Refutation of Infidels

Part one of Zeitgeist, the Movie goes into detail of alleged parallels between Christianity and paganism in an attempt to show that Jesus Christ is no different from a pagan god. Peter Joseph, the film producer has put in a lot of work trying to give the impression that Christianity is a copycat religion of older cults of the distant past. So far, these claims have turned out to be false. — The best candidate so far has been Attis, but even the links beetween he and Jesus are shakey at best because the best evidence shows that the most important similarities between them are post-Christian.

The next pagan deity covered in Zeitgeist is the Greek god Dionysus. According to Greek mythology, Dionysus was one of many children of Zeus, though there are differing accounts about who his mother actually was. He was the god of wine, agriculture, and of fertility in nature. Apparently, some historians believe that he is a combination of two previous gods, one of them being a pre-historic deity from Turkey. About this particular God, Zeitgeist says,

Dionysus of Greece, born of a virgin on December 25th, was a traveling teacher who performed miracles such as turning water into wine, he was referred to as the “King of Kings,” “God’s Only Begotten Son,” “The Alpha and Omega,” and many others, and upon his death, he was resurrected.

There are two accounts of how Dionysus was conceived. In one version, Zeus had a secret sexual relationship with Semele, a mortal woman. Hera, Zeus’ jealous wife, paid Semele a visit and tricked her into asking Zeus into appearing to her in his true form. He did, and she got roasted. Zeus then saved the unborn baby from his mother’s ashes, sowed him into his thigh, and left him there until he was ready to be born. From this, Dionysus was said to be “twice born.” According to the other account, Zeus had an incestuous relationship with his daughter Persephone who conceived Dionysus. Either way, Dionysus’ birth does not fit the bill of a virgin birth that Zeitgeist claims.

Besides the fact that the date of December 25th has absolutely no relevance to the origins of Chritianity, there is no evidence for Dionysus’ birth being on that particular date, so this claim is moot. . .

There is some semblance of correctness of Dionysus being a “teacher,” though the impression given by Zeitgeist is misleading. According to Diodorus Siculus, he “taught mankind how to cultivate the vine.” (Library of History 4.2.3) He was certainly not a “teacher of righteousness” like Jesus was, so this particular “parallel” is far from relevant. — Also, as for Dionysus turning water into wine, I can find no scholarly or encyclpedic reference which confirms this. He seems to have been the god of wine in the sense that he discovered it and taught man how to make it, not that he actually turned water into wine.

It’s pretty curious that Zeitgeist claims that Dionysus was called the “king of kings” and “god of gods.” — It is well know in Greek mythology that Zeus was the king of the gods, so if any Greek god would have borne such titles, it would have been Zeus, not Dionysus. Of course, Jesus-Mythers could probably claim that Dionysus took the titles for himself despite his father, but that would leave the question as to why there is no reference to it, and not to mention why Zeus didn’t put Dionysus in his place.

Also, it’s such an obvious lie to say that Dionysus was the “only beggotten son,” because his father Zeus had several children, both divine and mortal such as Perseus, Apollon, Hermes, Minos, and Hellen. Peter Joseph has either not done his research well, or he is lying through his teeth. The title “Alpha and Omega” is nowhere to be found, so it should be assumed that this is just another bogus claim. — If anyone reading this can produce a primary source which confirms these titles as belonging to Dionysus, please let me know.

The claim that Dionysus died and was resurrected is true as far as it goes, however it is misleading to link this with Jesus’ passion. — Hera was still jealous of Semele, so she had the Titans murder him. When they found him, they tore the newborn Dionysus into shreds, and they had his pieces boiled in a coudron. But later. Rhea, the mother of Zeus, reassembled the pieces and brought Dionysus back to life. Considering that the two stories of the deaths and revivals of Dionysus and Jesus are pretty different from eachother, it really cannot be said that one inspired the other. The reasons for their deaths, for example, are far from similar.

So far, the trend for the claims being made by Zeitgeist is that they are largely unsubstantiated, misleading, and downright false. The ones that have at least some semblance of correctness are badly distorted or worded in a misleading way. So far, every pagan god used as an example to show Jesus as a copycat deity has failed. Apparently, the makers of Zeitgeist do not care about academic correctness as much as they do about their own agenda.

References:
Encyclopedia Mythica, Dionysus.
Encyclopedia Mythica, Semele.
Dionysus, from TheMystica.com
Library of History 4.2.3, by Diodorus Siculus.
Zeus: Greek king of the gods, from Theoi.com
The Family of Zeus: Greek Mythology, from Theoi.com
DIONYSUS (Roman - Bacchus)

The film Zeitgeist begins with list of pagan gods such Horus, Attis, Krishna, Dionysus and Mithra. It goes through the list of details associated with Jesus Christ and then applies them to these pagan gods in order to create the impression that Christianity is only a copycat religion. However, viewers (whether believers or skeptics) should watch this film with the realization that there is an agenda behind it. — And I advise anyone reading this to do the same with what I am about to say as well.

So far, on the part of the film, claims of being academically are false, as seen in the case of the parallels between Horus and Jesus. — But it goes on to the next pagan deity, Attis, and makes similar claims about him saying,

Attis, of Phyrigia, born of the virgin Nana on December 25th, crucified, placed in a tomb and after 3 days, was resurrected.

Before going into detail, I want to emphesize that December 25th has no theological significance to Christianity. It is not mentioned in the Bible as Jesus’ birth date. The date was adopted in 350 AD by Bishop Julius I, too late a date to have any relevance to Christian origins.

The story of Attis begins when Agdistis, a hermaphroditic demon with male and female sex organs, gets castrated by gods that feared him. They disposed of his organ, and an almond tree grew where it landed. — Pausanias, the second century Greek writer, says:

There grew up from it an almond-tree with its fruit ripe, and a daughter of the river Sangarius [Nana, Attis' mother], they say, took of the fruit and laid it in her bosom, when it at once disappeared, but she was with child. A boy was born, and exposed, but was tended by a he-goat. As he grew up his beauty was more than human, and Agdistis fell in love with him. (Description of Greece 7, 17, 11)

After Attis’s birth, Nana’s father ordered the child exposed so that he would die, but fortunately he was saved by the goddess Cybele and was mothered by a she-goat. Attis grew to manhood and was so handsome in appearance that Agdistis and/or Cybele, the mother of the gods, fell in love with him.

When Attis was sent to marry the daughter of the king of Pessinos, Agdistis drove Attis insane to the point of castrating himself so that nobody else could have him. When Agdistis saw Attis’ dead body, he repented of driving him insane and made sure that his body didn’t decay. He was then reborn as an evergreen pine tree, as recounted by Strabo the historian. — In other versions, Cybele, who was jealous and refused to take Attis back, got sexually involved with women, and this drove Attis insane and he mutilated himself under a pine tree where he died. — Pausanias points out one tradition in which Attis is killed by a boar. (Description of Greece 7, 17, 10)

There is no indication that Nana, Attis’ mother, was a virgin when her son was born, though she could have been since there is no reason to believe she wasn’t. As for his death, he was either castrated, or his has gored by a wild bore. He was not crucified.

The claim that Attis was dead for three days and later resurrected seems to have its roots in the Magna Mater’s Spring Festival which lasted from the 15th of March until the 27th. — On the eighth say of the festival, a pine tree which symbolized Attis was cut down, and this was followed by three days of mourning. On the tenth day, he was burried, and then on the so-called Halaria, or the “Day of Joy” was on the eleventh day. This is cited as the resurrection day.

A.T. Fear, who contributed a chapter to the book entitled Attis and Related Cults and wrote about this very same festival, points out in the chapter entitled “Cybele and Christ“ does seem to confirm the claims that that Jesus may have been copied from Attis because of a similar claim that he was killed and resurrected after three days during a celebration that depicts his resurrection out of a tomb. (Page 39) — But there is a major problem. The ceremony that Dr. Fear describes is from a major festival of the metroac cult. But later he points out that this very cult had gone through changes which could have been “a deliberate attempt to rival Christianity” to ensure the cult’s survival in the market. (Page 44) — As a matter of fact, about the resurrection of Attis he says,

Attis too with his strong emphasis on resurrection seems to be a late-comer to the cult, the stress on the Halaria as celebrating the resurrection of Attis also appears to increase at the beginning of the Fourth century AD.: the same time as in the taurobolium towards the rite of personal redemption.

While these changes could simply be a mutation of religion over time, and it is important to remember that here we are discussing a period of centuries not merely years, they do seem to have been provoked by a need to respond to the challenge of Christianity. (Attis and Related Cults, pages 41, 42)

Dr. Fear does question whether the process of changing the Attis cult was conscious, but he never even implies that Jesus was influenced by Attis. He says that the Attis cult either mutated or that it responded to Christianity. He also dates the celebration of Attis’ “resurrection” to the fourth century AD!

To be fair, there is one possible earlier date for the apparent resurrection of Attis, but it is not much better for those that want Jesus to have been copied from Attis. — According to this other reconstruction, the three days of mourning were introduced during Emperor Claudius’ reign which was from 41 to 54 AD. Also, the apparent resurrection day was was introduced during the reign of Antoninus Pius, between 130 to 161 AD. The obvious problem with supposing that this was an inspiration for Christianity was that these aspects of the festival are post-Christian. So either way, both possible scenarios have it as too late to have affected Christianity.

So, my conclusion here is that Zeitgeist’s claims about Attis are only marginally better that those made about Horus. It cannot be said definitively that Attis was born of a virgin because it is not specified whether or not his mother was. His death in both versions of his life differ from the crucifixion of Jesus, and the three day death and resurrection of Attis are from the post-Christian era, not from before as would be expected if Christianity were influence by the Attis cult. — Academic correctness on Peter Joseph’s part (the producer of Zeitgeist) seems to be secondary to his anti-Christian agenda.

References:
The History of Christmas from holidays.net
Description of Greece 7, 17, 11, Pausanias
CATULLUS. “ATTIS” (#63)
Attis — From AbsoluteAstronomy.com
Description of Greece 7, 17, 10. Pausanias
The Great Mother from Asia Minor to Rome. From Mythology.OurGardenPath.com
Attis and Related Cults, pages 39 to 42. — Attis and Christ, by A.T. Fear