At any right, I’ve decided not to pay for the very expensive surgery my cat needs. However, now I’m stuck at home with a very miserable cat. She doesn’t seem to be in too much pain, but she’s weak and slow – certainly at this point aware that something is wrong with her. Friends are saying I need to put her to sleep so that she doesn’t suffer.

I’m inclined to disagree with them, however. Why is it that we ‘put down’ our pets, put them to sleep, make the call that their life is over; we would never do this to humans. In fact it is almost universally illegal. Humans always choose to suffer, to have another sunrise, another sip of coffee, another sniff of flowers. Humans fight to survive as long as possible, and that is their right. It is also the natural way; the way I DESIGNED the universe. The biological imperative to survive. Why do humans who accept pets as their own (property) have power over their life and death?

Is it my responsibility to take my cat in to get put to sleep, because I don’t want to pay for the surgery? What’s wrong with letting her die in peace, at home, loved, surrounded by familiars – her favorite spot by the window, her favorite pillow? Is that less humane than a trip to a strange, busy, frightening vet’s office and getting a shot on a steel table? If I can’t bring myself to strangle my cat, or put poison in her food, how can I take her to the vet’s and put her down?

On the other hand, is my respect for my cat and sentimentality getting in the way of making the best decision for her comfort?

At best this breeds a smug superiority or condescension towards those geniuses – we paint them as disturbed, crazy, self-absorbed fanatics, unwilling or unable to grasp the Truth of Christianity do to their pride or arrogance. They are victimized, demonized.

Show me a Christian literary teacher who will admit to their students that Satan is meant to be the hero of Paradise lost, representing Milton’s own struggle and revolution against the tyrannical king?

OK. That’s it. I’m sure I’m wrong, and that many Christians are fine teachers. I just can’t grasp how.

According to Sumerian cosmology, when Ea had created man he mixed the blood of a god (who was slaughtered for the purpose) in with the clay, so that humans would have a divine spirit. However, the blood was not the best material. “In one tradition, at least, he was the leader of the rebels, who had instigated a mutiny” (George, xl). Therefore men were both part divine, but also flawed and wayward. It is likely that the story of Gilgamesh was used as a framework for religious rites or cult practices, as copies have been found in temples; copying the text may have been part of the training process for temple-astrologers (George, xxvii).

If Gilgamesh ever existed as an actual king (as tradition claims), he would have flourished around 2750BC (George, xxxi). According to the myth, Gilgamesh was a city tyrant whose mother was a goddess. He was a cruel ruler, forcing his people into labor and freely exercising his kingly right to sleep with girls on their wedding day. The people prayed to gods to make an equal/rival for Gilgamesh, and they created Enkidu – a creature that was half bull, half human. Enkidu was an idyllic spirit, living in harmony with nature. Gilgamesh orders the harlot Shamhat to seduce him, which will weaken him by alienating him from nature. They coupled for seven days and seven nights. In language reminiscent of the biblical garden story, Enkidu finds himself a “changed but wiser creature” (Gordon 45).

Shamhat brings him to society, but he has trouble eating bread, drinking out of glasses, or wearing clothes (could Gilgamesh also be the root of the modern Tarzan story?) Enkidu challenges Gilgamesh and they fight, but recognize each other’s greatness and decide, rather than destroy each other, to work together and practice heroic virtue. Thus begins a series of their adventures and conquests. First, they destroy the dragon (or ogre) Humbaba in the cedar forest, preferring fame to security, a dedication that may call Achilles or Beowulf to mind.

In the next episode, Gilgamesh dresses so attractively that the goddess Ishtar (Ianna) wants to marry him, but he refuses her. In retribution, she asks permission from the great father god Anu to have the ‘Bull of Heaven’ at her disposal to slay Gilgamesh. At first he says no, but she (as a goddess of the underworld) threatens to bring up all the dead, so that they outnumber and consume the living. Anu gives her the bull, however, Gilgamesh and Enkidu overpower and butcher it. Enkidu cuts off the leg of the bull and throws it at Ishtar as a terrible insult. Ishtar, after mourning the death of the bull, has the gods convene to decide on a punishment; they choose to kill Enkidu. Gilgamesh tries to bring him back to life in vain. Enkidu’s death instills in him a terrible fear of death, and so he begins a quest for immortality.
Only one man he knew of had ever been immortal – the Babylonian Noah named Utnapishti, who, along with his wife, became immortal after the flood. Therefore, Gilgamesh determines to seek him out. First, he travels to the edge of the ocean that surrounds the world, where he encounters the wise Shiduri; she tells him he must find Ur-shanabi, the ferryman of Uta-napishti. Ur-shanabi takes him to finds him to Uta-napishti’s enchanted realm, and Gilgamesh hears the flood story.

The gods had decided to destroy mankind, but one god, Ea, was friendly with Utnapishtim and determined to save him. Speaking to him indirectly (he told Utnapishtim to go into a reed hut first), he told him to disregard his possessions and construct an ark according to exact specifications; and to gather the seed of all living creatures, his wife, adequate supplies and a crew. Rains came, and then receded. The ark landed on a mountain. Utnapishtim sent out first a dove, then a swallow, then a raven, and determined that the earth was dry. He then got out and sacrificed to the gods, who hover over the sweet-smelling sacrifice like flies (Yahweh does the same thing in the Genesis version; although later in the Bible he claims to have no need of such sacrifices). Utnapishtim and his wife became immortal.

They tell Gilgamesh to stay awake for seven days to see if he is worthy of becoming immortal as well, but he fails the test. Next, they groom him and give him a magical garment that won’t get dirty, and prepare him for his return journey. Utnapishtim’s wife discloses a secret mystery of the gods – a plant at the bottom of the sea that gives immortality – so he puts rocks on his feet and goes down to get it. Unforunately he decides to save the plant for later and a snake eats it; thus his hard work goes to the serpent. Although he loses physical immortality, later versions of the story have Gilgamesh become a deified ruler of the shades in the underworld, and “give verdicts” or judge the dead (George, li).

There are few overt similarities between Gilgamesh and Jesus Christ. His journey was not into the underworld (which was ruled by Dumuzi and Ianna), but instead to a land of the immortals across the sea. In the end his quest for immortality failed; he died – but later versions of the story have Gilgamesh become a deified ruler of the shades in the underworld, and “give verdicts” or judge the dead (George, li).

Although Jesus was said to have been raised in his physical body, he quickly ‘ascended into heaven’ and judges souls. He does this because, in the beginning of time, Adam and Eve sinned by eating the tree of knowledge and thus the tree of life was taken away from them (or rather, them from it). Their fall was initiated by the temptations of a snake – so in a way, their immortality was taken by the snake, as it was in the Gilgamesh epic.

Although it is difficult to separate the man from the myth, there are striking parallels between Jesus and Pythagoras; most likely due to the extensive influence Pythagoreanism seems to have had on the Greco-Roman world through other mystery cults, especially Orphism, and on Platonism. I’m not strictly concerned with comparing the actual, historical figures of Jesus and Pythagoras; I only wish to demonstrate that the myths which followers ascribed to them are similar and may have come from a common literature base.

For example, it is said that when Pythagoras arrived in Croton, he first appeared to the fishermen on the outskirts of the city and performed a certain miraculous sign; he told them exactly how many fish were in their nets, and he was right (they counted). News of the miracle spread into city and prepared the way for him (Hermann 43). In the gospels of Luke and John, Jesus later performs a similar miracle, although instead counting the fish, he causes the fisherman to catch a great quantity. In Luke, this happens at the beginning of his ministry (5:1-11); in John, it occurs after Jesus had resurrected. Interestingly, we are even given the precise number of fish caught: “Simon Peter went aboard and dragged the net ashore, full of big fish, one hundred and fifty-three of them” (John 21:1-14).

Although we are not given the exact number of fish in the Pythagorean story, the Pythagoreans regarded 153 as a sacred number due to its use in a mathematical ratio called “the measure of the fish,” which produces the mystical symbol of the Vesica Pisces – the intersection of two circles which yields a fish-like shape. The sign of the fish is still widely used today as a symbol of Christianity (Freke/Gandy, 39).

Pythagoreans believed (much like Orphics, and modern day Buddhists) in reincarnation, or a “wheel of rebirth”. Thus, they were vegetarians and also tried to cultivate purity. Although the soul was immortal, it had to be freed from the contaminating influences of the body. Only a ‘lover of wisdom’, leading the best of lives, could escape the prison of his body at the moment of death and break free of the cycle.

Tradition holds that Pythagoras gained his mystical knowledge because he’d spent 7 years in the underworld or land of the dead. Diogenes Laertius records the claim of Hieronymus, who said “that when he descended to the shades below, he saw the soul of Hesiod bound to a brazen pillar, and gnashing its teeth; and that of Homer suspended from a tree, and snakes around it, as a punishment for the things that they had said of the Gods” (Diogenes Laertius, XIX), and also mentions how Austophon says in his ‘Pythagorean’:

He said that when he did descend below
Among the shades in Hell, he there beheld
All men who e’er had died; and there he saw,
That the Pythagoreans differ’d much
From all the rest; for that with them alone
Did Pluto deign to eat, much honouring
Their pious habits. (XX)

Laertius further recounts a tale by Hermippus, about how when Pythagoras returned from the underworld, he was considered a God.

Pythagoras came up again after a certain time, lean, and reduced to a skeleton; and that he came into the public assembly, and said that he had arrived from the shades below, and then he recited to them all that had happened during his absence. And they, being charmed by what he told them, wept and lamented, and believed that Pythagoras was a divine being; so that they even entrusted their wives to him, as likely to learn some good from him; and that they too were called Pythagoreans. And this is the story of Hermippus. (XXI)

According to legend, in a past life Pythagoras had been a son of Hermes, named Aethalides. Hermes promised him any gift (except immortality), and Aethalides/Pythagoras wished to remember everything, even after death. Thus, Pythagoras remembered all of his previous lives – a proof of which is offered in another famous story. While staying at Argos, he saw a shield from the spoils of Troy nailed up to the wall. He began to weep, claiming that the shield had been his in a last life, when his name was Euphobus and that he had used it at the battle of Troy. He even offered proof: his previous name, Euphobus, was written on the inside. They took the shield down from the wall and found the name written as he had claimed (Newmann 25). In another story, he recognizes the reincarnation of an old friend in a stray dog.

And once, they say, when he passed by a dog which was being maltreated, he pitied the animal and said these words: “Stop! Don’t beat him! For he is the soul of a friend whom I recognized straight away when I heard his voice.” (Bremmer, 12)

Pythagoras also believed that the entire universe was musical: each planet made a certain vibrational frequency as it passed through the heavens, and everything on earth could be assigned to one of these seven frequencies. Thus, there are 7 notes, 7 colors of the rainbow, and 7 primarily organs of the body (in Eastern spirituality, there are also 7 Chakras).

According to a legend told by Iambilochos, when Pythagoras heard the different sound made by hammers in a forge, he realized that tones can be expressed in quantitative relationships, and hence in numerical values and geometrical measures. Using stringed instruments, he then discovered the connection between vibration frequencies and pitch. The whole world, according to Pythagoras’ theory, consisted of harmony and number. (Roob, 92)

Pythagoras taught that this life was a sentence (for a sin or evil done at the mythical level in pre-history). Therefore, we should do our time well and get out quickly, rather than avoiding our punishments and stretching the sentence out longer. Earth is not meant to be enjoyed: “Do not assist a man in laying a burden down; for it is not proper to be the cause of not laboring (also translated as ‘idleness’ or ‘lack of effort’); but assist him in taking it up” (Herman, 49). Of course Christianity has its parallels in monasticism, its valuation of the poor, the weak and the suffering, and its ascetic traditions. There are also passages like the following:

Then, speaking to all, he said, “if anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross every day and follow me. Anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake, will save it. What benefit is it to anyone to win the whole world and forfeit or lose his very self.” (Luke 9:23-26)

Consequently, the life of a Pythagorean was “governed by strict rules and routines that covered a wide range of issues, everything from dietary restrictions to purification rites to religious taboos to the observance of decorous behavior, not to mention a host of magical practices” (Hermann 19).

Although the similarities between the actual life of Pythagoras and Jesus may be limited, it is interesting to notice the parallels between the two movements each figure left behind. As we shall see, it was the bureaucratic organization of the Christian movement, more than the originality of its beliefs or practices, which really ensured its survival; however this organization may have had its roots in Pythagoreanism. As Konstantine I. Boudouris says in The Pythagorean Community,

The Pythagorean organizations were unions of people, the members of which had accepted certain principles and doctrines, and who lived, thought, and acted collectively, and whose acts were dictated or related to the beliefs that they had accepted. Moreover, as all the sources testify, the chief characteristic of the Pythagorean movement was secrecy. Experience had taught Pythagoras that small but secretly and well-organized forces could have great results. (qtd. in Newmann 50)

While the overall tone of Pythagoras’ teaching appears concerned with morality, virtue, and religious piety, the mission of the secret group seems to have been the infiltration and takeover of the government. Thus, it functioned as a political conspiracy on the one hand, while on the other projecting the outward appearance of a bona fide political association. (Newmann, 51)

The speeches ascribed to Pythagoras that have been handed down to us are nothing particularly special; be good, honor your elders, refrain from evil, etc. There was certainly more to the movement than his words of wisdom (although there may have been much that was lost). The power of the movement was in its initiations and secrecy. Membership was extremely selective, and the initiation process not for the faint of heart. There was first a series of tests for candidates, followed by a background check involving the applicant’s personal life, relationships and behavior: “Did he talk too much or laugh on the wrong occasions? How did he get along with other students? What, for example, made him happy or sad?” (Newmann 53).

Finally there was a physical examination. If he passed these preliminaries, he was sent away for three years and totally ignored, but secretly watched. The 1999 movie Fight Club is an excellent example of the development of this sort of cult; although the three years of waiting was shortened to only three days.

If they were admitted, candidates had to turn over all of their belongings – money, properties and income – to a special board of trustees (Newmann 53, 54); and for the first 5 years, they took a vow of silence. If they were later rejected from the higher levels of initiation, they had their investments returned in double but were treated as if they were dead by members. Likewise, there is evidence that, in the earliest periods of Christianity, such socialist practices were also the rule, and strictly enforced. Luke has Jesus caution, “None of you can be my disciple without giving up all that he owns” (Luke 14:33), and according to the Acts of the Apostles, “And all who shared the faith owned everything in common; they sold their goods and possessions and distributed the proceeds among themselves according to what each one needed” (Acts 2:44).

Acts also relates the curious incident of Ananias and Sapphira, new converts to Christianity who secretly held back some of their earnings rather than sharing it with the Church whose transgression was punished by a miraculous execution. First, an example is given of Jospeh/Barnabas, who sold some land and gave all the money, as expected, to the apostles. Next we are told of a couple, Ananias and Sapphira, who sold a piece of property but kept some of the money to themselves and lied to the apostles. Peter immediately knew they were lying, and when he accused them, they fell down dead at his feet.

Peter said, ‘Ananias, how can Satan have so possessed you that you should lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land?…You have been lying not to men, but to God.’ When he heard this Ananias fell down dead. And a great fear came upon everyone present. (Acts 4:32-5:11)

Like the Pythagorean cult, the early church had ‘administrators’ who were responsible for maintaining the wealth and finances of the community. This feature of early Christianity didn’t last (later converts were allowed to keep their property), but its presence and inclusion into the Bible suggests external influences. Although Judaism, especially during the decades surrounding the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem, did have socialistic sects where Christianity may have found this feature, these sects were themselves almost more similar to Pythagoreanism than to traditional Judaic worship.

Consider, for example, the Essenic communities, such as at Qumran. According to Josephus, they also shared all of their property and wealth communally, had no personal possessions, did not sacrifice animals, and focused on cleansings and purity. After a three year probation, newly joining members would take an oath that included the commitment to practice piety towards “the Deity” and righteousness towards humanity, to maintain a pure life-style, to abstain from criminal and immoral activities, to transmit their rules uncorrupted and to preserve the books of the Essenes and the names of the Angels (The Wars of the Jews. 2.137–142). They also believed in the immortality of the soul and that they would receive their souls back after death (Antiquities of the Jews, 18.18, The Wars of the Jews. 2.153–158).

Another source of commonality is the theme of secrecy, with truth being revealed only to an inner group.
The notion that Pythagoras founded a movement whose mission was the “education and enlightenment of the masses” is wonderfully romantic, yet the very sources who have sought to convey this impression have also persevered old sayings that paint a very different picture.” (Newmann 55)

The eventual fall of Pythagoreanism may have been due to the contradiction inherent in a selective, spiritual minority ruling the alienated majority. Although Jesus Christ is often heralded for his democratic inclusion of all people, there are also passages in the Bible which make it clear that not everybody would make it into the kingdom, but only the worthy, and characterize the Christian cult as a small, non-inclusive group of separatists. “So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen” (Matthew 20:16). Moreover, Jesus frequently speaks in riddles and parables, which he later explains only to his disciples. At the same time, although in theory a community of brothers, it should not be forgotten that Christianity was managed by a select authoritarian group, which demanded absolute allegiance, complete surrender of personal property, and which quickly grew in wealth and power.

Finally, like Christians, Pythagoreans were taught to fight against sin and lawlessness. They even had a custom of confessing each day’s sins:

As soon as they got up in the morning, members were required to disclose to one another a detailed account of the activities and events of the previous day. Supposedly, this exercise had a twofold aim: to train a person’s memory and to teach him to assess his conduct, in order to, as Diodorus says, “gain knowledge and judgment in all matters. (Newmann 59)

Pythagoreans had a lot of pedantic rules, which inspired a contantly introspective lifestyle.
Tradition does mention, though, a great number of taboos and prescriptions, such as ‘Do not wear a ring’, ‘Do not step over a broom’, ‘don’t use cedar, laurel, myrtle, cypress or oak to cleanse your body or clean your teeth: they are for honouring the gods’. The observance of all these rules must have made the life of the Pythagorean an extremely self-conscious one, in which a moment of carelessness could be fatal. The inclusion among these rules of having to wear white linen. (Bremmer 13)

Some of these lifestyle choices, beliefs and practices will become nearly universal in the centuries before and after the coming of Jesus Christ; mostly in various mystery cults and religions. Their inclusion into Christianity is not surprising, and yet proved problematic for Christians, who constantly needed to differentiate themselves somehow from other groups who believed very similar things and practiced that belief with similar rituals and habits. The powerful figure of Pythagoras will grow to supernatural proportions; as we have seen, he was believed to have been born of a God (Hermes, in a previous life), descended into the underworld, and taught specific instructions about surviving after death. In the religious/political system that he created, Christianity had a ready template for its own organization.

Osiris was Egyptian god of the dead, but also a vegetation and resurrection god. Although the story of Osiris is already told in the Pyramid texts of ancient Egypt (2400BC), his popularity exploded when his cult (or rather, the cult of Isis, which included him and his son, Horus) was exported into the Greek and Roman empires. The main story of Osiris, which features his death and resurrection, as well as the magical healing powers of Isis and the birth of their son, Horus, is as follows.
Osiris was the great benefactor of humanity; he gave men laws, the institution of marriage, civil organization, taught them agriculture, and how to worship the gods. “He conquered the nations everywhere, but not with weapons, only music and eloquence” (Bullfinch 238). He ruled the land in peace with his consort (wife/sister) Isis. However, his brother Seth (earlier versions Typhon), was filled with envy and malice, and decided to kill him. Knowing that Osiris was more powerful, Seth designed a clever trap: he made a beautiful chest out of wood, exactly the size of Osiris, and promised it as a gift to whoever it fit. Everybody tried, but nobody could fit in the box. Finally, Osiris tried; but as soon as he lay down inside, Seth with his companions closed the lid, nailed it shut and threw the chest in the Nile river. Isis wept and mourned, tearing her hair and beating her breast. Dressed in black, with shorn hair, she wandered up and down the banks of the Nile, searching in vain for the body of Osiris. The chest had come to rest on the bank of the river, and the power inside was so great that a large tree blossomed; the chest became part of the tree trunk, which was then used as a column in a palace. Isis discovered the truth, and with a wave of her magic wand, split open the column, revealing the wooden coffin. She took the body of Osiris and hid it in a swamp. But Seth found it (as he was out hunting a wild boar) and tore it into 14 pieces. Nevertheless, Isis in her magnificent power found the pieces and put them together again (with the exception of the phallus, which was eaten by a fish.) She raised Osiris from the dead, at least enough to impregnate her, and he became the ruler of the underworld. Isis then fled with her infant son, Horus, into hiding, in fear of Seth. However, when Horus grows up and is strong enough, he will return to defeat Seth and avenge the death of his father.

On this founding myth was built a robust system of Egyptian religious belief and ritual, which included the suffering and burial of Osiris, the mourning of Isis, the birth of the divine child, and then the exhuberant celebration of his return (Witt 27).
The rejoicing of the triumph of Horus is the precise counterpart of the mourning over the death of Osiris. Both are extreme and all encompassing. Just as the death plunges the entire world into the depths of despair, so the triumph transports it into the heights of rapture. The two emotions belong together as a pair at the beginning and the end of the story that transpires between them. The entire land participated in the story in an annual cycle of festivals, and all who took part in them experienced them. (Assman 145)
Osiris is undoubtedly a vegetation god, sometimes associated corn or grain, but could also be a solar deity, “bringing light and food especially to those Yonder, the denizens of the netherworld, as he makes his nocturnal journey through their midst in his boat” (Witt 38).
When he was called ‘the Great Green’ he was the life-giving fresh water of the River and under this aspect even the salt water of the sea. As with other gods of Egypt he could be addressed as a bisexual being: ‘You are Father and Mother of men. They live from your breath and eat of the flesh of your body.’ (Witt 44)
At the same time, as ruler of the underworld, he was “the resident king of the dead, true of heart and voice, watching with an eye that was never at rest over the rewards of those who came into his realm” (Witt 38). The story of his resurrection had been used for millennia to justify the potential for life after death.
Osiris was the dying and rising god, the mythic precedent and guarantee that one could say to the deceased king, and later to every person, “Stand up!” The fact that he had risen invested these words with meaning. As is well known, this role of Osiris has led to his being classified with a series of “dying and rising” vegetation gods from western Asia: Tammuz, Attis, Adonis. This might be true to a certain extent. Without doubt, Osiris had a relationship with the agricultural cycle and other processes of death and rebirth in nature. (Assman 129)

Each person had a ba (soul) that survived death, left the body, and managed the posthumous journey into the divine realm. Each person became an Osiris and followed the mythic precendent of the god. (Assman 185)

According to Frazer, Egyptians were sometimes entombed with life sized effigies of Osiris, which were hallowed out; sealed inside in a water tight compartment were placed water, dirt and barley seed, which would ‘live forever’.

In laying their dead in the grave they committed them to his keeping who could raise them from the dust to life eternal, even as he caused the seed to spring from the ground. Of that faith the corn-stuffed effigies of Osiris found in Egyptian tombs furnish an eloquent and unequivocal testimony. They were at once an emblem and an instrument of resurrection. (441)

The annual commemoration of the Osiris story was an enormous cultural event; it retraced the passion, death and resurrection of the god, and was celebrated even in the Roman capital (the Egyptian cult was established in Rome around 50BC). The Iseum of Pompei was decorated with two paintings of the passion of Osiris (Bonnefoy 246). According to Witt, Isis would discover she was pregnant on the 3rd of October. She rose up the new god Horus in an egg. The search for Osiris’ body lasted until the 3rd of November, followed by the embalmment of the body. The mummified body is entombed on the 21st December, and two days later, on the 23rd, Isis brings forth her child, “23 December being in the Egyptian Calendar the date of the simultaneous burial and rebirth of the Sun God. Of cardinal importance for the chronology of the whole tale is the winter solstice” (Witt 213). This confirmed by Dowden:

For three days his dismemberment at the hands of his enemy Seth or Typhon is mourned; then he is found by Isis and reassembled… This is the experience which is shared in some way by those who have been initiated into the secrets of the religion, maybe the Melanephoroi (‘wearers of black’) whom inscriptions mention: it is a death and resurrection, despair and new hope story. (72)

Osiris had his own mysteries, and followers of the Egyptian cult believed that they could, like Osiris, find eternal life after death. Gordon claims that the idea of an afterlife, as either a reward or punishment based on the merits of each individual, is unique to Egypt:

Egyptian religion developed a kind of Passion Play concerning Osiris, the god of the dead, showing his suffering, death, and revival. Each dead person was identified with Osiris on the assumption that the deceased would undergo, but emerge triumphant like Osiris from, a trial full of vicissitudes to qualify for life eternal… This fully developed concept of personal judgment, whereby each man enters paradise if his character and life on earth warrant it, appears quite remarkable when we consider that centuries later there was still no such idea in Mesopotamia or Israel. (60)
The cult of Osiris, it seems, was deliberately altered to make it more accessible to Hellenized society, by merging Osiris with the Apis bull; thus, making an identification with other sacrificial bull-gods like Dionysus or Attis even easier. This new version of Osiris was renamed Sarapis.

Osiris’ son, Horus (known as Harpocrates by the Greeks), an infant god described in the Pyramid Texts as “the young one with his finger in his mouth,” was a favorite figure of paganism in the time of Christ (Witt 210). Even as a young child, he was given absolute power. “He shall rule over this earth…He will be your master, this god who is but an embryo.” (Witt 210)
The birth story of Horus (the massacre of infants, retreat into hiding, triumphant return), which is mostly based on solar worship, is very similar to that of Jesus Christ. Horus was reborn every year on January 6th (Witt, 211) – the date on which the birthday of Jesus was celebrated for centuries until 354AD, when the bishop of Rome ruled in favor of December 25th. Statues of Isis with the baby Horus in her lap are nearly indistinguishable from those of Mary and Jesus and were worshipped in Christian churches for centuries.
When the Egyptian cult was introduced to Greece and Rome, Horus became identified with Apollo and Heracles, Eros (god of love) and the sun.
The Beloved and indeed Only Begotten Son of the Father, the Omnipotent Child, he has under his control the circuit of the solar disk and so assumes the lotus which itself is the emblem of the rising Sun. (Witt 214)
Demonstrating the trend towards religious synthesis, Horus assimilated the roles and symbols of other gods. In the depictions of Horus found in Pompeii, “He can don the wings of Eros, anticipating the angel-iconography of Christianity, and in his left hand carry the cornucopia of Bacchus. He possesses the quiver of Apollo and the fawnskin of Dionysus” (Witt 215).
When Horus grows up, he defeats the dragon/crocodile Seth in a magnificient battle. This battle almost certainly influenced Christian iconography:

In the period during which Christianity was establishing itself as a world religion the figure of Horus/Harpocrates in conjunction with that of a crocodile typified the triumph of good over evil, exactly the same as the victory over the dragon by the saintly combatants Michael and George (…) Moreover, the dragon was pyrrhous in color: and Plutach thrice applies the same epithet to the complexion of Seth-Typhon. (Witt, 16)

It was Isis however, as great mother-goddess, who was the most powerful of the trilogy. Isis gives Horus his powers, and it was Isis who restored life to Osiris. She was a gifted healer – priests of her temples had to study six branches of medical science: anatomy, pathology, surgery, pharmacology, ophthalmology and gynaecology (Witt 92).
She was the great sorceress. The art of medicine was hers. Horus, the child born weak, is named ‘son of an echantress’. It is to Isis the divine sorceress that the great god Re is forced to reveal the secret of his name. Her magical nature renders her potentially hermaphrodite. So she is not bound by the normal law of sex. She can resuscitate the dead Osisris and by spells obtain the gift of a son. We learn that she discovered health-giving drugs and simples as well as the elixir of life. Like Apollo and Aslepius she was an expert in making men well when they betook themselves to her temples, where after incubation they could look forward in hope to gain a cure. Skilful as healer and discoverer of the mysteries of birth, life and death, she was the lady who saved. She resurrected. The gates of Hell, besides salvation, were in her hands. (Witt 22)
Isaic temples held mysteries of redemption involving ‘living water’, challenging initiation rites, and obedience.
Certainly, Isis gives her children the sure hope of eternal salvation: but in return she demands from them unquestioning, even blind obedience, just as she subjects them to the most grueling tests before they reach their haven of rest. (Witt 135)
She had the power to control ‘Demons’/elements, or ‘nature’/astrology (Witt 134). She loves sinners – according to Lucius, “Thou doest always bestow they dear love on wretched men in their mishaps” (qtd. Witt 134). She also made her mysteries available to rich and poor alike, “not just to the affluent citizen who made his fortune in shipping but even to the man of lowly birth and the down-trodden slave” (Witt 85). One inscription to her, found at the temple of Neith at Sais, says “I am all that has been, and is, and shall be, and my robe has never yet been uncovered by mortal men” (Witt 67).

Like Horus and Osiris/Sarapis, Isis increasingly usurped the roles, symbols and powers of other gods; she became all things to all people. After this with her untold wealth of titles she could take the one that pleased her best. She could assume the eagle of Zeus and the dolphin of Poseidon, the lyre of Apollo and tongs of Hephaestus, the wand of Hermes, the thyrsus of Bacchus and the club of Heracles. (Witt 129)
The similarities between the Egyptian cult and Christianity are many: the entire birth story, as well as the Christian iconography of the infant Jesus; the triumph of good over evil; the death and resurrection; the “Great Virgin” and “Mother of God” (Isis was called both before the Christian era). Most importantly the emotional catharsis involved, which is also to be found in most other mystery traditions, in mourning the death and then celebrating the return of the deity. Some researchers claim that the Egyptian myth is unique because it has two generations:

If we are somewhat reminded of the sorrow of Good Friday and the joy of Easter Sunday, it should again be stressed that in the myth of Osiris, we are dealing with two generations. The god who triumphs is a different one from the god who is killed. (Assman 145)

However, Horus grows up to become Osiris every year, and makes a new Horus; if you combine Horus and Osiris together into one figure, you’d create a figure much like Jesus Christ. Of course the story is very different; the details of Jesus’ life and personality so clearly presented in the gospels make him dissimilar to the Egyptian myth. But what is most relevant to the figure of Jesus Christ; the historical details that make him just an ordinary man, or his death and resurrection, role in salvation, and divinity?

Today I woke up and had a brilliant mocha and pastry. It was so delicious. Then I spent the afternoon in my recliner. I stormed up a misty, wet sky. I caused the leaves to reflect the muted light of the sun and the bright orange leaves to stand out vibrantly against the gray sky. I made the temperature drop so that lovers could see each others’ breath in the air and huddle close for warmth. Yes, it was a perfect day. Tomorrow maybe I’ll make some ice or frost. Winter is my favorite season.

Oh, by the way, I didn’t get any Christmas gifts this year. I know I know – I’ve said before I don’t need any, and of course I don’t after all. But I did give you guys Jesus, my only son on Christmas. Some of you still go to Church, and that’s nice, or even donate to charities and I appreciate that. But back in the Old Days, somebody would buy something just for me, and then give it to me. They’d burn it up… well, OK, so I didn’t exactly get it, but they and nobody else would get it either, so it’s really the thought that counted.

Yes, it’s actually a waste, and it could be used to feed the poor. I can see that. Still; it doesn’t have to be much. It doesn’t even have to be cattle. Make me a card. Give me flowers. Do something more than pray for yourselves or your family. Why doesn’t anybody say “God Bless God”.

Oh well, nevermind. I guess I just get nostalgic or moody around Christmas like everybody else. Life is never as good as it was when you were a kid and could just look forward to getting presents without worrying about buying any. (And I never even had that.)

Still, I have New Year’s to look forward to and that’s a busy time for me; all those New Year’s Resolutions! A lot of you will be saying “God give me the strength to…” (do or don’t do whatever it is you’re trying to start or give up.)

Anyway, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the big guy upstairs~!

Hi – Satan here. It’s been a while. I was kind of busy with little trivial stuff, work etc. Christmas came and went. I’ll bet a lot of you think I hate Christmas. Jesus Christ is born, he will later conquer me and restore righteousness, blah blah blah. No, Christmas to me is just another day – although the way you people celebrate confuses the hell out of me.

First off – God and I had our disagreement before the creation of the world (at least in some versions, and according to your definition of world). That was like, millions of years ago. And FYI, humans were celebrating the birth of a savior, a bringer of light, on December 25th LONG before Jesus showed up.

Christmas has NOTHING to do with Jesus Christ. The candles, the fir tree, the gift giving – are you serious!? The Attics used to cut down a fir tree, place a little suffering Attis doll on top, and bring it into the temple of the goddess every year. It symbolized, incidentally, a phallus (penis) impregnating the goddess and regenerating life on earth. And you still do it today!! What does Jesus have to do with a Christmas tree? Nothing. But it was a common pagan practice.

Oh sure, you go to church on Christmas Eve, but you sing about a child being born in a manger, who will someday defeat darkness and was visited by shepherds – these things were all said about other saviors – especially Horus, the Egyptian sun god. The birth of the sun on Dec. 25th, a huge pagan festival called Saturnalia, the mourning of the passing year (retired sun) and celebration of new life and a new year – these are sensible, meaningful rites. Thank you god for the seasons, for the sun, for food and crops. Nowadays you’ grown lazy; life is too easy for you, you take your food for granted. You don’t need to pray for the sun’s return, for a good harvest. You’re fat and lazy – this life isn’t that scary. Now you’re worried about the next life of all things. You want assurance that the next life, and even eternity will turn out alright. You’re not happy with just another year of existence, you want Heaven and Eternal Bliss. Spoiled pansies, all of you. So you celebrate, instead of the sun, a savior who will give you exactly what you want – but with absolutely no sacrifice on your part. And you use the same words, customs, practices and even the same DAY that the pagans already used for their own life celebrations.

And Jesus Christ, Santa Claus!? Father time (Saturn) combined with Apollo, the sun god riding his chariot through the sky each day, combined with the patriarchal God the Father – the old bearded man in heaven who is keeping tabs on whether you’ve been naughty or nice… Santa (an anagram for Satan by the way) is more real than you think. Oh, sure, you know he’s a myth now; but you’ll teach him to your children until their old enough that you can tell them the truth without breaking their hearts and replace him with virtually the same myth in grown up terms.

Anyway, whatever. It’s a time of fun, usually involving holiday and a lot of alcohol, so I’m totally down. I just think some of you have got your head in the sand about what you’re doing and why.

This would be more than enough for archaeologists; just today in the news it was announced that China had found the tomb of a famous historical/mythical character, Cao Cao – a third century ruler. The identification was made, not by the name, but because certain tablets had his posthumous title on them: “The stone tablets bearing inscriptions of Cao’s posthumous reference are the strongest evidence,” archaeologist Liu Qingzhu, of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, was quoted as saying. “No one would or could have so many relics inscribed with Cao’s posthumous reference in the tomb unless it was Cao’s.” (yahoo news).

That bit of logic aside, curiously these tablets were not found in the tomb at all! They were seized from people who had apparently stolen them from the tomb; a statement which strikes me as suspicious in the extreme. All things may well be in order, but it reminds me of the early British Egyptologists who (badly) painted a pharaoh’s name on the wall of the great period as proof of their theory that it was a tomb of said pharaoh – no doubt in the process bolstering their reputation and funding.

Of course, Jesus’ tomb should be easy to identify: it will be empty. There will be no body or bones. Jesus was probably buried with no treasure – we are not told of any decoration or furnishings. We are looking for a hole, maybe with a big rock by the door. (Although, if the tomb was donated by a rich convert as tradition tells us, it may actually have been quite nice.)

My faith that the tomb of Jesus will be found is much less due to my faith in the historical Jesus, as it is due to my lack of faith in archaeologists, who are desperate to link a site with a noteworthy historical personage and read into history only what we already know of history. (If this is too strong, I’ll admit that many are probably excellent, and morally and intellectually superior, to this generalization.)

According to Jan Bremmer in The Rise and Fall of the Afterlife, Orpheus was a mythological figure developed as a mouthpiece for certain developing ideas: “Orphism was a product of Pythagorean influence on Bacchic mysteries in the first quarter of the fifth century…but Pythagoras belongs to history, and Orpheus to myth” (Bremmer, 24).

His story:

The most famous story about Orpheus concerns his wife, Eurydice (also known as Agriope). While she was escaping from Aristaeus (son of Apollo), she feel into a nest of vipers and was bitten on the heel. Orpheus mourned her with a song that was so touching that all the gods and nymphs wept. At their insistence, he traveled to the Underworld to try and save his wife, using his music to soften the hearts of Persephone and Hades (as well as Charon, the boatman of the river Styx, and Cerberus, the 3 headed dog). They allowed him to retrieve Eurydice from the dead, but on one condition: she was to follow behind him and he must refrain from turning around and checking on her. He was so anxious that he turned around too early, and she disappeared forever.

The descent to the Underworld of Orpheus is paralleled in other versions of a worldwide theme: the Japanese myth of Izanagi and Izanami, the Akkadian/Sumerian myth of Inanna’s Descent to the Underworld, and Mayan myth of Ix Chel and Itzamna. The Nez Perce tell a story about the trickster figure, Coyote, that shares many similarities with the story of Orpheus and Eurydice. The mytheme of not looking back, an essential precaution in Jason’s raising of chthonic Brimo Hekate under Medea’s guidance, is reflected in the Biblical story of Lot’s wife when escaping from Sodom. The warning of not looking back is also found in the Grimms’ folk tale “Hansel and Gretel.” More directly, the story of Orpheus is similar to the ancient Greek tales of Persephone captured by Hades and similar stories of Adonis captive in the underworld. However, the developed form of the Orpheus myth was entwined with the Orphic mystery cults and, later in Rome, with the development of Mithraism and the cult of Sol Invictus. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orpheus)

Orpheus met his death at the hands of Thracian Maenads for failing to honor Dionysus (apparently, at the end of his life Orpheus worshiped only one god: Apollo). In another version, the Ciconian women, (also Dionysus’ followers), were angry at him for refusing their advances (he’d forsworn women after the death of Eurydice) and threw sticks and stones at him. At first, his beautiful music stopped the projectiles like a magic shield, but the enraged women tore him apart. (Just like Pentheus in Bacchae of Euripides). The Muses gathered up his pieces and buried them beneath Mount Olympus. His head floated to the island of Lesbos, where it prophesied until it was silenced by Apollo.

Orpheus the musician

The power of Orpheus’ music most likely has roots in the Pythagorean belief that the universe was made up of vibrations, as in a musical chord: different frequencies produced different states of matter, different colors, etc.

“Orpheus plays the same instrument as his father Apollo, symbolizing the music of the seven planets and the universal laws of septenary manifestation whose knowledge gives magical power over all created things. Orpheus could charm beasts, plants and even the denizens of the Underworld, i.e. he understood the laws of sympathy and harmony that link every level of creation, and was able to put them to use.” (Godwin, Mystery Religions in the Ancient World, 146)

Guthrie suggests that his attribute was the root of Jesus’ similar power over nature: “The common representation of him sitting playing his lyre surrounded by beasts wild and tame who are lulled into amity by his music suggests naturally the picture of the lion and the lamb lying down together.” (Guthrie, W.K.C. Orpheus and Greek Religion, 23)

His music also allowed him to perform miraculous feats, without which Jason and the Argonauts could never have returned with the Golden Fleece (Orpheus muted out the Sirens’ seductive call with his own music, and, according to some accounts, also calmed the dragon to sleep so that Jason could retrieve the fleece.) (Guthrie, 28). (The snake, tree, golden fleece (ram/sheep) symbolism will be explored later).

The Mysteries

Orphism, a new religion that emerged around 600BCE, claims to have at its core the revelations given by the head of Orpheus in the cave of Lesbos, after it had been detached from his body. “The records – known as the Orphica – contain hymns, poetry, and commentaries.” (C. Scott Littleton, Gods, goddesses, and mythology, Volume 5, 1061).

Orphism developed an elaborate cosmogony (a theory explaining the creation of the universe) that focused on the killing and eating of Dionysus by the Titans and Zeus’s subsequent destruction of the Titans, from whose ashes arose the human race, part Dionysiac (divine and good) and part Titan (earthly and evil). Through initiation into the Orphic mysteries, and by living an ascetic life of abstention from meat, wine and sexual activity, individuals sought to suppress their earthly nature. Full liberation of the divine soul could be achieved only through a cycle of incarnations.”(C. Scott Littleton, Gods, goddesses, and mythology, Volume 5, 1061).

Further, Orpheus’ round-trip into the underworld opened up the possibility of rebirth and widened the mystery of death.

The secrets of Hades were in his possession. He could tell his followers what the fate of their souls would be, and how they should behave to make it the best possible. He had shown himself capable of melting the hearts of the powers below, and might be expected to intercede again on their own behalf if they lived the pure life according to his precepts. That was the important thing. The reason which once took him there was secondary. (Guthrie, 29)

Plato mentions traveling priests, from 400BC or earlier, selling spells and initiation rites into the ‘Orphic way of Life’. Initiates were taught to control their passions, have respect for all life and refrain from eating meat (because of their believe in reincarnation), in an attempt to free their souls from the cycle of incarnation – once freed they could ascend up to “ultimate bliss on the Isles of the Blessed or in the realm of the starry ether.”“(C. Scott Littleton, Gods, goddesses, and mythology, Volume 5, 1062). Jan Bremmer, in The Rise and Fall of the Afterlife, argues that Christian ideas concerning the afterlife stem from this Orphic conception:

“It is in the fifth century, then, in Orphic-Pythagorean milieus that the contours of the later Christian distinction between heaven and hell first become visible” bremmer 5

Likewise, the term Orphics used to refer to the soul of the dead, “psyche”, was taken over by Jews and Christians. Revelations 20.4 authors sees the psychai of those beheaded in heaven. (Bremmer, 4).

Further, in Orphic teachings, “man is suddenly promoted to the climax of creation. Moreover, we can observe that the diversity of the Greek pantheon has been reduced to a virtually monotheistic rule by Zeus, although Dionysus, whose position in the normative Greek pantheon was more ‘eccentric’, is also indispensable” (Bremmer, 22).

Orphics dressed in white to demonstrate their aspirations to purity, and followed strict rules of propriety. Free will and personal responsibility were also essential and important parts of the Orphic code. (Guthrie, 183)

Similarities to Jesus

What distinguishes Orpheus from other pagan heroes is his meekness and humility:

The influence of Orpheus was always on the side of civilization and the arts of peace. In personal character he is never a hero in the modern sense. His outstanding quality is gentleness amounting at times to softness. (Guthrie, 40) (like Jesus)

Although Orpheus cannot be said to have resurrected or come back from the dead (at least not since the first time he did it, when rescuing Eurydice), we do of course have the curious prophecies of his disembodied talking head, which gave the bulk of his teachings after he’d been violently murdered.

Strikingly, Christianity has its own version of a miraculous talking head:

Herod’s stepdaughter, to whom the name Salome was later attributed, is said in Matthew 14:8 and Mark 6:25 to have asked him for John the Baptist’s head on a platter, and the presentation of his severed head often appears in art.

In medieval times it was rumored that The Knights Templar had possession of the talking head of St. John, and multiple records from their Inquisition in the early 1300s make reference to some form of head being worshiped by the Knights.

Most telling, of course, is the adoption of Orpheus by the Christians, which was only a continuation of a previous adoption by Jews.

It was easy to see in the characteristic picture of Orpheus not only a symbol of the Good Shepherd of the Christians (and we remember the Orphic bukoloi), but also parallels to the lore of the Old Testament. It too had, in the person of David, its magical musician playing among sheep and the wild beasts of the wilderness, and the resemblance did not pass unnoticed. (Guthrie, 264)

“As an allegory, the pagan story even found its way into early Christan iconography. In the catacombs of Jerusalem, for example, Jesus was depicted in the guise of Orpheus with the lyre. In some later Christian tombs, Orpheus is shown delivering the Sermon on the Mount or acting as “the Good Shepherd” (C. Scott Littleton, Gods, goddesses, and mythology, Volume 5, 1058)

The Christian apologists on the whole regard Orpheus with anger and contempt, as an imposter. They were certainly not willing pupils. He appears mostly as the champion of polytheism and superstition. Yet the passage of Justin, of which a part was quoted in the previous passage, shows that the similarity was noticed in his time between the myth of Dionysus and the story of the Christ sufficiently close to constitute a danger and necessitate a warnings against confusion between these two representations of a suffering son of God. (Apo.1;54 – Dionysus and Jesus) Guthrie266

Cyril against Julian “Of Orpheus son of Oiagros they say that he was the most superstitious of men, and that he anticipated the poetry of Homer, that is to say that he was older than him in time, and that he made up songs and hymns to the false gods and obtained no mean glory thereby; that then he condemned his own teaching, realizing that he had wellnigh left the highway and wandered from the true road, and turned to better things and chose truth instead of falsehood and spoke thus about God… (Shows what a serious threat Orpheus was…and how powerful to make him an ally)Guthrie 256

A final bit of interesting trivia is Orpheus’ personal antagonism towards women, and their resentment of it leading to his violent death, which was used to justify sexist cultural practices. Women were banned from Orphic mysteries (although apparently not from the rites of Dionysus…)

Similarly the practice of tattooing among Thracian women was said to be the punishment inflicted on them by their husbands for the murder of Orpheus. To Plutarch indeed it does occur to protract the punishment thus far shows a certain lack of proportion: ‘we can find no praise for the Thracians, that they brand their wives to this day to avenge Orpheus’. (Guthrie, 50)

Thus, we have women being blamed and punished for a mythological event; not unlike Christianity’s subordination of women – ‘the weaker sex’ – for Eve’s fall and the temptation of Adam. (To carry the theme further, we can argue a mythical parallel between Eve, falling into sin and Adam following after her – into Sin and Death – with Orpheus pursuit of Eurydice into the Underworld.

“The correspondence between Christianity and the other mystery religions of antiquity are perhaps more startling than the differences. Orpheus and Christ share attributes in the early centuries of our era; and of all the major ancient deities, Dionysus has most in common with the figure of Christ. It was the son of Apollo, however, Asclepius, the kindly healer and miracle worker, who posed the greatest threat to early Christianity.” (Classical Mythology, 8th Edition, 385)

“All the Greeks agreed that Asklepios was a mortal healer who had perished, struck by Zeus’ lightning bolt, for presuming to raise the dead. Yet by the Classical period, he was just as unequivocally consisdered a god, though subordinate to his father Apollo, from whom his healing power was derived.” (Ancient Greek Cults, Larson, 192)

“Who was this diety who, when the god of a new Gospel appeared, became perhaps his most significant and most powerful antagonist in the spiritual struggle that ensued between paganism and Christianity?” (Edelstein, 65)

It is perhaps telling that Ascelpius is so little known in modern society. While other most people are familiar with other Greek and Roman gods – Athena, Zeus, Aphrodite – and conspiricists and Christ- mythers talk passionately about the similarities between Mithras, Attis, Osiris and other dying and resurrecting gods, the name ‘Ascelpius’ has completely disappeared outside of academic references. Who was he and why was he such a threat to Christianity?

As we have seen, the historicity of Jesus, above all else, was crucial for distinguishing him from the beliefs of the pagans. All apparent similarities between Jesus and Pagan gods could be explained away with ‘diabolical mimicry’ and the assertion that, while other gods were mythological symbols, Jesus was a real, physical human being. However, apart from the tenacity of his followers, the PROOF that Jesus Christ was historical were his miracles – notably, his miraculous healings. Jesus restored sight to the blind, he raised the dead, he cured the sick, he cleansed lepers, and he healed paralytics. These healings are reported in the gospels as signs of his divinity; they are the proof that Jesus was the son of God.

However, long before the Christian movement, Asclepius was universally known as the God of medicine and healing. And he wasn’t just a myth: Asclepius was believed to have been a real man, who died a real death, but then came back. (Whether ‘resurrected’ or ‘ascended into heaven’ – the fact remains that after death he was physically present in his temples to effect miraculous healings.) Asclepius was widely believed to provide actual, physical healings, of which many people had direct experience.  It is not a case that  he was some folk hero of ancient times that no one knew about – he was a living god, prayed to and worshiped, intimately familiar to every greek and roman citizen of the pagan world. His healings, including the miraculous power over death, would have been the first thing people thought of when they heard of Jesus.

The temples of Aesculpius served as hospitals in ancient times. Priests went through rigorous medical training. People would come for incubation or a ’sleeping-cure’;  while they slept they would receive the god’s instructions in dream – or sometimes even experience some kind of psychic surgery, where they experienced the god cutting them open. When they woke up, if they were not already cured, the priests would interpret the dream and prescribe a remedy. The effects of these cures are collaborated by the hundreds of ex-voto offerings that were left at the site by the healed: “they were of terracotta, marble, bronze, silver or even gold, depending on the means of the faithful whose prayers had been granted, but chiefly of clay, the majority of the clientele of the island in the Tiber being of humble estate. There were feet, hands, breasts, intestines, viscera in an open torso, genital organs, eyes, ears, mouths… Above all, it was necessary to demonstrate gratitude by way of an inscribed tablet bearing the account of the miraculous treatment” (Turcan, 108). These very detailed descriptions of prescriptions and healings were further affirmed by being placed ‘in the presence of a crowd’ or having the healed ‘publicly gave thanks before the crowd.’

Moreover, he was not easily denounced or ridiculed: there was nothing in the Asclepius myth that was in the least reminiscent of other divine legends which ascribed to the deities

“all of the acts which are counted by men disgraceful and shameful, thieving, and wenching and dealing deceitfully one with another. Granted that the tradition is fragmentary, that stories may have been current which are not preserved, there can have been no stories of love affairs or of dissension, tales amoral in tone or character. Otherwise it would be incomprehensible that the Christian polemic, eager as it was to find fault with the outrageous behavior of the pagan gods, does not refer to any deragotary incident in the life of Asclepius, the most dangerous enemy of Christ”. (Edelstein, 74)

In the apocryphal work The Acts of Pilate, possibly written in the 4th century AD, Jesus is accused of being “a sorcerer and he casts out devils in the name of the Devil who rules the devils, and everything is obedient to him.” Pilate says, “it is not possible to cast out devils in the name of an impure spirit but rather in the name of the god Asclepius.” (Acta –Pilati, A, I, p216 T)

Homer sang of Asclepius as one of the fighters before Troy (T135).  According to Plato, Socrates’ last words were “Crito, we owe a cock to Asclepius. Pay it and do not neglect it.” (Plato, Phaedo, 118)

Born as a man, died a mortal death and was resurrected (Asclepius: Collection and Interpretation of the Testimonies, Edelstein, 75)

And when we say also that the Word, who is the first-birth of God, Jesus Christ, our teacher, was produced without sexual union, and that He was crucified and died, and rose again, and ascended into heaven, we propound nothing new and different from what you believe regarding those whom you esteem sons of Jupiter… Asclepius, who, though he was a great healer, was struck by a thunderbolt, and ascended to heaven (became a star…) 177 Justinus, Apologia 21, 1-2

STORY

His mother was Coronis, daughter of Phelgyas in Thessaly, (or Arsinoe, daughter of Leucipuus) and Apollo. Appollo loved her, but her father made her marry Ischys instead. Apollo cursed the raven who brought the tidings – made it black instead of white but killed Coronis. As she was burning, he took the baby from the pyre and brought it to Chiron, the Centaur,

“by whom he was brought up and taught the arts of healing and hunting. And having become a surgeon, and carried the art to a great pitch, he not only prevented some from dying, but even raised up the dead; for he received from Athena the blood that flowed from the veins of the Gorgon, and while he used the blood that flowed from her left side for the bane of mankind, he used the blood that flowed from her right side for salvation, and by that means he raised the dead. But Zeus, fearing the men might acquire the healing art from him and so come to the rescue of each other, smote him with a thunderbolt. Angry on that account, Apollo slew the Cyclops who had fashioned the thunderbolt for Zeus.  (Edelstein, 9)

In another version of the story, Asclepius was the son of Phlegys (who came to Peloponnesus) and Apollo; she bore the child, but exposed him on a mountain. A goat gave him milk, a watchdog of the herd guarded him, and a a goatherd found him.

Still later, Priscus, contemporary of Cicero, says he was born of uncertain parents, exposed, nourished by a dog, found by some hunters, and turned over to Chiron for medical training. He lived at Epidaurus, but from was Messenian. Cicero says he was buried at Cynosura (Edelstein, 1617). These increasingly detailed reports are the result of an attempt to ‘classify’ or catalog mythology into a more sober historical account. Whether or not Asclepius actually lived as a historical person remains unclear.

Pindar, makes Apollo say,

If, then, the son of Coronis accomplished anything meet for a god; if he restored to the blind the sight which had slipped away from their eyes; if he bade the dead return to life; if, making the lame swift of food, he commanded them to go home rejoicing, then let him be enriched with our due admiration, too; if he was in high repute among some of the most feeble, let him, too, be praised as most nobly going about the task of his medical skill. Yes let him not dishonor the “understand thyself.” (Edelstein, 16)

In Aeshylus’ play, Agammenon (458 B.C.E), it is clear that Asclepius was chiefly known for his ability to raise the dead, and his subsequent punishement: “But man’s dark blood, once it hath flowed to the earth in death, who by chanting spells shall call it back? Even him who possessed the skill to raise from the dead – did not Zeus put a stop to him as a precaution?” (Agammenon 1019-24)

Justiny Martyr, who chose to draw attention to the similarities between Jesus and pagan saviors in order to give credibility to a struggling Christian movement, says:

When we say that He (Jesus) made well the lame and the paralytic and those who were feeble from birth and that he resurrected the dead, we shall seem to be mentioning deeds similar to and even identical with those which were said to have been performed by Asclepius. (Justin, Apology, 22,6)

And when he (the devil) brings forward Asclepius as the raiser of the dead and healer of the other diseases, may I not say that in this matter likewise he has imitated the prophecies about Christ? (Justin, Diologues, 69, 3)

Ascelpius was also, like Jesus, given the power to cast out demons: “Behold, some one excited by the impulse of the demon is out of his senses, raves, is mad: let us lead him into the temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus; or since Jupiter knows not how to cure men, into the fane of Asclepius or Apollo. Let the priest of either, in the name of his god, command the wicked spirit to come out of the man: that can in no way come to pass.” ( Lactantius, Divinae Institutiones, IV, 27, 12, (Edelstein 176))

He was also given power over the elements, as testified by a passage from Aristides, “Now I have heard some people saying that, when they were at sea and in the midst of a storm, the god appeared to them and stretched forth his hand” (Aristides, Oratio XLII 1-15) (Edelstein, 162)

He was even cited as a muse for inspired writings: “And he not without the aid of the gods” says Homer, nor do you (acacias) write these words without the influence of Asclepius, for manifestly he joined with you in the writing. It is, of course, fitting for him, as the son of Apollo, to have some of the cultural talent of his father and to apportion it to whomever he desires. How then would it be possible for him not to assist you in these discourses concerning himself? (Libanius, Epistulae 695, 1-2., (Edelstein 338))

MUCH older: Chronicon Paschale, 79 In this year (1405 BC) Ilium was founded by Ilius, and Asclepius entered the profession of medicine. 64

MORE than healer

As Asclepius grew in power and popularity, he began to be viewed as a much more powerful force – equal to the philosophy of Christ as the Divine Logos:

He (Asclepius) is the one who guides and rules the universe, the savior of the whole and the guardian of the immortals, or if you wish to put it in the words of a tragic poet, “the steerer of government,” he who saves that which always exists and that which is in the state of becoming. But if we believe him to be the son of Apollo, and the third from Zeus, and if again we link him to these names…; since sometimes they maintain that even Zeus is born, and then again they show that he is the father and maker of everything. Aristides, Oratio XLII4 (150)

In the opinion of the Neo-platonists, Asclepius was in fact the soul of the world by which the creation is held together and filled with symmetry and balanced union (T.304). Through Asclepius, the savior of the whole world, the health and safety of all is guaranteed (T. 306). Through him, the elements do not relax their indestructible bonds; through him, the universe remains young and healthy (T.309)…In their opinion, therefore, Asclepius was a god even before the beginning of existence, a transcendental deity (T. 305; cf. also T.259), although he was ruling over the phenomenal world, although he was within it. Zeus had engendered Asclepius from himself; but through the sun, through Apollo, he had revealed him to the mundane regions (T.307) In his earthly appearance Asclepius was the third from Zeus (T.303). Thus the god of medicine took his place in the pagan trinity. He had risen high indeed. (Edelstein, 108)

At the same time, “despite all changes in his influence and in his position, he did not change his nature: he remained the healer of diseases and the giver of health.”

Since the 5^th century b.c., a desire for a more person religion (as well as the  idea that gods aren’t bad, should be free from envy and malice – plato, stoics, epicureans…) individual relationship rather than collective worship “There was a craving for a personal relationship to the deity, and the belief in divine providence progressed steadily. In such a world it was natural that Asclepius found favor, for if any god was interested in the private needs ofmen, in their most personal affairs, if any god showed providence, it was Asclepius.(Edelstein113)

Asclepius only heals the pure of heart and mind… he heals the poor and he does it for free “Asclepius, again, does not heal mankind in the hope of repayment, but everywhere fulfills his own function of beneficence to mankind. Julianus, epistulae 419 b (164)

Images of Asclepius show him as youthful and bearded. He ‘radiates dignity mixed with compassion; eyes turned upward looking saintly and benign. Curly locks falling over the back and down to the eyebrows.” He liked children was fond of them (Edelstein, 224)

Diogenes Laertius, Vitae Philosophorum III, 45 Phoebus gave to mortals Asclepius and Plato, the one to save their souls, theother to save their bodies. (Jesus becomes both…is this before or after? Why not make the obvious connection?) 164 (3rd century AD).

On the contrary, in addition to the similarity of the deeds of the two saviors, which even the later Christians seem to have found disconcerting, there was a disturbing resemblance in their way of life and in their chatacters. Christ did not perform heroic or wordly exploits; he fought no battles; he concerned himself soley with assisting those who were in need of succor. So did Asclepius. Christ, like Asclepius, was sent into the world as a helper of men. Christ’s life on earth was blameless, as was that of Aslepius. Christ in his love of men invited his patients to come to him, or else he wandered about to meet them. This, too, could be said of Asclepius. All in all, it is not astonishing that Apologists and Church Fathers had a hard stand in their fight against Asclepius, in proving the superiority of Jesus, if moral reasoning alone was to be relied upon. The nature of the godhead of the two saviors was indisputably identical: both were man-gods. Son of God and mortal woman, the story of Christ’s birth in many ways resembled the birth saga of divine Asclepius.  God died…through god had risen to heaven, immortal on account of virtue. Human and divine, Asclepius was called a ‘terrestrial and intelligible’ god (Edelstein, 136)