Horus-Jesus Correlations
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Before we begin examining Horus, it should be noted that the name "Horus" in Egyptian mythology and literature stood for many things[1], but mostly stood as a reference to the sitting pharaoh's divinity[2] [3] [4]. Basically, Horus was an invocation used to connect people (like the pharaoh) and things (like the sunrise and sunset, or the importance of a place) to divinity, having many different meanings depending on on the context of the reference to the name. This should be kept in mind when references to Horus are made, especially when claims connecting Horus to other gods are made, because "Horus" was a fluid anthropomorphosis of a divine aspect and not a single, static character within Egyptian mythology.
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Horus and Jesus Correlation
The attempt to tie aspects of Horus to aspects of Jesus are meant to imply that the alleged shared similarities make the case that the two figures were actually based one off the other (Jesus based on Horus) or based both from the same factors (Jesus and Horus sharing the same origins). Neither of these hypotheses hold together under scrutiny, as described below.
Born on December 25th
The film states that "Horus was born on December 25th of the virgin Isis-Meri." This claim contains both a false claim and a misdirection based on faulty translation. First and foremost, it should be noted that there exists no evidence whatsoever of the birth of Horus coinciding with December 25th. The closest any of the film's sources came to an explanation of this wild claim was from Gerald Massey (Ancient Egypt The Light of The World[5]) and Dorothy Murdock (a.k.a. Acharya S), the latter of which states that an Isis festival celebrated during the time of the Greek subjugation of Egypt called Kikellia was some sort of proof, even though that festival is celebrated in what would be considered today as February or March[6]. Considering the obvious contradiction of the time of the year in which the festival takes place and the fact that the festival itself was a Greek celebration by the Egyptians, such claims go from questionable (at best) to complete nonsense and misdirection. J.P. Holding, who runs an apologist website that often attacks these types of anti-Christian conspiracies with much fervor, makes a mention that he found one mention of Horus being born in the "month of Khoiak," however he mentions it as a misnomer by stating it was the Egyptian name-- it was a Coptic name for an Egyptian month[7]. Regardless, that festival, unlike the Kikellia festival for which we only have dates coinciding with the Greek calendar which allow us to estimate the general location on our modern calendar, this Osirian festival that falls in Khoiak[8] would not coincide with any calendar date today because the Egyptian calendar shifted along with the helaical rising and falling of the banks of the Nile River[9]. Both Dorothy Murdock (a.k.a. Acharya S) and J.P. Holding, along with others who claim various birth dates, are incorrect. The only observed day in any reference to the birth of Horus would be the celebration of the Egyptian new year, celebrating the renewed Re-Horakhty[10] (conflation of Re and "Horus of the Two Horizons," one of the many iterations of Horus), though this was a celebration of the sun beginning its cycle, and not of the myth of Heru-sa-Aset (Horus son of Isis), also known as Harpokrates. For that story, no such mythological story seems to exist with a specific date. Many people have attempted to correlate such a date with our modern calendar, and in nearly every case they leave out the important fact that the Egyptian calendar dates for their festivals and religious observances wandered backwards through what we count as our modern Gregorian (or even the older Julian) calendar on which religious observances are recorded and recognized today. In other words: if anyone attempts to correlate a modern (Gregorian) calendar date to an ancient Egyptian one without first admitting that such a claim is only correct in the same way 'a broken clock is correct twice a day', then be skeptical of the conclusion based on the lack of understanding of how ancient Egyptians measured their calendars.
Born to a Virgin
The use of the name "Isis-Meri" is a case of poor mistranslation on the part of the makers of Zeitgeist and any of the references they use who propose such a translation. The name "meri" is Egyptian for "beloved," not a proper name but a state of being or quality. This word was actually used by Egyptian citizens in describing their loved ones[11], which would seem to make sense to use it to display Isis as beloved of her husband, Osiris, who was the father of her child (Horus).
Eastern Star and Three Kings
The film states that "His birth was accompanied by a star in the east, which in turn, three kings followed to locate and adorn the new-born savior." This claim only seems to make sense if two conditions are met: 1) that it is accepted that Horus was born on December 25th, for which there is no supporting evidence; and 2) that it is accepted that Egyptian astrology defined the meaning of the placement of stars in the same way that modern New Age astrology does, for which there is not only no supporting evidence but evidence to the contrary[12]. Further, the claim of the "three kings" is a claim made by Gerald Massey in the late 19th Century with no specific citation of where he derived this claim, only that the three stars of Orion's belt are supposed to represent the "three kings" even though there is no such reference within Egyptian literature or Christian literature. This is a form of tautology, with the expectation that the conclusion is already believed to be true in order for the so-called supporting evidence to hold any weight or validity.
Ages 12 and 30
The film makes the claim "At the age of 12, he was a prodigal child teacher," and in its citations for such a claim it uses Gerald Massey[13]. Massey gives no Egyptian source for such a claim.
Anup the Baptizer
The original source that mentions "Anup the Baptizer" is not Egyptian, it is Gerald Massey. However, Massey never mentions where this name is mentioned in any Egyptian text. The fact is that "Anup the Baptizer" does not exist in any Egyptian text whatsoever. The name "Anup" is a misspelling of the Egyptian ANPU (or ENPU) for Anubis, and Anubis is neither a herald for Horus nor did Anubis ever baptize Horus in any Egyptian text. Anubis is the overseer of the embalming process and the guide for the dead into the halls of judgment, before they enter into the afterlife. The role of Anubis in no way, shape, or form resembles any known characterization by Christians of John the Baptist, and their mythologies are in no way similar in any fashion. This is a complete fabrication.
Notes
- ↑ Encyclopedia Mythica: "The name "Horus" is a general catchall for multiple deities"
- ↑ "Live Horus, divine in manifestation; the Two Ladies, divine in birth; Horus of Gold, who has become manifest; the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Khakaure, the Son of Re, Senwosret (III), given life like Re forever." From the 12th Dynasty (Senwosret III) on the Berlin Stele document, found in Letters from ancient Egypt, Wente, Edward Frank, 1930-, Meltzer, Edmund S. Scholars Press, c1990 ISBN 1-55540-472-3 (p 24)
- ↑ "Thereupon he (Muwatallis) sent his messenger with a letter in his hand bearing the great name of My Majesty, sending greetings to the majesty of the palace, l.p.h., of Re-Harakhti, Mighty Bull, beloved of Maat, the sovereign who protects his army and is energetic with his strong arm, a bulwark for his soldiers on the day of battle; the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Usermare-setepenre; the Son of Re, the lion, possessor of strength, Ramesses (II), given life forever." From the 19th Dynasty (Rameses II) in a Kadesh poem, found in Letters from ancient Egypt, Wente, Edward Frank, 1930-, Meltzer, Edmund S. Scholars Press, c1990 ISBN 1-55540-472-3 (p 29-30)
- ↑ "This is a missive to inform One (the king) at the Palace, l.p.h., "Beloved-of-Maat," the two horizons in which Re is: Turn your face to me, you shining sun who illuminates the Two Lands with your beauty, you solar disk of humankind, who has banished darkness from Egypt." From the 19th Dynasty (Merenptah) in the P. Anastasi II document, found in Letters from ancient Egypt, Wente, Edward Frank, 1930-, Meltzer, Edmund S. Scholars Press, c1990 ISBN 1-55540-472-3 (p 34-35)
- ↑ Ancient Egypt The Light of The World by Gerald Massey, pages 738 - 739, actually goes as far as to attribute four dates for the birth of Horus and chooses to reduce them to December 25th
- ↑ Images and Ideologies: Self-definition in the Hellenistic World by Anthony Bulloch, Erich Gruen, A. A. Long, and Andrew Stewart - from the section Dynastic Festivals under The Ptolemaic King as a Religious Figure
- ↑ The Festival of Khoiak - "The name of the festival was ka-her-ka 'ka upon ka' (or 'sustenance upon sustenance'); it survived into Christian times as the name of the fourth month of the season of flood, rendered in Coptic as Khoiak."
- ↑ "The rites lasted eighteen days, from the twelfth to the thirteenth of the month of Khoiak, and set forth the nature of Osiris in his triple aspect as dead, dismembered, and finally reconstituted by the union of his scattered limbs." The Golden Bough by James Frazer, ISBN 1853263109 (p 375)
- ↑ digitalEgypt.com - "Ancient Egyptian festivals centred on procession by land and river, and were celebrated on particular days or series of days in the official year. The official year (365 days) was just short of the solar year (the time the earth takes to go around the sun, 365 1/4 days); as a result, the official year gradually moved back, with the official 'winter' months and their festivals falling into the summer. There seems to be no attempt to move the festivals, even those relating to agricultural events in the solar year such as flood, or the low-river sowing season."
- ↑ digitalEgypt.com "Month 1 (1st month of 12 in year); Tekh = Thoth = Coptic Thout (approximately August, ideally); day 1 New Year - Opening of the Year - birthday of Ra-Horakhty (the sun-god)"
- ↑ Within the tomb of Mereruka: "O Meri, would that thou might give me those [goodly(?)] fowl-- as thou livest for me!" Egyptian Women by Henry G Fischer of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (p 13) - the passage is in a letter from a grieving widow to her dead husband.
- ↑ TourEgypt.net - brief explanation of the Egyptian zodiac, which differs greatly from the modern one
- ↑ Ancient Egypt The Light of The World page 140; Massey mentions a date given by Plutarch, but fails to cite where in the writings of Plutarch this is located and, once again, fails to give an Egyptian corroberration of the claim