http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osiris-Dionysus
Osiris-Dionysus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The term Osiris-Dionysus is used by some historians of religion to
refer to a group of deities worshipped around the Mediterranean in the
centuries prior to the birth of Jesus. It has been argued that these
deities were closely related and shared many characteristics, most
notably being male, partly-human, born of virgins, life-death-rebirth
deities and other similar characteristics.
Contents [hide]
1 Ancient syncretism
2 Modern era
3 Latter-Day-Saint Perspective
4 Symbolism
[edit] Ancient syncretism
Osiris and Dionysus had been equated as long ago as the 5th century BC
by the historian Herodotus (see interpretatio graeca). By Late
Antiquity, some Gnostic and Neoplatonist thinkers had expanded this
syncretic equation to include Aion, Adonis, Attis, Mithras and other
gods of the mystery religions. The composite term Osiris-Dionysus is
found around the start of the first century BC, for example in
Aegyptiaca by Hecateus of Abdera, and in works by Leon of Pella.
With the growth of Christianity, some pagan polemicists (notably
Celsus) charged that the Gospels' narrative of Jesus's death and
resurrection was in fact a bastardized reworking of the sufferings of
Dionysus and other similar gods. Christian apologists like Justin
Martyr charged in turn that the pagan mystery-cults were degenerate
adaptations of vague Biblical prophecies about the Jewish Messiah -
although neither Osiris nor Dionysus show many similarities to the
actual prophecies. The rituals and mythology however are strikingly
like the Christian gospels: bread and wine as the body and blood,
resurrection on the third day, virgin birth to a father who is a god,
etc. Christian apologists charged the devil of copying Jesus' life
into the past. Jews like Philo of Alexandria also observed
similarities and postulated that the pagan religions had borrowed from
Jewish scriptures. However, due to the probable dates when the Jewish
scriptures were composed, it is almost certain that the reverse was
true.
<snip>
See also http://www.jesusneverexisted.com
Martin
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