Sun gods were popular deities in many ancient cultures, and the Romans were no exception.  During the late empire, the eastern cult of Sol Invictus – the victorious sun— became popular before its eclipse by Christianity. However, the Romans also had a much earlier sun god whose festival they marked on the 9th of August. That god was Sol Indiges.

Roman mythology ties Sol Indiges to the very beginnings of the Roman state. But how did Sol become so important to the Romans — and why?

The Roman Sun God

Not even the Romans were sure of the exact meaning of the “indiges” element of their sun god’s name. Some historians, such as Fowler, have suggested the Roman name derived from that of the Etruscan god of light, Usil. However, it is more likely “indiges” relates to the status of Sol as indigenous to the Roman people.

There is no reference to Sol as “indiges” in any of the early Roman calendars. So it could also be assumed that the Romans added this appellation to distinguish the Roman Sol from later foreign solar deities — such as the god Apollo and the cult of Sol Invictus,  which the emperor Elagabalus popularised in the 3rd century AD.

Roman Myths of Sol Indiges 

The Roman sun-god may not have been referred to as “indiges” in early Roman characters. But it was one of the most ancient Roman gods. Early Roman foundation myths record Sol as one of the many deities introduced by Titus Tatius, when the Sabines and Romans allied with each other during the time of Romulus. Mythology also supports the idea that Sol came to Rome from neighbouring Italic cultures.

Virgil in his Aeneid describes how the Trojan hero Aeneas — the ancestor of the Romans who fled to Italy after the defeat of Troy — married Lavinia, the daughter of the Latin King, Latinus.  According to Hesiod, Latinus’s mother was the sorceress Circe — and Circe herself was the daughter of the sun.

By marrying into the family of the sun, the descendants of Aeneas also became descendants of the solar family — thus explaining the special significance of the sun god to the Roman state.

Sol Indiges and the Aurelii

One particular Roman clan illustrates how this mythical cultural marriage between the Roman state and the sun could have come about in actuality.

The Aurelii was a distinguished Plebian family who rose to prominence when one of their clan, Gaius Aurelius Cotta achieved the consulship in 252 BC. The family particularly favoured the cult of Sol Indiges. So, according to Quintilian, they set up a shrine to Sol on the Quirinal Hill. 

It seems that this close affiliation between the Aurelii and Sol dates back to the family’s earliest beginnings. According to Festus:

“It is believed that this family from the nation of the Sabines, was so called from the sun, because the Roman people gave him the expense of the State land, in order to make sacrifices to the Sun.”

This close connection suggests that the family and Sol Indiges came to Rome at the same time — possibly after a Roman evocatio — to persuade the god to make Rome its home in return for Roman worship. The Sabine Aurelii may well have come along to oversee his cult in Rome.

The Temple of the Sun

But Sol’s main temple was not on the Quirinal but in the Circus Maximus, where datable remains go back to at least the 3rd century BC. Tertullian, in his On Spectacles, describes how the Romans set up a temple of the sun in the middle of the circus, with an image of the sun shining “ forth from its temple summit.”(Chapter VIII).

Once again, this location is significant to the sun and his family. Tertullian attributes the choice of place to Circe, who according to Virgil, lived near Rome at Monte Circeo. The name Circus derives from the sorceress’s name. Tertullian also describes how Circe dedicated the first spectacle in the area to her father, the sun.

The Significance of Sol Indiges

But what was the purpose of Sol’s festival on the 9th of August? It seems that it was quite prosaic, and, as with many festivals at this time of the year, linked to ensuring a bounteous harvest.

Varro in “On Agriculture”, names Sol as one of the“twelve councillor gods,” and “special patrons of husbandmen” ( I, I. 4-5). Sol — along with Luna — was always invoked second in all matters agricultural because their “courses are watched in all matters of planting and harvesting” ( I.I, 5). The Romans also perceived that the sun and moon regulated the seasons and the months.

So it seems that the Romans celebrated the festival of this ancient Roman god in August for no other reason than to ensure neither drought nor lack of sun destroyed the prospect of a good harvest.

Sources

Beard, M, North, J and Price, S, Religions of Rome, Vol 2, Cambridge University Press, 2005

Dumezil, G, (trans. Philip Krapp), Archaic Roman Religion, Vol I and II, The John Hopkins University Press, 1996

Paulus, Epitome de Sex. Pompeio Festo, 

Price and Kearns, (2003) The Oxford Dictionary of Classical Myth and Religion. Oxford University Press

Tertullian, (1885) (ed. Alexander Roberts, Sir James Donaldson and Arthur Cleveland Cox), On Spectacles. 

Varro, On Agriculture, (trans. William Davis Hooper.) Loeb Classical Library

Virgil’s Aenead

W Warde Fowler, (1899) The Roman Festivals at the Period of the Republic, Macmillan and Co.