Editing Elagabalus (deity) (section)

==Cult==
[[Image:Bronze-Uranius Antoninus-Elagabal stone-SGI 4414.jpg|thumb|300px|The temple at [[Homs|Emesa]], containing the holy stone (''[[baetyl]]''), on the reverse of this [[Roman provincial currency|provincial bronze coin]] by [[Roman usurper]] [[Uranius]] (253–254 AD)]]

Elagabalus was initially venerated at Emesa in [[Syria]], where the Arab [[Emesan dynasty]] acted as its priests. The name is the [[Latinisation of names|Latinised]] form of the Arabic "''Ilah al-Jabal''" ("إله الجبل"), the Emesene manifestation of the deity, which is Arabic for "God of the Mountain."<ref name="Ball p.37">{{cite book|title=Rome in the East: The Transformation of an Empire|last1=Ball|first1=Warwick|author-link=Warwick Ball|publisher=Routledge|date=2016|isbn=9780415717779|page=37}}</ref><ref>''The Journal of Juristic Papyrology'', volume 23, page 116: "und mit palmyrenischer Inschrift "Gott Berg" steht die umstrittene Etymologie des Namens "Elagabal" (ilah ha-gabal) fest"</ref><ref>English-Arabic dictionary translation for "God" with transliteration of the Arabic equivalent: "ilah": https://en.bab.la/dictionary/english-arabic/god</ref><ref>English-Arabic dictionary translation for "mountain" with transliteration of the Arabic equivalent: "gabal": https://en.bab.la/dictionary/english-arabic/mountain</ref> Elagabalus was the religious "lord", or [[Ba'al]], of Emesa.<ref name="Ball p.37"/> The deity successfully preserved Arab characteristics, both in his names and representations.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Bowman, Cameron, Garnsey|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MNSyT_PuYVMC&q=characteristics+both+in+his+names&pg=PA502|title=The Cambridge Ancient History: Volume 12, The Crisis of Empire, AD 193-337|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2008|isbn=9780521850735|pages=502}}</ref>

The cult of the deity spread to other parts of the [[Roman Empire]] in the second century, where he would be revered as '''Elagabalos''' (Ἐλαγάβαλος ''Elagábalos'') by the Greeks and '''Elagabalus''' by the Romans. For example, a dedication has been found as far away as [[Woerden]], in the modern-day [[Netherlands]].<ref>[http://rambambashi.wordpress.com/2008/05/22/an-early-dedication-to-elagabal/ An Early Dedication to Elagabal], [https://web.archive.org/web/20210126201406/https://rambambashi.wordpress.com/2008/05/22/an-early-dedication-to-elagabal/ archived] on 2021-01-26; the inscription is in now in Woerden's city museum.</ref>