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Figure 14.8B Copper-alloy coin of Severus Alexander (222–235 CE), minted at Hierapolis. The obverse portrays the emperor; the reverse shows cult images of Hadad (seated on the left) and Atargatis (seated on the right), holding attributes and flanked by animals (bulls for Hadad, lions for Atargatis). Between them is a shrine with a triangular pediment, containing what looks like a military standard, which is presumably the semeion, a cult image referred to in Lucian, Syr. D. 33 (see also Chapter 37).

Figure 14.8C Copper-alloy coin of Antoninus Pius (138–161 CE), minted at Emesa. The obverse carries the imperial portrait; the reverse shows an eagle perched on the stone of Elagabal, carrying a wreath in its beak. The stone itself is decorated with a crescent and two stars, recalling Herodian’s description of the stone’s surfaces (5.3.5, Loeb version): “there are some markings that are pointed out, which the people would like to believe are a rough picture of the sun, because that is how they see them.”