A reference to the Cubic Stone of Yesod. Historically, a large black
stone, a meteorite, that some describe from its image on coins and in
sculpture as shaped like a bee-hive; others as phallic. This stone
first appears in history atop its altar in the temple of Emesa on coins
minted in the reign of Caracalla. It was taken by Varius Avitus
Bassianus, Roman emperor (218-222), during his own reign, to Rome, and
placed in a huge temple dedicated to it on the Palatine hill. Each
summer, of the three he spent there, he led the stone in ceremonial
procession, attended by musicians and dancers, to another palace in a
garden at the outer edge of Rome. At the end of summer he would take it
back to the Palatine. This is recorded in his coinage, as well as in
the written sources. Varius was appointed priest of the sun-god
Elagabal, whose name he adopted. Heliogabalus lived in Rome as an
oriental despot and, giving himself up to detestable sensual pleasures,
degraded the imperial office to the lowest point by most shameful
vices, which had their origin in certain rites of oriental naturalistic
religion.
