What's with all the Virgin Mothers of Gods and Heroes.?

Question

The list of pre-Christian gods, heroes, kings and queens who were said to have been born of a virgin includes the following:

Krishna
Buddha
Egyptian gods Ra and Apis
Egyptian queen Hetshepsut
Pharoah Amenophis III
Persian "prophet" Zoroaster
Melchizedek, biblical High Priest and King of Salem
Persian king Cyrus
Plato, "the divine" and "son of Apollo"
Julius Caesar
Apollonius of Tyana, Greek sage
Taliesin, Merlin and Llew Llaw of the British Isles
Chinese philosophers Fohi and Lao-Kium

Well thanks Aztec for informing us that even the ancients knew that evolution had occured.

Answer 1

Sex, birth, and marriage has had many different interpretations and meanings in different cultures and different times. Often beliefs and practices of people we look back upon as one country varied from city to city. We just see them as homogeneous now. It is tough for "modern" cultures to wrap or brains (and morals) around cultures that were so different than ours.

In some cultures (areas of ancient Greece) servants of the goddess served for 2 or more years in a goddess' temple before being allowed to marry. Part of the ritual was to be joined ritualistically with a priest or man of the priestess' choosing; if a child came from that union it was carried to term at the temple and given to the priestesses to be raised.
Women were considered to still be virgins after serving this term.

By contrast, some modern religious philosophers put such a high stake in the current definition of virgin that they denied Mary, mother of Jesus, EVER had lost her virginity.
Despite being married to Joseph and already having given birth to Jesus, a strongly believed dogma claimed that Mary had a sister who married Joseph as well and that the unnamed sister 1) Was intimate with Joseph; 2) Bore him children; 3) Died; 4) Gave her children over to Mary to raise.
All this to avoid the possibility of Mary ever losing her virginity!

Answer 2

ahahaha
That's some list you put together, that sort of makes Jesus not so unique after all.

During those early times unwed maternity was not looked
upon kindly. Death was the remedy usually by stoning or
some other overly brutal method of being put to death.

Claiming immaculate conception was an escape path for the pregnant women. The God or Gods did it, was seen as a valid excuse. It also served the purpose of elevating the status of both the women and the child that was to be born.

Answer 3

The term "virgin birth" was a kind of literary shorthand, and it meant that the person so born is marked for special things. And being the "son of a God" was the same kind of literary shorthand. It was not intended to be taken as being factually true.

It was kind of like calling a woman a "Stepford Wife" in today's parlance.

Everyone knew what it meant, and no one took it as being factually accurate, any more than we think that a woman who we call a "Stepford Wife" is actually an android.

It's only fairly recently that folks have (probably due to an appalling lack of knowledge about history and myths and the origins of religion) tried to claim that "virgin birth" or "son of God" in a religious text is to be taken as factually accurate.

Answer 4

There is the notion that the hero myth reflects the coming of age process of a young man. The myth generally involves the young man being somehow cut off from his father. The search for the father is the search for the self.

I can think of no more effective way to be cut off from a father than to be born of a virgin.

Answer 5

Exodus 20:4Thou shalt have not have been given the different gods formerly me. 5Thou shalt no longer bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, traveling the iniquity of the fathers upon the toddlers unto the third and fourth technology of them that detest me;

Answer 6

It seems virgin birth is alot more common than we thought. My own mother must have been a virgin because my father was overseas in the navy when I was conceived. Does that mean I'm a hero or god too?

Answer 7

If you are trying to claim that Christianity is false because other religions share similar characteristics (which is a logical fallacy), then why not show the parallels between evolution and various ancients religions which all claim that man came from animals?

-Aztec276

Answer 8

In those days, women were considered property. A virgin woman was considered unopened merchandise and, therefore, more valuable.

Answer 9

good publicity. excellent damage control on unplanned pregnancy by unmarried women

Answer 10

Sex is seen as dirty by most religions. So if the kid can come to earth without sex, they are more pure.