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The 2007 conspiracy theory film Zeitgeist: The Movie (Website, Watch online, Wikipedia Entry) states in Part I "The Greatest Story Ever Sold" that major points of the story about Jesus Christ's birth, life, death and resurrection are not original but are shared with multiple other gods or deities of older religions.

The film first (at around 16min:34sec) presents Horus an Egyptian God representing Light, worshiped around 3000 BC. It list the following attributes which as for I know all also apply for Jesus Christ. The attributes are numbered so they can be referenced later.

  1. Born on December 25th
  2. Born of a virgin
  3. Birth was accompanied by a star in the east
  4. After his birth was adored by three kings
  5. Teacher at 12
  6. Baptized/Ministry at 30
  7. Had 12 disciples he traveled about with
  8. Performing miracles: 8a. healing the sick, 8b. walking on water
  9. Known by many names: "Lamb of God", "The Truth", "God's begotten(?) Son", "The Light", "The good Shepard"
  10. After being betrayed:
  11. was crucified
  12. Dead-for 3 days
  13. Resurrected

The film then claims that these attributes influenced other gods in other cultures over time. It follows a lists of gods/deities together with a listing for each including many but not always all of the above attributes. The listed gods/deities are:

  • Attis (Greece, 1200 BC) — Attributes 1, 2, 11, 12, 13
  • Krishna (India, 900 BC) — Attributes 2, 3, 8, 13
  • Dionysos (Greece, 500 BC) — Attributes 1, 2, 8b + Turning Water into Wine, 9 ("God's son", "Alpha and Omega", ...), 13
  • Mithras (Persia, 1200 BC) — Attributes 1, 2, 7, 8, 12, 13, 9 ("The Truth", "The Light"), Day of worship: "Sunday"

Then it is represented as a fact that there are even more, numerous saviors which have (some of) these attributes. The following list scrolls quite fast over the screen:

  • Krishna of Hindustan
  • Buddha Sakia of India
  • Salivahana of Bermuda
  • Zulis, or Zhule, also Osiris and Horus, of Egypt
  • Odin or Thor of the Scandinavians
  • Crite of Chaldea
  • Zoroaster and Mithra of Persia
  • Baal and Taut, "the only Begotten of God", of Phoenicia,
  • Indra of Tibet
  • Bali of Afghanistan
  • Jao of Nepal
  • Wittoba of the Bilingonese
  • Thammuz of Syria
  • Attis of Phrygia
  • Zalmoxis of Thrace
  • Zoar of the Bonzes
  • Adad of Assyria
  • Deva Tat, and Sammonocadam of Siam
  • Alcides of Thebes
  • Esus of the Druids
  • Kadmos of Greece
  • Ptahil of the Mandaeans
  • Gentaut and Quexalcote of Mexico
  • Universal Monarch of the Sibyls
  • Ischy of the island of Formosa
  • Divine Teacher of Plato
  • Holy One of Xaca
  • Fohi and Tien of China
  • Adonis, son of the virgin Io of Greece
  • Ixion and Quirinus of Rome
  • Prometheus of Caucasus

The film than claims these common attributes to astronomical elements (virgin = new moon, three kings = three stars of Orion's belt, 12 disciples = 12 signs of the zodiac, ...). However, these claims should be asked as separate questions.

The question here:

Is there historical proof or dis-proof of the claimed similarities between Jesus Christ and Horus as well the other gods?

Martin Scharrer
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  • Feel free to adjust the title and text if required. – Martin Scharrer Apr 02 '11 at 09:57
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    One thing that might be good would be to break off that long list of saviors into a separate question, because Conspiracy Science doesn't seem to cover it. A point by point of that list would probably be educational. Just looking quickly, I note that "Beddru" of Japan is a name you can't pronounce in Japanese, and the version of Cadmus I'm familiar with wished himself turned into a snake. So I'm guessing most of the stories on that list are pretty dubious in their resemblance to the Jesus story. – Scott Hamilton Apr 02 '11 at 14:39
  • I think the title of this question should be changed - it is different from what is actually being asked – Casebash Apr 03 '11 at 07:24
  • There are a bunch of divinities which don't exist, and many of them are completely unrelated to the question. I've started some clean up but I would like some help here! – Sklivvz Apr 03 '11 at 10:41
  • @Sklivvz: The list is taken from the film. Originally I didn't formatted it as a bullet-point list to save space. The main part is Horus and the next four deities. – Martin Scharrer Apr 03 '11 at 16:09
  • The material from Zeitgeist comes from Jordan Maxwell. Jordan Maxwell is a little on the crazy side imo, but if you want to dig deeper I suggest the referring to the source material. – iterationx Jul 24 '11 at 16:02
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    @Sklivvz-- what do you mean, 'divinities which don't exist'? Are there divinities that meet the standards of existence for a skeptics site? – mmr Mar 26 '12 at 03:55
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    @mmr: He meant some of them seem to be made up by the Zeitgeist author because they are not mentioned anywhere else. – Martin Scharrer Mar 26 '12 at 07:53
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    This is not a conspiracy. Religions are built on top of others. This was the classic way for Romans to make others accept their own religious belief to conquered lands. The same way, catholicism (Roman invented it) was also built on top of Ancient Roman religions ( and churches were directly built on top of converted temples ). To make transition from paganism to other religions, Catholocism had to adapt and that may be a reason you have so many revered "saints". So it's not a conspiracy that religions have some common traits. It's history. – Nikko Feb 05 '13 at 12:54
  • The main Idea is that Jesus didn't really lived, or had those attributes, but that early christians adopted attributes from local pagan gods and attributed them to Jesus. This is plausible for gods from mediteranian and middle eastern religions, less plosible for gods from britain, scandinavia, the Caucasus and the Far East. But it's impossible that the story of Jesus was influenced by deities from Mexico and Bermuda more than 1000 years before the first christians ever got there. – SIMEL Apr 09 '13 at 12:10
  • Comedian Bill Maher in his infotainment documentary _Religulous_, also alleges some of these same similarities between beliefs in Jesus Christ and Horus. Wikipedia credits the "comparison" to Egyptologist Gerald Massey in his 1907 book **The Light of the World**. A group of Egyptologists is reported as dismissing the idea as fringe. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religulous – Paul Apr 14 '13 at 06:18
  • Let's not forget the Bible never mentioned Jesus as having been born on Dec. 25th, that's merely when it's *celebrated*. The actual date is not known. – MDMoore313 Apr 21 '14 at 20:22
  • Related: [How do Christians respond to and/or explain the similarities between other societies' Gods and that of Jesus](http://christianity.stackexchange.com/q/20235) –  Jul 18 '15 at 06:36

3 Answers3

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The movie Zeitgeist greatly overstates the case for mythological similarities between Jesus in the Bible and those predecessors. Conspiracy Science has a detailed takedown of the Horus material. Here's the most important part:

Horus was not born on December 25th, he was born on the 5th day of the "Epagomenal Days"3, which does not even take place in December on the modern or ancient calendars, but rather between August 24th and 28th, but in terms of the rising of Sirius (August 4), they are July 30th through August 3rd[4]. His mother was also not a virgin. Horus's father was Osiris, who was killed by his brother Seth. Isis used a spell to bring him back to life for a short time so they could have sex, in which they conceived Horus[5].

I, as well as several others, as well as several Egyptologists you can find on the Internet, know of no reference anywhere to a "star in the east" or "three kings" and "new-born savior"; it is simply made up. I cannot find any source or information proving he was a "teacher when he was 12 years old", that he was "baptized at age 30", that he "walked on water" (but on the Internet, I did find several places that suggest he was "thrown in the water", but I have no direct source at this time for that). More so, I cannot find any evidence he was referred to as "The Truth", "The Light", Lamb of God", "the Good Shepherd", etc.

Also lacking is any evidence that he was betrayed by Typhon. In fact, Horus never died, at any time, he later merges with the sun god, Ra -- but never dies and certainly never is crucified, and therefore could not have been buried for 3 days and resurrected. If you want to look it up yourself, you can find documentation of Horus and Isis and Osiris here [6] and here [7].

As you can see Peter Joseph has a tendency to make long lists that conform to his theory, but few of the items on the list are true or real evidence of anything.

Conspiracy Science has a full accounting of the Zeitgeist movie and related subjects. It's well worth checking out, even if navigation of the site is a little tricky.

More generally, did the literary Jesus take on attributes from previous savior characters? Absolutely. That's a natural process. Does this mean Jesus didn't exist as a historical person? I'd say no. Around the same time similar supernatural acts were attributed to many Roman emperors and even the mathematician Pythagoras, and we don't use that as evidence that they were fictional.

When it comes to that long list of saviors, it helps to remember that much of what we know about other religions has been distorted by the lens of Christianity. Even if it's not on purpose, we tend to highlight those attributes of other religions that resemble our preconceived notions, and downplay those that are different. Most of those on the list don't resemble Jesus's story nearly so closely as Joseph would have you think, especially the ones from non-European cultures.

Scott Hamilton
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  • Thanks for your answer, especially the link to Conspiracy Science. I will study that and wait a little until I accept it, just to give others a chance to post their answers. – Martin Scharrer Apr 02 '11 at 14:12
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    @MartinScharrer: if you carefully read Conspiracy Science specially articles written by "Edward L Winston", you will notice that he is taking a lot of things of the movie out of context aswell as some things of the movie take other things out of context. It is not an objective analysis of the movie it is more like an attack against it, not using proper research to prove it right or wrong, it only seeks to prove it wrong. – Jose Luis Oct 04 '11 at 06:56
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    you forgot: Jesus also was not born on 25 December... The date was chosen centuries later to coincide Christmas with pagan mid-winter festivities, thus co-opting those (the use of decorated pine trees has the same origin). – jwenting Apr 09 '13 at 09:48
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While I agree with Scott Hamilton for the most part, there is a legend where Horus dies and is resurrected, but it takes place while he's an infant. He's stung by a scorpion, and dies. Thoth appears and restores the young Horus to life.

http://www.sacred-texts.com/egy/leg/leg11.htm

Wiki mentions Shed, a deity sometimes referred to as Savior, who was later merged with Horus in the form of Horus the Child.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shed_%28deity%29

Mike
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    That's interesting, but I'd say it represents a different line of mythological divinity. The idea of the blessed baby runs through a lot of myths. Probably the most famous to us would be the examples of Moses and Hercules, or fictional characters like Oedipus and Snow White. The story of the Magi is probably the closest thing to it we have in the Gospels, though there are several blessed baby stories told about Jesus in non-canonical gospels. – Scott Hamilton Apr 02 '11 at 20:34
  • On the whole I was agreeing with you, just giving some additional information. As it is, someone might stumble around and just pick out a few lines, wanted to make sre it was covered. – Mike Apr 03 '11 at 13:07
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  1. Born on December 25th
    There is no date of birth given in the bible for Jesus (hence no citation). The whole Julian Calendar was quiet a mess until reformed by the Gregorian Calender 1582. But the date isn't important at all, from a religious viewpoint.

    The December 25 date may have been selected by the church in Rome in the early 4th century source: wikipedia

  2. Born of a virgin
    This would be a longer discussion. AFAIK only catholics see it this way.     (see discussion with DJClayworth, which led to this correction).

  3. Birth was accompanied by a star in the east
    Source: Mt 2.3-8. Yes, part of the myth for Jesus.

  4. After his birth was adored by three kings
    Wise men from the East are mentioned by Mt2 and Lk2.7. Not how many of them exactly, and they aren't described as kings. This is a later legend.

user unknown
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    We are not being asked whether these things were true of Jesus, but whether they were true of Horus. – DJClayworth Apr 28 '11 at 21:05
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    "Born of a virgin" is a core Christian belief, not just Catholics. Catholics also hold that Mary remained a virgin for all of her life, even after Jesus was born. – DJClayworth Apr 28 '11 at 21:06
  • According to my knowledge, the words, describing Mary, can be interpreted in different ways, one of them just means, that she wasn't infected by the `original sin`, a believe, that every human is a sinner since birth, without doing something wrong - except said Mary. – user unknown Apr 28 '11 at 23:20
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    You may be confusing the issue with the of the Immaculate Conception, which is the belief that Mary was born without original sin, and is a specifically Catholic doctrine. Christian doctrine for almost all denominations is that Mary was a virgin at the time of Jesus birth. This is part of Catholic doctrine, standard creeds such as the Apostle's Creed, the faith statements of most Protestant groups, and has clear biblical support (e.g. Luke 1:34). – DJClayworth May 03 '11 at 14:40
  • Hm. I think you're right - I confused original sin with virgin birth. I had in mind that the protestantism/evangelical believers didn't believe in a virgin birth. Seems to be wrong. At least the bible seems to speak about a virgin birth, and that's what is interesting for a comparison or Jesus and Horus - not what nowadays Christians believe. – user unknown May 04 '11 at 03:19
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    @DCJ: if it can be shown to not be true of Jesus, truth for Horus becomes irrelevant (only a myth in which it is stated of Horus would be needed) – jwenting Oct 24 '11 at 06:36
  • Just a note to say Protestantism (historically) holds to the Virgin Birth; by that we mean Mary was still a virgin (had no intercourse) until Christ was born. The authority for that: Matthew 1:24 Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife, 25 and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son. And he called His name JESUS. The word 'know' in v25 means have sexual intercourse. –  Jan 02 '12 at 13:43
  • If the claim is much of the Jesus story was cribbed from other religious stories, then surely the fact that Jesus's birth is widely celebrated on the same day as Horus is relevant (even if theologians realise the date has no historical basis.) – Oddthinking Jan 02 '12 at 15:03
  • If Mary wasn't a virgin, that means she had sex outside marriage. Then we'll wonder why out of all the women in the world God would chose a promiscuous women to give birth to Himself (if all these are true or not). Hence, Marry virginity is a central believe in Christianity. However, I do not see any other credible evidence regarding that except some hearsays on supposedly private conversation. Did anyone ask Mary? Did she show it off? How exactly this is proven is beyond me. –  Sep 12 '12 at 06:25
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    @JimThio: The question is not, whether the legends of Horus and Christ are true, but whether they are similar in some aspects. – user unknown Sep 12 '12 at 22:44
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    Jesus had at least one half brother, James, so we can be pretty sure she didn't remain a virgin forever. – MDMoore313 Nov 18 '16 at 01:30
  • @BigHomie: If the original scripture was true, if the copies didn't introduce errors there, and if your translation is accurate. Btw. which position in which evangelium do you refer to? You know that the gospels contradict each other in many, many points. So if one, two or three of them must be wrong in the one or other case, where a different gospel says something else, you can't assume that they are right, if no diverging text exists. – user unknown Nov 18 '16 at 19:46