Pagan Parallels and Luxor Temple

One of the most popular pieces of “evidence” used by “pagan parallel” theorists of the Zeitgeist variety is Luxor Temple and its alleged depiction of the “annunciation”, “virgin birth”, and “adoration” of Horus. A few problems immediately arise: It’s not about Horus but the pharaoh Amenhetup III. There is no annunciation as the woman depicted - Amenhetup III’s mother Mutemwai and not Isis - was already pregant. The birth was hardly virginal and the adoration was common for the son of a pharaoh and bears no relationship to the adoration of Jesus by shepherds and magi. The acompanying texts in hieroglyphs tell a whole different story but the conspiracy theorists who follow Zeitgeist are not interested in checking their imaginations against the evidence.

Pagan Parallels and “Mises of Egypt”

At one point, the film Zeitgeist makes claims asserting there was a “Mises of Egypt” whose story paralleled Moses. Both Zeitgeist and D. M. Murdock (aka Acharya S) use a quack named Lloyd M. Graham as their source who references an unspecified Orphic Hymn. Neither the film nor Murdock seem to care about that even though Graham’s book is pure quackery (the earth was once a star and will one day ne a moon?) as they do not provide any specifics either. Well, I went digging and came up with the hymn in question. Not only is it post-Old Testament but probably post-New Testament. Moreover, the interpretation is completely wrong! Mises is a goddess (actually Misa), the Lawgiver (Thesmophorus) is Demeter, and the supposed parallel to Moses is Dionysus. The first person to use this hymn as a pagan parallel (Robert Taylor) erred by interpreting all of them as the same character! Thus, more mistakes by Zeitgeist! Here’s the details:

Here is the site I mentioned in the video.

Pagan Parallels and Astrology

There are some base assumptions concerning the “pagan parallels” theory in Zeitgeist that just get the history of astrology dead wrong. Here’s the story:

Pagan Parallels and the Trinity

Occasionally, assertions arise concerning pagan parallels and the Trinity. There are some who compare the Christian Trinity (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) to the Hindu Trimurti (Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva) but each is based in their respective religious contexts (Second Temple Judaism and early Christianity for the Trinity; Hinduism for the Trimurti) and the concepts are completely different with only the number three in common. Moreover, the Trimurti was not part of Hinduism until far too late to affect early Christian movements.

Even more ridiculous are comparisons to Osiris, Isis, and Horus. While there may be some vague comparison to the Holy Family of Joseph, Mary, and the baby Jesus, there is no similarity to the Trinity. Even comparisons to the Holy Family are strained since there is only the similarity of the concept of family - hardly something that anyone would need Egyptians to understand. Again, the claims of such parallels are a failure and this video explains why:

Pagan Parallels and Stellarium

Here I use the program Stellarium to demonstrate just the Zeitgeist claims are bogus. You can download Stellarium, a wonderful free program, here. Here’s the video:

Pagan Parallels and the Southern Cross

Here I demolish another piece of Zeitgeist stupidity: the crucifixion of Jesus deals represents the sun rising on the Southern Cross. Here is the real story:

Pagan Parallels and the Three Kings

We Three Kings of Orient Are!! So do the claims that the Three Kings story are part of pagan mythologies have any basis? Were the three stars of Orion’s belt called the Three Kings in ancient times? In a word…no. Here is the real story:

You can watch the BBC Horizons program mentioned in the video here.

Pagan Parallels and the “Three Days”

There is a part of the “pagan parallel” thesis presented in Zeitgeist that describes the coming of the Winter Solstice and the December 25 date a few days later in terms of the “death and resurrection” of the sun god. Among the many problems is the “gap” is modern and not ancient. Here is the story:

Pagan Parallels and Christmas

I have never understood how “pagan parallel” theorist make anything out of the date of Christmas. Since it was clearly instituted rather late in the game, this quite clearly invalidates it as an entry point for such comparisons. Many still try - including the always silly Acharya S. Here I have fun with one of her video responses while explaining the complete irrelevance of the date of Christmas to questions of Christian origins.

Pagan Parallels and Pope Leo X

“What profit has not that fable of Christ brought us!” - Pope Leo X

The above quote has appeared in many places to indicate a certain pope did not believe in Jesus. One problem - the quote is not authentic. Here is a video discussing this and its occasional applications to pagan parallel theories: