Elagabalus And The Black Stone
INTRODUCTION
Every year, Muslims visit Mecca on the Haj pilgrimage, and as part of the ritual, attempt to kiss the Black Stone. Although it seems to be absent from the Qur’an, it is present in the Hadith, and its importance in Islamic ritual cannot be overestimated. Muslims contend that its presence in Mecca is very ancient, ante-dating Muhammad. In this paper that this is not the case – not just because of the absence of any ancient source suggesting this, but primarily because there is clear evidence of it having existed in Syria long before Muhammad’s supposed birth, and indeed, having been present in Rome at one point.
ELAGABALUS
The Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus (originally named Sextus Varius Avitus Bassianus, nicknamed Elagabalus after his death), ruled 218-222. Elagabalus came from Emesa (modern Homs/Hims) in Syria. The people of Emesa were descended from Arab immigrants – the Emesenes, who settled there in the first century BC. Perhaps they took their name from their god: “Emesa is a compound of Ham-Es: the natives are said by Festus Avienus to have been devoted to the Sun...”(1) Emperor Elagabalus’ cult was that of Elagabal, i.e., Syriac Ilāh hag-Gabal, “God of the Mountain”. The title of the Nabatæan chief deity was Dhu-Shara – “the Lord of Shara” – a “natural sanctuary with woodland and springs”.(2) There is also the Shara mountain range nearby. Some associate “Shara” with “Seir”.
Perhaps this mountain range performed the role of a sacred precinct. Hence, the god would be “the Lord of the Mountain”. Significantly, there are no mountains in the vicinity of Homs/Emesa.(3) This indicates that the deity had this title before the migration of its people to the area. A relief dated to the first century A.D. found 80 km south-east of the city depicts two deities – one of them is termed “LH’ GBL’ – i.e., ‘God of the Mountain’”, and is “depicted as a conical stone or a mountain with an eagle perched on top.”.(4) This may indicate that the Stone represented the mountain shrine, and by extension, the god himself.
Several Emesene coins depict Elagabal as a stone or mountain topped by an eagle; others show “a big, conical stone and eagle in a temple.” Icks comments: “Clearly, what we are seeing here is a ‘betyl’, an abstract object of worship. The word is probably derived from the Semitic ‘bethel’ (‘BT’L’), which means ‘house of god’. Betyls are quite common in Semitic religions. Often, they come in the form of large stones. This was also the case with the betyl of Elagabal…”(5) According to The Suda, a tenth century text, which probably reflects earlier tradition, Dushara was worshiped in Petra under the symbol of the Black Stone.(6) In The Suda, the exact description shows that worship – specifically in the form of sacrifice – was paid to the object: “The image is a black stone, square, unshaped, four feet high, two wide. It is placed on a gold-plated base. To this they sacrifice and pour out the blood of sacrificial victims. This is for them the libation.”(7) Coins representing Dushara from Adraa (modern Der’ā in southern Syria) from the same century “depict an oval stone sitting on a podium or mwtb”...”(8) Peterson observes: “Indeed the betyls found throughout the region are of similar size and shape to that described in the above passage from the Suda.”(9) So were there many Black Stones – in Syria, not Mecca?
At some point, Elagabal had also become associated with the Sun, and Emperor Elagabalus himself definitely worshiped him as such, and this influenced the understanding of the Black Stone: “…Elagabal, at least by the third century CE, was a sun god. Herodian records that some small projecting pieces and markings on the stone were believed to be a rough picture of the sun. The stone itself was said to have fallen from heaven. Perhaps it was believed to come from the sun.”.(10) If we examine the Roman History by Herodian (c. 170 – c. 240), we learn the following about the Emesa cult, in relation to Elagabalus and his brother:
4. They were priests of the sun god, whom their countrymen worship under the Phoenician name Elagabalus. A huge temple was erected to this god, lavishly decorated with gold, silver, and costly gems. Not only is this god worshiped by the natives, but all the neighboring rulers and kings send generous and expensive gifts to him each year. 5.No statue made by man in the likeness of the god stands in this temple, as in Greek and Roman temples. The temple does, however, contain a huge black stone with a pointed end and round base in the shape of a cone. The Phoenicians solemnly maintain that this stone came down from Zeus; pointing out certain small figures in relief, they assert that it is an unwrought image of the sun, for naturally this is what they wish to see.
6.Bassianus was the chief priest of this god. (Since he was the elder of the boys, the priesthood had been entrusted to him.) He went about in barbarian dress, wearing long-sleeved purple tunics embroidered with gold which hung to his feet; robes similarly decorated with gold and purple covered his legs from hip to toe, and he wore a crown of varicolored precious gems.(11)
Herodian’s comment about “Zeus” should be understood as Elagabal. Compare this Hadith about the origins of the Black Stone:
Narrated by Abdullah ibn Abbas
Mishkat Al-Masabih 2577
Allah’s Messenger (peace be upon him) said, “The black stone descended from Paradise whiter than milk, but the sins of the descendants of Adam made it black.”
Ahmad and Tirmidhi transmitted it, the latter saying that his is a hasan sahih tradition.
This indicates that the Islamic story of the Black Stone derives from a prior, pagan Arab idea. Neither the Seerah nor the Hadith present any history of the Black Stone prior to the life of Muhammad. Significantly, the Black Stone is not mentioned in the Qur’an. Therefore, what is presented in the Seerah and Hadith are essentially legendary traditions only written down 150-200 years after the events they allegedly recount. It follows that neither are of any use in establishing an authentic history of the Black Stone. There appears to be no archaeological evidence from Mecca or the Hijaz regarding the Black Stone. Neither are there any historical documents before the Seerah and Hadith about the origins of the Black Stone. Significantly, there are no external accounts about the Black Stone in the Hijaz.
PETRA, THE NABATÆANS AND ELAGABALUS
There is a link between the Emperor Elagabalus and Petra, the former capital of the Nabatæan Arabs. Coins issued after the annexation of the Nabatæan Empire in the second century A.D. by Elagabalus (and Philip the Arab) are dedicated to Dushara. Petra was awarded the honorific title of a Roman colonia by Emperor Elagabalus. Given that he reigned 218-222 AD, over a century after the Nabatæan kingdom’s formal incorporation into the Roman Empire, and indeed after the Nabatæan capital was transferred to Bostra, it is significant that a city which had supposedly passed its “glory days” should be awarded this title.
However, when we consider that his religious beliefs in many ways coincided with those of the Nabatæans, it is quite understandable if Petra was somehow a cult city of “the God of the Mountain”. It would seem that religious considerations were at the forefront of the Emperor’s decision in this action.
THE BLACK STONE AND ROME
However, this raises a further point. After the annexation, the Roman Empire stretched down into the northern Hijaz. Granted, Yathrib (Medina) and the later Mecca were outside this territory, but if Mecca existed, and had the standing as the major Arab cultic center suggested in Islam, and by its modern apologists, it is striking that there is no record of so devout a believer as Elagabalus attempting contact with, never mind visiting it on pilgrimage.
According to Herodian, Elagabalus had special processions which involved placing the Black Stone in a chariot:
6. In the suburbs of Rome the emperor built a very large and magnificent temple to which every year in midsummer he brought his god. He staged lavish shows and built race tracks and theaters, believing that chariot races, shows, and countless recitals would please the people, who held night-long feasts and celebrations. He placed the sun god in a chariot adorned with gold and jewels and brought him out from the city to the suburbs…
9.After thus bringing the god out and placing him in the temple, Elagabalus performed the rites and sacrifices described above... He also distributed all kinds of tame animals except swine, which, in accordance with Phoenician custom, he shunned.(12)
Note the observation that Elagabalus abstained from swine’s flesh, which Herodian claims was “Phoenician” custom – most probably a reference to the practice of the people of Emesa and its environs. After his assassination, it seems that the Black Stone was sent back to Emesa: “In March 222 CE, less than four years after he had gained the throne, the emperor was killed by rebellious praetorians, soldiers of the imperial guard. His body was dragged through the streets and dumped in the Tiber, his memory cursed by the senate, the black stone sent back to its temple in Emesa.”(13)
This is indicated in Dio: “As for Elagabalus himself, he was banished from Rome altogether.”(14) This refers to the god, i.e., the Black Stone, not the body of the Emperor, which was thrown into the Tiber.
CONCLUSION
The Emperor’s god was Elagabal, Syriac Ilāh hag-Gabal, “God of the Mountain”. Note the lack of a personal name; rather, he was Ilāh – “[the] god”. Cf. Allah. This was the chief deity of the people of Emesa, an Arab people in Syria. Ilāh had a major shrine there which was a focus of local/regional pilgrimage. He patronized Petra, but made no attempt to honor Mecca, if it existed. Ilāh was represented by the Black Stone in Emesa (which was then taken to Rome, but restored after the Emperor’s death). It was held to have descended to earth from Ilāh - cf. the hadith on this.
This raises important questions about the present Black Stone in Mecca. One never gets the impression from Islamic sources that there were multiple Black Stones – the reference is always to The Black Stone. Further, the impression is that it was always in Mecca. Either (i) there were indeed multiple Black Stones at various locations (at the very least, two – one in Emesa), in which case Islamic sources are unhistorical. Or (ii) the Black Stone was originally in Syria, before being moved down to Mecca, in which case Islamic sources are unhistorical. Another possibility is that Islam simply borrowed from the Emesene cult and produced its own Black Stone. In any case, the Roman historical sources listed here, which all ante-date Islam, undermine the case for the historicity of Islamic sources.
Footnotes:
Bryant, Jacob, A New System; or An Analysis of Antient Mythology, wherein an attempt is made to divest tradition of fable; and to reduce the truth to its original purity, Vol. I, (London: J. Walker: WJ. and J. Richardson: R. Faulder and Son: R. Lea: J. Nunn: Cuthell and Martin: H.D. Symonds: Vernor Hood, and Sharpe; E. Jeffery; Lackington, Allen, and Co.; J. Booker: Black. Parry and Kingsbury; J. Asperne: J. Murray; and J. Harris, 1807), p. 79.
Taylor, Jane, Petra and the Lost Kingdom of the Nabataeans, (London & New York: I. B. Tauris, 2001), p. 2.
Icks, Martijn, The Crimes of Elagabalus: The Life and Legacy of Rome’s Decadent Boy Emperor, (London: I. B. Tauris, 2011), p. 48.
Ibid., p. 48.
Ibid.
Healey, John F., The Religion of the Nabataeans: A Conspectus, (Leiden, Boston & Kōln: Brill, 2001), pp. 96, 99.
Ibid., p. 96.
Ibid., p. 99.
Peterson, Stephanie Bowers, The Cult of Dushara and the Roman Annexation of Nabataea, (Hamilton: McMaster University, Open Access Dissertations and Theses, Paper 5352, 2006), p. 55.
Icks, The Crimes of Elagabalus, p. 49.
Echols, Edward C. (trans.), Herodian of Antioch’s History of the Roman Empire from the Death of Marcus Aurelius to the Accession of Gordian III, (Berkeley & Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1961, pp. 139-140), emphasis mine.
Ibid., pp. 147-148.
Icks, The Crimes of Elagabalus, pp. 1-2.
Cary, Earnest, Dio’s Roman History, Vol. IX, (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1955),
p. 479.