Throughout the internet there are circulations that draw parallel accounts between many gods. One of the most popular comparisons is made between Jesus of Christianity and Horus of Egypt. Some may refute that Christianity is a "recycled myth" borrowed from earlier. Anyone can be entitled to their own opinion but not their own facts. It is very important to investigate each claim thoroughly with careful examination, scholarly credibility, and historical evidence before assuming any stand. So let's cross examine each character and their attributes in order to see if Jesus was in fact a carbon copy of Horus. But first thing is first, we must conduct a background summary between the 2.
Jesus- carpenter, born in Bethlehem, Son of God, God in the Trinity, teacher, prophet, supposed Savior, healer, lived in the time of Herod the Great before the destruction of the Jewish temple, son of Mary and step father, Joseph, came to destroy Satan's work and fulfill the prophecy in the Old Testament, the anointed One, had 12 disciples, bloodline going back to Adam and Eve, condemned by the Jews, was crucified by the Romans, died for the sins of mankind, buried, resurrected, sits at the right hand of the Father, will return for the Second Coming.
Horus- son of the god, Osiris, and goddess, Isis. Osiris has 4 siblings 3 of them being Seth, Isis and Nephthys. Osiris married his sister Isis and Seth married his sister Nephthys. Nephthys took the form of Isis and seduced Osiris and bore a son, Anubis. Seth found out and was enraged. He then tricked his brother, Osiris into seeing if he could fit in a coffin and then threw it in the Nile River drowning him. Isis recovered the body but Seth stole it cut it into pieces and hid them throughout the Egyptian desert. Isis spent years looking for the pieces and eventually recovered all of them except his penis. She later used her magic to bring him back to life and mated with Osiris which was an act of necrophilia. Osiris then became a god of the underworld. Horus wanted to avenge his father's death by fighting against his uncle Seth. Horus was known as the Sky god, war god, often depicted as a falcon/hawk sometimes with a body of a lion. He had the moon of his eye and the sun for his other eye.
So far there is nothing similar between these two besides the fact that they were gods and possessed miraculous powers. Let's see if we can find other similarities:
Birth- Horus was born Dec 25th. It is a fact that Jesus was not born on that date. No one is sure when Jesus was born. The Bible never mentions it. We know that he was born around 6BC to 1AD. The date of Dec 25th wasn't issued until almost 400 years later from the Romans.
Virgin birth- Jesus was born from his mother, the virgin, Mary making it a miraculous conception.
According to Plutarch, Isis lost her virginity before she was born:
"... but Isis and Osiris were enamoured of each other and consorted together in the darkness of the womb before their birth. Some say that Arueris came from this union and was called the elder Horus by the Egyptians, but Apollo by the Greeks." - Plutarch, Osiris and Isis.
Isis and Osiris were not only husband and wife, they were brother and sister. In fact they were twins. And in accordance to their mythology, they had consummated their love for one another before they were born. There is also a tradition that Isis later marries her son Horus, further complicating any reasonable comparisons to Christianity. There are no reasons to believe a virgin birth from a mortal woman as the New Testament writers write. It's also very difficult to believe that a mortal virgin woman would produce a half lion/half hawk god.
Baptismal- According to the Egyptian book, the Book of Going Forth by Day, baptism was used to purify the newborn from the mother's womb. Also, water, especially the Nile's cold water, which was believed to have regenerative powers, is ONLY used to baptize the dead in a ritual, unlike how the way the living Jesus was baptized. Critics will say that Horus was baptized by Anub(is) who was an embalmer, not a baptizer. He was never mentioned being baptized.
Crucifixion and resurrection- There are two passages within the writing of Plutarch that might lead one to assume that the reconstruction of Osiris leads to a resurrection:
o "Later, as they relate, Osiris came to Horus from the other world and exercised and trained him for the battle." - Plutarch, Osiris and Isis.
o "In this way we shall undertake to deal with the numerous and tiresome people, whether they be such as take pleasure in associating theological problems with the seasonal changes in the surrounding atmosphere, or with the growth of the crops and seed-times and ploughing; and also those who say that Osiris is being buried at the time when the grain is sown and covered in the earth and that he comes to life and reappears when plants begin to sprout." - Plutarch, Osiris and Isis.
This is too ambiguous to assume a bodily resurrection like Christ. It just indicates of a spiritual resurrection. He then became the ruler of the underworld, a story unlike Jesus. Another problem with crucifixion is that it wasn't practiced 4 thousand years ago at the time of Horus so how is that possible? The earliest that we can actually date crucifixion is to the act of Darius the Persian, conqueror of Babylon in 519 BCE, when he had 3000 Babylonian prisoners crucified.
Other- There are no mentions that Horus had 12 disciples like Jesus, but a mention of 4 demi-gods, 16 nobles, and blacksmiths accompanying him. There are no mentions of Horus being born in a manger but a swamp or a cave which is nothing close to a manger, no mentions of Horus raising anyone from the dead like how Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. No mentions of a transfiguration, baptism, walking on water, having a second coming, or preaching in the temple at 12.
Horus was never accompanied by 3 wisemen during his birth. In fact, the Bible never mentions the exact numbers that visited Jesus. It was assumed 3 because of the 3 gifts presented. 3 wise men is an inaccurate translation. Horus was never heralded by a Star.
Horus Mother was Isis, not Meri. Isis was sometimes called Isis Meri which is a title meaning "beloved". That title was also shared with other gods and goddesses. Meri has no connection with Mary. Horus' father was Osiris, not Seb. Seb was the father of Osiris and his name is very distinct from Joseph.
Based on what we have just reviewed there are no similarities between the 2 with the exception that they were gods with miraculous powers. Before taking a position from an outrageous claim from sources such as Zeitgesit, it is paramount to explore the answers from a credible scholarly source.
Hercules Cummings
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=D_Cummings
