Editing Sol Invictus (section)

==''Invictus'' as epithet==
[[File:Stele Sol Invictus Terme.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|Dedication made by a priest of [[Jupiter Dolichenus]] on behalf of the well-being ''([[salus]])'' of the emperors, to Sol Invictus and the [[Genius (mythology)|Genius]] of the military unit ''[[equites singulares Augusti]]''<ref>''[[Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum]]'' {{CIL|6|31181}}</ref>]]

''[[Invictus (epithet)|Invictus]]'' ("unconquered, invincible") was an [[epithet]] utilized for several [[List of Roman deities|Roman deities]], including [[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter]], [[Mars (mythology)|Mars]], [[Hercules]], [[Apollo]], and [[Silvanus (mythology)|Silvanus]].<ref name=Hijmans-1996/>{{rp|page=124}} It had been in use from the 3rd century&nbsp;BC.{{sfn|Hijmans|2009|p=18}} The Roman cult to [[Sol (Roman mythology)|Sol]] is continuous from the "earliest history" of the city until the institution of Christianity as the exclusive state religion. Scholars have sometimes regarded the traditional ''Sol Indiges'' and ''Sol Invictus'' as two separate deities, but the rejection of this view by S.&nbsp;E. Hijmans has found supporters.{{refn|{{harvnb|Hijmans|2009|loc=Chapter 1}} (a reworking of Hijmans (1996)); {{harvnb|Matern|2002}}; {{harvnb|Wallraff|2001}}; and {{harvnb|Berrens|2004}} all follow Hijmans.}}

An inscription of AD&nbsp;102 records a restoration of a portico of Sol in what is now the Trastevere area of Rome by a certain Gaius Iulius Anicetus.{{sfn|Hijmans|2009|pp=483–508}} While he may have had in mind an allusion to his own ''[[cognomen]]'', which is the Latinized form of the Greek equivalent of ''Invictus'', i.e. Ἀνίκητος (''Anikētos'', Romanized: ''Anicetus''),{{sfn|Hijmans|2009|p=486, footnote 22}} the earliest extant dated inscription that uses ''Invictus'' as an epithet of Sol is from AD&nbsp;158.{{efn|{{sc|Soli Invicto deo / ex voto suscepto / accepta missione / honesta ex nume/ro eq(uitum) sing(ularium) Aug(usti) P(ublius) / Aelius Amandus / d(e)d(icavit) Tertullo et / Sacerdoti co(n)s(ulibus)}}<ref name=CIL-VI-715/><br/>''Publius Aelius Amandus dedicated this to the god Sol Invictus in accordance with the vow he had made, upon his honorable discharge from the equestrian guard of the emperor, during the consulship of Tertullus and Sacerdos'';<br/> ''see''<ref name=Campbell-1994/>{{sfn|Halsberghe|1972|p=45}} }} Indeed the Greek equivalent of ''Sol Invictus'' would therefore be ''Hēlios Anikētos''. Another, stylistically dated to the 2nd&nbsp;century, is inscribed on a Roman [[phalera (military decoration)|phalera]] (ornamental disk): {{sc|inventori lucis soli invicto augusto}} (''"I glorify the unconquerable sun, the creator of light."'')<ref name=Guarducci-1957-1959/>{{efn|An illustration is provided in<ref name=Kantorowicz-1961/>{{rp|page=383, fig.34}} }} ''[[List of Roman deities#Augustus and Augusta|Augustus]]'' is a regular epithet linking deities to the [[Imperial cult (ancient Rome)|Imperial cult]].<ref name=Brill-1993/> Sol Invictus played a prominent role in the [[Mithraic mysteries]], and was equated with Mithras.<ref name=Ulansey-1989/><ref name=Salzman-2004/><ref name=Alvar-Gordon-2008/> The relation of the Mithraic Sol Invictus to the public cult of the deity with the same name is unclear and perhaps non-existent.<ref name=Alvar-Gordon-2008/>{{rp|page=203}}