What do Christians think about the Epic of Gilgamesh, Horus, etc?

Question

There are obviously some serious parallels between Horus/Jesus and Gilgamesh/Noah, but I haven't heard much from the Christian view of these events. I suppose one could say that these are the "false gods" that are talked about in the Bible, but these stories predate their respective counterparts, so there are some roadblocks to that theory.

Also - what are some similar shared stories? Reading through history books, it looks like just about every religion is just borrowed parts from past ones, but I haven't heard much of an argument for this on the Christian side, even though it seems like it should be a bigger topic of discussion. If anyone has any books that address these topics, I'd love to hear them, too. I'm reading "The Bible Unearthed" now, it's a very interesting read. So, any thoughts?

monte54que - These similar concepts have nothing to do with Christian beliefs. The Epic of Gilgamesh, for example, had nothing to do with a god being angry at the world and starting over. And Horus didn't die to save our sins, nor was he anywhere near the time of Jesus...I fail to see how these stories are examples of God spreading these stories elsewhere, unless he expects different cultures to believe completely different values and ideas.

Answer 1

Yes, there are many similarities with different beliefs and Christianity. More than likely, God, revealed His word to many different cultures, so of course many stories are going to be the same......different cultures probably interpreted God's word differently.

Answer 2

Whenever one encounters a proposed example of pagan influence, one should demand that its existence be properly documented, not just asserted. The danger of accepting an inaccurate claim is too great. The amount of misinformation in this area is great enough that it is advisable never to accept a reported parallel as true unless it can be demonstrated from primary source documents or through reliable, scholarly secondary sources. After receiving documentation supporting the claim of a pagan parallel, one should ask a number of questions: 1. Is there a parallel? Frequently, there is not. The claim of a parallel may be erroneous, especially when the documentation provided is based on an old or undisclosed source. For example: "The Egyptians had a trinity. They worshiped Osiris, Isis, and Horus, thousands of years before the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost were known" (Robert Ingersoll, Why I Am an Agnostic). This is not true. The Egyptians had an Ennead—a pantheon of nine major gods and goddesses. Osiris, Isis, and Horus were simply three divinities in the pantheon who were closely related by marriage and blood (not surprising, since the Ennead itself was an extended family) and who figured in the same myth cycle. They did not represent the three persons of a single divine being (the Christian understanding of the Trinity). The claim of an Egyptian trinity is simply wrong. There is no parallel. 2. Is the parallel dependent or independent? Even if there is a pagan parallel, that does not mean that there is a causal relationship involved. Two groups may develop similar beliefs, practices, and artifacts totally independently of each other. The idea that similar forms are always the result of diffusion from a common source has long been rejected by archaeology and anthropology, and for very good reason: Humans are similar to each other and live in similar (i.e., terrestrial) environments, leading them to have similar cultural artifacts and views. For example, Fundamentalists have made much of the fact that Catholic art includes Madonna and Child images and that non-Christian art, all over the world, also frequently includes mother and child images. There is nothing sinister in this. The fact is that, in every culture, there are mothers who hold their children! Sometimes this gets represented in art, including religious art, and it especially is used when a work of art is being done to show the motherhood of an individual. Mother-with child-images do not need to be explained by a theory of diffusion from a common, pagan religious source (such as Hislop’s suggestion that such images stem from representations of Semiramis holding Tammuz). One need look no further than the fact that mothers holding children is a universal feature of human experience and a convenient way for artists to represent motherhood. 3. Is the parallel antecedent or consequent? Even if there is a pagan parallel that is causally related to a non-pagan counterpart, this does not establish which gave rise to the other. It may be that the pagan parallel is a late borrowing from a non-pagan source. Frequently, the pagan sources we have are so late that they have been shaped in reaction to Jewish and Christian ideas. Sometimes it is possible to tell that pagans have been borrowing from non-pagans. Other times, it cannot be discerned who is borrowing from whom (or, indeed, if anyone is borrowing from anyone). For example: The ideas expressed in the Norse Elder Edda about the end and regeneration of the world were probably influenced by the teachings of Christians with whom the Norse had been in contact for centuries (H. A. Guerber, The Norsemen, 339f). 4. Is the parallel treated positively, neutrally, or negatively? Even if there is a pagan parallel to a non-pagan counterpart, that does not mean that the item or concept was enthusiastically or uncritically accepted by non-pagans. One must ask how they regarded it. Did they regard it as something positive, neutral, or negative? In the final analysis, nobody has been able to prove these things regarding a doctrine of the Catholic faith, or even its officially authorized practices. The charge of paganism just doesn’t work.

Answer 3

Well, when you really sit down and think about it, the two books were written around the same time ( as well as some Greek works) and you can see parallels between nearly all of the ancient texts. I think that a lot of them are metaphors, on how humans should live their lives according to the Gods. I don't see anything wrong with reading the Epic of Gilgamesh or any of the others, just as I see no problem reading the Bible. The only difference is that the Bible is a religious book, and they others are not necessarily considered to be religious texts, though there are religious elements in them.

Answer 4

I not familiar with the story of Gilgamesh so no comment. I did a little research a while ago when I saw all the postings about Horus and Jesus. I found that there were in fact almost no similarities. This idea that that the story of Jesus is just a rehashed story of Horus is nothing more than an Urban myth. I guess you can't believe everything you read on the Internet.

Answer 5

Gilgamesh is often viewed as proof that the Biblical account of Noah is true but has been changed as people spread out and the story was told from one generation to the next. Here's a site that has a collection of flood stories with various parallels betwen the story of Noah and some that are very different.

http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/flood-myths.html

As far as Horus goes, I've seen the so called parallels between it and the story of Jesus and I think that most of those parallels have been fabricated. When I tried to research what we can actually know about Horus and how we can know it this is what I found.

http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/horus.htm

When you go to a site that doesn't have the agenda of trying to say that Jesus is just a newer rendering of an ancient myth you can see that the similarities are superficial at best.

Answer 6

Truth is, Christians have commented extensively on these the subjects. In the early Church, parallels like these were used as evidence for the validity of Christianity.

To answer your question, Christianity *was* an ancient Pagan Mystery religion. It did not beg, borrow or steal from ancient Paganism, it was a form of ancient Paganism. Early Christians well understood this fact, and even advertized it in the writings of the New Testament. The Apostle Paul referred to Christianity as a "Mysterion" over 30 times in his own writings, and preached a theology that was unique to the ancient Mysteries. The Book of Revelation offers a summary of the Mysteries of Eleusis. Early Christians frequently referred to God as "Jupiter" or "Zeus."

Christianity was unique in that Christians believed that the historical Jesus had fulfilled all of the mythological prototypes of Hellenistic Paganism. Hellenistic Pagans, on the other hand, typically believed that their mythological prototypes had not actually happened in history.

I should mention that the New Testament advocates the mode of salvation taught among the Mystery schools. But many modern denominations have replaced the older model of salvation theology with the views of Augustine and Anselm. The idea that Jesus needed to appease God by replacing us as a human sacrifice is completely foreign to ancient Christianity, the Bible, and the ancient Mysteries.

Answer 7

Epic of Gilgamesh is a polytheistic tale based on the factual occurence of the Noahic flood of around 3000 BC. The Noahic flood is in the book of God, that describes how sin entered the world, why death exists, and how we can be logically saved from it. It is also a serious mistake to relate someone like Jesus to that of Horus. Jesus saved man from sin and death by the only conceivable way that a man could be saved, that is through the payment to God of his life for man's, that we might be free of our debt to God. Horus can make no such claim.

Answer 8

The problem I have with this that my research has clearly shown that the Noah story happened almost 3,000 years before Christ (around 2750BC), and the Gilgamesh epic was written around 2166 BC (Gilgamesh is based on a Sumerian King of Utruk), so it's kind of clear to me that the epic of Gilgamesh is based on the Noah account.

Answer 9

the Epic of Gilgamesh is a definite fiction. as for Horus, I've read a little into it but not enough to create a debate over. sorry.

but either way, I believe what I believe, and that is Jesus Christ is my saviour. the end.

Answer 10

Christians are too busy doing God's work to waste time on conjecture and heresy.
all around the world there is evidence of the flood and many stories about it.
The only one that holds my interest is in the bible.
You could just make up your own story like most here do.