Elagabalus

Elagabalus, who was a Sun-god and the patron deity of Emesa, was worshipped […]

Obviously, they hoped to conceal the failure of their unhappy experiment in emperorship before, when they stressed the priesthood of Syrian Emesa's main deity Elagabalus as the key factor […]

Racial prejudice also played a part, says Icks: before coming to Rome to rule it, Elagabalus was a priest in an obscure cult in Syria that venerated a black stone meteorite – a culture that would have been deeply strange to the Romans.