Sol Invictus (, "Unconquered Sun"), sometimes simply known as
Helios
In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Helios (; grc, , , Sun; Homeric Greek: ) is the deity, god and personification of the Sun (Solar deity). His name is also Latinized as Helius, and he is often given the epithets Hyper ...
, was long considered to be the official
sun god
A solar deity or sun deity is a deity who represents the Sun, or an aspect of it. Such deities are usually associated with power and strength. Solar deities and Sun worship can be found throughout most of recorded history in various forms. T ...
of the later
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Medite ...
. In recent years, however, the scholarly community has become divided on Sol between traditionalists and a growing group of revisionists.
In the traditional view, ''Sol Invictus'' was the second of two entirely different sun gods in Rome. The first of these,
''Sol Indiges'', or ''Sol'', was an early Roman deity of minor importance whose cult had petered out by the first century AD. ''Sol Invictus'', on the other hand, was a Syrian sun god whose cult was first promoted in Rome under
Elagabalus
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (born Sextus Varius Avitus Bassianus, 204 – 11/12 March 222), better known by his nickname "Elagabalus" (, ), was Roman emperor from 218 to 222, while he was still a teenager. His short reign was conspicuous for s ...
, without success. Some fifty years later, on 25 December AD 274, the
Roman emperor Aurelian
Aurelian ( la, Lucius Domitius Aurelianus; 9 September 214 October 275) was a Roman emperor, who reigned during the Crisis of the Third Century, from 270 to 275. As emperor, he won an unprecedented series of military victories which reunited ...
did succeed to establish the cult of ''Sol Invictus'' as an
official religion
A state religion (also called religious state or official religion) is a religion or creed officially endorsed by a sovereign state. A state with an official religion (also known as confessional state), while not secular, is not necessarily a th ...
, alongside the traditional Roman cults.
Although the Syrian origin of Sol Invictus is undisputed in the traditional view, there has never been consensus on ''which'' Syrian solar deity he was: Some scholars opt for the sky god of Emesa,