www.wilsonsalmanac.com/jesus_similar.html

Red Ariel Text = additions by Religion Is Dumb.com (much of the info coming from John G. Jackson's "Christianity Before Christ")

 

	Jesus	Dionysus/Bacchus	Osiris and Horus	Tammuz/Adonis	Bel/Baal
			Image: Isis and Horus
Place	Jesus was from Nazareth, Israel, then the Christian faith spread throughout world.	The Dionysus (aka Dionysos) religion is generally considered to have begun in Thrace and spread throughout the known world, to Greece, Egypt, and Rome, where he was called Bacchus.    However, it might be that the deity's origin was in the Mediterranean, in Minoan Crete, as Dionysus was one of the names of gods discovered on the Linear B tablets of Mycenae.	Osiris and his son Horus (Har, Haroeris, Har-pa-khered, Harpokrates, etc) were worshipped in Egypt. There was a major Osirian sanctuary at Philae, Greece.	Tammuz is the Hebrew name for Dumuzu, a god who was worshipped in Syria and Babylon. The chief seat of the cult in Syria was Gebal (modern Gebail, Greek Bublos) in Phoenicia. The Pre-Semitic Sumerians in Mesopotamia worshipped Tammuz; Tammuz was analogous to the Adonis the Semites in West Asia (Adon means Lord) borrowed/inherited from the myths of the Sumerians. Adonis: in Byblus(Syrian Coast); and Cyprus(formerly Paphos). Home to Ishtar(Astarte) worship. Both cities were ruled by King Cinyras(father of Adonis). Byblus was founded by El (Kronous to the Greeks; Saturn to the Romans). Byblus was sacred to the Phoenicians (analogous to Jerusalem for Jews and Mecca for Muslims). There was a Temple and cone shaped obelisk representing Astarte here. The Nahr Ibrahim river near Byblus was called the Adonis River. Pompey destroyed a Grove for Astarte in Aphaca(Afka)...where Adonis met Aphrodite for the first time (or where he died)    Much of the above is from: Frazer "Adonis, Attis, Osiris"	Babylon
Time	Jesus lived approximately 2,000 years ago, probably c. 4 BCE - c. 30. I examined some suggested dates of his birth at my weblog on September 15, 2003.	The worship of Dioynsus dates back several centuries BCE in Greece. The historian Livy mentions the faith in Rome as early as 186 BCE. [Livy, Roman History, 39, 3,6], with the mysteries formally recognized under Julius Cesar in the mid first century BCE [Servillus, Bucolics, 5,29].	C. 3000 BCE until c. 400CE. Horus	C. 2000 BCE., same time, also in Greece C. 700 BCE	C. 2000 BCE.; Hebrews referred to Bel as Baal
Birth	Of royal descent, Jesus was born of a virgin, Mary in a stable or cave (the Apocryphal Gospel Protevangelion says in a cave, and the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem is still located in a cave).    The Virgin Mary was told by an angel, "Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women ... Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest." ( Luke 1:28-33) The virginal state of Miriam when she conceived Jesus is a matter of debate. Paul and the author(s) of the Gospel of John appear to directly reject the concept. The author of the Gospel of Mark appears to have been unaware of it. The authors of Matthew and Luke accepted the belief.   The cave was illuminated so brightly Joseph and Mary's midwife could not tolerate the light. (Source: the Apocryphal Gospel Protevangelion)   He was born or placed in a manger, a container of animal feed. The shepherds adored his birth. Angels sang hymns at the birth. The baby Jesus began speaking to the Virgin Mary shortly after his birth, saying, "Mary, I am Jesus, the Son of God, that WORD which thou didst bring forth according to the declaration of the Angel Gabriel to thee, and my Father hath sent me for the salvation of the world."  (Source: the Apocryphal Gospel, The First Gospel of the Infancy)   The aged widow Anna blessed the infant Jesus.   His earthly father was Joseph the carpenter. Since the Church was fairly young, December 25 has been his traditional date of birth.   Angels issued a warning that the local dictator, King Herod, planned to kill the baby and had issued a decree for his assassination (Matthew 2:16). The parents fled. Mary and Joseph stayed in Muturea. King Herod ordered the massacre of all male children born during the same night. * Ø * Ø * Ø * "About A.D. 153 St. Justin (Apol., I, xxi) told his pagan readers that the virgin birth of Jesus Christ ought not to seem incredible to them, since many of the most esteemed pagan writers spoke of a number of sons of Zeus:   "He was born of a virgin, accept this in common with what you believe of Perseus." Justin Martyr (c. 100 /114 CE - c. 162/168 CE), an early Christian apologist; First Apology, 22   Why did these virgin-born Gods precede Jesus? "The devils ... craftily feigned that Minerva was the daughter of Jupiter not by sexual union." Justin Martyr, First Apology, 64   Source   About A.D. 178 the Platonic philosopher Celsus ridiculed the virgin birth of Christ, comparing it with the Greek myths of Danae, Melanippe, and Antiope; Origen (c. Cels. I, xxxvii) answered that Celsus wrote more like a buffoon than a philosopher." Source: Catholic Encyclopedia	Dionysus was born of the virgin Semele; his father was the supreme god Zeus. Some sources say he was placed in a manger and reared in a cave ( Zeus was also reared in a cave).	Horus was born to a virgin (who remains eternally virginal), Isis-Meri, on December 25 in a cave or a manger.   Isis, the goddess of motherhood and fertility, was called 'Mother of Heaven',  'Regina Coeli' (Queen of Heaven) and 'Stella Maris', as is Mary, the mother of Jesus, even today in the Roman Catholic Church: "Graeco-Roman culture was particularly enamoured of [Isis] and called her the Stella Maris (star of the sea), represented in the heavens by the north star ... [Mary's] portraits with the Christ often bear a striking similarity to those of Isis with Horus."  Jordan, Michael, The Encyclopedia of Gods: Over 2,500 deities of the world, Kyle Cathie Ltd, London, 1992   Isis bore Horus having impregnated herself with the semen of Osiris after his death (see Legend of Osiris and Isis). In a story reminiscent of the Biblical Moses story, she hid Horus in the papyrus marshes of the Nile Delta, so Horus is sometimes depicted as a falcon upon a column of papyrus.   Isis said: "I am she that is the natural mother of all things, the Mistress and Governess of all the Elements, the initial Progenitrix of all things, the Chief of powers divine, Queen of Heaven, the First of the Gods celestial, the light of the Goddesses. At my will, the planets of the air, the wholesome winds of the Seas, and the silences of hell are disposed; my name, my divinity is adored throughout all the world in various manners, in various customs and in many names, for the Phrygians call me the Mother of the Gods ..." Apuleius, The Golden Ass, 1st Century CE   His earthly father was named Seb ('Joseph?) and was of royal descent.   "Isis seems to have been originally a virgin (or, perhaps, sexless) goddess, and in the later period of Egyptian religion she was again considered a virgin goddess, demanding very strict abstinence from her devotees. It is at this period, apparently, that the birthday of Horus was annually celebrated, about December 25th, in the temples. As both Macrobius and the Christian writer [of the "Paschal Chronicle"] say, a figure of Horus as a baby was laid in a manger, in a scenic reconstruction of a stable, and a statue of Isis was placed beside it. Horus was, in a sense, the Savior of mankind. He was their avenger against the powers of darkness; he was the light of the world." (McCabe, Joseph, The Story of Religious Controversy; cited here)   In the catacombs at Rome today can be found pictures of the baby Horus being held by the Virgin Isis-Meri in what scholars have claimed is the original 'Madonna and Child'. Like Jesus, Horus' birth was announced by a star in the east and he was allegedly attended by three wise men.   "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."   Source "Furthermore, inscribed about 3,500 years ago [1500 years before Jesus’ alleged advent] on the walls of the Temple at Luxor were images of the Annunciation, Immaculate Conception, Birth and Adoration of Horus, with Thoth announcing to the Virgin Isis that she will conceive Horus; with Kneph the 'Holy Ghost,' impregnating the virgin; and with the infant being attended by three kings, or magi, bearing gifts. In addition, in the catacombs at Rome are pictures of the baby Horus being held by the virgin mother Isis—the original 'Madonna and Child'.”   Source   "The Virgin is consecrated to Isis, just as Leo is consecrated to her husband Osiris ... The sphinx, composed of a Lion and a Virgin, was used as a symbol to designate the overflowing Nile ... they put a wheat-ear in the hand of a virgin, to express the idea of the months, perhaps because the sign of Virgin was called by the Orientals, Sounbouleh or Schibbolet, that is to say, epi or wheat ear." Brother Joseph Jerome de Lalande, founder of Lodge Des Neuf Soers (Nine Sisters), Paris; Astronomie par M. de la Lande, 1731   Source	Tammuz was born to a virgin, named Mylitta, on December 25.
Life	Jesus warned of 'stumbling blocks' along the way (1 Cor. 1: 23 ; Rev. 2: 14).	Dionysus is a life-death-rebirth deity.	Horus the sky god and his once-and-future Father, Osiris, are frequently interchangeable just as Jesus, God and his Father are interchangeable.   Like Jesus, Horus is claimed to have said: 'I and my Father are one'; his personal epithet was 'Iusa', the 'ever-becoming son' of 'P'tah' or 'the Father'.   At 12, Horus taught in the temple and was baptised in the Eridanus or Iarutana (Jordan?) by 'Anup the Baptiser', who was decapitated. This occurred when he was 30 years old, having disappeared for 18 years. Jesus also disappeared/there is no record from the age of 12-30.   As an adult, Horus performed numerous miracles including, like Jesus and even Buddha, the feat of walking on water.   He had 12 disciples, two of who were his 'witnesses” and were named “Anup' and 'Aan (the two Johns?).   Just as Jesus allegedly raised Lazarus from the dead, Horus was supposed to have raised El-Azar-us from the dead.   Before his death, Horus had 12 disciples and at one stage appeared before them, 'transfigured on the Mount'.  Horus performed miracles, exorcised demons and raised El-Azarus ('El-Osiris'), from the dead.  Horus walked on water. He delivered a 'Sermon on the Mount' and his followers recounted the 'Sayings of Iusa'. He was transfigured on the Mount.   He came to fulfil the Law. Horus was supposed to reign one thousand years.	Tammuz is a life-death-rebirth deity who is referred to in the Bible (Ezekiel 8:14). He was a sun god who, in his daily cycle, rose from his cave in the morning, travelled across the sky by day, before returning to his cave at night.   He was known to the Greeks as Adonis, which is the Phoenician 'Adhon'  (the same in Hebrew).   The Babylonian myth represents Dumuzu, or Tammuz, as a beautiful shepherd slain by a wild boar, the symbol of winter.   Tammuz performed miracles and healed the sick. In Babylonia Adonis/Tammuz had a young lover, Ishtar(Astarte)	Acts of a play about the life of Bel from a Babalonian Tablet    Act 1: Bel is taken prisoner Act 2: Bel is tried at a 'hall of justice,' and found innocent, but sentenced to death Act 3:Bel is ab used and jeered by a mob Act 4: Bel is led away to 'the mount. a sacred grove   Acts 5 - 10 below under 'death'
Names	Jesus is called the Christ; King of Kings; Beginning and the end (Alpha and Omega)  Revelation 1: 8 ); Only Begotten Son; Saviour; Redeemer; Sin Bearer; Anointed One; the Way, the Truth and the Life; Light of the World; Messiah; Son of Man; the Word; the Word made Flesh; Lamb of God; Resurrected One; Good Shepherd; King of Kings; associated with fish ('Ichthys'); the Word; Master; Lord; Rabbi (teacher); the Most High God; Prince of Peace; Son of Righteousness; Lion of the Tribe of Judah; identified as 'the seed of the woman bruising the serpent's head'.   Jesus is the second person of the Christian Trinity: (1) God, the Father, (2) Jesus the Son, (3) the Holy Ghost.	Dionysus was sometimes identified with the lamb; King of Kings; Only Begotten Son; Saviour (Sôtêrios); Redeemer; Sin Bearer; Anointed One; Alpha and Omega.   "At this mountain [Mt Pontinos in Argolis] begins the grove, which consists chiefly of plane trees... [within which] ... is a seated wooden image of Dionysus Saotes (Saviour)." Pausanias, Guide to Greece, 2.37.2   "Dionysos was identified by Greek writers with the Egyptian god Osiris, the Roman Liber, the Thracian Sabazios, the Arabian Orotatl and various other non-Greek gods." Source	Horus was called: Resurrected One; 'Iusa', the 'ever-becoming son' of 'P'tah' or 'the Father'; 'the Way, the Truth and the Light';  'Messiah'; 'Son of Man'; 'Son of God'; 'the Word'; 'the Word made Flesh';  'Holy Child'; 'God’s Anointed Son'; 'Word of Truth'.   Horus was called the 'KRST', or the 'Anointed One', long before the title was given to Jesus.   Horus also was called the Fisher; Good Shepherd; Lamb of God, and was associated with the lion, the lamb and the fish ('Ichthys').    Osiris was called Lord of Lords, King of Kings, God of Gods; the Good Shepherd; the Resurrection and the Life; Eternity and Everlastingness; the god who “made men and women to be born again".	Tammuz The Pre-Semitic Sumerians in Mesopotamia worshipped Tammuz; Tammuz was analogous to the Adonis the Semites in West Asia (Adon means Lord) borrowed/inherited from the myths of the Sumerians.
Death	Jesus died painfully, pierced by a spear, crucified on a cross, often known as 'the tree', or 'Calvary's tree' ("The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree." Act 5:30;  "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed [is] every one that hangeth on a tree." Galatians 3:13).   The scriptural reference to crucifixion in Deuteronomy 21:22, 23 – often taken as prophetic of Jesus – is to hanging on a tree, rather than being nailed or tied to a cross, and Peter and the apostles (Acts 5:30; 10:39) refer to Jesus as hanging on a tree. Jesus Jesus was dead for three days during which time he descended into Hell.   At his death there was an earthquake. Between the sixth and ninth hours, the skies and earth turned dark on Jesus' death. Jesus was resurrected and later ascended into Heaven.   His grave clothes were all that were found in the empty tomb after his resurrection.   He brought back from Hell two boys, the sons of the high priest. (Source: the Apocryphal Acta Pilati, or Gospel of Nicodemus)   "When we say 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."  Justin Martyr, First Apology, 21 Mary Magdalene came to Jesus' Tomb and wept	"Of the Roman God Liber (aka Dionysus, or Bacchus) Christian father Firmicus Maternus writes that his followers believe 'he was intercepted and killed,' and his murderers, 'chopped his members up into pieces and ... devoured them.' An event which his worshipers celebrate in 'recurring sacred rights celebrated every two years,' in which, 'They tear a live bull with their teeth, representing the cruel banquet [at which the God was eaten.]' [Firmicus Maternus, The Error of the Pagan Religions, Ch 6.2]"   Source     Dissenting view	Horus was crucified on 'an accursed tree' in sin-atonement, between two thieves.   After suffering death, Horus, like Jesus, was buried in a tomb where he was resurrected and ascended into Heaven, or 'Amen-ti'. As a side note, the XP often seen as a symbol for Christ (Chi(X)-Rho(P)) was the monogram for Horus.	Tammuz suffered a painful death in order to become mankind's saviour.   On the third day, some accounts claimed, Tammuz was resurrected into a new life of eternal blessedness.   "His death is supposed to typify the long, dry summer of Syria and Palestine, when vegetation perishes, and his return to life the rainy season when the parched earth is revivified and is covered with luxuriant vegetation, or his death symbolizes the cold, rough winter, the boar of the myth, and his return the verdant spring." Source  Adonis/Tammuz  dies anually and descends into the underworld...Ishtar goes to 'hell' to bring him back...on her journey love is banished from earth and all reproduction stops. Ea sends a messenger to Allatu(queen of the infernal regions) demanding the return of Adonis and Ishtar so life could continue.  Tammuz is likened to plants that wither from no water... Tammuz's death is mourned every year during month of Tammuz...Laments were chanted over a representation of a dead Tammuz, which was sprinkled with water and oil(anointed), clothed in a crimson cloth, and incense was burned Better descriptions are found with the Greeks than the Babylonians. Ezekiel saw women in Jerusalem weeping at the North gate of a temple. They weep for Adonis/Tammuz who is loved by Aphrodite. In his infancy Aphrodite gives Adonis to Persephone(queen of the netherworld). Persephone refuses to give Adonis back to Aphrodite becuae she is smitten by his beauty. Aphrodite goes to get Adonis her self. Zeus settle the 'fight' between  Aphrodite(love godess) and Persophone(death godess). Adonis is to stay above with Aphrodite parft of the year and below with Persephone the rest. Adonis is killed by a boar(maybe by Ares who disguises themselves as a boar).	Act 5: with Bel are 2 malefactors, one, found innocent is freed Bel is hung from one of the trees, crucified, or slain on an altar in the play...this took place outside the theatre, on an actual hill. Act 6: turmoil in the city after Bel's death Act 7: Bel's iclothes are stripped from him and he is prepared for burial  Act 8: Bel is put into a tomb in the side of a hill Act 9: A  weeping woman go to the tomb to mourn Act 10: A stone is rolled away and Bel emerges alive with his burial clothes...the people are jubilent because Bel 'conquered death'
Beliefs	Baptism: Christians from at least the time of St Paul understood immersion in water as a death-like experience, and emergence from the water they took as the beginning of a new life. Eucharist: Sacred meal of Blood and Body of the God.   Jesus Christ was 'without sin'. Considered both human and divine; omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent.   Christ claimed: "I am the Resurrection".   He referred to himself as having existed before his birth on earth.   Jesus will return on the last day to judge the living and the dead.    Some features: A future reward in heaven or punishment in Hell; a day of judgment; a general resurrection; the need for repentance for sin; salvation requires faith in the Saviour; belief in angels and of evil spirits; belief that disease and sickness is caused by evil spirits; a past war in heaven between good and bad angels; free will; God is considered the 'Word'   Scriptures speak of "the blind leading the blind, "a new heaven and a new earth", "living water", "all scripture is given by inspiration of God", "all scripture is profitable for doctrine", "to die is great gain".    Fasting forms a part of the religion.  The act of being born again is present.	The Mysteries of Dionysus included: a sacred meal; a myth about the death of the god; salvation.   Dionysus was worshipped, along with other deities, at Eleusis, site of the Eleusinian Mysteries. There was a strong soteriological element of the Mysteries: "It was the common belief in Athens that whoever had been taught the Mysteries [at Eleusis] would, when he died, be deemed worthy of divine glory. Hence all were eager for initiation." Scholiast (ancient commentator) on The Frogs, by Aristophanes (c. 446 BCE - 385 BCE), 158   "It looks as if those also who established rites of initiation [into the mysteries] for us were no fools, but that there is a hidden meaning in their teaching when it says that whoever arrives uninitiated in Hades will lie in mud, but the purified and initiated when he arrives there will dwell with gods." Plato (c. 427 BCE - c. 347 BCE), Phaedo, 69 c   "In Italy, in the third or fourth century BC, texts written on gold plates and buried with the dead, describe the souls of Dionysus followers in the afterlife, drinking not from one particular spring in Hades, but from another cool pool – and that will give them divinity and eternal life."   Source: Pagan Origins of the Christ Myth   "There was usually the meal of mystic foods – grains of all sorts at Eleusis, bread and water in the cult of Mithra, wine (Dionysus), milk and honey (Attis), raw bull's flesh in the Orphic Dionysus-Zagreus cult."  'Paganism', in The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XI   Baptism: "at all events, at the Apollinarian and Eleusinian games they are baptized; and they presume that the effect of their doing that is their regeneration and the remission of the penalties due to their perjuries. Among the ancients, again, whoever had defiled himself with murder, was wont to go in quest of purifying waters." Tertullian (born c. 150 or 160 - died between 220 and 240 CE), On Baptism, Ch. 5	Just as Christians end their prayers with amen, the Horus-worshippers ended their prayers with amen-ti – Egyptian for 'Heaven' or the 'After World'.   At least 2,500 years before John baptised believers in the Jordan, the ancient Egyptians washed believers in the Nile, or in burial chambers.   In both cases, the purpose of baptism was to cleanse and revivify individuals – whether alive or dead – into a new state of 'eternal blessedness'.   Furthermore, just as Christians today are assimilated with Jesus through baptism, the ancient Egyptians were assimilated through baptism with their god, Horus.   In addition, just as Jesus himself was baptised by John, Horus was baptised by lesser gods.   Early Christian author Tertullian wrote: "For washing is the channel through which they are initiated into the sacred rites of some notorious Isis".   Source   Osiris's flesh was eaten in the form of communion cakes of wheat, the “plant of Truth”.   "The 23rd Psalm copied an Egyptian text appealing to Osiris the Good Shepherd to lead the deceased to the 'green pastures' and 'still waters' of the nefer-nefer land, to restore the soul to the body, and to give protection in the valley of the shadow of death (the Tuat)."   Source   In Duat (Tuat), the underworld, Osiris weighed the dead souls.   Orisis "once possessed human form and lived upon earth, and that by means of some unusual power or powers he was able to bestow upon himself after the death a new life which he lived in a region over which he ruled as king, and into which he was believed to be willing to admit all such as had lived a good and correct life upon earth". Egyptian Ministry of Tourism website   "Ptah, creator god of the Memphite region brought things into being by the mere utterance of their names. The opening words of the Old Testament state that God also said the names of things to create them."   Source   "In the resurrection of Osiris the Egyptians saw the pledge of a life everlasting for themselves beyond the grave. They believed that every man would live eternally in the other world if only his surviving friends did for his body what the gods had done for the body of Osiris. "  Source (Frazer)	Trust, ye saints, your Lord restored, Trust ye in your risen Lord; For the pains which Tammuz endured Our salvation have procured. Ctesias (c. 400 BCE), author of Persika (Source: Crucified Saviours) The resurrection of Tammuz was celebrated in an annual lamentation that involved washing with water and anointing with oil.   'When those who lament, men and women, come up with him to me,' said one Akkadian text, 'may the dead arise and smell the incense.'   The annual lamentation of Tammuz is described by the ancient Hebrews in the Old Testament:   'Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the Lord's house which was toward the north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz' (Ezekiel 8:14). With the return of Tammuz, the lands of the Akkadians became fertile again and the seasonal and daily cycles continued.