Topic: What's The story of religion?

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What's the story of religion?

De geschiedenis van Religie - history of religion

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1. This is the sun. As far back as 10,000 B.C., history is abundant with carvings and writings reflecting people’s respect and adoration for this object.

Numerous artifacts prove these points, such as from the sun-worshipping cultures of the Egyptians, Indians, Babylonians and Greeks, among many others, including the peoples of the Levant and ancient Israel. Concerning the antiquity of sun worship, UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador Dr. Madanjeet Singh relates:

The tool-making hominids, as anthropologists call them, emerged about one-and-a-half million years ago. But the sun‘s identification with the animals they hunted became evident much later as in the striking circular engravings representing the sun, discovered in the Central Asian regions (thirteenth millennium BC) in Siberia and western Turkistan. They seem to have eventually influenced the earliest artifacts made in Iran and Mesopotamia… Apart from the animals depicted in the Lascaux caves in

France, at Altamira in Spain, at Adduara in Sicily (15,000 to 10,000 BC), and at the prehistoric Tassili N‘Ajjer in the Sahara region (7000 to 4000 BC), are also strange human figures such as the dancing man with horns on his head and a stallion tail, as in the cave paintings at Trois Frères in Ariège. These are comparable to similar figures seen on the third-millennium-BC Mohenjo-daro seals found in the Indus Valley— symbols that are identified with the sun….¹

Describing this ubiquitous of sun worship, professor of Archaeology at Cardiff University Dr. Miranda J. Aldhouse-Green remarks:

The evidence for the sun cult manifests itself in Europe from as long ago as the fourth millennium BC, when Neolithic farmers recognized the divine power of the solar disc...

…Solar religion manifested itself not only in acknowledgement of the overt functions of the sun—as a provider of heat and light—but also in recognition of influences that were more wide-ranging…

¹ Singh, 12-13.

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To early communities, the sun was an enigma, with its nightly disappearance from the sky and the withdrawal of its heat for half the year. The sun‘s value as a life-force was revered….²

This solar religion continued for millennia, well into the common or ―Christian‖ era. As stated by Dr. Lee I.A. Levine, a professor at the Jewish Theological Seminary:

On the religious plane, belief in the supremacy of the sun god was widespread. The cult of Mithra, as well as other Oriental cults in the late Roman era, identified the supreme deity with the sun. In fact, the tendency in Late Antiquity to unify the creeds allowed [the Greek sun god] Helios to be identified in many circles as the highest deity. On an intellectual level, Neoplatonic thought throughout these centuries likewise addressed the centrality of the sun... Closer to Palestine, sun-worship is amply attested...in Palmyra, among the Essenes, in Nabataea, as well as on a plethora of coins, statuettes, altars, busts, and inscriptions from the first centuries of our era.³

Dr. Levine also says:

In the late Roman era, the figure of Helios, or Sol Invictus, occupied a central role in a variety of settings, from the Imperial circles of Rome to the eastern provinces...

Throughout the Greco-Roman period generally, and especially in the first centuries of the Common Era, the cult of this sun god enjoyed enormous popularity.⁴

Sun worship persists to this day, as described in Dr. Singh‘s The Sun: Symbol of Power and Life, an extensive survey with many images of solar religious traditions and iconography from the earliest periods into the modern era. For more information on the ―Astrotheology of the Ages‖ and ―The God Sun,‖ see also Suns of God: Krishna, Buddha and Christ Unveiled by Acharya S/D.M. Murdock.

		Irish ‗Sun Disc‘
‗Anthropomorphized sun-god images	‗Babylonian King before the Sun God	c. 2000 BCE
in Saimaly Tash rock drawings‘	Shamash,‘	(N. Museum of Ireland, Dublin)
Bronze Age (c. 3000-600 BCE)	c. 2000 BCE
Tien Mountains, Kyrgyzstan	(Musée du Louvre, Paris)
(Singh, 15)

2. And it is simple to understand why, as every morning the sun would rise, bringing vision, warmth, and security, saving man from the cold, blind, predator-filled darkness of night. Without it, the cultures understood, the crops would not grow, and life on the planet would not survive. These realities made the sun the most adored object of all time.

Concerning the ancient reverence for the sun, UNESCO Director-General Dr. Federico Mayor remarks:

As the bestower of light and life, ancient cultures generally identified the sun as the symbol of Truth, the all-seeing ―one eye‖ of justice and equality, the fountainhead of

2. Singh, 295.

2. Kalmin, 106.

2. Kalmin, 103.

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wisdom, compassion, and enlightenment, the healer of physical and spiritual maladies, and, above all, the fundamental source of fecundity, growth, and fruition, as well as of death and the renewal of life.⁵

An Egyptian hymn from the era of the pharaoh Akhenaten (d. c. 1336 BCE) expresses the intense ancient reverence for the sun:

You appear beautiful,

You living sun, lord of Endless Time, are sparkling, beautiful and strong, Love of you is great and powerful.

Your rays touch every face…

Your radiant skin animates hearts.

You have filled the Two Lands [of the horizons] with love of yourself.⁶

Pharaoh Akhenaten and wife Nefertiri worshipping the sun

3. 14^th century BCE

3. Likewise, they were also very aware of the stars.

Naturally, the ancient practice of ―astrotheology‖ incorporated reverence for not only the sun but also the moon, planets, stars and constellations. In Prehistoric Lunar Astronomy, Indian scholar Dr. S.B. Roy remarks:

To the ancients...heaven was the land of gods and mystery. The sky...was itself living. The stars were the abode of the gods. The shining stars were indeed themselves luminous gods. Astronomy was the knowledge not of heavenly bodies, but of heavenly beings: It was the heavenly, celestial cosmic or divine knowledge—knowledge of devas— the bright luminous gods.⁷

Ancient stellar symbols and star maps have been found dating to many thousands of years ago, including in cave paintings and carvings. As the BBC reports in ―Ice Age star map discovered‖:

A prehistoric map of the night sky has been discovered on the walls of the famous painted caves at Lascaux in central France.

The map, which is thought to date back 16,5000 years, shows three bright stars known today as the summer Triangle...

5. Singh, 7.

5. Assman, ESRNK, 94.

5. Roy, 1.

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According to German researcher Dr. Michael Rappenglueck, of the University of Munich, the maps show that our ancestors were more sophisticated than many believe.⁸

In ―‗Oldest Star Chart‘ Found,‖ astronomer Dr. David Whitehouse states:

The oldest image of a star pattern, that of the famous constellation of Orion, has been recognised on an ivory tablet some 32,500 years old.

The tiny sliver of mammoth tusk contains a carving of a man-like figure with arms and legs outstretched in the same pose as the stars of Orion....⁹

Ancient star map	Ivory star chart
c. 16,500 years old	c. 32,500 to 38,000 years old
Lascaux, France	Ach Valley, Alb-Danuba, Germany

4. The tracking of the stars allowed them to recognize and anticipate events which occurred over long periods of time, such as eclipses and full moons. They in turn catalogued celestial groups into what we know today as constellations.

In his book In Search of Ancient Astronomies, astronomer Dr. Edwin C. Krupp remarks:

At Stonehenge in England and Carnac in France, in Egypt and Yucatan, across the whole face of the earth are found mysterious ruins of ancient monuments, monuments with astronomical significance... Some of them built according to celestial alignments; others were actually precision astronomical observatories... Careful observations of the celestial rhythms was compellingly important to early peoples and their expertise, in some respects, was not equaled in Europe until three thousand years later.¹⁰

One of these ancient observatories—one of the world‘s oldest yet discovered—is found in Goseck, Germany:

A vast, shadowy circle sits in a flat wheat field near Goseck, Germany... The circle represents the remains of the world‘s oldest observatory, dating back 7,000 years. Coupled with an etched disk recovered last year, the observatory suggests that Neolithic and Bronze Age people measured the heavens far earlier and more accurately than scientists had imagined.¹¹

In ―Oldest solar Observatory in Americas Found in Peru,‖ NPR reports:

Archeologists may have uncovered what they say is by far the oldest astronomical observatory in the America: a series of towers near a temple in coastal Peru, built in the fourth century B.C...

8. "Ice Age star map discovered," news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/871930.stm

8. ―‗Oldest Star Chart‘ Found,‖ news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2679675.stm

8. Krupp, ISAA, xiii.

8. Mukerjee, ―Circles for Space.‖ Mukerjee mentions here what is called the ―Nebra Disk.‖

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The towers at Chankillo mark the sun‘s progress across the sky... This suggests the sun may have played an important role in religious and political life long before the appearance of the famous Inca sun cult...

[Archeologist Ivan] Ghezzi says, ―The Inca claimed to be the offspring of the sun. But now we have a society that is 1,800 years before the Inca that is clearly using the sun as a way to make a political, social and ideological statement.‖

Many more such discoveries have occurred over the past several decades.

Astronomically aligned stones,	Solar circle observatory	The Thirteen Towers
c. 7,000 years old
	6,000 to 8,500 years old	c. 14th century BCE
Goseck, Germany
	Nabta Playa, Egypt	Chankillo, Peru
(Ralf Beutragel)
		(Ivan Ghezzi)

5. This is the cross of the Zodiac, one of the oldest conceptual images in human history. It reflects the sun as it figuratively passes through the 12 major constellations over the course of a year. It also reflects the 12 months of the year, the four seasons, and the solstices and equinoxes. The term Zodiac relates to the fact that constellations were anthropomorphized, or personified, as figures, or animals.

The antiquity of the idea of a zodiac is disputed, but it may have been formulated as early as 4,000 or more years ago. As D.M. Murdock says in Christ in Egypt: The Horus Jesus Connection:

…the zodiac certainly existed in Mesopotamia millennia ago, worked over by the famed

Chaldean astronomers, with the Greeks further polishing it. In this regard, several sources—such as royal astronomer Dr. Edward Walter Maunder…, the devout Christian author of The Astronomy of the Bible—have indicated an origin of the zodiac, including the popular signs, to some 4,000 or more years ago. We also possess the relatively

recent find of the ―Karanovo Zodiac‖ from Bulgaria, which has been dated to around

6,000 years ago and which seems to bear rudimentary renditions of the constellations found in the Western zodiac.¹²

The zodiac as it appears to us today was refined by the Greeks several centuries prior to the common era.

¹² Murdock, CIE, 265-266. The Karanovo Tablet has also been interpreted to be crude Egyptian hieroglyphs. See ―The Sacred Tablet from the village of Karanovo,‖ [url=http://www.institutet-science.com/en/karanovoe.php]www.institutet-science.com/en/karanovoe.php[/url]

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¹² Murdock, CIE, 265-266. The Karanovo Tablet has also been interpreted to be crude Egyptian hieroglyphs. See ―The Sacred Tablet from the village of Karanovo,‖ www.institutet-science.com/en/karanovoe.php

   

   

   

                           

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		―Hieroglyphic                   Plan, by
Karanovo                   Tablet		Hermes,                   of the Ancient
c.                   6,000 years old	Dendera                   zodiac	Zodiac‖
Nova                   Zagora, Bulgaria	(Kirchner,                   OEdipus
		1st                   century BCE
		Dendera,                   Egypt	AEgyptiacus)

      

   

   

6. In    other words, the early civilizations did not just follow the sun and    stars, they personified them with elaborate myths involving their    movements and relationships.

The meanings of many myths can be traced to a number of origins, the most prominent of which is nature worship and astrotheology, whereby the gods and goddesses are essentially personifications of earthly forces and celestial bodies. As concerns the anthropomorphization of the celestial bodies, in Suns of God: Krishna, Buddha and Christ Unveiled, Murdock relates:

Ancient peoples abundantly acknowledged that their religions, dating back centuries and millennia before the common era, were largely based on astrotheology, with their gods representing the sun, moon, stars and planets. One of their focuses was the sun...and the story of the sun became highly developed over a period of thousands of years, possibly tens of thousands or more. The observations of the sun and its daily, monthly, annual and precessional movements have led to complex myths in which it was personified as a god...¹³

We can see this astrotheological and nature-worshipping religion in the writings of ancient historians such as Herodotus, Berossus and Diodorus, as well as in the Bible, both overtly and covertly, and in Jewish apocryphal texts.¹⁴ The writings of the Church fathers also discussed the Pagan astrotheology, sometimes fairly extensively.

One ancient source for the true nature-worshipping and astrotheological meaning of many Greek gods and goddesses is the writer Porphyry (c. 235-c. 305 AD/CE), who (according to early Catholic Church father/historian Eusebius) related:

The whole power productive of water [the Greeks] called Oceanus... the drinking-water produced is called Achelous; and the sea-water Poseidon...

...the power of fire they called Hephaestus... the fire brought down from heaven to earth is less intense...wherefore he is lame...

Also they supposed a power of this kind to belong to the sun and called it Apollo...

There are also nine Muses singing to his lyre, which are the sublunar sphere, and seven spheres of the planets, and one of the fixed stars...

But inasmuch as the sun wards off the evils of the earth, they called him Heracles [Hercules]... And they invented fables of his performing twelve labours, as the symbol of the division of the signs of the zodiac in heaven; and they arrayed him with a club and a

   

13. Acharya,    SOG,    60.

   

13. For    more on these subjects, see Murdock/Acharya‘s Suns    of God.

   

   

   

                           

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lion‘s skin, the one as an indication of his uneven motion, and the other representative of his strength in ―Leo‖ the sign of the zodiac.

Of the sun‘s healing power Asclepius is the symbol...

But the fiery power of his revolving and circling motion whereby he ripens the crops, is called Dionysus... And whereas he revolves round the cosmical seasons [Grk. horas] and is the maker of ―times and tides,‖ the sun is on this account called Horus.

Of his power over agriculture, whereon depend the gifts of wealth (Plutus), the symbol is Pluto...

Cerberus is represented with three heads, because the positions of the sun above the earth are three—rising, midday, and setting.

The moon, conceived according to her brightness, they called Artemis...

What Apollo is to the sun, that Athena is to the moon: for the moon is a symbol of wisdom, and so a kind of Athena.

But, again, the moon is Hecate, the symbol of her varying phases...

They made Pan the symbol of the universe, and gave him his horns as symbols of sun and moon, and the fawn skin as emblem of the stars in heaven, or of the variety of the universe.¹⁵

Porphyry‘s explanations include many other divine figures, relating them to additional nature-worshipping elements such as air, wind, fruits and seeds, and he names the earth as a virgin and mother:

In all these ways, then, the power of the earth finds an interpretation and is worshipped: as a virgin and Hestia, she holds the centre; as a mother she nourishes...¹⁶

Here is clearly one source in antiquity of the virgin-mother concept, which was so obviously adopted into Christianity from Paganism. As can be seen, the Greek religion was perceived in ancient times to be highly astrotheological and reflective of nature worship. The same can be said of many others, such as the Babylonian, Egyptian, Indian and Roman.

   

   

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

   

   

                                                                                                                                                                                             

Hercules             and the Hydra	Disk             with Dionysus and 11 signs of
Roman             mosaic	the             zodiac
Valencia,             Spain	4th             cent. BCE?
(Photo:             Zaqarbal)	Brindisi,             Italy
	(Kerenyi,             fig. 146)17

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

   

   

   

   Sun    god Apollo riding in his chariot pulled by four horses

   

   Mosaic

       

   

   

   

¹⁵    Eusebius, Evangelicae    Praeparationis    (―The    Preparation for the Gospel‖), III, XI, 112d-115a;    Eusebius/Gifford, 122-125.

   

      

16. Eusebius,       Praep.,       III, XI, 110c; Eusebius/Gifford, 120-121.

       

   

   

   

      

16. Concerning       this disk, Dr. Kerenyi (386) states: ―The Brindisi disk       includes the earliest known representation       of the zodiac on Greek or Italian soil. To the artisan who       fashioned it, the zodiac was still new. He inscribed it on the       edge of the disk but did not understand its figures…. He       also changed the       order of the constellations but surely followed a very early model,       for like the original Babylonian zodiac his has only eleven signs       and a double-length       Scorpio.‖

       

   

   

   

                           

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7. The    sun, with its life-giving and saving qualities was personified as a    representative of the unseen creator or god—“God’s    Sun”

We have already seen that the ancient cultures have considered the sun as divine; hence, it is either God, a god, or a son of God/a god. Indeed, this ―sun of God as son of God‖ motif is common in the mythology of India, Greece, Rome and Egypt, to name a few of the more well-known nations. In Egypt, this ―son of the sun‖ is the god Horus, among others, while in Greece it is Apollo, son of Zeus, whose name means ―God.‖ This same tradition was discussed by Plato, as related in The Book of the Sun (1494) by Neoplatonic-Christian philosopher Marsillio Ficino:

According to Plato [Republic, VI, 508c¹⁸], he called the Sun not God himself, but the son of God. And I say not the first son of God, but a second, and moreover visible son. For the first son of God is not this visible Sun, but another far superior intellect, namely the first one which only the intellect can contemplate. Therefore Socrates, having been awakened by the celestial Sun, surmised a super celestial Sun, and he contemplated attentively its majesty, and inspired, would admire the incomprehensible bounty of the Father.¹⁹

In a chapter (2) entitled, ―How the light of the Sun is similar to Goodness itself, namely, God,‖ Ficino summarizes the ―god‖ characteristics projected upon the solar orb by ancient cultures extending into modern times:

...Above all the Sun is most able to signify to you God himself. The Sun offers you signs, and who dare to call the Sun false? Finally, the invisible things of God, that is to say, the angelic spirits, can be most powerfully seen by the intellect through the stars, and indeed even eternal things—the virtue and divinity of God—can be seen through the Sun.²⁰

Concerning the ―son-sun‖ play on words—which is not a cognate but a mere happy coincidence in English that reflects the mythological ―reality‖—in Jesus as the Sun throughout History, Murdock states:

…this sun-son word play has been noted many times previously in history by a variety of individuals, including English priest and poet Robert Southwell in the 16^th century and English poet Richard Crashaw in the 17^th century. English poet and preacher John Donne (1572-1631) and Welsh poet and priest George Herbert (1593-1633) likewise engaged in the son/sun pun as applied to Christ. In discussing Donne, Dr. Arthur L. Clements, a professor at Binghamton University, remarks that the ―Son-sun pun‖ is ―familiar enough.‖ Comparing Christ to the ―day star,‖ famous English poet John Milton (1608-1674) was aware of the ―sun/son of God‖ analogy and ―revel[ed] in the sun-son pun.‖… Puritan minister Edward Taylor (1642-1729) engaged in the same punning by describing Christ as ―the onely [sic] begotten Sun that is in the bosom of the Father...‖

Furthermore, in describing the actions of the Church fathers in adapting sun myths to Christianity, Thomas Ellwood Longshore declared in 1881, ―They merely changed the visible ‗Sun of God‘ for the invisible ‗Son of God,‘ or for this personage they called the ‗Son of God‘...‖

Obviously, this ―devotional pun‖ was widely recognized centuries ago by the English-speaking intelligentsia and educated elite….

To reiterate, while the mythical ―truth‖ is that in antiquity the sun was perceived as the ―son of God,‖ the claim is not being made that the words ―sun‖ and ―son‖ are related or cognates. Or

   

18. See    Plato/Ferrari, 215. See also Pico    della Mirandola (163): ―...when    Plato in the Republic    calls the sun the visible son of God, why may we not understand it    as the image of the invisible Son?‖

   

18. Voss,    211.

   

18. Voss,    190.

   

   

   

                           

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that the NT writers knew English, or that this phonic coincidence in itself provides any evidence whatsoever of the thesis it illustrates. As we can see, however, great English writers have happily glommed onto the notion that the ―Sun of Righteousness‖ is the ―Son of God‖ and have utilized the ―son/sun‖ pun or play on words with glee.

   

8. …the    light of the world, the savior of human kind. Likewise, the 12    constellations represented places of travel for God’s Sun and    were identified by names, usually representing elements of nature    that happened during that period of time. For example, Aquarius, the    water bearer, who brings the Spring rains.

The notions of the sun as the ―savior‖ and the ―light of the world‖ are understandably common in ancient religious history:

...The Sun was looked up to as the grand omnipotent nucleus, whose all-vivifying power is the vital and sole source of animative and vegetative existence upon the globe—the glorious foundation out of which springs all that man ever has, or ever can call good; and as such, the only proper object of the homage and adoration of mankind: hence the Sun, as we are informed by Pausanias, was worshipped at Eleusis under the name of ―The Saviour.‖²¹

In his description of a sacred precinct in Arkadia that apparently practiced the Eleusinian mysteries, famous Greek historian of the second century AD/CE, Pausanias, (8.31) remarks:

There are these square-shaped statues of other gods inside the enclosure: Hermes the Leader, Apollo, Athene, Poseidon, the Saviour Sun, and Herakles.²²

To describe the sun as ―savior,‖ Pausanias uses the word Soter, a title commonly applied to many gods and goddesses at different places.

The sun‘s role as savior and light is exemplified in the following ancient

Egyptian solar hymn:

You are the light, which rises for humankind; the sun, which brings clarity,

so that gods and humans be recognised and distinguished when you reveal yourself.

Every face lives from seeing your beauty,

all seed germinates when touched by your rays, and there is no-one who can live without you.

You lead everyone, because they have a duty to their work. You have given form to their life, by becoming visible.²³

With regard to the ―12...places of travel for God‘s Sun,‖ The New Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology relates:

In Russian Folklore the Sun possessed twelve kingdoms—the twelve

months or signs of the Zodiac. He lived in the solar disk and his children on the stars...

The daily movement of the Sun across the celestial sphere was represented in certain Slavonic myths as a change in his age: the sun was born every morning...²⁴

The notion of the sun moving, passing or traveling through the zodiacal circle was expressed by the Greek philosophers Pythagoras, Plato and Aristotle.²⁵ Neoplatonist Ficino may be echoing their sentiment, when he says:

   

21. Mitchell,    62.

   

21. Pausanias/Levi,    451.

   

21. Assman,    ESRNK,    78.

   

21. Larousse,    285.

   

21. Mansfield,    701.

   

   

   

                           

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The Sun, in that it is clearly lord of the sky, rules and moderates all truly celestial things... Firstly, it infuses light into all the stars, whether they have a tiny light of their own (as some people suspect), or no light at all (as very many think). Next, through the twelve signs of the zodiac, it is called living...and that sign which the Sun invigorates actually appears to be alive.²⁶

This idea of the sun—or moon—―traveling‖ through the signs of the zodiac was common among several peoples, including the Anglo-Saxons, as demonstrated in the De temporibus anni of Ælfric Puttoc (d. 1051), who personifies the moon (―old and tired‖) and relates:

Truly the moon year has twenty-seven days and eight hours... This is the moon year, but its month is more, which is when the moon travels new from the sun until it returns to the sun again, old and tired, and is displayed again through the sun [i.e. new moon]. In the moon month are counted twenty-nine days and twelve hours, this is the moon month, and its year is when it travels through all twelve star signs.²⁷

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26. Voss,    192.

   

26. Chardonnens,    395.

   

26. Sela,    37.

   

26. Acharya,    CC,    152, as paraphrased from Hazelrigg‘s The    Sun Book,    43.

   

   

   

                           

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In order to understand how the ancients personified the celestial elements and told stories about them, we can turn to the myth of Hercules, which has been recognized to be both astronomical and astrotheological:

…The Labors of Hercules which chiefly interest us are: (1) The capture of the Bull, (2) the slaughter of the Lion, (3) the destruction of the Hydra, (4) of the Boar, (5) the cleansing of the stables of Augeas, (6) the descent into Hades and the taming of Cerberus. The first of these is in line with the Mithraic conquest of the Bull; the Lion is of course one of the most prominent constellations of the Zodiac, and its conquest is obviously the work of a Saviour of mankind; while the last four labors connect themselves very naturally with the Solar conflict in winter against the powers of darkness. The Boar (4) we have seen already as the image of Typhon, the prince of darkness; the Hydra (3) was said to be the offspring of Typhon; the descent into Hades

(6)—generally associated with Hercules‘ struggle with and victory over Death—links on to the descent of the Sun into the underworld, and its long and doubtful strife with the forces of winter; and the cleansing of the stables of Augeas (5) has the same signification. It appears in fact that the stables of Augeas was another name for the sign of Capricorn through which the Sun passes at the Winter solstice—the stable of course being an underground chamber—and the myth was that there, in this lowest tract and backwater of the Ecliptic all the malarious and evil influences of the sky were collected, and the Sungod came to wash them away (December was the height of the rainy season in Judæa) and cleanse the year towards its rebirth.

It should not be forgotten too that even as a child in the cradle Hercules slew two serpents sent for his destruction—the serpent and the scorpion as autumnal constellations figuring always as enemies of the Sungod—to which may be compared the power given to his disciples by Jesus ―to tread on serpents and scorpions.‖ Hercules also as a Sungod compares curiously with Samson...but we need not dwell on all the elaborate analogies that have been traced between these two heroes....³⁰

9. This is Horus. He is the Sun God of Egypt of around 3000 BC.

Concerning the antiquity of Horus, Egyptologist Dr. Edmund S. Meltzer remarks:

Horus is one of the earliest attested of the major ancient Egyptian deities, becoming known to us at least as early as the late Predynastic period (Naqada III/Dynasty 0) [c. 3200-3000 BCE]; he was still prominent in the latest temples of the Greco-Roman period [332 BCE-640 AD/CE], especially at Philae and Edfu, as well as in the Old Coptic and Greco-Egyptian ritual power, or magical, texts.³¹

As is the case with many gods in other parts of the world, several Egyptian gods (and goddesses) possess solar attributes, essentially making them sun gods. These Egyptian sun gods included not only the commonly known Ra or Re, but also Osiris and Horus, among others. In the first century BCE, the Greek writer Diodorus Siculus described Osiris as the sun, while his sister-wife, Isis, is the moon:

Now when the ancient Egyptians, awestruck and wondering, turned their eyes to the heavens, they concluded that two gods, the sun and the moon, were primeval and eternal: they called the former Osiris, the latter Isis....³²

Concerning the nature of certain Egyptian gods, Dr. James P. Allen, Curator of Egyptian Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, remarks:

...Ruling over the universe by day, the Sun was identified with Horus, the god of kingship; at sunset he was seen as Atum, the oldest of all gods. The Sun‘s daily

   

30. Carpenter,    48-50.

   

30. Redford,    165.

   

30. Diodorus/Murphy,    14.

   

   

   

                           

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movement through the sky was viewed as a journey from birth to death, and his rebirth

at dawn was made possible through Osiris, the force of new life...

…In the middle of the night the Sun merged with Osiris‘s body; through this union, the

Sun received the power of new life while Osiris was reborn in the Sun.³³

These gods are often interchangeable, and their attributes and stories may overlap. As stated by Egyptologist Dr. Erik Hornung:

Many Egyptian gods can be the sun god, especially Re, Atum, Amun, and manifestations of Horus. Even Osiris appears as the night form of the sun god in the New Kingdom. It is often not defined which particular sun god is meant in a given instance.³⁴

Hieroglyph representing either Horus or Ra in his Sun Disk (Budge, An Egyptian Hieroglyphic Dictionary, cxiv)

These gods‘ interchangeability is evident from Egyptian texts, such as chapter or spell 69 of the

Book of the Dead:

…I am Horus the Elder on the Day of Accession, I am Anubis of Sepa, I am the Lord of

All, I am Osiris.³⁵

Moreover, there were several Horuses, including Horus the Elder, whose eyes are the sun and the moon, as well as also Horus the Child, a number of whose attributes may be found in the gospel story and Christian tradition. Eventually these ―various Horuses blended together until there were only two left; Horus the Sun God and Horus the son of Osiris and Isis.‖³⁶

Concerning these different Horuses, Egyptologist Dr. Henri Frankfort says:

It is therefore a mistake to separate ―Horus, the Great God, Lord of Heaven,‖ from ―Horus, son of Osiris,‖ or to explain their identity as due to syncretism in comparatively late times. The two gods ―Horus‖ whose titles we have set side by side are, in reality, one and the same.³⁷

Horus the Elder   Horus the Child with sidelock

Magical Stela, 360–343 BCE

   

33. Allen,    AEPT,    8.

   

33. Hornung,    CGAE,    283.

   

33. Faulkner,    EBD    (1967), 107

   

33. Jackson,    J., 112.

   

33. Frankfort,    41.

   

   

   

                           

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10. He is the sun, anthropomorphized, and his life is a series of allegorical myths involving the sun’s movement in the sky.

We have already seen that Horus is a sun god, a fact confirmed five centuries before the common era by the Greek historian Herodotus (2.144, 156), when he equated Osiris with Dionysus and Horus with the Greek sun god Apollo: ―In Egyptian, Apollo is Horus, Demeter is Isis,

Artemis is Bubastis….‖³⁸

Regarding Horus as the sun god, Murdock says:

In ancient Egyptian writings such as the Pyramid Texts, in which he is called the ―Lord of the Sky,‖ along with other solar epithets such as ―He Whose Face is Seen,‖ ―He Whose Hair is Parted,‖ and ―He Whose Two Plumes are Long,‖ Horus‘s function as a sun god or aspect of the sun is repeatedly emphasized, although this singularly pertinent fact is seldom found in encyclopedias and textbooks, leaving us to wonder why he would be thus diminished. In the

Coffin Texts as well is Horus‘s role as (morning) sun god made clear, such as in the following elegantly rendered scripture from CT Sp. 255:

   

   

   

   ―…I    will appear as Horus who ascends in gold from upon the lips of the    horizon…‖

   

   

   

   In CT    Sp. 326, Horus is even called ―Lord of the sunlight.‖³⁹    Egyptologist    James Allen also discusses Horus‘s solar attributes:

       

       

   

   

   

‗The    Sun Springing from an Opening Lotus-Flower in the Form of the Child    Horus‘

   

   

   

   (Maspero,    193)

   

   

   

   Horus    was the power of kingship. To the Egyptians this was as much a force    of nature as those embodied in the other gods. It was manifest in    two natural phenomena: the sun, the most powerful force in nature;    and the pharaoh, the most powerful force in human    society. Horus‘s role as the king of nature is probably the    origin of his name: hrw    seems    to mean ―the one above‖ or ―the one far off‖...    This is apparently a reference    to    the sun, which is ―above‖ and ―far off‖ in    the sky, like the falcon with which Horus is regularly    associated...⁴⁰

   

   

   

Illustrating    certain motifs including the sun god‘s movement through the    night and day, Sir    Dr.    E.A.    Wallis Budge (1857–1934),    noted English Egyptologist, Orientalist, and philologist who worked    for the British Museum and published numerous works, remarks:

   

   

   

   The    Sun has countless names, Ptah, Tmu, Ra, Horus, Khnemu, Sebek, Amen,    etc.; and some of them, such as Osiris and Seker, are names of the    Sun after he has set, or, in mythological language, has died and    been buried.... All gods, as such, were absolutely equal in their    might and in their divinity; but, mythologically, Osiris might be    said to be slain by his brother Set, the personification of Night,    who, in his turn, was overthrown by Horus (the rising sun), the heir    of Osiris.⁴¹

       

   

As    we can see, both Osiris and Horus are essentially sun gods, who both    also battle with the

   

   

   

―Prince    of Darkness,‖ the god Set    or Seth.

       

       

       

       

       

       

   

   

   

      

38. Herodotus/de       Selincourt, 145.

       

       

   

      

38. Murdock,       CIE,       47.

       

       

   

      

38. Allen,       J., ME,       144.

       

       

   

      

38. Budge,       GFSER,       2-3.

       

   

   

   

                           

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‗Horus emerging from the corpse of Osiris, the sun disk behind him‘ Burial chamber of Ramesses VI, 1145-1137 BCE

(Hornung, Valley of the Kings, 116)

11. From the ancient hieroglyphics in Egypt, we know much about this solar messiah. For instance, Horus, being the sun, or the light, had an enemy known as Set, and Set was the personification of the darkness or night. And, metaphorically speaking, every morning Horus would win the battle against Set—while in the evening, Set would conquer Horus and send him into the underworld. It is important to note that “dark vs. light” or “good vs. evil” is one of the most ubiquitous mythological dualities ever known and is still expressed on many levels to this day.

Like his father, Osiris, battling Set/Seth on a nightly basis, so too does Horus fight Seth, as related by Egyptologist Dr. Jan Assman:

First, Horus and Seth battle one another in the form of hippopotami; Isis seizes a harpoon but is unable to kill Seth, because he addresses her as sister. Horus is furious at this act of mercy and decapitates Isis. He flees into the desert, where Seth finds him and rips his eyes out. But the wounds are immediately healed and the plot continues.⁴²

Horus‘s conflict with Set is also recounted by the director of the Antiquities Museum at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Egypt, Dr. Badrya Serry:

It is known that the child Harpocrates struggled with his uncle Seth to revenge his father...and attain victory upon him. Since he overcame the powers of darkness (Seth) [he was] likened to the Greek hero Heracles who battled the powers of evilness.⁴³

For more information, see the chapter ―Horus versus Set,‖ pp. 67-78, in Murdock‘s Christ in Egypt.

‗Set‘ as represented in the tomb of   Horus versus Set

pharaoh Thutmose III (fl. 1479–1425)

   

42. Assman,    SGAE,    140.

   

42. Goyon,    121.

   

   

   

                           

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12. Broadly speaking, the story of Horus is as follows. Horus was born on December 25^th….

It needs to be understood that the Egyptian stories were never ―laid out‖ in a linear form; rather, they appear in bits and pieces in primary sources such as the Pyramid Texts, Coffin Texts and Book of the Dead, compiled and altered over many centuries, beginning as early as 7,000 years ago. Thus, it is a common misconception that the myths unfold in the same linear manner as in the Christian narrative. Most of these motifs are indeed not linear narratives, but, rather, symbolic associations derived from different Egyptian texts, as well as later mythographers‘ accounts. Since this description of Horus here is obviously angled from the reference point of the Christian narrative, the subject needs to be deconstructed and reconsidered from the standpoint of each motif, rather than the overall narrative. The Christian story must, in turn, likewise be considered from the standpoint of each individual motif and not linearly, because this basic ―mythicist‖⁴⁴ argument is that the Christian religion is a compilation of religious motifs which existed previously—and separately.

Obviously, the English term ―December 25^th‖ did not exist in the ancient Egyptian calendar but simply refers to the winter solstice, which the ancients perceived as beginning on December 21^st and ending at midnight on the 24^th. We learn from one of the most famous historians of the first century, Plutarch (46-120 AD/CE), that Horus the Child—or ―Harpocrates,‖ as was his Greek name—was ―born about the winter solstice, unfinished and infant-like...‖⁴⁵

Three centuries after Plutarch, ancient Latin writer Macrobius (395–423 AD/CE) also reported on an annual Egyptian ―Christmas‖ celebration (Saturnalia, I, XVIII:10):

…at the winter solstice the sun would seem to be a little child, like that which the

Egyptians bring forth from a shrine on an appointed day, since the day is then at its shortest and the god is accordingly shown as a tiny infant.⁴⁶

As Egyptologist Dr. Bojana Mojsov remarks: ―The symbol of the savior-child was the eye of the sun newly born every year at the winter solstice.‖⁴⁷

Other indications of the Egyptian reverence of the winter solstice may be found in hieroglyphs, as Murdock relates:

As [Egyptologist Dr. Heinrich] Brugsch explains, the Egyptians not only abundantly recorded and revered the time of the winter solstice, they also created a number of hieroglyphs to depict it, including the image mentioned by Budge, which turns out to be the goddess-sisters Isis and Nephthys with the solar disc floating above their hands over a lifegiving ankh—the looped Egyptian cross—as the sun‘s rays extend down to the cross symbol. This image of the sun between Isis and Nephthys, which is sometimes depicted without the ankh, is described in an inscription at Edfu regarding Ptolemy VII (fl. 145 BCE?) and applied to the winter solstice, translated as: ―The sun coming out of the sky-ocean into the hands of the siblings Isis and Nephthys.‖ This image very much looks like the sun being born, which is sensible, since, again, Harpocrates, the morning sun, was born every day, including at the winter solstice.⁴⁸

   

44.    The    ―mythicist position‖ or ―mythicism‖ posits    that many    if not most of the ancient gods, goddesses and    godmen, as well as various heroes and legends, are not ―real    people‖ but mythical figures. This perception may    include not just the Greek and Roman gods, for example, who are    presently viewed as myths by mainstream scholarship and the lay    public alike, but also many biblical figures, including Abraham,    Moses and Jesus.

   

44. Plutarch,    ―Isis and Osiris‖ (65, 387C); King,    C.W., 56; Plutarch/Babbitt, 153.

   

44.    Macrobius/Davies,    129. The original Latin of this paragraph    in Macrobius is: ―…ut parvulus videatur    hiemali solstitio, qualem Aegyptii proferunt ex adyto die certa,    quod tunc brevissimo die veluti parvus et infans    videatur…‖ (Murdock,    CIE,    89.)

   

44. Mojsov,    13.

   

44. Murdock,    CIE,    94.

   

   

   

                           

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Isis and Nephthys holding the baby Sun

over the Life-Giving Ankh, representing the Winter Solstice (Budge, An Egyptian Hieroglyphic Dictionary, 351)

There are many other artifacts in Egypt that demonstrate Horus‘s association with the winter solstice, including his temples aligned to the rising sun at that time of the year.⁴⁹

13.   ...of the virgin Isis-Meri.

The virginity of Horus‘s mother, Isis, has been disputed, because in one myth she is portrayed <

[Prometheus]

[noae]

&#8213;Osiris...begetting a son by Isis, who hovers over him in the form of a hawk.&#8214; (Budge, On the Future Life: Egyptian Religion, 80)

As is often the case with mythical figures, despite the way she is impregnated, Isis remained the &#8213;Great Virgin,&#8214; as she is called in a number of pre-Christian Egyptian writings. As stated by Egyptologist Dr. Reginald E. Witt:

The Egyptian goddess who was equally &#8213;the Great Virgin&#8214; (hwnt) and &#8213;Mother of the God&#8214; was the object of the very same praise bestowed upon her successor [Mary, Virgin Mother of Jesus].⁵²

One of the inscriptions that calls Isis the &#8213;Great Virgin&#8214; appears in the temple of Seti I at Abydos dating to the 13^th century BCE, while in later times she is equated with the constellation of Virgo, the Virgin.⁵³ Also, in the temple of Neith and Isis at Sais was an ancient inscription that depicted the virgin birth of the sun:

49. For more information on the winter solstice in ancient Egypt, see Murdock, CIE, 79-117.

49. Frazer, GB, IV, 8.

49. Murdock, CIE, 201.

49. Witt, 273.

49. For more on the virgin status of Isis, see Murdock, CIE, 138-157.

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The present and the future and the past, I am. My undergarment no one has uncovered. The fruit I brought forth, the sun came into being.⁵⁴

In the Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, professor of Old Testament and Catholic Theology at the University of Bonn Dr. G. Johannes Botterweck writes:

In the Late Period in particular, goddesses are frequently called &#8213;(beautiful) virgins,&#8214; especially Hathor, Isis, and Nephthys.⁵⁵

In addition, according to early Church father Epiphanius (c. 310-403), the virgin mother of the god Aion—also considered to be Horus—brought him forth out of the manger each year.⁵⁶ This account is verified earlier by Church father Hippolytus (c. 236), who, in discussing the various Pagan mysteries (Refutation of All Heresies, 8.45), raises the idea of a &#8213;virgin spirit&#8214; and remarks: &#8213;For she is the virgin who is with child and conceives and bears a son, who is not psychic, not bodily, but a blessed Aion of Aions.&#8214;⁵⁷

Concerning the relationship of the Egyptian religion to Christianity, Budge summarizes:

..at the last, when [Osiris‘s] cult disappeared before the religion of the

Man Christ, the Egyptians who embraced Christianity found that the moral system of the old cult and that of the new religion were so similar, and the promises of resurrection and immortality in each so much alike, that they transferred their allegiance from Osiris to Jesus of Nazareth without difficulty. Moreover, Isis and the child Horus were straightway identified with Mary the Virgin and her Son, and in the apocryphal literature of the first few centuries which followed the evangelization of Egypt, several of the legends about Isis and her sorrowful wanderings were made to centre round the Mother of Christ. Certain of the attributes of the sister goddesses of Isis were also ascribed to her, and, like the goddess Neith of Sais, she was declared to possess perpetual virginity. Certain of the Egyptian Christian Fathers gave to the Virgin the title &#8213;Theotokos,&#8214; or &#8213;Mother of God,&#8214; forgetting, apparently, that it was an exact translation of neter mut, a very old and common title of Isis.

As Murdock shows in her books Suns of God and Christ in Egypt, the mythical virgin-mother motif has been common, possesses an astrotheological meaning, and was part of the ancient mysteries.

Isis nursing Horus (Musée du Louvre, Paris)

Moreover, the title or epithet of &#8213;Meri&#8214; or &#8213;Mery,&#8214; meaning &#8213;beloved,&#8214;

was applied to many kings and later to various deities, such as Isis, including just before the supposed existence of Jesus‘s mother, Mary. As Egyptologist Dr. Alfred Wiedermann, a professor of Oriental Languages at the University of Bonn, remarks:

The Egyptian word Meri means, very generally, &#8213;the loving or the beloved,&#8214; and serves in this sense as a title of goddesses, and is as often used as a proper name…⁵⁸

For more on this subject of the term &#8213;Meri,&#8214; see Christ in Egypt, pp. 124-138.

54. Murdock, CIE, 146.

54. Botterweck, II, 338-339.

54. Murdock, CIE, 87-88.

54. Meyer, 152.

54. Proceedings of the Society for Biblical Archaeology, XI, 272.

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14. His birth was accompanied by a star in the east, and upon his birth he was adored by three kings.

The very idea that when a person is born a star appears, along with three magi or kings following it to meet the newborn savior, obviously and logically represents a metaphysical fantasy/mythological event. Therefore, again, the symbolic relationships are of the greatest interest to us, and here the important questions thus become: Were Jesus and Horus both associated with a birth star and three &#8213;kings&#8214; or magi? Is there a relationship between the birth star and the three kings? The answer to these questions is a definitive yes, based on scholarship concerning the Horus/Osiris/Ra myths, which we need to recall are often interchangeable.

The theme of the newborn savior being signaled by a star and approached by three &#8213;kings&#8214; or dignitaries has multiple mythological meanings, the prominent astrotheological one of which is summarized by Barbara G. Walker:

Osiris‘s coming was announced by Three Wise Men: the three stars Mintaka, Anilam, and Alnitak in the belt of Orion, which point directly to Osiris‘s star in the east, Sirius (Sothis), significator of his birth.⁵⁹

Star in the East: To understand the &#8213;Star in the East,&#8214; one first needs to recognize the significance of the star Sirius or Sothis, as it is called in Greek. In the words of Dr. Allen:

Sothis (spdt &#8213;Sharp&#8214;). The morning star, Sirius, seen by the Egyptians as a goddess. In

Egypt the star disappears below the horizon once a year for a period of some seventy days; its reappearance in midsummer marked the beginning of the annual inundation and the Egyptian year. The star‘s rising was also seen as a harbinger of the sunrise and therefore associated with Horus in his solar aspect, occasionally specified as Horus in Sothis (hrw jmj spdt), Sothic Horus (hrw spdtj), or Sharp Horus (hrw spd).⁶⁰

The importance to the Egyptians of Sirius/Sothis, as well as the constellation of Orion, is further explained by Welsh professor Dr. John Gwyn Griffiths:

...Sothis was the harbinger of the annual inundation of the Nile through her appearance with the rising sun at the time when the inundation was due to begin. The bright star would therefore naturally become, together with the conjoined constellation of Orion, the sign and symbol of new vegetation which the Year then beginning would infallibly bring with it….⁶¹

The above birth sequence with Sirius refers not to the winter solstice (as will be discussed later) but to the summer solstice, signaling the births of Osiris as the Nile inundation and of Horus the Elder, as well as the Child who is the daily newborn sun. In winter, the &#8213;Three Kings&#8214; in the belt of Orion pointed to Sirius at night before the annual birth of the sun, which is also Horus, as the Child.

Three Kings: Again, the &#8213;Three Kings&#8214; are the stars in Orion‘s belt: &#8213;Mintaka,&#8214; &#8213;Anilam&#8214; and &#8213;Alnitak.&#8214; These stars, along with Sirius, are tied to the cycles of death and rebirth. In the ancient texts, Osiris is often identified with Orion and these stars. (Remember, Osiris and Horus overlap and can sometimes be considered one entity in certain contexts.) As Murdock states, "So interchangeable are Osiris and Horus that there is even a hybrid god Osiris-Horus or Asar-Heru."⁶²

59. Walker, B., WEMS, 749.

59. Allen, J., 441.

59. Griffiths, OOHC, 157.

59. Murdock, CIE, 56.

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Hieroglyph for Osiris-Horus

(Budge, An Egyptian Hieroglyphic Dictionary, I, 87)

In the ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts (PT 442:819c-822b/P38⁶³) it reads:

&#8213;Look, he is come as Orion,&#8214; (they say). &#8213;Look, Osiris is come as Orion...&#8214;

The sky shall conceive you with Orion, the morning-star shall give you birth with Orion. Live! Live, as the gods have commanded you live.

With Orion in the eastern arm of the sky shall you go up, with Orion in the western arm of the sky shall you go down. Sothis, whose places are clean, is the third of you two: she is the one who will lead you...⁶⁴

Concerning the general relationship between Orion, Sirius and the Egyptian deities, Egyptologist Dr. Bojana Mojsov states:

The constellation of Orion was linked with Osiris: &#8213;He has come as Orion. Osiris has come as Orion,&#8214; proclaim the Pyramid Texts. Sirius and Orion, Isis and Osiris, inseparable in heaven as on earth, heralded the inundation and the rebirth of life. Their appearance in the sky was a measure of time and a portent of great magnitude. In historic times, both occasions were always marked by celebrations.⁶⁵

Ancient Egyptian hieroglyph for Orion,

with three-looped string and star (Budge, Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Dictionary, 638)

The &#8213;three kings&#8214; approaching the baby in a manger can also be seen in the ritual of the baby falcon god Sokar, who was brought out of the temple at the winter solstice and who has been identified with Horus.⁶⁶

63. This numbering method is after that devised by D.M. Murdock in Christ in Egypt. (See Murdock, CIE, p. 36, footnote 6.)

63. Allen, J., 107.

63. Mojsov, 7.

63. For more information, see Murdock, CIE, 107ff.

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[/noae]

[Prometheus]

[noae]

The baby Sokar approached by Ptah-Sokar-Osiris at the winter solstice (Wilkinson, Manner and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians, III, 18; Murdock, The 2010 Astrotheology Calendar, 34)

15. At the age of 12, he was a prodigal child teacher, and at the age of 30 he was baptized by a figure known as Anup and thus began his ministry.

Child Teacher: Regarding Horus‘s role as a &#8213;child teacher in the temple,&#8214; Murdock relates:

…In the first place, Horus was commonly viewed as the rising sun, during which time, it could be said, &#8213;He dwelt on earth as mortal Horus in the house of Seb (earth) until he was twelve years of age.&#8214; In the solar mythos, the &#8213;age&#8214; of 12 refers to the sun at high noon, the twelfth hour of the day, when the &#8213;God Sun&#8214; is doing his &#8213;heavenly father‘s work&#8214; in the &#8213;temple&#8214; or &#8213;tabernacle&#8214; of the &#8213;most high.&#8214; In the Egyptian myth, the child Horus—the rising sun—becomes Re at the &#8213;age&#8214; of 12 noon, when he moves into his &#8213;Father‘s house,&#8214; in other words, that of Re and/or Osiris, who are interchangeable, as we have seen. Indeed, while the sun gods or solar epithets are interchangeable in and of themselves, in certain texts…Re is specifically named as Horus‘s father; hence, the relationship here is doubly appropriate. The fact of Horus attaining so quickly to such maturity certainly may impress his elders, the older suns, as he literally becomes them. To put it another way, Horus is the sun from the time it arrives on the horizon until 12 noon, at which point he becomes Re, the father of the gods and the &#8213;father of Horus&#8214; as well. It could thus be said that Horus does his father’s work in the temple at the age of

12.

In The Dawn of Astronomy, [Royal Astronomer Sir Norman] Lockyer describes this process of Horus becoming Re at the hour or &#8213;age&#8214; of 12:

We have the form of Harpocrates at its rising, the child sun-god being generally represented by the figure of a hawk. When in human form, we notice the presence of a side lock of hair. The god Ra symbolises, it is said, the sun in his noontide strength; while for the time of sunset we have various names, chiefly Osiris, Tum, or Atmu, the dying sun represented by a mummy and typifying old age. The hours of the day were also personified, the twelve changes during the twelve hours being mythically connected with the sun‘s daily movement across the sky.

The various &#8213;phases&#8214; of the sun‘s journey were given different personalities, while remaining one entity. Hence, Horus the Child wears the side lock until 12 noon when he becomes the adult Re.⁶⁷

⁶⁷ Murdock, CIE, 214.

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Murdock also says:

In the Egyptian story of Khamuas/Khamois found on Papyrus DCIV of the British Museum appears an interesting tale about Sa-Asar, Si-Osiris or Senosiris—the &#8213;son of Osiris&#8214;—who &#8213;grew rapidly in wisdom and knowledge of magic.&#8214; The tale continues: &#8213;When Si-Osiris was twelve years old he was wiser than the wisest of the scribes.&#8214; This story includes fantastical elements—such as a visit to the underworld—that indicate it is not historical but may well revolve around Horus, son of Osiris. Thus, in Egypt we find a similar tale as in the gospel about the &#8213;son of God&#8214; who is 12 years old and is precocious in intelligence and knowledge, besting the elders and scribes.⁶⁸

Baptism: Baptism in the ancient pre-Christian world, including in Egypt, was common, as related by early Church father Tertullian (c. 160-c. 220):

For washing is the channel through which [the heathen] are initiated into some sacred rites—of some notorious Isis or Mithras. The gods themselves likewise they honour by washings.⁶⁹

In CIE, Murdock discusses the ancient Egyptian purification or baptism:

Concerning the sun god‘s nightly journey back to life, Egyptologist Dr. Jacobus Van Dijk of the University of Groningen says that &#8213;according to the Pyramid Texts, the sun god purifies himself in the morning in the Lake of the Field of Rushes.&#8214; Thus, the morning sun—or Horus—was said to pass through the purifying or baptismal waters to become reborn, revivified or resurrected.⁷⁰

Murdock references several Pyramid Texts citing the issue of using a &#8213;Divine Lake&#8214; to purify.

The Egyptian god Anpu, Anup or &#8213;Anubis,&#8214; the latter of which is his Greek name, is the Egyptian precedent for the Christian character John the Baptist. There are many similarities, such as Anubis being the &#8213;Preparer of the Way of the Other World&#8214;⁷¹ and John the Baptist being &#8213;preparer of the way of Christ.&#8214; As another, Anubis serves as &#8213;purifier&#8214; or &#8213;baptizer&#8214; of

Egyptian gods and deceased persons, including both Horus and Osiris.

Concerning the role of Anubis/Anup in Egyptian mythology, lay Egyptologist Gerald Massey states:

The karast is literally the god or person who has been mummified, embalmed, and anointed or christified. Anup the baptizer and embalmer of the dead for the new life was the preparer of the karast-mummy. As John the Baptist is the founder of the Christ in baptism, so Anup was the christifier of the mortal Horus, he on whom the holy ghost descended as a bird when the Osiris made his transformation in the marriage mystery of Tat tu (Rit., ch. 17). We read in the funeral texts of Anup—being &#8213;Suten tu hetep, Anup, neb tser khent neter ta krast-ef em set&#8214; (Birch, Funereal Text, 4^th Dynasty). &#8213;Suten hept tu Anup tep-tuf khent neter ha am ut neb tser krast ef em as-ef en kar neter em set Amenta&#8214; (Birch, Funereal Stele of Ra-Khepr-Ka, 12^th Dynasty). Anup gives embalmment, krast; he is lord over the place of embalmment, the kras; the lord of embalming (krast), who, so to say, makes the &#8213;krast.&#8214; The process of embalmment is to make the mummy. This was a type of immortality or rising again. Osiris is krast, or embalmed and mummified for the resurrection. Passage into life and light is made for the karast-dead through the embalmment of the good Osiris (Rit., ch. 162)—that is,

68. Murdock, CIE, 213.

68. Tertullian, On Baptism, V , p. 9.

68. Murdock, CIE, 247.

68. Bonwick, 120.

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through his being karast as the mummy type. Thus the Egyptian krast was the pre-Christian Christ, and the pictures in the Roman Catacombs preserve the proof.⁷²

For a detailed discussion of the term &#8213;karast&#8214; or &#8213;krst,&#8214; see Murdock, CIE, pp. 313-318. Regarding Anubis‘s role as not only embalmer but also &#8213;purifier,&#8214; Murdock remarks:

… as embalmer, Anubis‘s purifying role in mummification is made clear in the fact that he presides over the &#8213;House of Purification&#8214; and &#8213;Tent of Purification,&#8214; the latter called tp-jbw in Egyptian. In describing the funerary rituals, Dr. Lesko states:

Pouring of water, for its life-giving as well as purification qualities, was part of every ritual. The corpse, whether first desiccated or not, would have been washed (in the Tent of Purification) and then anointed and wrapped in the embalmer‘s shop. Seven sacred oils used for anointing the body are known already in the first dynasty….⁷³

There is much more to this subject, and interested parties are directed to the 28-page chapter

&#8213;Anup the Baptizer&#8214; in Murdock‘s Christ in Egypt.

Anubis purifying the Osiris (Renouf, Egyptian Book of the Dead, 51)

16. Horus had 12 disciples he traveled about with, performing miracles such as healing the sick and walking on water.

Again, these themes were not all rolled into one in this manner in an ancient text but are put together here in order to reconstruct the Horus myth, the same as mythographers do with modern encyclopedia entries. The motifs exist separately in a variety of texts, from which the creators of Christianity evidently drew for their narrative.

12 Disciples: In Chaldean Magic: Its Origins and Development, French archaeologist Francois Lenormant states:

...The sun of the lower Hemispheres took more especially the name of Osiris. Its companions and deputies were the twelve of the night personified as so many gods, at the head of which was placed Horus, the rising sun itself...⁷⁴

As Murdock says:

The configuration of Re, Osiris or Horus with 12 other individuals, whether gods or men, can be found abundantly in Egyptian texts, essentially reflecting the sun god with

⁷² Massey, AELW, I, 218. For a discussion of Massey‘s work, which was based on that of the best

Egyptologists of his day, some of whom also reviewed his writings prior to publication, see Christ in Egypt, pp. 13-23.

73. Murdock, CIE, 249.

73. Lenormant, 83.

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12 &#8213;companions,&#8214; &#8213;helpers&#8214; or &#8213;disciples.&#8214; This theme is repeated numerous times in the nightly passage of the sun: Like Hercules in his 12 labors, when the Egyptian sun god entered into the night sky, he was besieged with trials, as found in some of the Egyptian

&#8213;Holy Scriptures.&#8214; One such text is the &#8213;Book of the Amtuat/Amduat,&#8214; which &#8213;describes the journey of the sun god through the twelve hours of the night,&#8214; the term &#8213;Amduat&#8214; meaning &#8213;underworld&#8214; or &#8213;netherworld.&#8214;...

Horus is thus firmly associated with 12 &#8213;star-gods,&#8214; who, in conducting the sun god through his passage, can be deemed his &#8213;protectors,&#8214; &#8213;assistants&#8214; or &#8213;helpers,&#8214; etc.⁷⁵

Concerning this motif of Horus and the Twelve, Murdock also states:

...in the tenth hour of the Amduat, Horus the Elder leaning on his staff is depicted as leading the 12 "drowned" or lost souls to their salvation in the "Fields of the Blessed." These 12 deceased, Hornung relates, are "saved from decay and decomposition by Horus, who leads them to a blessed posthumous existence..." In this manner, Horus's companions, like the disciples of Jesus, are meant to "become like gods," so to speak, and to exist forever, reaping eternal life, as do those who believe in Christ.⁷⁶

Horus helps the 12 drowned souls &#8213;find their way to the Fields of the Blessed,&#8214; commanding them as they are being &#8213;deified&#8214;

10^th hour of the Amduat

Tomb of Amenophis/Amenhotep II (14^th cent. BCE) (Hornung, Valley of the Kings, 138, 144)

For much more on this subject, see Christ in Egypt, pp. 262-284.

Miracles: As in many other religions, the Egyptian gods and goddesses were known to produce miracles, including healing the sick, &#8213;walking on water&#8214; and raising the dead. Regarding Horus

75. Murdock, CIE, 269-271.

75. Murdock, CIE, 271.

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being associated with healing, Greek historian of the first century BCE Diodorus Siculus remarks:

They say Horus, in the Greek Tongue, is Apollo, who was taught both medicine and divination by his mother Isis, and who showers benefits on the race of man through his oracles and his cures.⁷⁷

Concerning the motif of the god &#8213;commanding the waters,&#8214; Murdock relates:

In BD [Book of the Dead spell] 62…the deceased, who is Re or Osiris, pleads to have &#8213;command of the water,&#8214; saying, &#8213;May I be granted power over the waters…&#8214;

Spells 57, 58 and 59 of the BD are titled chapters for &#8213;command of water&#8214; or &#8213;having power over water,&#8214; while BD 57 includes the request:

Oh Hapi, Chief of the heaven! in thy name of Conductor of the Heaven, let the Osiris prevail over the waters...⁷⁸

Murdock also writes:

The command over water includes the crossing of the &#8213;celestial river&#8214;: &#8213;Upon reaching the sky, the life-essence of the King approaches the celestial gate and/or the celestial river.&#8214; When the king reaches the river with his &#8213;mentor&#8214; Horus, he requests the god to take him with him: &#8213;Since Horus has already crossed the river with his father in mythical times…, he can apparently then cross the river at will.&#8214;⁷⁹

For much more on these subjects, see Christ in Egypt, pp. 285-308.

Horus the Child on the Metternich Stela c. 380-342 BCE

(Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY)

&#8213;This stele represented the power to protect man possessed by all the divine beings in the universe, and, however it was placed, it formed an impassable barrier to every spirit of evil and to every venomous reptile.&#8214; (Budge, Legends of the Egyptian Gods, lxii)

77. Diodorus/Murphy, 31-32.

77. Murdock, CIE, 293.

77. Murdock, CIE, 296-297.

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[/noae]

[Prometheus]

[noae][html]

Horus resurrecting Osiris using the cross of eternal life (Lundy, Monumental Christianity, 403)

17.   Horus was known by many gestural names such as The Truth, The Light,

God’s Anointed Son, The Good Shepherd, The Lamb of God, and many others.

Many Egyptian gods and goddesses held &#8213;sacred titles&#8214; of one sort or another. For example, in chapter/spell 125 of the Egyptian Book of the Dead, the deceased addresses Osiris as the

&#8213;Lord of Truth,&#8214; and it is also easy to understand why solar gods would be deemed &#8213;The Light.&#8214; Following is a compilation of epithets taken from the Egyptian Book of the Dead, as applied to various deities, including Osiris, Isis, Horus, Re, Anubis, Thoth and Seb:

Lord of Lords, King of Kings, Lord of Truth, Savior, the Divine, All-Powerful, the Unknowable, Great God, Lord of All, Inviolate God, God of Justice, Lord of Justice, Lord of Right, Lord of Prayer... Son of the Great One...Lord of Light... The Giver of Light, Lord of the Horizon, Lord of Daylight, Lord of the Sunbeams, Soul of his father, Lord of Years, Lord of the Great Mansion...⁸⁰

Concerning the Egyptian &#8213;savior,&#8214; Murdock states:

…according to the hymns some 1,400 years before the purported advent of Christ, the sun is the &#8213;unique shepherd, who protects his flock,&#8214; also serving as a &#8213;savior.&#8214; In the Coffin Texts appears another mention of the Egyptian god as &#8213;savior,&#8214; as in CT Sp. 155, in which the speaker specifically defines himself as a god and also says, &#8213;Open to me, for I am a saviour…&#8214; In CT Sp. 847, the deceased—who at times is Osiris and/or Horus—is the &#8213;Saviour-god.&#8214;…⁸¹

Regarding Horus‘s other epithets, William R. Cooper relates:

The very first of the chief epithets applied to Horus in this, his third great office, has a startlingly Christian sound; it is the &#8213;Sole begotten son of the Father,&#8214; to which, in other texts, is added, &#8213;Horus the Holy Child,&#8214; the &#8213;Beloved son of his father.&#8214; The Lord of Life, the Giver of Life [are also] both very usual epithets...the &#8213;Justifier of the Righteous,&#8214; the &#8213;Eternal King&#8214; and the &#8213;Word of the Father Osiris.&#8214;…

...very many of the essential names and attributes of Horus were attributed to Ra, Tum, and the other deities also, they were alike &#8213;self-created,&#8214; &#8213;born of a Virgin,&#8214; &#8213;deliverers of mankind,&#8214; &#8213;only begotten sons&#8214;...⁸²

   

80. See    Murdock, CIE,    329-320.

   

80. Murdock,    CIE,    310.

   

80. Cooper,    22, 76-77.

   

   

   

                           

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The epithet of &#8213;God’s Anointed Son&#8214; is a combination of Horus being called &#8213;Anointed&#8214; and &#8213;Beloved son&#8214; of his father, Osiris, this latter epithet being very common in the Pyramid Texts.⁸³ As an example of Horus‘s anointed or christed state, Pyramid text W 51/PT 77:52a-b says:

Ointment, ointment, where should you be? You on Horus‘s forehead, where should you be? You were on Horus‘s forehead...⁸⁴

Concerning the god as &#8213;Good Shepherd,&#8214; Murdock also remarks:

In BD [Book of the Dead spell] 142 appears a long &#8213;List of the Forms and Shrines of Osiris,&#8214; with over 140 epithets for the god, including the &#8213;Protector&#8214; or &#8213;Shepherd&#8214;— Asar-Saa. The sun god Re too was the &#8213;good shepherd,&#8214; and Horus‘s &#8213;Good Shepherd&#8214; role is made clear in the Pyramid Texts as well, for example, at PT 690:2106a-b/N 524: &#8213;O King, stand up for Horus, that he may make you a spirit and guide you when you ascend to the sky.&#8214;

&#8213;Horus,&#8214; in other words, the king, is called &#8213;the good shepherd&#8214; also in the third inscription at the Temple of &#8213;Redesiyeh&#8214; or El-Radesia at Wady Abad, near Edfu in Upper Egypt. As Lundy says, &#8213;The royal Good Shepherd is the antitype of Horus...&#8214; The idea of the Horus-king as the &#8213;good shepherd,&#8214; in fact, was so important that it constituted a major shift in perception and public policy, representing the general mentality of the 11^th and 12^th Dynasties (c. 2050-1800 BCE). As remarked upon by Egyptologist Dr. John A. Wilson, a director of the Oriental Institute at the University of

Chicago, &#8213;The concept of the good shepherd rather than the distant and lordly owner of the flocks shifted the idea of kingship from possession as a right to responsibility as a duty.&#8214;⁸⁵

Regarding the &#8213;Lamb of God&#8214; epithet, Massey explains:

...In the text Horus is addressed as the &#8213;Sheep, son of a sheep; Lamb, son of a lamb,&#8214; and invoked in this character as the protector and saviour of souls...Horus is the lamb of God the father, and is addresses by the name of the lamb who is the protector of savior of the dead in the earth and Amenti.⁸⁶

18. After being “betrayed” by Typhon, Horus was “crucified,” buried for three days, and thus, resurrected.

It needs to be reiterated here that the ancient texts did not necessarily spell out the myths in a linear fashion, resembling a story following a certain timeframe. Mythical motifs found disparately in the ancient Egyptian texts are combined in this paragraph, as they are in modern encyclopedia entries. While some might be critical of this manner of unfolding in the movie, it should be understood that the premise of the entire section (&#8213;Zeitgeist,&#8214; Part 1) concerns how symbolic characteristics were taken from the Egyptian religion and infused into Christianity, as a natural flow of religious evolution across various seemingly independent doctrines. Hence, the linear nature of such points becomes less important than the symbols they represent—especially when all the evidence and the context of astrotheology are taken into consideration.

Also, it is important to remember the &#8213;hybrid&#8214; nature of the Egyptian gods and how multiple names are given to the same entity (i.e., Horus/Osiris hybrid). As Murdock explains:

As we explore the original Egyptian mythos and ritual upon which much of Christianity was evidently founded, it needs to be kept in mind that the gods Osiris and Horus in

⁸³ Faulkner, EBD, pl. 33, 110; Allen, J., AEPT, 36. (E.g., PT 20:11a; PT 219:179b; PT 369:644c; PT 510:1130c; PT 540:1331b; W 152)

   

84. Allen,    J., AEPT,    22.

   

84. Murdock,    CIE,    312.

   

84. Massey,    NG,    II, 471,

   

   

   

                           

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particular were frequently interchangeable and combined, as in &#8213;I and the Father are one.&#8214; (Jn 10:30)⁸⁷

Along the same lines, Egyptologist Dr. Samuel C. Sharpe remarks:

The long list of gods...again further increased in two ways. The priests sometimes made a new god by uniting two or three or four into one, and at other times by dividing one into two or three, or more. Thus out of Horus and Ra they made Horus-Ra, called by the Greeks Aroeris. Out of Osiris and Apis the bull of Memphis, the priests of Memphis made Osiri-Apis or Serapis. He carries the two sceptres of Osiris, and has a bull‘s head... Out of Amun-Ra and Ehe the bull of Heliopolis, the priests of the East of the Delta made Amun-Ra-Ehe. To this again they added a fourth character, that of Chem, and made a god Amun-Ra-Ehe-Chem. Out of Kneph the Spirit, and Ra the Sun, they made Kneph-Ra. Out of Sebek and Ra, they made Sebek-Ra. In this way the Egyptians worshipped a plurality in unity.⁸⁸

Betrayed by Typhon: The Typhon figure is also known as Set/Seth, the god of desert and darkness who betrays his brother, Osiris, and who is depicted in the Pyramid Texts as battling with Horus, who avenges his father. In later texts, Seth is said to have sent a snake or scorpion to sting and kill Horus, as on the Metternich Stela⁸⁹ (c. 380-342 BCE) and other such &#8213;cippi&#8214; or magical stele.

Recounting another myth in which Horus is drowned, Diodorus (Antiquities of Egypt, 1.25.6) describes the god‘s raising or resurrection by Isis, using the same term, anastasis, later employed to describe Jesus‘s resurrection:

Isis also discovered the elixir of immortality, and when her son Horus fell victim to the plots of the Titans and was found dead beneath the waves, she not only raised him from the dead and restored his soul, but also gave him eternal life.⁹⁰

The similarity of the Osiris-Set conflict with that of the Jesus-Satan battle is highlighted by historian Dr. Philip Van Ness Myers:

The god Seth, called Typhon by the Greek writers, was the Satan of later Egyptian mythology. He was the personification of the evil in the world, just as Osiris was the personification of the good.⁹¹

For more on the contention between Horus and Set, see Christ in Egypt, pp. 67-78.

Horus Crucified: The &#8213;crucifixion&#8214; of Horus is misunderstood because many erroneously assume that the term denotes a direct resemblance to the crucifixion narrative of Jesus Christ. Hence, it is critical to point out that we are dealing with metaphors here, not &#8213;history,&#8214; as the

&#8213;crucifixions&#8214; of both Horus and Jesus are improvable events historically.

The issue at hand is not a man being thrown to the ground and nailed to a cross, as Jesus is depicted to have been, but the portrayal of gods and goddesses in “cruciform,” whereby the divine figure appears with arms outstretched in a symbolic context. The word &#8213;crucify&#8214; comes from the Latin crucifigere, composed of cruci/crux and affigere/figere, meaning &#8213;cross&#8214; and &#8213;to fix/affix,&#8214; respectively. Thus, it does not necessarily mean to throw a living person to the ground and nail him or her to a cross, but could signify any image affixed to a cross-shape or in cruciform. This symbolic imagery of a person on a cross or in cross-shape was fairly common in the Pagan world, concerning many gods, goddesses and other figures.

First of all, the cross was a very ancient pre-Christian symbol that often designated the sun. Regarding the cross, the Catholic Encyclopedia (&#8213;Cross and the Crucifix&#8214;) states:

   

87. Murdock,    CIE,    67-68.

   

87. Sharpe,    12.

   

87. See,    e.g., te Velde, 37-38.

   

87. Diodorus/Murphy,    31. See also Murdock, CIE,    388.

   

87. Van    Ness Myers, 38.

   

   

   

                           

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The sign of the cross, represented in its simplest form by a crossing of two lines at right angles, greatly antedates, in both the East and the West, the introduction of Christianity. It goes back to a very remote period of human civilization....

...It is also...a symbol of the sun...and seems to denote its daily rotation.... Cruciform objects have been found in Assyria. Shari people in Egypt wearing crucifixes around their necks. The statutes of Kings Asurnazirpal and Sansirauman, now in the British Museum, have cruciform jewels about the neck.... Cruciform earrings were found by Father Delattre in Punic tombs at Carthage.

Another symbol which has been connected with the cross is the ansated cross (ankh or crux ansata) of the ancient Egyptians.... From the earliest times also it appears among the hieroglyphic signs symbolic of life or of the living... perhaps it was originally, like the swastika, an astronomical sign. The ansated cross is found on many and various monuments of Egypt.... In later times the Egyptian Christians (Copts), attracted by its form, and perhaps by its symbolism, adopted it as the emblem of the cross...⁹²

Fortunately, many ancient artifacts survive that demonstrate the antiquity not only of the cross but also of a human figure in the shape of a cross or in cruciform.

   

   

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

   

   

   

   Human    in cruciform with cross around neck

   

   Chalcolithic,    3900-2500 BCE

       

   

   Cyprus,    Greece (www.limassollink.com/history.php)

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

   

   

   

Shari    in Egypt wearing crosses, possibly Assyrians c. 15^th    cent. BCE.    (Wilkinson, I, 365, 375ff)

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

   

   

   

   Crosses    on the bottoms of ossuary

   

   c.    6^th-5^th    cent. BCE?    Golasecca, Italy (Seymour, 25)

   

Original    Coptic cross

       

   

These    pre-Christian or non-Christian gods on a cross were evidently what    was being discussed around 150 AD/CE    by Church father Justin Martyr (First    Apology,    21):

   

   

   

   And    when we say also that the Word, who is the first-birth of God, was    produced without sexual union, and that He, Jesus Christ, our    Teacher, was crucified and died, and rose again, and ascended into    heaven, we propound nothing different from what you believe    regarding those whom you esteem sons of Jupiter.⁹³

   

   

   

The    &#8213;sons of Jupiter&#8214; are Greco-Roman    gods, and Justin claims Christians are &#8213;propounding nothing    different&#8214; than what the Pagans said about their gods—and    he is describing the    scenario    in a linear fashion, as we are likewise compelled to do in our own    mythography. The suggestion    that other gods were &#8213;crucified&#8214; by being put in a cross    shape or cruciform is confirmed    by early Christian writer Minucius Felix in his Octavius    (29):

   

   

   

CHAP.    XXIX—ARGUMENT:    NOR IS IT MORE TRUE THAT A MAN FASTENED TO A

   

   CROSS    ON ACCOUNT OF HIS CRIMES IS WORSHIPPED BY CHRISTIANS…

       

   

   

   

      

92. Catholic       Encyclopedia,       vol. 4, p. 517-518.

       

       

   

      

92. Roberts,       A., ANF,       I, 170.

       

   

   

   

                           

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For in that you attribute to our religion the worship of a criminal and his cross, you wander far from the neighbourhood of the truth, in thinking either that a criminal deserved, or that any earthly being was able, to be believed God…. Crosses, moreover, we neither worship nor wish for. You, indeed, who consecrate gods of wood, adore wooden crosses perhaps as parts of your gods. For your very standards, as well as your banners, and flags of your camp, what else are they but crosses gilded and adorned? Your victorious trophies not only imitate the appearance of a simple cross, but also that of a man affixed to it.⁹⁴

Since these passionate defenders of Christianity themselves have made the comparison between Christ on the cross and Pagan figures in cruciform or affixed to crosses, we would be remiss in not following their lead.

Counted among these &#8213;sons of Jupiter&#8214; depicted in cruciform may be the Greek god Prometheus, who was portrayed both in ancient writings and in pre-Christian artifacts as being bound to a cross or in cruciform. As related by the Catholic Encyclopedia:

...On an ancient vase we see Prometheus bound to a beam which serves the purpose of a cross.... In the same way the rock to which Andromeda was fastened is called crux, or cross....⁹⁵

   

                                                                                                                                                           

Prometheus             crucified using chains	Andromeda             crucified using chains
c.             350 BCE	c.             79 AD/CE
Greek             vase	Wall             painting, Pompeii
(www.theoi.com/Gallery/T21.4.html)	(www.uwm.edu/Course/mythology/0800/underworld.htm)

Regarding the Egyptian god in cruciform, Thomas W. Doane relates:

Osiris, the Egyptian Saviour, was crucified in the heavens. To the Egyptian the cross was the symbol of immortality, an emblem of the Sun, and the god himself was crucified to the tree, which denoted his fructifying power.

Horus was also crucified in the heavens. He was represented, like... Christ Jesus, with outstretched arms in the vault of heaven.⁹⁶

[Prometheus]

[noae]

Osiris as personified djed pillar holding sun,	Jesus on cross
surrounded by two Merti	with solar halo,
c. 13th-15th cents. BCE	surrounded by three Merys
Egyptian Book of the Dead (Ani Papyrus)	John 19:25
(Faulkner, EBD, pl. 1)

Buried for three days: In the myth, both Osiris and Horus die and are resurrected, with Horus becoming the risen Osiris. As stated in The Riddle of Resurrection by professor of Old Testament Studies at the University of Lund, Dr. Tryggve N.D. Mettinger:

The death and resurrection of Osiris are the most central features of [the Khoiak/Koiak] festival.⁹⁸

⁹⁷ Hornung, CGAE, 124.

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Dr. Mettinger also states:

...Osiris rose to new life in his son, Horus...⁹⁹

The period between Osiris‘s death and resurrection varies, depending on the myth. For example, as &#8213;the Osiris&#8214;/deceased in the Egyptian funeral texts, as well as the nightly sun, he dies and resurrects on a daily basis. The annual death-and-resurrection period, however, is commonly depicted as three days, as related by Rev. Dr. Alfred Bertholet, a theologian and professor at the University of Göttingen. In an article entitled, &#8213;The Pre-Christian Belief in the

Resurrection of the Body,&#8214; published in The American Journal of Theology by the University of Chicago Press, Dr. Bertholet remarks:

According to the faith of later times, Osiris was three days and three nights in the waters before he was restored to life again.¹⁰⁰

Dr. Jaime A. Ezquerra concurs: &#8213;Three days separated Christ‘s death from his resurrection, reckoning inclusively, as in the case of Osiris.&#8214;

The three-day period and resurrection are recorded by Plutarch (39, 366D-E) as occurring on the 17^th, 18^th and 19^th of the month Athyr (Hathor), until &#8213;Osiris is found.&#8214;¹⁰¹ In the funerary literature (e.g., PT 670/N 348), Osiris is called forth by Horus on the fourth day.¹⁰²

It is useful to reiterate here that Horus and Osiris are often interchangeable and, indeed, in his resurrection Osiris becomes Horus.

The theme of resurrection from the dead and &#8213;raising up&#8214; in three days is present in the Old

Testament as well, at Hosea 6:2:

After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him.

As Mettinger also says:

The idea of a three-days span of time between death and return, a triduum, seems to be at hand in Hosea 6:2 in a context where the imagery ultimately draws upon Canaanite ideas of resurrection… Apart from Hosea 6:2 one should remember also Jonah 2:1…where Jonah is in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. I understand the belly of the fish as a metaphor for the Netherworld.¹⁰³

In this regard, it should also be noted that where the fish‘s belly is the &#8213;netherworld,&#8214; Jonah would thus be a sun god.¹⁰⁴ Logic tells us that the story of Jonah and the Whale could not be

&#8213;history&#8214;; hence, it must be mythical, in whole or in part. But what does this patently mythical pericope mean? It is about the sun entering into the &#8213;abyss&#8214; of the &#8213;Leviathan,&#8214; i.e., the dark cave or tomb of night. Concerning this myth, Catholic scholar Dr. Botterweck states:

...In a sun myth the sun is swallowed up by the western part of the sea and then rises again. This myth is "historicized and re-neutralized in Jonah, as...Jonah replaces the sun and the 'great fish' plays the role of the sea." On the other hand, the period of time Jonah stayed in the belly of the fish suggests a moon myth, and calls to mind, among other things, Inanna's descent into the underworld...¹⁰⁵

Yet, Jesus is compared to Jonah at Matthew 12:40, essentially equating him with a solar myth.

98. Mettinger, 182.

98. Mettinger, 172.

98. Bertholet, 5.

98. Plutarch/Babbitt, 95-97.

98. Murdock, CIE, 400. For more information on the &#8213;Burial for Three Days, Resurrection and Ascension,&#8214; see Christ in Egypt, 376-430.

99. Mettinger, 214.

98. See, e.g., Acharya, SOG, 460, etc.

98. Botterweck, III, 138.

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Moreover, it was said that Osiris‘s Greek counterpart Dionysus or Bacchus &#8213;slept three nights with Proserpine [Persephone],&#8214;¹⁰⁶ evidently referring to the god‘s journey into the underworld to visit his mother. One major astrotheological meaning of this motif is the sun‘s entrance into the cave (womb) of the world at the winter solstice.

As will be described in a later section, the three-day death-and-resurrection theme in a number of myths is symbolic of the &#8213;death&#8214; and &#8213;return&#8214; of the sun at the winter solstice each year.

Resurrected: We have already seen the evidence that both Osiris and Horus were resurrected from the dead. Again, as concerns Horus‘s resurrection, Diodorus remarks:

Isis also discovered the elixir of immortality, and when her son Horus fell victim to the plots of the Titans and was found dead beneath the waves, she not only raised him from the dead and restored his soul, but also gave him eternal life.¹⁰⁷

Regarding the meaning of this resurrection theme, Dr. Herman te Velde, a chairman of the Department of Egyptology at the University of Groningen, states:

As Re [Ra] who manifests himself in the sun goes to rest in the evening and awakes from the sleep of death in the morning, so do the death and resurrection of Osiris seem to be equally inevitable and natural.¹⁰⁸

In this regard, the pharaoh is the &#8213;living Horus,&#8214; until he dies, at which point he becomes &#8213;the Osiris,&#8214; who is then resurrected to eternal life—and as his son, Horus, the morning sun. This cycle is repeated constantly in the Egyptian texts. Indeed, concerning Osiris, James Bonwick remarks:

His birth, death, burial, resurrection and ascension embraced the leading points of Egyptian theology.¹⁰⁹

Concerning this motif, Egyptologist Dr. Bojana Mojsov likewise relates:

Every year in the town of Abydos his death and resurrection after three days were celebrated in a publicly enacted passion play called the Mysteries of Osiris.¹¹⁰

Again, for more on this subject, including the meaning and location of Osiris‘s resurrection, see the 54-page chapter &#8213;Burial for Three Days, Resurrection and Ascension&#8214; in Christ in Egypt.

19. These attributes of Horus, whether original or not, seem to permeate many cultures of the world, for many other gods are found to have the same general mythological structure. Attis of Phrygia, born of the virgin Nana on December 25^th, “crucified,” placed in a tomb and after three days, was resurrected.

Providing a summary of the mythos and ritual of Attis, along with parallels to Christian tradition, professor of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Manchester Dr. Andrew T. Fear states:

The youthful Attis after his murder was miraculously brought to life again three days after his demise. The celebration of this cycle of death and renewal was one of the major festivals of the metroac cult. Attis therefore represented a promise of reborn life and as such it is not surprising that we find representations of the so-called mourning Attis as a common tomb motif in the ancient world.

The parallel, albeit at a superficial level, between this myth and the account of the resurrection of Christ is clear. Moreover Attis as a shepherd occupies a favourite

106. Classical Journal, 92.

106. Diodorus/Murphy, 31.

106. te Velde, 81.

106. Bonwick, 150.

106. Mojsov, xii.

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Christian image of Christ as the good shepherd. Further parallels also seem to have existed: the pine tree of Attis, for example, was seen as a parallel to the cross of Christ.

Beyond Attis himself, Cybele too offered a challenge to Christian divine nomenclature. Cybele was regarded as a virgin goddess and as such could be seen as a rival to the Virgin Mary... Cybele as the mother of the Gods, mater Deum, here again presented a starkly pagan parallel to the Christian Mother of God.

There was rivalry too in ritual. The climax of the celebration of Attis‘ resurrection, the

Hilaria, fell on the 25^th of March, the date that the early church had settled on as the day of Christ‘s death....¹¹¹

As we can see, according to this scholar Attis is killed, fixed to a tree, and resurrects after three days, while his mother is &#8213;regarded as a virgin goddess&#8214; comparable to the Virgin Mary.

These conclusions come from the writings of ancient Pagans, as well as the early Church fathers, including Justin, Clement of Alexandria, Hippolytus, Tatian, Tertullian, Augustine, Arnobius and Firmicus Maternus.

Born of the Virgin Nana: The Phrygian god Attis‘s mother was variously called Cybele and

Nana. Like Isis and Mary, Nana/Cybele is a perpetual virgin, despite her status as a mother. The scholarly term used to describe virgin birth is &#8213;parthenogenesis,&#8214; while many goddesses are referred to as &#8213;Parthenos,&#8214; the Greek word meaning &#8213;virgin.&#8214; This term is applicable to the Phrygian goddess Cybele/Nana as well.

The theme of the virgin goddess or parthenos is common enough in the Pagan world. For example, Hera, wife of Zeus, was said to restore her virginity each year by bathing in a river.¹¹²

Despite her virginity, Zeus‘s daughter Athena, for whom the temple in her eponymous city of Athens was named &#8213;Parthenon,&#8214; was also a mother.¹¹³

The diverse names of Attis‘s mother and her manner of impregnation are explained by Dr. David Adams Leeming, professor emeritus of English and comparative literature at the University of Connecticut:

Attis is the son of Cybele in her form as the virgin, Nana, who is impregnated by the divine force in the form of a pomegranate.¹¹⁴

Demonstrating the commonality of the virgin-mother motif, after discussing several pre-Christian and non-Christian gods, such as the Mexican Quetzalcoatl, whose mother, Chimalman, esteemed mythologist Joseph Campbell refers to as a &#8213;virgin,&#8214;¹¹⁵ Dr. Leeming remarks:

The birth myth…is made up of several events... The most important component—one common to almost all of the stories—is the virgin birth, in which I include any kind of magic or divine conception whether by way of feather or pomegranate seed or white elephant.¹¹⁶

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111. Lane, 39-40.

111. Price, T., 203. For a scholarly analysis of the divine birth and virgin mother in ancient Greece, see The Cult of the Divine Birth by Dr. Marguerite Rigoglioso.

112. Murdock, CIE, 147.

111. Leeming, MVH, 25.

111. Leeming, MVH, 18.

111. Leeming, MVH, 39.

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Medallion of Cybele in chariot, under the sun, moon and star 2^nd cent. BCE

Ai Khanoum, Afghanistan (Singh, 94)

December 25^th: The &#8213;December 25^th&#8214; or winter-solstice birth of the sun god is a common theme in several cultures around the world over the past millennia, including the Egyptian, as already demonstrated. As it is for Mithra, Horus and Jesus, this date has likewise been claimed for Attis‘s nativity as well. For example, Barbara G. Walker writes:

Attis‘s passion was celebrated on the 25^th of March, exactly nine months before the solstitial festival of his birth, the 25^th of December. The time of his death was also the time of his conception, or re-conception.¹¹⁷

In this same regard, Shirley Toulson remarks:

In the secret rites of this Great Mother the young god Attis figured as her acolyte and consort.... Each year he was born at the winter solstice, and each year as the days shortened, he died.¹¹⁸

The reasoning behind this contention of the vegetative and solar god Attis‘s birth at the winter solstice is sound enough, in that it echoes natural cycles, with the god‘s death at the vernal equinox also representing the time when he is conceived again, to be born nine months later. As an example of scholarly extrapolation of this date, in discussing the winter-solstice orientation of a tomb in the Roman necropolis at Carmona, Spain, which possessed an image of Attis,¹¹⁹ archaeologist Dr. Manuel Bendala evinced the birth of the god at that time:

...the peculiar orientation of a chamber, into which the first rays of the morning sun would directly penetrate on the day of the winter solstice, led [Bendala] to deduce that this would be a kind of sanctum sanctorum of the sanctuary, where the devotees of Attis celebrated the Natalis Invicti...¹²⁰

The Natalis Invicti is the &#8213;Birth of the Unconquered One,&#8214; referring to the sun. This contention is reasonable when one considers that Attis himself was evidently a sun god, as related by Brandeis University professor of Classical Studies Dr. Patricia A. Johnston:

G. Thomas...traces the development of the idea of resurrection with regard to Attis, [which] seems to be firmly established approximately by the time of Firmicus Maternus and the Neo-Platonists, i.e., the fourth century A.D. By this time, &#8213;Attis is now

117. Walker, B., WEMS, 77.

117. Toulson, 34.

117. Vermaseren, CCCA, 62.

117. Vermaseren, CARC, 408.

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conceived of as a higher cosmic god, even the Sun-god.... At the solstice...symbolically Cybele is seen to have paled before the ascendant Attis...&#8214;¹²¹

Moreover, at times the young Attis was merged with Mithra,¹²² whose birthday was traditionally held on December 25^th and with whom he shared the same Phrygian capped attire. As we have seen, the Natalis Invicti was traditionally the birth of Mithra and Sol Invictus.

In this regard, as Dr. Fear relates:

Allegorical readings of metroac mythology allowed the cult to be integrated into the popular cult of Sol Invictus. Attis became emblematic of the sun god, and Cybele of the mother earth.¹²³

To summarize, as Sol Invictus or the Unconquered Sun—again, who is likewise identified with Mithra—Attis too would have been depicted as having been born on December 25^th or the winter solstice, the time of the Natalis Invicti.¹²⁴

Marble bust of Attis wearing Phrygian cap	Mithra in a Phrygian cap
2nd cent. AD/CE	2nd cent. AD/CE
(Paris)	Rome, Italy
	(British Museum, London)

Crucified: The myths of Attis‘s death include him being killed by a boar or by castrating himself under a tree, as well as being hung on a tree or &#8213;crucified.&#8214; Indeed, he has been called the &#8213;castrated and crucified Attis.&#8214;¹²⁵ Again, it should be noted that the use of the term &#8213;crucified&#8214; in ZG1.1 and elsewhere, such as concerns gods like Horus and Attis, does not connote that he or they were thrown to the ground and nailed to a cross, as we commonly think of crucifixion, based on the Christian tale. As we have seen, there

have been plenty of ancient figures who appeared in cruciform, some of whose myths specifically have them punished or killed through crucifixion, such as Prometheus.

The crucifixion in solar mythology represents the circle of the year with a cross in the center, symbolizing the solstices and equinoxes. Hence, as a sun god, Attis would logically have been said to be &#8213;crucified,&#8214; as have been his solar counterparts in the esoterica of the solar cultus. As a nature god as well, he would be said to be hung on a cross at the

121. Vermaseren, CARC, 108.

121. Vermaseren, CARC, 108.

121. Vermaseren, CARC, 43.

121. Halsberghe, 159.

121. Harari, 131.

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vernal equinox, when the days and nights are equal, until he rises to bring back the resurrection of the spring from the death of winter, as well as the day triumphing over the night as it increases in length.

Moreover, Attis is said to have been &#8213;crucified&#8214; to a pine tree,¹²⁶ while Christ too was related as being both crucified and hung on a tree (Acts 5:30; 10:39). As stated by La Trobe University professor Dr. David John Tacey:

Especially significant for us is the fact that the Phrygian Attis was crucified upon the tree...¹²⁷

In antiquity, these two concepts were obviously similar enough to be interchangeable in understanding.

As we know from rituals that have continued into relatively recent times, such as among the Khonds of India, when the sacred-king victims of their human-sacrifice rituals are hung on a tree, the sacrifice was often done with their arms extended onto branches on either side, or in cruciform.¹²⁸ Indeed, some of these cults/tribes use movable crossbars, such that it can very accurately be stated that they hang their victims on a tree that is also a cross—a cross-shaped tree, in fact. Hence, the two are essentially the same. The wood upon which a crucified victim is hung need not be a hewn cross but can be a tree, and Attis‘s hanging upon a tree has very much been considered a &#8213;crucifixion&#8214;: &#8213;It was an ancient custom to use trees as gibbets for crucifixion, or, if artificial, to call the cross a tree.&#8214;¹²⁹

In fact, in the biblical book of Deuteronomy (21:22), the writer speaks of hanging criminals upon a tree, as though it were a general custom:

And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree: His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged [is] accursed of God;)…

Furthermore, Paul of Tarsus seems to refer to the above Deuteronomy quote in the correct context when he says: &#8213;Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us; for it is written, &#8215;Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.‘&#8214; (Galatians 3:13)

Again, in the Book of Acts, Christ is specifically said to have been hung on a tree:

The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. (Acts 5:30)

And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree… (Acts 10:39)

Concerning Attis‘s death, Doane remarks:

Attys, who was called the &#8213;Only Begotten Son&#8214; and &#8213;Saviour,&#8214; was worshipped by the Phrygians…. He was represented by them as a man tied to a tree, at the foot of which was a lamb, and, without doubt, also as a man nailed to the tree, or stake, for we find Lactantius making this Apollo of Miletus…say that:

&#8213;He was a mortal according to the flesh; wise in miraculous works; but, being arrested by an armed force by command of the Chaldean judges, he suffered a death made bitter with nails and stakes.&#8214;¹³⁰

In his book Divine Institutes (4.11), Christian writer Lactantius (c. 240-c. 320) relates that, according to his oracle, the sun god Apollo of Miletus was &#8213;mortal in the flesh, wise in miraculous deeds, but he was made prisoner by the Chaldean lawgivers and nailed to stakes,

126. Price, R., 87.

126. Tacey, 110.

126. Acharya, SOG, 281.

126. Higgins, I, 499.

126. Doane, 190-191.

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and came to a painful death.&#8214;¹³¹ If the oracle really had recounted a genuinely ancient account of Apollo‘s passion, then we have a pre-Christian mythical precedent for that of Jesus. Moreover, the identification of Attis with Apollo is apt, since both were taken in antiquity to be sun gods and discussed together, such as by Macrobius and the Emperor Julian &#8213;the Apostate&#8214;

(331/332-363 AD/CE), the latter of whom said that both Apollo and Attis were &#8213;closely linked with Helios,&#8214;¹³² the older Greek sun god.

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Death of Attis

(Archaeological Museum of Ostia, Rome)

Tomb/Three Days/Resurrected: We have already seen Dr. Fear‘s commentary that Attis was dead for three days and was resurrected, worth reiterating here:

The youthful Attis after his murder was miraculously brought to life again three days after his demise. The celebration of this cycle of death and renewal was one of the major festivals of the metroac cult. Attis therefore represented a promise of reborn life and as such it is not surprising that we find representations of the so-called mourning Attis as a common tomb motif in the ancient world.¹³³

The death and resurrection in three days, the &#8213;Passion of Attis,&#8214; is also related by Professor Merlin Stone:

Roman reports of the rituals of Cybele record that the son...was first tied to a tree and then buried. Three days later a light was said to appear in the burial tomb, whereupon Attis rose from the dead, bringing salvation with him in his rebirth.¹³⁴

There is a debate as to when the various elements were added to the Attis myth and ritual. In this regard, Murdock writes in &#8213;The Real ZEITGEIST Challenge&#8214;:

Contrary to the current fad of dismissing all correspondences between Christianity and Paganism, the fact that Attis was at some point a &#8213;dying and rising god&#8214; is concluded by Dr. Tryggve Mettinger, a professor of Old Testament Studies at the University of Lund and author of The Riddle of the Resurrection, who relates: &#8213;Since the time of Damascius (6^th cent. AD/CE), Attis seems to have been believed to die and return.&#8214; (Mettinger, 159) By that point, we possess clear discussion in writing of Attis having been resurrected, but when exactly were these rites first celebrated and where? Attis worship is centuries older than Jesus worship and was popular in some parts of the Roman Empire before and well into the &#8213;Christian era.&#8214;

131. Lactantius, 245.

131. Athanassiadi, 204.

131. Lane, 39.

131. Stone, 146.

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In addition, it is useful here to reiterate that simply because something occurred after the year 1 AD/CE—which was not the dating system used at that time—does not mean that it was influenced by Christianity, as it may have happened where Christianity had never been heard of. In actuality, not much about Christianity emerges until the second century, and there remain to this day places where Christianity is unknown; hence, these locations can still be considered pre-Christian.

It is probable that the Attis rites were celebrated long before Christianity was recognized to any meaningful extent. Certainly, since they are mysteries, they could have been celebrated but not recorded previously, especially in pre-Christian times, when the capital punishment for revealing the mysteries was actually carried out.

In the case of Attis, we possess a significant account in Diodorus (3.58.7) of his death and mourning, including the evidently annual ritual creation of his image by priests. Hence, these noteworthy aspects of the Attis myth are clearly pre-Christian. Although Diodorus does not specifically state that Attis was resurrected, the priests parading about with an image of the god is indicative that they considered him risen, as this type of ritual is present in other celebrations for the same reason, such as in the Egyptian festivities celebrating the return of Osiris or the rebirth of Sokar….

…although we do not need Attis to show a dying-and-rising parallel to Christ, the material in ZG1.1 concerning him is soundly based in scholarship. Regardless of when these attributes were first associated specifically with Attis, the dying-and-rising motif of springtime myths is verified as pre-Christian by the fact of its appearance in the story of Tammuz as well as that of the Greek goddess Persephone, also known as Proserpina, whose &#8213;rise&#8214; out of the underworld was celebrated in the Greco-Roman world. That the festivals displayed by the Attis myth represent spring celebrations and not an imitation of Christianity is the most logical conclusion. Indeed, the presence of such a ritual in springtime festivals dating back to the third millennium BCE, as Mettinger relates, certainly makes the case for borrowing by Christians, rather than the other way around.¹³⁵

Again, the reason these motifs are common in many places is because they revolve around nature worship, solar mythology and astrotheology.

20. Krishna, of India, born of the virgin Devaki with a “star in the east” signaling his coming. He performed miracles with his disciples, and upon his death was resurrected.

The sun is a prominent deity in the religions of India as elsewhere, dating back centuries to millennia. Hindu literature from ancient times is full of reverence for the solar deity, the supreme light that inhabits the visible disk. In the G&#257;yatr&#299; Mantra, a Vedic scripture, the sun is revealed as the Supreme Godhead:

Let us adore the supremacy of that divine Sun, the Godhead, who illuminates all, who recreates all, from whom all proceed, to whom all must return: whom we invoke to direct our understanding aright in our progress toward his holy seat.¹³⁶

Demonstrating its importance—and that of the sun to Indian religion—this &#8213;mantra of the sun&#8214; is claimed to be &#8213;superior to all the mantras referred to in the Vedas.&#8214;¹³⁷ Indeed, the G&#257;yatr&#299; is &#8213;considered as the &#8215;Mother of the Vedas.‘&#8214;¹³⁸

135. Murdock, RZC, 15-16, For a discussion of the dating of various aspects of the Attis myth, see Christ in Egypt, 392ff.

135. This text represents an elegant paraphrase of the G&#257;yatr&#299; Mantra by Indianist Sir William Jones. (See Balfour, 203.)

136. Pathar, 43.

135. Pathar, 43.

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The main Indian sun god is called Surya, but numerous other deities within the Hindu pantheon also possess solar attributes and have been deemed sun gods as well. As another solar deity, the Indian god Krishna‘s story follows a pattern of mythical motifs similar to the Christ myth.¹³⁹ Krishna‘s solar nature is clear from many of his characteristics and adventures, not the least of which is his status as an incarnation of the god Vishnu. In this regard, Lalta Prasad Pandey remarks that Vishnu‘s solar nature is &#8213;&#8215;beyond doubt‘ and that the Vedas concur that Vishnu was a sun god.&#8214;¹⁴⁰ Says Pandey: &#8213;Vishnu, described in the Rgveda, is another solar deity.&#8214;¹⁴¹

In the Bhagavad Gita, verse 10.21, Krishna states:

I am Vishnu striding among sun gods, the radiant sun among lights...¹⁴²

Surya in chariot driven by Aruna Krishna in chariot driven by Arjuna

Just as Jesus was considered an incarnation of God himself, so was Krishna the incarnation of Vishnu in a miraculous conception. In another sacred Indian text called the Vishnu Purana (5.1-3) we read:

…the supporter of the earth, Vishnu, would be the eighth child of Devakí…

No person could bear to gaze upon Devaki, from the light that invested her, and those who contemplated her radiance felt their minds disturbed. The gods, invisible to mortals, celebrated her praises continually from the time that Vishnu was contained in her person.... Thus eulogized by the gods, Devaki bore, in her womb, the lotus-eyed (deity), the protector of the world....¹⁴³

Born of a Virgin: Like Krishna, who is essentially a solar deity and not a &#8213;real person,&#8214; so too is his mother, Devaki, a mythical figure. Although the story becomes very complicated and far from its roots in later retellings, the germ of the Krishna-Devaki myth can apparently be found in the Rig Veda, in which the Dawn goddess gives birth to the rising Sun.¹⁴⁴ This miraculous conception of a god incarnating himself through a &#8213;mortal&#8214; woman obviously compares to the gospel tale of Jesus‘s nativity.

139. See Murdock‘s Suns of God: Krishna, Buddha and Christ Unveiled for more information on Krishna‘s solar nature.

140. Pandey, 17; Acharya, SOG, 183.

139. Pandey, 16.

139. Stoler Miller, 94.

139. Wilson, 264, 268.

139. Acharya, SOG, 222.

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Even though it is accepted that Krishna was another form of the Divine Vishnu, it is nevertheless argued that because Devaki had other children prior to the birth of Krishna, she was not &#8213;a virgin.&#8214; Yet, in mythology the perpetual virgin is a common motif, regardless of how many children the female is said to have given birth to. As Carpenter points out:

There is hardly a god whose worship as a benefactor of mankind attained popularity in any of the four continents...who was not reported to have been born from a virgin, or at least from a mother who owned the child not to any earthly father.¹⁴⁵

Indeed, the notion of a &#8213;divine birth&#8214; is common in the ancient literature; although not always the same as &#8213;virgin birth,&#8214; it is very close, by definition. In the Indian text the Bhagavad Gita (4:9), Krishna tells his disciple Arjuna about his own &#8213;divine&#8214; or &#8213;transcendental&#8214; birth.

Moreover, while Devaki may have had other children, so too is Jesus depicted as having brothers and sisters. For example, Matthew 12:46 refers to Jesus‘s &#8213;brothers&#8214;:

While he (Jesus) was still speaking to the people, behold his mother and his brothers stood outside, asking to speak with him.

The scripture at Matthew 13:55-56 reads:

Is not this the carpenter‘s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And are not all his sisters with us?

Despite apparently giving birth to all these children, Mary remains a perpetual virgin.¹⁴⁶ Regarding this virgin-birth motif, Murdock states:

While the most common terminology concerning the status of Krishna‘s mother, Devaki, when she gave birth to the god is that she was &#8213;chaste,&#8214; another myth depicts her becoming a virgin mother as a teenager after eating the seed of a mango. This apocryphal tale demonstrates that the notion of the virgin mother existed in Hindu mythology, specifically applicable to Devaki, who later became Krishna‘s mother. In the Indian epic the Mahabharata, parts of which were composed centuries before the Christian era, the character Draupadi is a virgin mother, while the book‘s supposed author, also named Krishna, is said to have been born of a virgin. Also in the Mahabharata, the goddess Kunti remarks: &#8213;Without a doubt, through the grace of that god, I once more became a virgin.&#8214; Kunti is depicted as a &#8213;chaste maiden&#8214;—here unquestionably a virgin—who is impregnated by the sun god Surya. Other &#8213;born-again virgins&#8214; in this epic include Madhavi and Satyavati.¹⁴⁷

In consideration of the fact that a number of important figures in the Hindu sacred texts are unquestionably depicted as virgin mothers—including Devaki as a teenager—it is understandable that many writers have depicted Krishna‘s birth as virginal. For more on the subject, see Murdock‘s Suns of God and &#8213;Was Krishna‘s Mother a Virgin?&#8214;

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145. Carpenter, 156.

145. Catholic and other Christian apologists contend that these &#8213;brothers&#8214; (and sisters) are either Jesus‘s cousins or the children of Joseph by Mary.

145. Murdock, RZC, 17.

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Devaki suckling Krishna	Virgin Mary suckling Christ
(Moor, Hindu Pantheon, pl. 59)	15th century
	(Defendente Ferrari)

“Star in the East”: Although it is not specifically termed a &#8213;star in the east,&#8214; in the Indian text the Bhagavata Purana (10.3:1), a constellation called &#8213;Rohini&#8214; or &#8213;his stars&#8214; is present at Krishna‘s birth. As professor of Hinduism at Rutgers University Dr. Edwin F. Bryant remarks:

At the time of [Krishna‘s] birth, all the constellations and stars were benevolent. The constellation was Rohini, which is presided over by Brahma.¹⁴⁸

Regarding this stellar motif, J.M. Robertson states:

Now, it is a general rule in ancient mythology that the birthdays of God were astrological; and the simple fact that the Purana gives an astronomical moment for Krishna‘s birth is a sufficient proof that at the time of writing they had a fixed date for it. The star Rohini under which he was born, it will be remembered, has the name given in one variation of the Krishna legend to a wife of Vasudeva who bore to him Rama, as Devaki...bore Krishna. Here we are in the thick of ancient astrological myth. Rohini (our Aldebaran) is &#8213;the red,&#8214; &#8213;a mythical name also applied now to Aurora, now to a star.&#8214;¹⁴⁹

The point here is that a celestial portent is common at the birth of great gods, legends, heroes and patriarchs, as can be found in other stories and myths, including the Persian lawgiver Zoroaster, whose very name means &#8213;star of splendor,&#8214;¹⁵⁰ and Buddha, as the &#8213;immortals of the Tushita-heaven decide that Buddha shall be born when the &#8215;flower-star‘ makes its first appearance in the East.&#8214;¹⁵¹ Hence, the story about the star in the east at Christ‘s birth is an unoriginal and patently mythical motif.

Performed Miracles: Quoting Murdock:

Krishna‘s performance of miracles, in front of his disciples, is legendary, including many in the Mahabharata, in which he reveals mysteries to his disciple Arjuna (John?).

Krishna does likewise in the Bhagavad Gita, in which he describes himself as the &#8213;Lord of all beings,&#8214; among many epithets similar to those found within Christianity. In this

148. Bryant, KS, 119.

148. Robertson, 177.

148. Zoroaster or Zarathustra has been credited with &#8213;prophesying&#8214; the appearance of the &#8213;star in the east&#8214; over the place of the coming savior, as in the Arabic Gospel of the Infancy of the Saviour (10). (Roberts,

ANF, VIII, 406.) This &#8213;prophecy&#8214; is also considered to be the prediction of his own rebirth.

148. The star at Buddha‘s birth is said to be the &#8213;Pushya Nakshatra&#8214; (Prasad, G., 25.) This episode of the star Pushya at Buddha's birth is found in the Buddhist texts the Mah&#257;vastu and the Lalita Vistara. (Edmunds, 123.)

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same regard, Krishna says: &#8213;I am the origin of all that exists, and everything emanates from Me.&#8214;¹⁵²

Death & Resurrection: Concerning Krishna‘s death and ascension, in The Oxford Companion

to World Mythology, Dr. Leeming states:

Just after the war, Krishna dies, as he had predicted he would, when, in a position of meditation, he is struck in the heel by a hunter‘s arrow. His apotheosis occurs when he ascends in death to the heavens and is greeted by the gods.¹⁵³

Regarding the resurrection/ascension, the Mahabharata (4) says that Krishna or &#8213;Keshava,&#8214; as he is also traditionally called, immediately returns to life after being killed and speaks only to the hunter, forgiving him of his actions:

…he [the hunter] touched the feet of [Krishna]. The high-souled one comforted him and then ascended upwards, filling the entire welkin [sky/heaven] with splendour...

[Krishna] reached his own inconceivable region.¹⁵⁴

Concerning Krishna‘s death, Murdock remarks:

Although it is not specifically stated that Krishna &#8213;resurrects&#8214; upon his death—when he is killed under a tree—he does ascend into heaven, alive again, since he is considered to be the eternal God of the cosmos. Krishna‘s death is recounted in the Mahabharata and Vishnu Purana, both claiming he was killed by a hunter while sitting under a tree, the arrow penetrating his foot, much like Christ having a nail driven through his feet. In this regard, there have been found in India strange images of figures in cruciform with nail holes in their hands and feet, one of which was identified by an Indian priest as possibly the god Wittoba, who is an incarnation of Krishna.¹⁵⁵

The impression of a resurrection is evident from the depiction of Krishna comforting his killer just after death, before he has ascended into heaven. The point is that the god was once dead, but now he is alive again, whether in this world or the afterlife. This type of detail does not suffice to undermine the fact of the resurrection or raising up from death being a mythical motif in the first place, applicable both to Christ as well as many other gods and legendary figures.¹⁵⁶

21. Dionysus of Greece, born of a virgin on December 25^th, was a traveling teacher who performed miracles such as turning water into wine, he was referred to as the “King of Kings,” “God’s Only Begotten Son,” “The Alpha and Omega,” and many others, and upon his death, he was resurrected.

It is wise at this point to recall that in the ancient world many gods were confounded and compounded, deliberately or otherwise. Some were even considered interchangeable, such as Osiris, Horus and Ra. In this regard, Plutarch (35, 364E) states, &#8213;Osiris is identical with Dionysus.&#8214;¹⁵⁷ Thus, Zeus‘s son Dionysus or Bacchus was considered the Greek rendition of Osiris:

Dionysus became the universal savior-god of the ancient world. And there has never been another like unto him: the first to whom his attributes were accredited, we call Osiris: with the death of paganism, his central characteristics were assumed by Jesus Christ.¹⁵⁸

152. Murdock, RZC, 17.

152. Leeming, OCWM, 232.

152. R&#257;ya, 12.

152. Murdock, RZC, 17.

152. For more information on the mythical motif of the resurrection, see Murdock, CIE, 402-420.

152. Plutarch/Babbitt, 85.

152. Larson, 82.

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Dionysus is likewise identified with the god Aion and also referred to as &#8213;Zeus Sabazius&#8214; in other traditions.¹⁵⁹ Hence, we would expect him to share in at least some of all these gods‘ attributes.

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Dionysus returns from India Mosaic pavement, 3^rd cent. AD/CE Sousse, Tunisia

(Patrick Hunt)

December 25^th (Winter Solstice): As with Jesus, December 25^th and January 6^th are both traditional birth dates related to Dionysus and simply represent the period of the winter solstice. Concerning these dates, Murdock remarks:

The winter-solstice date of the Greek sun and wine god Dionysus was originally recognized in early January but was eventually placed on December 25^th, as related by Macrobius. Regardless, the effect is the same: The winter sun god is born around this time, when the [shortest day of the year] begins to become longer….¹⁶⁰

Murdock also says:

The birthday of Dionysus can be listed on both the 5^th and 6 ^th of January, while the god Aion who is born on January 6^th is called by Joseph Campbell a &#8213;syncretistic personification of Osiris.&#8214; Dionysus was likewise identified with both Aion and Osiris in ancient times. In antiquity too, Jesus Christ‘s nativity was also placed on the 6^th or 7^th of January, when it remains celebrated in some factions of the Orthodox Church, such as Armenia, as well as the Coptic Church. Concerning these dates, Christian theologian Dr. Hugo Rahner remarks:

As to the dates, Norden has shown that the change from January 6 to December 25 can be explained as the result of the reform introduced by the more accurate Julian calendar into the ancient Egyptian calculation which had fixed January 6 as the date of the winter solstice.

It thus appears that in ancient times these dates of January 5, 6 and 7 represented the winter solstice, which is fitting for sun gods. Indeed, Macrobius later places Dionysus‘s birth on December 25^th, again appropriate for a sun god.¹⁶¹

159. Graves, R., WG, 335.

159. Murdock, The 2010 Astrotheology Calendar, 44.

159. Murdock, 2AC, 36.

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Jesuit theologian Dr. Rahner further states:

...in the Hellenistic East, and with Alexandria evidently taking the lead, a mystery was enacted that concerned the birth of Aion by a virgin and that this mystery took place on the night leading to January 6. It is quite immaterial whether the object of the cult in question was really Dionysus Aion or some other deity. Epiphanius, quoting other ancient writers, tells us elsewhere that the birthday of Dionysus was celebrated on January 5 and 6, though in the present instance it may well have been that of Osiris or Harpocrates-Horus. It matters very little, since the tendency in these late Hellenistic days was for the identities of gods, all of whom were beginning to take on the character of a solar deity, to become merged with one another. We know that Aion was at this time beginning to be regarded as identical with Helios and Helios with Dionysus…¹⁶²

The pertinent passage in the writings of Church father Epiphanius mentioned by Rahner relates:

On this day, i.e. on the eighth day before the Calends of January, the Greeks...celebrate a feast that the Romans call Saturnalia, the Egyptians Cronia and the Alexandrines Cicellia. The reason is that the eighth day before the Calends of January forms a dividing-line, for on it occurs the solstice; the day begins to lengthen again and the sun shines longer and with increasing strength until the eighth day before the Ides of January, viz., until the day of Christ‘s nativity...

The principal of [the] feasts is that which takes place in the so-called Koreion in Alexandria, this Koreion being a mighty temple in the district sacred to Kore. Throughout the whole night the people keep themselves awake here by singing certain hymns and by means of the flute-playing which accompanies the songs they sing to the image of their god. When they have ended these nocturnal celebrations, then at morning cock-crow they descend, carrying torches, into a sort of chapel which is below ground and thence they carry up a wooden image of one lying naked upon a bier. This image has upon its forehead a golden cross and two more such seals in the form of crosses one on each hand... If anyone asks them what manner of mysteries these might be, they reply, saying: &#8213;Today at this hour Kore, that is the virgin, has given birth to

Aion.&#8214;

Such things also occur in Petra... The hymns they sing are in the Arabic tongue and are in praise of a virgin whom they call &#8213;Chaamu” which is the same as Kore or Parthenos, and in praise of her child &#8213;Dusares&#8214; which means &#8213;Only son of the ruler of all.&#8214; The same thing happens on this same night in Alexandria, in Petra and also in the city of Elusa.¹⁶³

Joseph Campbell confirms this &#8213;celebration of the birth of the year-god Aion to the virgin Goddess Kore,&#8214; the latter of whom he calls &#8213;a Hellenized transformation of Isis.&#8214;¹⁶⁴

Virgin Birth: According to the most common tradition, Dionysus was the son of the god Zeus and the mortal woman Semele. In the Cretan version of the same story, which Diodorus Siculus follows, Dionysus was the son of Zeus and Persephone, the daughter of Demeter also called Kore, who, as we have seen, is styled a &#8213;virgin goddess.&#8214;

In the common myth about the birth of Dionysus/Bacchus, Semele is mysteriously impregnated by one of Zeus‘s bolts of lightning—an obvious miraculous/virgin conception. In another account, Jupiter/Zeus gives Dionysus‘s torn-up heart in a drink to Semele, who

162. Rahner, 139.

162. Rahner, 137-138. For a lengthy discussion of this important passage in Epiphanius, which was edited out of the Migne edition, see Murdock, CIE, 84-88.

163. Campbell, MI, 34.

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becomes pregnant with the &#8213;twice born&#8214; god this way,¹⁶⁵ again a miraculous or &#8213;virgin&#8214; birth. Indeed, Joseph Campbell explicitly calls Semele a &#8213;virgin&#8214;:

While the maiden goddess sat there, peacefully weaving a mantle on which there was to be a representation of the universe, her mother contrived that Zeus should learn of her presence; he approached her in the form of an immense snake. And the virgin conceived the ever-dying, ever-living god of bread and wine, Dionysus, who was born and nurtured in that cave, torn to death as a babe and resurrected...¹⁶⁶

This same direct appellation is used by Cambridge professor and anthropologist Sir Dr. Edmund Ronald Leach:

Dionysus, son of Zeus, is born of a mortal virgin, Semele, who later became immortalized through the intervention of her divine son; Jesus, son of God, is born of a mortal virgin, Mary… such stories can be duplicated over and over again.¹⁶⁷

In The Cult of the Divine Birth in Ancient Greece, Dr. Marguerite Rigoglioso concludes: &#8213;Semele was also likely a holy parthenos by virtue of the fact that she gave birth to Dionysus via her union with Zeus (Hesiod, Theogony 940).&#8214;¹⁶⁸

These learned individuals had reason to consider Dionysus‘s mother a virgin, as, again, he was also said to have been born of Persephone/Kore, whom, again from Epiphanius, was herself deemed a &#8213;virgin,&#8214; or parthenos, as was the title both in the ancient Greek-speaking world as well as in modern scholarship. In this regard, professor emeritus of Classics at the University of Pennsylvania Dr. Donald White says, &#8213;As a title &#8215;Parthenos‘ was appropriate to both Demeter and Persephone...&#8214;¹⁶⁹

In any event, the effect is the same: Dionysus is born of a god and a virgin mother.

Miracles: The miracles of Dionysus are legendary, as is his role as the god of wine, echoed in the later Christian story of Jesus multiplying the jars of wine at the wedding feast of Cana (Jn 2:1-9). Concerning this miracle, biblical scholar Dr. A.J. Mattill remarks:

This story is really the Christian counterpart to the pagan legends of Dionysus, the Greek god of wine, who at his annual festival in his temple of Elis filled three empty kettles with wine—no water needed! And on the fifth of January wine instead of water gushed from his temple at Andros. If we believe Jesus‘ miracle, why should we not believe Dionysus‘s?¹⁷⁰

Concerning Dionysus‘s miracles, Murdock states:

As the god of the vine, Dionysus is depicted in ancient texts as traveling around teaching agriculture, as well as doing various miracles, such as in Homer‘s The Iliad, dating to the 9^th century BCE, and in The Bacchae of Euripides, the famous Greek playwright who lived around 480 to 406 BCE. In addition, Dionysus‘s miracle of changing water to wine is also recounted in pre-Christian times by Diodorus (Library of History, 3.66.3).¹⁷¹

Epithets: In Bible Myths and Their Parallels in Other Religions, Doane asserts, &#8213;Bacchus, the offspring of Jupiter and Semele was called the &#8215;Savior,‘ ...he was called the &#8215;Only Begotten

165. van den Berg, 288.

165. Campbell, MG, 27.

165. Hugh-Jones, 108.

165. Rigoglioso, 95.

165. White, 183.

165. Leedom, 125.

165. Murdock, RZC, 18.

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Son.‘&#8214;¹⁷² The title of &#8213;savior&#8214; or Soter was applied to many Greek and other gods prior to the Christian era.¹⁷³

Regarding Dionysus‘s many divine epithets, Murdock states:

In an Orphic hymn, Phanes-Dionysus is styled by the Greek title Protogonos or &#8213;first-born&#8214; of Zeus, also translated at times as &#8213;only-begotten son,&#8214; although the term Monogenes would be more appropriately rendered as the latter.

As concerns the epithet &#8213;King of Kings,&#8214; noted anthropologist Sir James G. Frazer tells us that the Neoplatonist Proclus (5^th cent. AD/CE) related:

Dionysus was the last king of the gods appointed by Zeus. For his father set him on the kingly throne, and placed in his hand the scepter, and made him king of all the gods of the world.

In the case of Dionysus/Bacchus being labeled the &#8213;Alpha and Omega,&#8214; here is one instance where not knowing foreign languages would make the sources difficult to access, as we are told in French by Rev. Isaac de Beausobre that there is an ancient inscription in which Dionysus/Bacchus says, &#8213;I am the Alpha and Omega.&#8214;¹⁷⁴

The title &#8213;King of Kings&#8214; and other epithets may reflect Dionysus‘s kinship with Osiris: During the late 18^th to early 19^th dynasties (c. 1300 BCE), Osiris‘s epithets included, &#8213;the king of eternity, the lord of everlastingness, who traverseth millions of years in the duration of his life, the firstborn son of the womb of Nut, begotten of Seb, the prince of gods and men, the god of gods, the king of kings, the lord of lords, the prince of princes, the governor of the world whose existence is for everlasting.&#8214;¹⁷⁵

Death/Resurrection: Dionysus‘s death and resurrection were well-known mythical motifs in antiquity. The various myths concerning these motifs are recounted by Frazer:

According to one version, which represented Dionysus as a son of Zeus and Demeter, his mother pieced together his mangled limbs and made him young again. In others it is simply said that shortly after his burial he rose from the dead and ascended up to heaven...

Turning from the myth to the ritual, we find that the Cretans celebrated a biennial festival at which the passion of Dionysus was represented in every detail... Where the resurrection formed part of the myth, it also was acted at the rites, and it even appears that a general doctrine of resurrection, or at least of immortality, was inculcated on the worshippers; for Plutarch, writing to console his wife on the death of their infant daughter, comforts her with the thought of the immortality of the soul as taught by tradition and revealed in the mysteries of Dionysus. A different form of the myth of the death and resurrection of Dionysus is that he descended into Hades to bring up his mother Semele from the dead.¹⁷⁶

In this same regard, Sir Arthur Weigall relates:

Dionysos, whose father, as in the Christian story, was &#8213;God&#8214; but whose mother was a mortal woman [Semele], was represented in the East as a bearded young man of dignified appearance, who had not only taught mankind the use of the vine but had also been a law-giver, promoting the arts of civilisation, preaching happiness, and encouraging peace. He, like Jesus, had suffered a violent death, and had descended

172. Doane, 193.

172. It should be noted that what is deemed the &#8213;Christian era&#8214; is not the same as the &#8213;common era,&#8214; because there are to this day places where Christianity has not been heard of; hence, they remain pre-Christian.

172. Murdock, RZC, 18.

172. Budge, EBD (1967), liii.

172. Frazer, GB, 452.

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into hell, but his resurrection and ascension had followed; and these were commemorated in his sacred rites.¹⁷⁷

Finally, Murdock concludes:

Dionysus‘s death and resurrection were famous in ancient times, so much so that Christian father Origen (c. 184-c. 254) felt the need to address them in his Contra Celsus (IV, XVI-XVII), comparing them unfavorably, of course, to those of Christ. By Origen‘s time, these Dionysian mysteries had already been celebrated for centuries. Dionysus/Bacchus‘s resurrection or revival after having been torn to pieces or otherwise killed earned him the epithet of &#8213;twice born.&#8214;¹⁷⁸

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&#8213;[S]cene in the underworld. Dionysos mounting a chariot is about to leave his mother, Semele, and ascend&#8214; (Kerenyi, pl. 47)

As a related aside, it is interesting to point out that the Catholic Communion as practiced today in the Christian world also had a place within the cult of Dionysus, as Campbell points out:

Dionysus-Bacchus-Zagreus—or, in the older, Sumero-Babylonian myths, Dumuzi-absu, Tammuz—...whose blood, in this chalice to be drunk, is the pagan prototype of the wine of the sacrifice of the Mass, which is transubstantiated by the words of consecration into the blood of the Son of the Virgin.¹⁷⁹

22. Mithra of Persia, born of a virgin on December 25^th, he had 12 disciples and performed miracles, and upon his death was buried for three days and thus resurrected, he was also referred to as “The Truth,” “The Light,” and many others. Interestingly, the sacred day of worship of Mithra was Sunday.

Carpenter summarizes the myth of Mithra:

Mithra was born in a cave, and on the 25^th December. He was born of a Virgin. He traveled far and wide as a teacher and illuminator of men. He slew the Bull (symbol of the gross Earth which the sunlight fructifies). His great festivals were the winter solstice and the Spring equinox (Christmas and Easter). He had twelve companions or disciples (the twelve months). He was buried in a tomb, from which however he rose again; and his resurrection was celebrated yearly with great rejoicings. He was called Savior and Mediator, and sometimes figured as a Lamb; and sacramental feasts in remembrance of

177. Weigall, 220.

177. Murdock, RZC, 19.

177. Campbell, MG, vol. 4, p. 23.

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him were held by his followers. This legend is apparently partly astronomical and partly vegetational; and the same may be said of the following about Osiris.¹⁸⁰

Carpenter also notes:

The birth feast of Mithra was held in Rome on the 8^th day before the Kalends of January, being also the day of the Circassian games, which were sacred to the Sun. (See F. Nork, Der Mystagog, Leipzig.)¹⁸¹

Virgin Birth/December 25^th (Winter Solstice): Although the commonly know myth depicts

Mithra as being born from a &#8213;rock&#8214;¹⁸²—itself a miraculous birth—there is another version of the Mithraic nativity that portrays the god as being born from the virgin goddess Anahita. Addressing the status of Mithra‘s birth, Murdock comments:

As concerns the debate regarding the Perso-Roman god Mithra‘s &#8213;virgin birth,&#8214; not a few scholars and writers of Persian/Iranian extract have discussed the Persian goddess of love Anahita as Mithra‘s virgin mother….

In the scholarly digest Mithraic Studies: Proceedings of the First International Congress, Dr. Martin Schwartz, a professor of Iranian Studies at the University of California, discusses the &#8213;Armenian national epic&#8214; concerning Mithra, who is called the &#8213;Great Mher.&#8214; In recounting a myth regarding the Great Mher (Mithra), Dr. Schwartz relates the story of his father, Sanasar, who along with his twin brother Baltasar is &#8213;born of a virgin who becomes pregnant from the water of the &#8215;Milky Fountain of Immortality‘...&#8214; He next says:

Combining these data with the tradition found in Elise that Mithra was born of God through a human mother...one may suggest a transference of the miraculous birth of the Sosyants to Mithra.

In other words, in certain traditions Mithra was said to have been born of the union of God with a human mortal, possibly a virgin mother like that of his father.¹⁸³

Sassanid king Khosrow flanked by Anahita and Ahura Mazda

7^th cent. AD/CE Taq-e Bostan, Iran (Phillipe Chavin)

180. Carpenter, 21.

180. Carpenter, 21.

180. It should be noted that the ancient Latin word for &#8213;matter&#8214; is materia, as in &#8213;material,&#8214; which shares the same root with mater, meaning &#8213;mother.&#8214; Indeed, materia may also be rendered &#8213;mother-stuff,&#8214; while mater is not only &#8213;mother&#8214; but also &#8213;source.&#8214; (Smith, W., 669) In this regard, Mithra‘s &#8213;rock&#8214; birth can likewise be said to be from &#8213;virgin mater.&#8214;

181. Murdock, RZC, 19.

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Mithra‘s birthday on December 25^th is so well known that even the Catholic Encyclopedia (&#8213;Mithraism&#8214;) must admit it: &#8213;The 25 December was observed as his birthday, the natalis invicti, the rebirth of the winter-sun, unconquered by the rigours of the season.&#8214;¹⁸⁴

Concerning Jesus‘s birth and the commemoration of &#8213;Christmas,&#8214; Christian apologist Thomas Thorburn remarks:

The earliest church commemorated it at various times from September to March, until in 354 A.D. Pope Julius I assimilated the festival with that of the birth of Mithra (December 25), in order to facilitate the more complete Christianization of the empire.¹⁸⁵

Twelve Disciples: Very simply, &#8213;the Twelve&#8214; are the signs of the zodiac, metaphorically introduced in the mysteries, and this motif is likely the source of Jesus‘s 12. During the very era when Christ had supposedly walked the earth, two prominent Jewish writers, Philo (c. 20 BCE-c. 50 AD/CE) and Josephus (37-c. 100 AD/CE), explained that the 12 Jewish tribes were symbolic of the signs of the zodiac. In Christ in Egypt, Murdock writes:

As Josephus says (Antiquities, 3.8): &#8213;And for the twelve stones [of Exodus 39:9-14], whether we understand by them the months, or whether we understand the like number of the signs of that circle which the Greeks call the zodiac, we shall not be mistaken in their meaning.&#8214; (Josephus/Whiston, 75.) Earlier than Josephus, Philo (&#8213;On the Life of Moses,&#8214; 12) had made the same comments regarding Moses: &#8213;Then the twelve stones on the breast, which are not like one another in colour, and which are divided into four rows of three stones in each, what else can they be emblems of, except of the circle of the zodiac?&#8214; (Philo/Yonge, 99.)¹⁸⁶

Philo wrote before Christ had supposedly started his ministry, yet he never heard of him. In the meantime, he had heard of the 12 tribes representing the zodiacal signs, and we subsequently read the suggestion in the gospel (Mt 19:28) that Jesus allegedly picked his disciples based on the tribes, which were in turn, according to Philo and Josephus, equated with the zodiacal 12.

Concerning the Twelve within Mithraism, Murdock says:

Mithra surrounded by the 12 &#8213;companions&#8214; is a motif found on many Mithraic remains and representing the 12 signs of the zodiac. The comparison of this common motif with Jesus and the 12 has been made on many occasions, including in an extensive study entitled, &#8213;Mithras and Christ: some iconographical similarities,&#8214; by Professor A. Deman in the same volume of Mithraic Studies.¹⁸⁷

The point here is not whether or not these companions are depicted as interacting in the same manner as the disciples of Jesus but that the theme of the god or godman with the 12 surrounding him is common enough—and with very popular deities in the same region—to have served as a precedent for the Christian Twelve with Christ at their center. It surely would have struck any intelligent and half-way educated member of the Roman Empire as very odd when Christians attempted to tell their supernatural tales of a Jewish godman with 12 companions, in consideration of the fact that there were already so many of these saviors in variety of cultures.

184. CE, X, 404.

184. Thorburn, 33.

184. Murdock, CIE, 261-262.

184. Murdock, RZC, 20.

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Mithra surrounded by the 12 signs of the zodiac c. 150 AD/CE

(Mithraeum, London)

Miracles: Regarding Mithra‘s miracles, Mithraic Studies editor John R. Hinnells states:

...the side panels of many Mithraic reliefs and paintings are interpreted as representations of the primeval life of the god, in which he performed miracles, experience various adventures, and celebrated an archetypal communion meal before he ascended to heaven.¹⁸⁸

Death/Three Days/Resurrection: In the Roman Empire, Mithraism became the cult of the undertakers guild. Hence, there was a focus on death and the afterlife, experienced in myth and ritual. In discussing the death-oriented Mithraic rituals, professor of New Testament and Early Christian Literature at the University of Chicago Rev. Dr. Harold R. Willoughby cites Church father Tertullian and remarks:

A simulation of death in the Mithraic mysteries…is perfectly intelligible. Death was the logical preliminary to a renewal of life; hence the pretence of death by the neophyte was a perfectly natural antecedent to the regenerative experiences of baptism and sacramental communion that followed in the Mithraic ritual. That this was precisely the interpretation put upon this bit of liturgical fiction is clearly suggested by a passage in Tertullian. In discussing the Mithraic rites of baptism and communion, the Christian lawyer affirmed: &#8213;Mithra there brings in the symbol of a resurrection.&#8214; This striking use of the phrase imago resurrection is doubly significant. It proves that a simulation of death was an integral part of Mithraic ritual, and also that it was but antecedent to an experience of regeneration.¹⁸⁹

These death rituals were part of the Mithraic mysteries, as related by Rev. Dr. J.P. Lundy:

Dupuis tells us that Mithra was put to death by crucifixion, and rose again on the 25^th of March. In the Persian Mysteries the body of a young man, apparently dead, was exhibited, which was feigned to be restored to life. By his sufferings he was believed to have worked their salvation, and on this account he was called their Saviour. His priests watched his tomb to the midnight of the vigil of the 25^th of March, with loud cries, and in darkness; when all at once the light burst forth from all parts, the priest cried, Rejoice, O sacred initiated, your God is risen. His death, his pains, and sufferings have worked your salvation.¹⁹⁰

188. Hinnells, 291.

188. Willoughby, 110-111.

188. Lundy, 168.

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In Religions of the World, Gerald L. Berry discusses Mithra‘s three-day burial and removal from the tomb:

...On Black Friday (cf. Good Friday) the taurobolium, or bull-slaying, was represented. At this festival, the sacrament often comprised blood drinking. Mithras, worn out by the battle, was symbolically represented by a stone image lain on a bier as a corpse. He was mourned for in liturgy, and placed in a sacred rock tomb called &#8213;Petra,&#8214; from which he was removed after three days in a great festival of rejoicing.¹⁹¹

In writing about the Mithraic festival of Mihrag&#257;n, Iranian studies professor Dr. Mary Boyce remarks:

...for centuries Mihrag&#257;n...was celebrated in the spring. For many generations, therefore, Mithra‘s feast was observed at a time traditionally associated with the Zoroastrian feast of the resurrection.¹⁹²

Boyce also says, &#8213;The Zoroastrian theologians are indeed recorded as saying...that as an autumn feast Mihrag&#257;n was a symbol of resurrection and the end of the world...¹⁹³

Epithets: Among other titles, Mithra was said to be, &#8213;Mighty in strength, mighty rulers, greatest king of gods! O Sun, lord of heaven and earth, God of Gods!&#8214;¹⁹⁴ He was also called &#8213;the mediator.&#8214;¹⁹⁵

Mithra shared many such epithets with Christ, as Berry demonstrates:

Both Mithras and Christ were described variously as &#8213;the way,&#8214; &#8213;the truth,&#8214; &#8213;the light,&#8214; &#8213;the life,&#8214; &#8213;the word,&#8214; &#8213;the son of god,&#8214; &#8213;the good shepherd...&#8214;¹⁹⁶

In this same regard, Iranian scholar Dr. Payam Nabarz states, &#8213;Mithras is described as the lord of wide pastures, the lord of truth and contracts.&#8214;¹⁹⁷

And Dr. Marvin Meyers, a professor of Religious Studies at Chapman College, says:

Already among the ancient Indo-Iranian peoples, Mithras was known as a god of light, truth, and integrity.... The Avesta calls Mithra &#8213;the lord of wide pastures&#8214;...¹⁹⁸

Sunday Worship: The Mithraic sacred day being Sunday represents a well-known tradition. As the Catholic Encyclopedia states, &#8213;Sunday was kept holy in honour of Mithra…&#8214;¹⁹⁹ Berry concurs:

Since Mithras was a sun-god, Sunday was automatically sacred to him—the &#8213;Lords Day&#8214;—long before Christ.²⁰⁰

Dr. Ezquerra also states, &#8213;Some say the Lord‘s Day was celebrated on Sunday because that was the Dies Solis, the day of the Sun, which in turn had something to do with Mithraism.&#8214;²⁰¹

Concerning Mithraism and Christianity, the Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia summarizes:

The birth of Mithra and of Christ were celebrated on the same day; tradition placed the birth of both in a cave; both regarded Sunday as sacred; in both the central figure was a

191. Berry, 57.

191. Hinnells, I, 108.

191. Hinnells, I, 114.

191. Legge, II, 266.

191. De Jong, 172.

191. Berry, 57.

191. Nabarz, 25.

191. Meyer, 199.

191. CE, X, 404.

191. Berry, 57.

191. Ezquerra, 409.

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mediator (mesit&#275;s) who was one of a triad or trinity; in both there was a sacrifice for the benefit of the race...²⁰²

If tradition in India is an indication, this celebration of Mithra‘s sacred time on Sunday

possibly dates back to Vedic ages, 3,000 or more years ago, with his Indian counterpart Mitra being celebrated into modern times on this day as well: &#8213;...the deity is invoked every Sunday under the name of Mitra in a small pitcher placed on a small earthen platform...&#8214;²⁰³

23. The fact of the matter is there are numerous saviors, from different periods, from all over the world, which subscribe to these general characteristics. The question remains: why these attributes, why the virgin birth on December 25^th, why dead for three days and the inevitable resurrection, why 12 disciples or followers? To find out, let’s examine the most recent of the solar messiahs. Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary on December 25^th in Bethlehem...

The December 25^th birthday is not given in the gospels; rather, it is a traditional date assigned to the birth of Jesus based on prior Pagan traditions. As we have seen, &#8213;December 25^th&#8214; is one of the dates viewed by the ancients as the end of the winter-solstice period, when, from a geocentric perspective, the sun begins its long journey north towards the summer solstice.

If we factor in the other solar and astrotheological motifs within Christianity, both in the New Testament and in Christian tradition, along with the highly important Pagan festivals of the day such as celebrations of the solstices and equinoxes, we can understand why Christians later appended the December 25^th/winter-solstice holiday to their religion. In fact, certain early Church fathers were clear on this point of having their savior born at the winter solstice. For example, concerning the origins of this solar holiday vis-à-vis Christianity, the authoritative

Catholic Encyclopedia states:

The earliest rapprochement of the births of Christ and the sun is in [the writings of Church father] Cyprian [200-258]… &#8213;O, how wonderfully acted Providence that on that day on which that Sun was born…Christ should be born.&#8214;

In the fourth century, Chrysostom…says:… &#8213;But Our Lord, too, is born in the month of December…the eighth day before the calends of January [25 December]…, But they call it the &#8215;Birthday of the Unconquered.‘ Who indeed is so unconquered as Our Lord…? Or, if they say that it is the birthday of the Sun, He is the Sun of Justice.&#8214;²⁰⁴

The Roman &#8213;Unconquered Sun&#8214; is both Sol Invictus and Mithra, and we have seen other gods share this winter-solstice birth, with good reason, as the return of the sun was one of if not the most important days of the year for many peoples, especially in the far north. Hence, we have a relatively early Church father who not only admits but also insists that Christ‘s birth usurps that of the sun. He also insists on the logical equation of Christ with the sun, which had been established in the Old Testament book of Malachi, just before Matthew‘s gospel, with him prophesying the coming Messiah as the &#8213;Sun of Righteousness.&#8214; (Mal 4:2)

The December 25^th/winter-solstice birthday was adopted by Christianity in the third century. The Christian world has thus been celebrating Jesus‘s birthday on December 25^th for the past nearly 1700 years—it is obvious why this birthday was attached to Christian tradition: Because it represented the winter solstice, the time of the year when the sun is &#8213;born,&#8214; and Jesus was the &#8213;new sun&#8214; of the Christians.

202. Jackson, S., VII, 419.

202. Gonda, 131.

202. CE, III, 727.

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24. ...his birth was announced by a star in the east, which three kings or magi followed to locate and adore the new savior.

In the New Testament (Mt 2:1-12), the number of &#8213;wise men&#8214; or magi—i.e., astrologers—following the star at Jesus‘s birth is not given. However, it is traditionally assumed to be three because of the three gifts (frankincense, myrrh and gold) presented by these magi or &#8213;kings&#8214; during their visit with the divine child. The earliest extant numbering of the three magi is by Church father Origen (185-224 AD/CE) in his Homilies on Genesis (14.3),²⁰⁵ who seems not to blink an eye in his equation, as if it were solidly part of Christian tradition by this time.

The Greek word used in the NT to describe these &#8213;wise men&#8214; is μ&#8049;γοι or magoi/magi, the singular of which is defined by Strong‘s Concordance (G3097) as:

1) a magus

Phrygian-capped &#8213;magi&#8214; approach the divine child

Fresco, 4^th cent. AD/CE Catacomb of Marcus & Marcellianus,

Rome, Italy (Jensen)

a) the name given by the Babylonians (Chaldeans),

Medes, Persians, and others, to the wise men, teachers, priests, physicians, astrologers, seers, interpreters of dreams, augers, soothsayers, sorcerers etc.

2. the oriental wise men (astrologers) who, having discovered by the rising of a remarkable star that the Messiah had just been born, came to Jerusalem to worship him

2. a false prophet and sorcerer

Hence, these figures are not technically deemed &#8213;kings.&#8214; However, Old Testament scriptures held up as &#8213;prophecy&#8214; of the coming messiah discuss &#8213;kings&#8214; as coming with gifts, such as Psalm 72:10: &#8213;The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents: the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts.&#8214;

The first to mention the magi as &#8213;kings&#8214; was Tertullian in Adv. Marcion (3.13), referring to Psalms (67:30, 72:10) and to Isaiah (60:3): &#8213;And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.&#8214; The magi as &#8213;kings&#8214; was further emphasized by St. Caesarius of Arles (6^th cent.): &#8213;Ille magi reges sunt—these magi are indeed kings.&#8214;²⁰⁶

If the Bible does not denote these things exactly, then why have they become Christian tradition, beginning in the earliest centuries of the common era? So solidly part of Christianity have these three kings become that they are the subject of much art, as well as songs and other stories. So, why the &#8213;Three Kings?&#8214;

On the surface, it would seem that these notions were set in motion by Church fathers such as Origen and Tertullian. However, if one steps back to examine the Pagan mythological motifs preceding Christianity—of which Origen and Tertullian were very aware—the traditional notion of there being &#8213;Three Kings,&#8214; rather than an unknown number of &#8213;Magi/Wise Men,&#8214; becomes clearer, as these literary themes existed in Paganism.

Going back to the scripture in question, Matthew (2:1-9) reads:

Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him….&#8214;

205. Origen/Heine, 198.

205. For more on this subject, see Jensen.

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…and lo, the star, which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came to rest over the place where the child was.

The summary of this story is that at Christ‘s birth appeared a star in the east, which was used by wise men or astrologers to locate the &#8213;King of the Jews,&#8214; i.e., Jesus.

The question becomes whether or not there are any other tales with this same motif—and why? The answer is yes, as Barbara G. Walker points out with regard to the myth of Osiris, previously cited and demonstrated:

Osiris‘s coming was announced by Three Wise Men: the three stars Mintaka, Anilam, and Alnitak in the belt of Orion, which point directly to Osiris‘s star in the east, Sirius

(Sothis), significator of his birth...²⁰⁷

Hence, in this meaning of the multifold myth, Osiris‘s birth is heralded by a bright star in the east, with three stars in the belt of Orion following. This birth occurred when the Nile flooded in the summer, around the solstice, although because of the wandering Egyptian calendar this date would have occurred on each day of the year, with the cycle being completed every 1,460 years.

Furthermore, the baby solar falcon-god Sokar, who is identified with Horus, is depicted as being brought out in a manger at the winter solstice with the three gods appearing.

Also, in the museum in Naples has been kept an ancient marble urn showing the birth/nativity of the Greek god Dionysus, with two groups of three figures on either side of the god Mercury, who is holding the divine baby, and a female figure who is receiving him.²⁰⁸

[/noae]

[Prometheus]

For more on the subject of the star in the east and three kings appearing at the savior‘s birth in pre-Christian mythology, see Murdock‘s Christ in Egypt, pp. 198-209.

25. He was a child teacher at 12, at the age of 30 he was baptized by John the Baptist, and thus began his ministry. Jesus had 12 disciples which he traveled about with performing miracles such as healing the sick, walking on water, raising the dead, he was also known as the “King of Kings,” the “Son of God,” the “Light of the World,” the “Alpha and Omega,” the “Lamb of God,” and many, many others. After being betrayed by his disciple Judas and sold for 30 pieces of silver, he was crucified, placed in a tomb and after three days was resurrected and ascended into Heaven.

The above motifs all appear in the canonical gospels, in the New Testament section of the Christian Bible.

207. Walker, B., WEMS, 749.

207. Carus, 49; Mangasarian, 74. For the illustration, Carus cites: &#8213;After Mus. Bord., I., 49, from

Baumeister, Plate I., p. 448.&#8214;

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26. First of all, the birth sequence is completely astrological. The star in the east is Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, which, on December 24^th, aligns with the three brightest stars in Orion’s Belt. These three bright stars in Orion’s belt are called today what they were called in ancient times: The

Three Kings. The Three Kings and the brightest star, Sirius, all point to the place of the sunrise on December 25^th. This is why the Three Kings “follow” the star in the east, in order to locate the sunrise—the birth of the sun.

This contention is based on general star alignments, as we have already seen abundantly concerning other gods such as Osiris and Horus. Also, this astrotheological symbolism likely goes back much farther in time; we simply do not know when it was initially recognized. Regardless, the alignment on December 24^th is obvious enough: The three stars of Orion clearly line up with Sirius and point to the east, where the sun rises.

The moniker of &#8213;Three Kings&#8214; for these stars in the belt of Orion is documented all over the world. For example, South Africans call Orion‘s Belt Drie Konings—&#8213;Three Kings&#8214;—while in French they are the &#8213;Trois Rois.&#8214;

In this regard, Carpenter remarks:

Go out next Christmas Evening, and at midnight you will see the brightest of the fixed stars, Sirius, blazing in the southern sky—not however due south from you, but somewhat to the left of the Meridian line. Some three thousand years ago (owing to the Precession of the Equinoxes) that star at the winter solstice did not stand at midnight where you now see it, but almost exactly on the meridian line. The coming of Sirius therefore to the meridian at midnight became the sign and assurance of the Sun having reached the very lowest point of his course, and therefore of having arrived at the moment of his re-birth….

To the right, as the supposed observer looks at Sirius on the midnight of Christmas Eve, stands the magnificent Orion, the mighty hunter. There are three stars in his belt which, as is well known, lie in a straight line pointing to Sirius. They are not so bright as Sirius, but they are sufficiently bright to attract attention. A long tradition gives them the name of the Three Kings.²⁰⁹

View from Egypt, 12-24-00

²⁰⁹ Carpenter, 16-17.

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There are many examples of kings, queens, heroes and other figures being born under a star or other celestial configuration and being presented with gifts. As we can see from all of the above, the theme of the messiah‘s birth being attended by a star and/or &#8213;dignitaries&#8214; is thus not original or unique to Christianity.

27. The Virgin Mary is the constellation Virgo, also known as Virgo the Virgin. Virgo is also referred to as the “House of Bread,” and the representation of Virgo is a virgin holding a sheaf of wheat. This House of Bread and its symbol of wheat represent August and September, the time of harvest. In turn,

Bethlehem, in fact, literally translates to “house of bread.” Bethlehem is thus a reference to the constellation Virgo, a place in the sky, not on Earth.

Virgo the Virgin and Mary: The identification of a &#8213;virgin mother&#8214; with the constellation of

Virgo is common enough in history. For example, we have already seen that the Egyptian goddess Isis is a virgin mother, as are Neith and several other mythical figures. Concerning the Virgo/virgin mother-goddess motif, in Christ in Egypt, Murdock relates:

The identification of Isis with the Virgin is...made in an ancient Greek text called The Katasterismoi, or Catasterismi, allegedly written by the astronomer Eratosthenes (276-194 BCE), who was for some 50 years the head librarian of the massive Library of

Alexandria. Although the original of this text has been lost, an &#8213;epitome&#8214; credited to

Eratosthenes in ancient times has been attributed by modern scholars to an anonymous &#8213;Pseudo-Eratosthenes&#8214; of the 1^st to 2^nd centuries AD/CE. In this book, the title of which translates as &#8213;Placing Among the Stars,&#8214; appear discussions of the signs of the zodiac. In his essay on the zodiacal sign of Virgo (ch. 9), under the heading of

&#8213;Parthenos,&#8214; the author includes the goddess Isis, among others, such as Demeter,

Atagartis and Tyche, as identified with and as the constellation of the Virgin. In Star Myths of the Greeks and Romans, Dr. Theony Condos of the American University of Armenia translates the pertinent passage from the chapter &#8213;Virgo&#8214; by Pseudo-Eratosthenes thus:

Hesiod in the Theogony says this figure is Dike, the daughter of Zeus...and Themis...

Some say it is Demeter because of the sheaf of grain she holds, others say it is Isis, others Atagartis, others Tyche...and for that reason they represent her as headless.²¹⁰

Dr. Schmidt expands on the symbolism with regard to Isis/Nut:

Virgo, who now lends her name to this sign of the zodiac, is the heavenly Nut, the virgin mother of Osiris, who was called the &#8213;perfect one&#8214; and &#8213;the

ancient one,&#8214; and symbolized light and goodness, concord or harmony, peace and happiness. This virgin, the &#8213;great mother,&#8214; the &#8213;queen of heaven,&#8214; the &#8213;inscrutable Neith, whose veil no mortal could lift and live...&#8214;²¹¹

The identification of the Virgin Mary with Virgo was obvious and well known enough such that the renowned theologian Albertus Magnus or Albert the Great (1193?-1290) remarked (Lib. de Univers.):

We know that the sign of the celestial Virgin did come to the horizon at the moment where we have fixed the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. All the mysteries of the incarnation of our Saviour Christ; and all the circumstances of his marvelous life, from his

210. Murdock, CIE, 156.

210. Schmidt, 53.

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conception to his ascension, are to be traced out in the constellations, and are figured in the stars.²¹²

As concerns the &#8213;House of Bread&#8214; and &#8213;Virgo,&#8214; these are two separate motifs, with a shared theme: Virgo relating to virginity and House of Bread to the birth of the sun/son in Bethlehem.

Summarizing this astrotheological theme, Carpenter says:

Immediately after Midnight then, on the 25^th December, the Beloved Son (or Sun-god) is born. If we go back in thought to the period, some three thousand years ago, when at that moment of the heavenly birth Sirius, coming from the East, did actually stand on the Meridian, we shall come into touch with another curious astronomical coincidence. For at the same moment we shall see the Zodiacal constellation of the Virgin in the act of rising, and becoming visible in the East divided through the middle by the line of the horizon.

The constellation Virgo is a Y-shaped group, of which α, the star at the foot, is the well-known Spica, a star of the first magnitude. The other principal stars, γ at the centre, β and ε at the extremities, are of the second magnitude. The whole resembles more a cup than the human figure; but when we remember the symbolic meaning of the cup, that seems to be an obvious explanation of the name Virgo, which the constellation has borne since the earliest times....

At the moment then when Sirius, the star from the East, by coming to the Meridian at midnight signalled the Sun‘s new birth, the Virgin was seen just rising on the Eastern sky—the horizon line passing through her centre. And many people think that this astronomical fact is the explanation of the very widespread legend of the Virgin-birth.²¹³