roman sun god linked to jesus's history?

Question

There was a question on QI christmas special about a roman sun god that shared many of the characteristics of jesus i.e had 12 disciples celebrated 25 december as his birthday (they were others) anyone remember the name of the sun god and where I can get info on this.

Answer 1

Mithras - he had the same virgin birth, resurrection etc etc,

Answer 2

St. Paul mentions Greeks who confused Jesus with the Greek sun god Apollo but the answer to your question would be Mithras as the Mithras cult was becoming popular in the late Roman Empire about the same time as Christianity.

Answer 3

The Sun God referred to is Sol Invictus, or the Invincible sun god. Early Roman Emporers worshipped the sun, which became incorporated into Christianity as it became the Roman religion. Sol Invictus was said to have been born on December 25th and his sacred day was Sunday. It is unclear whether Christians adapted Sol or whether sol was seen as Christian to non-Christians. In the early years of Christianity, there werre apparently many attempts to associate Christians with paganism.

Answer 4

Actually, the tradition of celebrating the birth of a special god during the last few days of December was brought to Rome by way of Egypt, as the cult of Isis and Osiris. It's part of a tradition that goes back to ancient Babylon. The origin is that the Babylonians used base 12 arithmetic, and so divided the year into 12 equal months of 30 days each. The remaining days where "intercalary days", literally between the calendar. Explaining these extra days was an important part of many ancient religions. When Christianity came along, it took advantage of the several traditions whose feast days fell at this time of year, and the day was declared to be Jesus' birthday. You won't find any reference in the New Testament to support this claim, it's simply an adopted tradition.

Here is a bit of the Egyption creation story:

"Re, unaware, stumbled upon this union of Geb and Nut. Angered at his unfaithful wife, He forced the lovers apart....Though Re's wrath against His wife was not yet complete. He further decreed that Nut, impregnated by Her union with Geb, should never give birth to Her young in any month of any year. Instead, They were to be locked within Her, never to see the light of day. "

"Nut mourned for Her loss; the loss of both Her lover and Her unborn children. Her lamentations reached even unto the ears of Thoth, the Self Created. He rushed to Her side, and dried Her tears. He soothed Her and spoke with Her, discovering the pain which inflicted Her. Thoth, who was the Lord of all magick and spells, knew that Re's decree could not be undone. Yet, he knew also that there was a way in which to relieve great Nut of Her suffering. "

"To this end, Thoth created the game of draughts, and challenged the Moon Goddess Silene; whose light then rivaled that of the sun. Thoth convinced Her to gamble a seventieth part of Her light for each day of the year. Being the Lord of Wisdom, He easily won from Her this light, and to this day the moon dwindles and darkens at certain periods. Thoth pieced together the light he had won- enough to fashion five whole days- and added them to the end of the 360-day lunar year. "

"These days did not rest within any month, nor any year, and thus Nut was able to bear Her children, one on each day. On the first was born Osiris. As he came into the World a Great Voice was heard throughout the heavens proclaiming that the Lord of Creation was born."

Answer 5

Jesus shares many more parallels with Mithras, but Mithras was the Persian sun god, I believe.

Answer 6

Mithras was the god whose birthday was December 25. He was He was known as the Soldier's God, and white bulls were sacrificed on his behalf. I believe he was also claimed to have performed miracles, and to have had a virgin birth.

Answer 7

The god you are refering to was Jupitor the sun god , they also has two other more minor sun gods Helios and Belus, sun gods were also adobted when Rome conquerd Egypt , Ra the Egyption sun god had temples built for him . The Romans always hedged there bets

Answer 8

Mithras was not a Persian god, but had only a Persian name in greek form. He was born out of a rock. There is a good book by Ulansey about him.

Answer 9

Creative but unfounded The Fish Sign came from the Greek anagram for Jesus Christ Son of God Saviour

Answer 10

I think one of Dan Brown's books(Novels) had some reference to this. Check the website http://www.religioustolerance.org/xmas_sel.htm for more info.