Christ in Egypt: Was Horus Crucified?
Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2011 1:51 am
Christ in Egypt: Was Horus Crucified?
This chapter addresses one of the most controversial arguments presented by astrotheology, the meaning of crucifixion. In the first part of the movie Zeitgeist, work by D.M. Murdock was used to present a simplified version of the argument that Jesus Christ did not exist. The comparison between Christ and Horus was part of this argument, with the claim that Horus was crucified and that Christianity took this motif from Egypt. The observation that there are no Egyptian pictures of Horus literally nailed to a tree has been used by critics to question the entirety of the astrotheological reading of the Bible.
But the fact is that crucifixion, as a religious symbol, is far older and more complex than the simple Christian icon. In the chapter Was Horus Crucified? Murdock explains some of this source material. Egyptian material often portrays gods with arms outstretched. As the Catholic Encyclopedia notes, the simplest form of the cross is two lines crossing. Christian Fathers, notably Tertullian and Justin Martyr, saw extensive similarities between the Christian idea of the cross and older pagan doctrines, with Tertullian asserting that pagan gods are based on the cross. In Egypt, the cross-like sacred symbols of the ankh and the djed functioned in ways highly similar to Christian use of the cross, for example in the raising of the djed pillar at the thirty year festival of the king. The Greek titan Prometheus was fixed to a tree, as was the Phrygian Attis.
Crucially, Murdock observes that 'crucify' means 'to fix on a cross', whatever the form of that cross. So, in ancient mythology we find that gods who symbolise the sun are 'crucified' by being fixed on the celestial cross of the 'vault of heaven'. What is this celestial cross? The natural course of the year has four turning points, marking the seasons, at the solstices and equinoxes. The positions of the sun at these four points forms a cross in space. As the sun travels through the sky it moves through each of these four points of the celestial cross each year, and the corresponding four points of dawn, midday, dusk and nadir each day. So an Egyptian text says that Horus "creates the years and joins together the days and months ... the hours are his stride" (p342). In moving around the sky each day and year as the sun, Horus is therefore fixed to the cross of heaven. Tertullian acknowledged this belief, discussing how Horus was regarded as 'the great foundation of the universe, as well as the cross, redeemer and emancipator, showing understanding of the cosmic meaning of the cross. (p345)
Another Egyptian God, Shu, God of the air, separates the earth and the sky. Murdock notes (p343) that the Egyptians "referred to the four bright stars that formed a great cross in their sky as the Pillars of Shu, or the Four Supports of the Heavens, these stars occupying the constellations of Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius and Taurus." The diagram below shows the northern sky in 3000 BC, when these stars, respectively Regulus, Antares, Fomalhaut and Aldebaran, were close to the solstices and equinoxes, marking the four cardinal positions in the sky. In the five thousand years since then, these stars have moved nearly a quarter of the way around the sky with respect to their positions at the seasons. Here we see the natural cosmic origin of the Christian Mandorla, Christ surrounded by the images of the four evangelists, whose symbols derive from these four constellations. In ancient Egypt, these four points are termed the sons of Horus. They stand before Osiris, who represents the Milky Way, in the Hall of Judgment scene where the soul is weighed by Anubis and its fate recorded by Thoth.
Another ancient use of cross imagery is from Plato, 400 years before Christ, in his Timaeus, where he describes a cross in the sky. Interestingly, this Platonic cross is routinely misunderstood, including in Murdock's sources, illustrating the need for greater knowledge of astronomy within theological scholarship. Murdock quotes a source (p344) as saying that Plato's cross is the intersection of the orbit of the sun and the ecliptic. Actually, these are the same. In fact, Plato's cross is formed by the intersection of the line of the Milky Way galaxy (the same) and the path of the sun along the ecliptic (the different). Elsewhere Murdock quotes another wrong interpretation, in which the different is equated to the celestial equator. This widespread old error was based on an apparent desire to expunge mention of the zodiac, as Murdock observes is all too common in dogmatic literature. All this shows how easy it is to misinterpret astronomical references in ancient texts. This Platonic celestial cross formed by the galaxy and the zodiac is probably the Chi Rho cross seen in the heavens by Emperor Constantine at the Battle of Milvian Bridge, marking the inauguration of Christendom.
The Egyptians routinely personified their ankh figure, the cross with a circle at its head. We see that images of Egyptian gods match to the vault of heaven in cruciform, personifying the cosmos, often with wings, much as Christians did with Jesus, for example in Malachi's 'Sun of Righteousness' who was 'risen with healing in his wings'.
One really interesting theme in the passion of Christ is the two thieves crucified alongside him. Murdock discusses the comparison to the Mithraic symbol of the rising and falling companions of Mithras as the two equinoxes, the moments when the year shifts to longer days or nights. She also mentions comparison to Mercury. This made me wonder, if Christ is the sun, the two companions of the sun are actually Mercury and Venus, which always stay close to the sun in the sky, unlike the rest of the planets and stars.
An ancient text from the second century AD, the Acts of John, says the true cross is not the wooden one of Golgotha but the wonderful 'cross of light' shining in the heavens. (p356) Here we see further Christian continuity with Egyptian myth, demonstrating that the cosmic vision persevered well into Christian times.
Looking to Isaiah, we see the prediction that the messiah will be despised and rejected. In Roman days, crucifixion was the method to despise and reject some one as a political criminal, putting them beneath contempt. We can readily imagine that this motif of the cross as the symbol of rejection combined with the cross as the symbol of the heavens into a statement that the world of Rome rejected the heavens in favor of its own pride. This basic idea was steadily elaborated until the story of the passion of Christ emerged in detail in the second century AD, combining the cosmic and political agendas of the new religion in the story of incarnation and atonement through the saving blood of the suffering servant Jesus who died on the cross to save us from our sins.
This chapter addresses one of the most controversial arguments presented by astrotheology, the meaning of crucifixion. In the first part of the movie Zeitgeist, work by D.M. Murdock was used to present a simplified version of the argument that Jesus Christ did not exist. The comparison between Christ and Horus was part of this argument, with the claim that Horus was crucified and that Christianity took this motif from Egypt. The observation that there are no Egyptian pictures of Horus literally nailed to a tree has been used by critics to question the entirety of the astrotheological reading of the Bible.
But the fact is that crucifixion, as a religious symbol, is far older and more complex than the simple Christian icon. In the chapter Was Horus Crucified? Murdock explains some of this source material. Egyptian material often portrays gods with arms outstretched. As the Catholic Encyclopedia notes, the simplest form of the cross is two lines crossing. Christian Fathers, notably Tertullian and Justin Martyr, saw extensive similarities between the Christian idea of the cross and older pagan doctrines, with Tertullian asserting that pagan gods are based on the cross. In Egypt, the cross-like sacred symbols of the ankh and the djed functioned in ways highly similar to Christian use of the cross, for example in the raising of the djed pillar at the thirty year festival of the king. The Greek titan Prometheus was fixed to a tree, as was the Phrygian Attis.
Crucially, Murdock observes that 'crucify' means 'to fix on a cross', whatever the form of that cross. So, in ancient mythology we find that gods who symbolise the sun are 'crucified' by being fixed on the celestial cross of the 'vault of heaven'. What is this celestial cross? The natural course of the year has four turning points, marking the seasons, at the solstices and equinoxes. The positions of the sun at these four points forms a cross in space. As the sun travels through the sky it moves through each of these four points of the celestial cross each year, and the corresponding four points of dawn, midday, dusk and nadir each day. So an Egyptian text says that Horus "creates the years and joins together the days and months ... the hours are his stride" (p342). In moving around the sky each day and year as the sun, Horus is therefore fixed to the cross of heaven. Tertullian acknowledged this belief, discussing how Horus was regarded as 'the great foundation of the universe, as well as the cross, redeemer and emancipator, showing understanding of the cosmic meaning of the cross. (p345)
Another Egyptian God, Shu, God of the air, separates the earth and the sky. Murdock notes (p343) that the Egyptians "referred to the four bright stars that formed a great cross in their sky as the Pillars of Shu, or the Four Supports of the Heavens, these stars occupying the constellations of Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius and Taurus." The diagram below shows the northern sky in 3000 BC, when these stars, respectively Regulus, Antares, Fomalhaut and Aldebaran, were close to the solstices and equinoxes, marking the four cardinal positions in the sky. In the five thousand years since then, these stars have moved nearly a quarter of the way around the sky with respect to their positions at the seasons. Here we see the natural cosmic origin of the Christian Mandorla, Christ surrounded by the images of the four evangelists, whose symbols derive from these four constellations. In ancient Egypt, these four points are termed the sons of Horus. They stand before Osiris, who represents the Milky Way, in the Hall of Judgment scene where the soul is weighed by Anubis and its fate recorded by Thoth.
Another ancient use of cross imagery is from Plato, 400 years before Christ, in his Timaeus, where he describes a cross in the sky. Interestingly, this Platonic cross is routinely misunderstood, including in Murdock's sources, illustrating the need for greater knowledge of astronomy within theological scholarship. Murdock quotes a source (p344) as saying that Plato's cross is the intersection of the orbit of the sun and the ecliptic. Actually, these are the same. In fact, Plato's cross is formed by the intersection of the line of the Milky Way galaxy (the same) and the path of the sun along the ecliptic (the different). Elsewhere Murdock quotes another wrong interpretation, in which the different is equated to the celestial equator. This widespread old error was based on an apparent desire to expunge mention of the zodiac, as Murdock observes is all too common in dogmatic literature. All this shows how easy it is to misinterpret astronomical references in ancient texts. This Platonic celestial cross formed by the galaxy and the zodiac is probably the Chi Rho cross seen in the heavens by Emperor Constantine at the Battle of Milvian Bridge, marking the inauguration of Christendom.
The Egyptians routinely personified their ankh figure, the cross with a circle at its head. We see that images of Egyptian gods match to the vault of heaven in cruciform, personifying the cosmos, often with wings, much as Christians did with Jesus, for example in Malachi's 'Sun of Righteousness' who was 'risen with healing in his wings'.
One really interesting theme in the passion of Christ is the two thieves crucified alongside him. Murdock discusses the comparison to the Mithraic symbol of the rising and falling companions of Mithras as the two equinoxes, the moments when the year shifts to longer days or nights. She also mentions comparison to Mercury. This made me wonder, if Christ is the sun, the two companions of the sun are actually Mercury and Venus, which always stay close to the sun in the sky, unlike the rest of the planets and stars.
An ancient text from the second century AD, the Acts of John, says the true cross is not the wooden one of Golgotha but the wonderful 'cross of light' shining in the heavens. (p356) Here we see further Christian continuity with Egyptian myth, demonstrating that the cosmic vision persevered well into Christian times.
Looking to Isaiah, we see the prediction that the messiah will be despised and rejected. In Roman days, crucifixion was the method to despise and reject some one as a political criminal, putting them beneath contempt. We can readily imagine that this motif of the cross as the symbol of rejection combined with the cross as the symbol of the heavens into a statement that the world of Rome rejected the heavens in favor of its own pride. This basic idea was steadily elaborated until the story of the passion of Christ emerged in detail in the second century AD, combining the cosmic and political agendas of the new religion in the story of incarnation and atonement through the saving blood of the suffering servant Jesus who died on the cross to save us from our sins.