Baetyl
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A baetyl, literally "house of god", is a sacred stone that was venerated and thought to house a god or deity. The most famous example is the Omphalos stored in the Temple of Apollo at the Greek town o
The Emesa temple to the sun god Elagabalus with baetyl at centre. Roman coin of 3rd century AD.
Depiction of Jacob's dream sleeping on a stone at Bethel, by José de Ribera
The baetyl of Aphrodite at Palaepaphos, described by Tacitus.
Elagabalus
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Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, better known by his posthumous nicknames Elagabalus and Heliogabalus, was Roman emperor from 218 to 222, while he was still a teenager. His short reign was notorious for rel
Baetyl
…there was the stone effigy of Cybele, called Mater Idaea Deum, that had been ceremoniously brought from Pessinus in Asia Minor in 204 BC. The emperor Elagabalus who reigned from 218 until 222 (and was probably a teenager for all his reign) came from Syria and was already the hereditary high priest of the cult…
Marble bust, Capitoline Museums, Rome
A sculpture of Julia Soaemias
Denarius of Elagabalus, inscribed: imp· antoninus pius aug· on the obverse and fortunae aug· on the reverse, showing Fortuna with a cornucopia and a rudder on a globe
Amphitheatrum Castrense in the Horti Spei Veteris on the Esquiline Hill in Rome