Sol Invictus (“Unconquered Sun”) was the official sun god of the later Roman Empire and a patron of soldiers. On 25 December 274 AD the Roman emperor Aurelian made it an official cult alongside the traditional Roman cults.[2] Scholars disagree about whether the new deity was a refoundation of the ancient Latin cult of Sol,[3] a revival of the cult of Elagabalus,[4] or completely new.[5] The god was favored by emperors after Aurelian and appeared on their coins until Constantine I.[6] The last inscription referring to Sol Invictus dates to AD 387,[7] and there were enough devotees in the 5th century that the Christian theologian Augustine found it necessary to preach against them.[8]
Since the 12th century[9] there have been speculations that the near-solstice date of 25 December for Christmas was selected because it was the date of the festival of Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, but this has been contested by The Calculation Hypothesis through the writings of the Early Christian Fathers. For example, Hippolytus of Rome, between 202 and 211 AD, said in his commentary of the Book of Daniel that the Birth of Jesus is December 25th[10], though this passage is generally considered a late interpolation[by whom?]. The manuscript includes another passage, one that is more likely to be authentic, that gives the passion as March 25.[11]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sol_Invictus
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