Pre-Long Beach Auction #80

Elagabalus. Silver Denarius (3.1 g), AD 218-222. Rome, AD 221/2. IMP ANTONINVS PIVS AVG, laureate and draped bust of Elagabalus right, with 'horn' above forehead. Reverse SVMMVS SACERDOS AVG, emperor standing facing, head left, sacrificing from patera over altar and holding branch; in left field, star. RIC 146; BMC 232-3; RSC 276. Well struck on both sides, lightly toned. Superb Extremely Fine.

The reverse presents Elagabalus as high priest of the Emesan sun god, El-Gabal, an office he had inherited (or perhaps purchased) through the machinations of his grandmother, Julia Maesa. Elagabalus brought the cult with him to Rome, but due to his religious fanatacism for the Emesan cult and his otherwise perverse eccentricities, he so offended the Roman populace that the Praetorians mutinied and murdered both the emperor and his mother, tossing their mutilated corpses into the Tiber to be washed out to sea.
Estimated Value $200 - 250.
Ex Goldberg 72 (5 February 2013), 4519 (part).