Let me put my biases on the table: I’m an atheist. To me, all gods are myths. I’m not, however, a "christ-myther." I believe that Jesus was a real person; I’m convinced that certain passages in the gospels portray a real man. I’m also convinced that Jesus was a man who hoped to be a non-divine Messiah, and that he was certainly no deity.

Below: Osiris

Civilization in Egypt developed about 4,000 years b.c., with the development of hieroglyphics, a kind of picture writing, about 3,000 b.c. By 2,500 b.c., Re was the principal god of Egypt, typically represented in Egyptian art as a falcon-headed man crowned with a sun, and holding an Ankh. Osiris was the god of life, death, and resurrection; he was the god of grain, and of the Nile river.

In Egypt, the entire economy was dependent on the regular flooding of the Nile river. Its waters created lush farmland which would otherwise be barren, lifeless desert. The fear of the Egyptians was that the Nile would dry up permanently. In contrast, in Mesopotamia, the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers would flood violently and unpredictably, making course changes within a single year that would destroy everything in its path, while leaving other areas subject to drought and famine. The Egyptian gods were therefore more benign and predictable than were the Mesopotamian gods.

Egyptians prayed to their gods, like most other primitive god-believing cultures. They prayed for success in hunting, for generous production of crops, for the health of their children, and for eternity in an afterlife in the "other world". From the most ancient times, the Egyptians believed in an afterlife: When a human died, he or she would leave this earth, and travel to a different world. They also believed their Pharaoh was both human and god, in a single form, no different than Jesus was viewed as a combined god-man. The great pyramids are vivid testimony to the Egyptian belief in an afterlife. (This is quite a bit different from Judaism, where one is hard pressed to find any indication of an afterlife in the Old Testament. The Sadduccees were a class of Hebrew priests who specifically denied an afterlife.)

Just as the Nile would flood, and revive the farms and vegetation along its banks, Osiris lived, suffered, died, and would be reborn again. His life represented the annual flood cycle, and his suffering and death represented the death of the vegetation when the Nile dried up. His regeneration represents the regeneration when the Nile flooded, and the vegetation was reborn.

The story (as related by Budge in his introduction to the "Book of the Dead" and others) goes like this: Re, the Sun God and creator of all things, was the husband of Nut, the Goddess of the Sky. Re became furious when she was caught schtoinking Geb, the earth God, and Thoth, god of Justice. Re cursed Nut, and decreed that she could not give birth during any calendar year.

Nut then had to play card games with the moon God Selene and gradually won enough "light" from the moon (which explains why the moon is dimmer than the sun) to create five extra days during the end of the year, which had been only 360 days. Nut then gave birth to five children, first Osiris, then Horus the Elder (not to be confused with Horus son-of-Isis), then the evil Set (who was so mean, he dug himself out of his mother's body), Isis (who fell in love with Osiris while in the womb) on the fourth day, and Nephthys (future wife of Set) on the fifth day. Literally the son of two gods, Osiris' birthday falls five days before the end of the calendar year, and is celebrated traditionally on December 25th.

Osiris, typically shown as a dead king in mummy wrappings in Egyptian art, was the son of a god, the Sun god Re. He became a King of Egypt, and is therefore as allegedly historical as Jesus. Osiris was the King who united the wandering tribes of Egyptians, taught them the art of farming, and brought the Egyptians from a nomadic life, to a highly civilized society. As with Jesus, Osiris had the reputation as a teacher.

Set and Osiris apparently never got along well, and was jealous of Osiris' successful rule of Egypt. Set eventually murdered Osiris by tricking him into entering a coffin, which was then sealed shut with molten lead, to insure his death by suffocation. The box was then placed adrift in the Nile, and settled in a bush which, over time, grew into a great tree surrounding the coffin. Isis searched for the body of Osiris, and found it, in the tree trunk, which was now a column supporting the ceiling of a palace. She retrieved the body, and hid it. With a little magic, Osiris was breathed back into life. However, Osiris soon died for a second time, and was left hidden in the box. Soon, it was found by the evil Set, who dismembered the body into fourteen pieces, scattering them all over Egypt. Isis then traveled about with, of all people, Nepthys (Set's wife) and found all the pieces--including the all-important penis.

Isis had a child from the dead Osiris, Horus, typically represented by a falcon-headed male figure. Isis became pregnant in a miraculous manner: Taking Osiris’ dismembered penis with her, Isis traveled to the underworld with it. An ancient Egyptian relief depicts this conception by showing his mother Isis in a falcon form, hovering over an erect phallus of a dead and prone Osiris in the Underworld.As with Jesus, Horus is the result of a miraculous pregnancy.

Isis was the great goddess of Egypt, depicted in Egyptian art as a female with a vulture headdress, sitting on a throne. Isis protected young Horus, the earthly future king of Egypt, by concealing him in a swamp, to be kept away from danger while he was being raised, hidden away in the papyrus plants.

By now, Isis had recovered all the body parts of Osiris, and she got to work. She reassembled Osiris, using wax to attach the body parts. Linen wraps and ointments were used to preserve the corpse, which was buried. Horus (the result of the miraculous union between Isis and her dead husband's penis) took Isis to the Underworld, where they found Osiris. Magical words gradually brought the god back to life. Re now helped, by building a ladder so tall, they could climb to the "Other World," and be with the rest of the gods, which they did. Osiris was promoted to "King of the Gods," and Horus inherited Osiris' earthly rank as King of the Egyptians. The themes of suffering, dying a gruesome death, descending into Hell, resurrection, and ascending into heaven are common with Christianity.

Osiris suffered a cruel death of mutilation, after which he resurrected bodily. This became the basis, for Egyptians, of a belief in a personal bodily resurrection. Just as with Jesus, Osiris’ resurrection gave the ancient Egyptians hope that they, too, who had led good lives, would return to life after death. For the ancient Egyptian, the key to eternal life was leading a good life on earth. The theme of overcoming death through god-given immortality parallels Christian theology. (One must struggle to find the concept of sin being punished in the afterlife in the Old Testament: Yahweh punishes sin immediately, during the sinner's life. Noah, Sodom and Gomorrah, etc.)

The Egyptian festival of Osiris celebrates in a dramatic manner the death of Osiris, the finding of his corpse, and his return to life-- just as Easter and the passion plays celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Osiris was appealing to the common Egyptian because, having once been human, he could understand the common sufferings of humans, and sympathize with them. As a god, he could help humans in this world, through prayer. The same is true for Jesus. As with Christians, the attainment of a renewal of life in the "other world" was the intent of every Egyptian believer.

Below: No, it isn’t Jesus with a dove. It’s Horus, with a bird god descending to protect him.

In ancient Egypt, the pharoahs actually became Horus in life, somewhat similiar to the beliefs of the Catholics that the Pope is god's agent on earth.

Horus was a resurrected form of Osiris, and acted as an intermediary between Osiris, who could grant immortality, and Egyptians who were about to die. It worked like this: The spirit of the recently deceased would appear before Osiris, and would tell the god about all the good deeds during his life. Osiris would weigh the person’s heart, and the God Thoth, god of Justice, would record the result. If the heart weighed less than a feather, the person would be granted immortality. If the heart was heavy, the person would be thrown to jackals. As with Christianity, evil was punished in the afterlife.

Horus finally battles Set, in the form of two men, then in the form of a bear. The battle lasts three days and three nights. Horus finally wins, takes Set prisoner, only to have Isis suddenly feel pity for Set, and orders Set freed.

Both Greece and Israel traded extensively with Egypt, both importing beer, papyrus, jewelry, and exporting various products. As I mentioned earlier, there were temples of the popular Egyptian god Isis outside of Egypt, in Greece and Rome. There is little doubt that both the Jews and Greeks of the 1^st century had access to Egyptian religious ideas.

Egypt was converted to Christianity very early, perhaps in the times of the apostles of Jesus. Mark, the alleged author of the first gospel, is traditionally credited as the founder of Egyptian Christianity, referred to as the "Coptic" church. The Coptics adhered to the "monophysite" heresy, which held that Jesus has but one nature, an idea consistent with ancient Egyptian theology, where a distinction between the human and the divine was unnecessary. That doctrine was held heretical by the Council of Chalcedon in 451 a.d.

Is it possible that Christianity originated in Egypt? It seems realistic that Christianity may have existed prior to the official conversion in 69 a.d. by Mark, and this is therefore a realistic possibility. If Egypt became Christian, it didn’t happen overnight. It seems a reasonable inference that there was significant contact between the early Christians, perhaps even the apostles themselves, very early in the evolution of Christianity. Religious ideas probably went in both directions.

The timing, prior to that of the earliest known gospels, seems appropriate for this to have happened. There was therefore an opportunity for the early Gospel writers to be influenced by the Egyptian themes of a man-god suffering, dying, descending into hell, resurrecting, and ascending into Heaven, with the result that common people could achieve immortality in the afterlife.

According to almost all critical scholars, the Gospel of Mark is the oldest of the four gospels, probably authored somewhere around 70 a.d Is it not possible that this original gospel writer took the story of a Jewish messiah wannabe, who faked a death on the cross, allegedly rose from the dead, and added to it the Egyptian theme of a man-god who died to enable eternal life?. Mark is caught with his hands in the proverbial cookie jar of Egyptian mythology.

Christianity, in its earliest days after the death of Jesus, must have been a struggling idea. On the other hand, the very popular religious ideas of Egypt had been around for about 2,500 years. To fuse the very popular core themes of Egyptian religion with the story of Jesus, the wannabe messiah who allegedly rose from the dead, would have improved the story, making it more popular with the common people. Tell them that not only did Jesus die and rise from the dead, proving he was the Messiah, but also his death gives you all a ticket to eternity in Paradise! Tell them Jesus was born under miraculous circumstances. Add a villain, Satan, who is responsible for all evil, whom Jesus fights and now you add drama to the story. Tell them Jesus will intercede in your prayers in this life, keep that nasty Satan away from you, and insure your immortality in the next. All this is from Egyptian mythology. (Christians couldn’t steal the whole thing, hook line and sinker, or people would recognize it as Egyptian.) Early Christians therefore had a sufficient motive to steal ideas from the Egyptians.

Egypt eventually converted to Islam about 450 a.d., but the Coptic Christians still exist in Egypt as a group never having been influenced by Roman Christianity.

Typical Christian objections include "The concept of a dying and rising god is actually more recent than Christianity." I’ve heard this one from several Christians. The fact is, the myths of Osiris, Isis, Set and Horus are well formed from the most ancient of Egyptian writings, dating back thousands of years before Christianity existed. References exist to the stories in the Pyramid Texts and The Egyptian Book of the Dead. Depictions of these stories exist on the walls of every major archeological find in Egypt; it is hardly contemporaneous with Christianity.

I quote from Budges: "The essential beliefs of the Egyptians remained unchanged from the earliest dynasties down to the period when the Egyptians embraced Christianity, after the preaching of St. Mark the Evangelist in Alexandria, a.d. 69." The Book of the Dead, Budges (p. 52).

Others have said, such as the web site on "CopyCat Myths" that: It is not simply enough to point to some vague similarities and yell "copy cat!" The author of the above web site offers the following quote in support:

"Osiris was murdered and his body dismembered and scattered. The pieces of his body were recovered and rejoined, and the god was rejuvenated. However, he did not return to his former mode of existence but rather journeyed to the underworld, where he became the powerful lord of the dead. In no sense can Osiris be said to have 'risen' in the sense required by the dying and rising pattern."

"In no sense can the dramatic myth of his death and reanimation be harmonized to the pattern of dying and rising gods."

Osiris can’t be said to have risen from the dead, because he didn’t come back to earth, and instead went directly to the "other world"? This is a trivial detail, and flies in the face of the Egyptian worship of Osiris as a source of immortality. This isn’t just a "vague similarity" with Christianity; the Osiris-Isis-Horus myths parallel the core teachings of Christianity: That a man-god, born under miraculous circumstances, died, descended into Hell, resurrected, and returned to Heaven (or the "other world"), so that the rest of mankind could have eternal life.

"Jesus’ death was an actual event in history." (Isn’t this begging the question?) I’m sure Jesus died, so I agree it’s an actual event. Horus was the first Pharaoh of Egypt. As there must have been a first Pharaoh, the death of Horus, also, MUST have been an actual event.

By the way, the title of the above Christian web site is a straw man argument, if you haven’t noticed: I’m not saying the gospel writings "copied" the whole Jesus story from Egyptian mythology; only that they borrowed enough so as to preclude the Gospels from being original.

"Other Religions with Dying-rising gods are all talking about same god, since there is just one god." I’ve heard this popular argument in a hundred variations. The simple truth is, Egyptian mythology, while it shares core allegations with Christianity, is otherwise like night and day. They cannot both be true. Sometimes Christians argue the other side of this argument, without realizing it: For example, on the "CopyCat" Christian web site above, the author argues that none of the other dying and rising gods died for your sins, Jesus’ death was voluntary, Jesus died on behalf of others, when Jesus died, it was a victory, not a defeat, Isis wasn’t really a virgin, etc. These details, argued with the intent to disprove the parallels with pagan myths and Christianity, actually show that the two stories are so radically different that both cannot be true.

"The Egyptian myths are really telling the story of Jesus." This is a variant of the above objection. As I explained above, the Osiris-Isis-Horus stories, while retaining core ideas with Christianity, are impossibly different. I’m curious, though, as to how, if the Egyptian myths are really about Jesus, why couldn’t Yahweh properly inspire them? Doesn’t Yahweh speak Egyptian well?

"There are dozens of Horus gods. No wonder you can find similarities." Actually, there’s one main Horus god, the son of Osiris. He has different names to refer to himself as a child, a specific name referring to the period of time when he was a king, and another name after his resurrection. Technically, every Egyptian Pharaoh became a "Horus" after he died, so there are as many Horus gods as there were pharaohs, but I’m not speaking of these in this article, nor does the mythology refer to them.

"You are ignorant on matters of Ancient Near East History, using out-dated scholars who are rejected by all contemporaries knowledgeable in the area." This is a common objection. Show me a modern scholar who disputes that the story of Osiris, Horus and Set as I’ve described it. The "CopyCat" web site, a Christian author, admits Budge is a reliable primary source.

"You have poor Logic. I don't understand how anyone, understanding that the Egyptian mythology is about a man-god, son of God the creator of the universe, who suffered, died, was buried, descended into Hell, resurrected, then ascended into heaven, who will judge good and evil in the afterlife, who is responsible for the resurrection of the flesh and eternal life--This is the complete theme of Christianity. You can't read the "Apostles Creed," after understanding Egyptian mythology, and not see the parallels. (Okay, Pontius Pilate wasn't in the Osiris myth.) Now that commonality of themes is established, what reasonable inference can be drawn? Is any other explanation other than that the Gospels drew upon Egyptian mythology possible? The gospels therefore are Egyptian mythology, rewritten. How can one conclude the Gospels are believable?

Encyclopedia of Gods, Michael Jordan (1993, Facts on File, Inc.)

Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection, E.A. Wallis Budge, Vol. I, (Dover reprint)

Egyptian Religion, E. A. Wallis Budge (1900; 1959 Bell/Crown Reprint)(Budge was keeper of the Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities in the British Museum, and is acknowledged by Christian scholars as a reliable primary source).

World Mythology, Donna Rosenberg (1994, NTC Publishing Group Reprint)(This is a college level textbook on Mythology).

The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts, R. O. Faulkner, (1969)

Myth and Symbol in Ancient Egypt, R.T.R. Clark (1960)

The Book of the Dead, The hieroglyphic translation of the Papyrus ANI, E. A. Wallis Budge

The Sunrise

This page was last updated on May 18, 2000, by