Emesene dynasty

The Emesene (or Emesan) dynasty, also called the Sampsigeramids or the Sampsigerami or the House of Sampsigeramus (آل شمسيغرام), were a Roman client dynasty of Arab priest-kings known to have ruled by 46 BC from Arethusa and later from Emesa, Syria, until between 72 and 78/79, or at the latest the reign of Emperor Antoninus Pius (138–161). Iamblichus, the famous Neoplatonist philosopher of the third century, was one of their descendants, as was empress Julia Domna, matriarch of the Severan dynasty. Most modern sources declare the family to be of Arab origin. Roman sources such as Herodian describe the family as Phoenician by genos or stock. Some members of the family such as Julius Bassianus, father of Julia Domma, are described in Roman sources as "a priest of the Sun, whom the Phoenicians, from whom he sprang, call Elagabalus". Writer Heliodorus of Emesa, a descendant of the family, identified himself as "a Phoenician, from the race of the Sun". Since Emesa was never part of historical Phoenicia, modern historians consider the use of "Phoenician" in these sources a pseudo-ethnic label; one that arose from the political creation of Syria Phoenice by Septimius Severus in 194. Some authors believe that Kings Sampsigeramus and Iamblichus had Aramaic names, while other historians state their names are Arabic. The name Samsigeramus is derived from Shams, meaning sun; while geram is related to the Arabic root k-r-m, meaning "to venerate". Other kings, such as Azizus and Sohaemus, had clearly Arabic names. Iamblichus was referred to as "Phylarch of the Arabs" by Cicero and "King of an Arabian tribe" by Cassius Dio. It is said that Emesa and its surrounding had a strong presence of Arabic-speaking people at the time, although the ancient name of the city appears to be Aramaic. In Emesa, Aramaic and Greek were commonly spoken languages and, during the Roman Empire, Latin was probably commonly spoken in the city. Emesa was recorded by Herodian to have been by the 3rd-century the centre of a worship of the ancient pagan god Elagabalus, the original name of which is posited to have been El-Gabal or Ilah Jabal ("إله جبل").