', celebrated in Rome on December 25, the sun's 'festival that the imperial city adorns with annual sacrifices,' instituted by Aurelian. ... The [[communis opinio]] dates these celebrations to December 25, the ''dies natalis [Solis] Invicti''.}}</ref> Dissenting from this view, Hijmans argues that Julian never said the ''Agon Solis'' was held on that date, but believes Julian celebrated a different festival of Sol at the winter solstice.{{sfn|Hijmans|2024|pp=1019–1020|ps=: "Support for the 25th of December as date of the Solar Games is sought in the enigmatic entry for that day in the ''Chronography of 354'' ("N. Invicti c. m. XXX") and from the emperor Julian, who wrote early in 363 that he had celebrated a 'most magnificent agon' for Sol at the end of December right after the Saturnalia of the preceding year. ... But a closer look at Julian's hymn (Or. 4) shows that this is not the case ... Julian is clearly talking about two different celebrations of Sol. The first is an ''annual'' feast ... The second are the ''quadrennial'' games, which Julian qualifies as 'newish' ... Julian makes it quite clear that it was the 'old' festival of Sol, which he ascribes to [[Numa Pompilius|Numa]], that he had celebrated immediately after the end of the Saturnalia to coincide with the winter solstice."}}

==Legacy ==
=== Christianity ===
[[File:ChristAsSol.jpg|thumb|Mosaic in the [[Tomb of the Julii]], [[Vatican Necropolis]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.saintpetersbasilica.org/Necropolis/TombM.htm |title=Necropolis (Scavi) Tomb M |access-date=2015-08-25 |url-status=dead |website=saintpetersbasilica.org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724013108/http://www.saintpetersbasilica.org/Necropolis/TombM.htm |archive-date=2011-07-24 }}</ref>]]
A widely-held theory is that the early Church [[Date of the birth of Jesus#Day of birth|chose December 25 as Jesus Christ's birthday]] ({{lang|la|Dies Natalis Christi}}) to appropriate the festival of Sol Invictus's birthday ({{lang|la|Dies Natalis Solis Invicti}}), held on the same date.<ref name="Forsythe"/><ref name="Kelly 80">Kelly, Joseph F., ''The Origins of Christmas'', Liturgical Press, 2004, pp. 80–81.</ref><ref name="Roll">{{cite book |first=Susan K. |last=Roll |title=Towards the Origin of Christmas |publisher=Kok Pharos Publishing |year=1995 |pages=107–108 }}</ref> The Calendar of Filocalus ({{circa}}336 AD) is the earliest record of both the ''Natalis Invicti'' and Christ's birthday being marked on December 25. Steven Hijmans argues that the earliest certain evidence for a festival of ''Sol Invictus'' on December 25 is from Julian, thirty years later; he suggests that the pagan feast might have been a reaction to the Christian one rather than ''vice versa''.{{sfn|Hijmans|2024|p=1024}}

The early Church linked Jesus Christ to the Sun and referred to him as the 'true Sun' ({{lang|la|Sol verus}}),{{sfn|Hijmans|2024|p=1010}} or the 'Sun of Righteousness' ({{lang|la|Sol Justitiae}}) prophesied by [[Malachi]].<ref name="Kelly 80"/> The Christian treatise {{lang|la|De solstitiis et aequinoctiis}}, from the late [[fourth century AD]], associates Jesus' birth with the "birthday of the sun" and Sol Invictus:

{{blockquote|Our Lord, too, is born in the month of December ... the eighth before the calends of January [25 December] ... But they [the pagans] call it the '[[Dies Natalis Solis Invicti|birthday of the invincible one]]' (''Invictus''). But who then is as invincible as our Lord who defeated the death he suffered? Or if they say that this is the birthday of the sun, well He Himself is the Sun of Justice.<ref>Hijmans, Steven, "Sol Invictus, the winter solstice, and the origins of Christmas", in: ''[[Mouseion (journal)|Mouseion III]]'' (2003), pp.379-380</ref><ref name="CathChrit">{{Cite encyclopedia |year=1908 |title=Christmas |encyclopedia=[[The Catholic Encyclopedia]] |publisher=Robert Appleton Company |location=New York |last=Martindale |first=Cyril Charles |volume=3}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Jeffrey |first1=David Lyle |title=A Dictionary of Biblical Tradition in English Literature |date=1992 |publisher=Eerdmans |page=141}}</ref>}}

In a late fourth century Christmas sermon, [[Augustine of Hippo]] said:
{{blockquote|Let us ... keep this day with due solemnity; not, like those who are without faith, on account of the Sun, but because of Him who made the Sun. ... He, incarnate, stands above that Sun which is worshipped as a god.<ref>{{cite book |first=Susan K. |last=Roll |title=Towards the Origin of Christmas |publisher=Kok Pharos Publishing |year=1995 |pages=155}}</ref>}}

The theory is mentioned in an annotation of uncertain date added to a manuscript by 12th-century Syrian bishop [[Jacob Bar-Salibi]]. The scribe wrote:
{{blockquote|It was a custom of the Pagans to celebrate on the same 25&nbsp;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.<ref>''Christianity and Paganism in the Fourth to Eighth Centuries'', [[Ramsay MacMullen]]. Yale:1997, p. 155).</ref>}}

Another theory is that Christmas was calculated as nine months after a date chosen as Christ's conception (the [[Annunciation]]): March 25, the Roman date of the [[March equinox|spring equinox]]. This theory was first proposed by French priest and historian [[Louis Duchesne]] in 1889.<ref name="Bradshaw"/>

Imagery of Sol may have been appropriated by Christians. A mosaic dated to around 300 AD in the [[Tomb of the Julii]], an apparently Christian tomb in the [[Vatican Necropolis]], is generally thought to depict Jesus as Sol, [[Helios]],<ref>{{harvnb|Hijmans|2009|p=570}}: "To explain the presence of Sol in a Christian mausoleum, scholars suggested that in this case he was not Sol, but Christ depicted in the guise of Sol as the New Light and the Sun of Justice. In the words of Lawrence: 'This is the Sun God, Sol Invictus, but also Christ the light of the world' ... Sol in mausoleum M has become the image of choice to illustrate the gradual ascendency of Christianity in the third century AD and in particular of its appropriation of Roman imagery for Christian purposes. ... While Perler, Wallraff, and others differ on details of the meaning of this Sol-Christ, all agree on the basic Christian interpretation and the identity of Sol as Christ".</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Jensen |first1=Robin Margaret |title=Understanding Early Christian Art |date=2000 |publisher=Routledge |page=42 |quote=the rare third-century mosaic usually described as 'Jesus-Helios' discovered in the Vatican necropolis, mausoleum of the Julii ... Portraying Jesus as the Sun God may have directly challenged the cult of Sol Invictus by appropriating its iconography ... or such iconographic transference simply may have been a way of communicating attributes or virtues of the deity in the visual language of the surrounding culture.}}</ref> or [[Apollo]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Brent |first1=Allen |title=Cyprian and Roman Carthage |date=2010 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=229-230}}</ref> Steven Hijmans suggests that it is simply a representation of Sol, or a figure representing the Sun.<ref name=Hijmans-2003/>{{sfn|Hijmans|2009|pp=567–578}}

===Judaism===
[[File:Beit alfa01.jpg|thumb|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 mosaic floor in [[Hamat Tiberias]] presents [[King David|David]] as Helios surrounded by a ring with the signs of the [[zodiac]].<ref name=Cartlidge-Elliott-2001/> 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 [[synagogue]]s, including [[Beth Alpha]], Husefa, all now in [[Israel]], and [[Naaran]] in the West Bank. 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".<ref name=Weitzmann-1979/>{{rp|pages=370, 375}}

== See also ==
* [[Astrological age]]
* [[Christ myth theory]]
* [[Christian views on astrology]]
* [[Christianity and paganism]]
* [[Esoteric Christianity]]
* [[Saturnalia]]
* [[Victory over the Sun]]
* [[Solar deity]]

== Footnotes ==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{reflist |25em |refs=

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<ref name=CIL-VI-715>
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<ref name="CIL-VI-1739–1742">
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<ref name=CIL-VI-1779>
''[[Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum]]'' {{CIL|6|1779}}
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<ref name=Guarducci-1957-1959>
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<ref name=Hijmans-2003>
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<ref name=Hijmans-2003-2006>
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<ref name=Hijmans-2010>
{{cite journal
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<ref name=Kantorowicz-1961>
{{cite journal
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<ref name=MacMullen-1997>
Bishop Jacob Bar-Salabi, cited in
{{cite book
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<ref name=Marlowe-2006>
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<ref name=Odom-1950-05>
{{cite magazine
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<ref name=Oxford-Classical-2012>
{{cite book
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<ref name=Richard-1976>
{{cite book
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<ref name=Salzman-2004>
{{cite book
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}}
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<ref name=Toynbee-1944>
{{cite book
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{{cite book
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<ref name=Ulansey-1989>
{{cite book
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{{cite book
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}}
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<ref name=Weitzmann-1979>
{{cite book
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 |place=New York, NY
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}}
</ref>

<ref name=Wissowa-1912>
{{cite book
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 |via=Archive.org
}}
</ref>

}} <!-- end "refs=" -->

== Further reading ==
* {{cite book |last=Berrens  |first=Stephan |year=2004 |title=Sonnenkult und Kaisertum von den Severern bis zu Constantin I. (193–337 n. Chr.) |trans-title=Sun worship and empire from the Severans to Constantine I (193-337 AD)|place=Stuttgart |publisher=Franz Steiner Verlag |series=Historia-Einzelschriften |volume=185 |isbn=978-3-515-08575-5 |oclc=57010712 |language=de }}
* {{cite book |last=Halsberghe |first=Gaston |year=1972 |title=The Cult of Sol Invictus |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden}}
* {{cite thesis |last=Hijmans |first=Steven Ernst |year=2009 |title=Sol: The Sun in the Art and Religions of Rome |publisher=[[University of Groningen]] |hdl=11370/af334f2a-d157-4793-95c6-80d2f6323668 |isbn=978-90-367-3931-3 |place=Groningen |url=https://hdl.handle.net/11370/af334f2a-d157-4793-95c6-80d2f6323668 |access-date=2025-02-26}}
* {{cite book |title=Sol: Image and Meaning of the Sun in Roman Art and Religion |last=Hijmans |first=S. E. |publisher=Brill |year=2024 |isbn=978-90-04-52158-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OB3-EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA1021}}
* {{cite book  |last=Matern |first=Petra |year=2002 |title=Helios und Sol: Kulte und Ikonographie des griechischen und römischen Sonnengottes |trans-title=Helios and Sol: Cults and Iconography of the Greek and Roman Sun God |publisher=Ege Yayınları |isbn=978-975-8070-53-4 |oclc=53857589 |language=de }}
* {{cite book |last=Wallraff|first=Martin |title=Christus versus Sol. Sonnenverehrung und Christentum in der Spätantike |trans-title=Christ versus Sol. Sun Worship and Christianity in Late Antiquity| publisher=Aschendorff|location=Münster|year=2001|isbn=3-402-08115-6}}

== External links ==
{{Commons|Sol Invictus}}
* {{cite web |url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/552806/Sol |website=Encyclopædia Britannica |edition=Online |title=Sol}}
* {{cite book |url=http://www.worldspirituality.org/december-25.html |first=Clement A. |last=Miles |title=Christmas in Ritual and Tradition, Christian and Pagan |year=1912 |article=December&nbsp;25 and the Natalis Invicti}}
*{{cite web |url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03724b.htm |website=Catholic Encyclopedia |year=1908 |title=Christmas}}
* {{cite web |url=http://www.tertullian.org/rpearse/sol_invictus.htm |series=Ancient sources |title=Sol Invictus |website=tertullian.org}}

{{Roman religion}}
{{Christmas}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:274 establishments]]
[[Category:270s establishments in the Roman Empire]]
[[Category:Sol Invictus| ]]
[[Category:History of Christmas]]
[[Category:Christ myth theory]]
[[Category:Elagabalus]]
[[Category:Roman gods]]
[[Category:Solar gods]]
[[Category:Winter festivals]]
[[Category:December observances]]
[[Category:Christianity-related controversies]]
[[Category:Deities of classical antiquity]]
[[Category:Latin words and phrases]]
[[Category:Christianity and Hellenistic religion]]
[[Category:Christmas]]