“The specialists in solar mythology have regarded the ancient crucified saviors as personifications of the sun and believed that their biographies were allegories of the sun’s passage through the twelve constellations of the zodiac. This theory has been oversimplified by some scholars, since stellar and lunar elements also enter into the solar mythology. The vegetation cults were the most ancient, but they were later blended with the astral worship. In the primitive sacrificial rites, the victim was originally the king or chief of the tribe or clan. The prosperity of the group was supposed to have a magical relation to the health of the king. If the ruler became old and feeble, it was thought that the nation or tribe would suffer a similar decline, so the king, considered to be a god in human form, was sacrificed for the good of all and then replaced with a younger and more vigorous successor. In later times the king’s son was chosen as the scapegoat, and, being of divine origin, was called the son of the god. In even later days a condemned criminal replaced the royal victim. The culprit was given regal honors for a time, then put to death. He was usually slain while bound to a tree with arms outstretched, as if on a cross. After being entombed, he was believed to rise from the dead within three days; the three-day period being based on the three-day interval between the old and new moons. Berossus in his Chaldean History tells of an annual festival celebrated in Babylonia, called the Sacaea. This fete lasted five days, and during that time masters and servants exchanged places in society. The king temporarily gave up his throne, and a mock king, Zoganes, took his place. After five days the mock king was dethroned, scourge, and then either hanged or crucified. ‘In this regard,’ an eminent Egyptologist remarked, ‘it is interesting to notice that in the Acts, the writer mistakenly speaks of Jesus as having been slain and then hanged to a tree, as though this were a common phrase coming readily to his mind, and the word hanged is frequently used in Greek to denote crucifixion….’” John G. Jackson “Christianity Before Christ” Page 125
Posted on: Thu, 11 Sep 2014 09:30:32 +0000
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