The Mystery of the Black Stone of Emesa in Ancient Rome
In the late summer of the year 219 AD, the citizens of Rome witnessed an extraordinary spectacle that defied every sacred tradition of the Republic and the Empire. Through the gates of the eternal city rolled a gilded chariot adorned with precious jewels, drawn by six magnificent, snow-white horses harnessed in pure gold. Yet no mortal ruler held the reins from the chariot platform. Walking backward in front of the team, facing the chariot with unblinking reverence, was the newly proclaimed emperor of Rome: a fourteen-year-old Syrian youth named Varius Avitus Bassianus, remembered by history as Elagabalus. Dressed in shimmering silk tunics of Phoenician purple embroidered with celestial constellations, his wrists encircled with gold bangles, his hair crowned with an oriental tiara of pearls, the boy emperor never turned his back on the chariot. Servants walked beside him, scattering gold dust and fresh rose petals beneath his backward-stepping feet so that the young ruler would not s...