Bible Myths and their Parallels in other Religions Part 31

The Egyptian G.o.d _Ra_ was born from the side of his mother, _but was not engendered_.[122:6]

The ancient Egyptians also deified kings and heroes, in the same manner as the ancient Greeks and Romans. An Egyptian king became, in a sense, "the vicar of G.o.d on earth, the infallible, and the personated deity."[122:7]

P. Le Page Renouf, in his Hibbert Lectures on the Religion of Ancient Egypt, says:

"I must not quit this part of my subject without a reference to the belief that the ruling sovereign of Egypt was the living image and vicegerent of the Sun-G.o.d (_Ra_). _He was invested with the attributes of divinity_, and that in the earliest times of which we possess monumental evidence."[122:8]

_Menes_, who is said to have been the first king of Egypt, was believed to be a G.o.d.[122:9]

Almost all the temples of the left bank of the Nile, at Thebes, had been constructed in view of the wors.h.i.+p rendered to the Pharaohs, their founders, after their death.[122:10]

On the wall of one of these Theban temples is to be seen a picture representing the G.o.d Thoth--the messenger of G.o.d--telling the _maiden_, Queen Mautmes, that she is to give birth to a _divine son_, who is to be King _Amunothph_ III.[123:1]

An inscription found in Egypt makes the G.o.d _Ra_ say to his son Ramses III.:

"I am thy father; by me are begotten all thy members as divine; I have formed thy shape like the Mendesian G.o.d; I have begotten thee, impregnating thy venerable mother."[123:2]

_Raam-ses_, or _Ra-me-ses_, means "Son of the Sun," and _Ramses Hek An_, a name of Ramses III., means "engendered by Ra (the Sun), Prince of An (Heliopolis)."[123:3]

"_Thotmes_ III., on the tablet of Karnak, presents offerings to his predecessors; so does _Ramses_ on the tablet of Abydos. Even during his life-time the Egyptian king was denominated '_Beneficent G.o.d_.'"[123:4]

The ancient Babylonians also believed that their kings were G.o.ds upon earth. A pa.s.sage from Menaut's translation of the great inscription of Nebuchadnezzar, reads thus:

"I am Nabu-kuder-usur . . . the first-born son of Nebu-pal-usur, King of Babylon. The G.o.d _Bel_ himself created me, the G.o.d _Marduk_ engendered me, and deposited himself the germ of my life in the womb of my mother."[123:5]

In the life of _Zoroaster_, the law-giver of the _Persians_, the common mythos is apparent. He was born in innocence, of an immaculate conception, of a ray of the Divine Reason. As soon as he was born the glory from his body enlightened the whole room.[123:6] Plato informs us that Zoroaster was said to be "the son of Oromasdes, which was the name the Persians gave to the Supreme G.o.d"[123:7]--therefore he was the _Son of G.o.d_.

From the East we will turn to the West, and shall find that many of the ancient heroes of Grecian and Roman mythology were regarded as of divine origin, were represented as men, possessed of G.o.d-like form, strength and courage; were believed to have lived on earth in the remote, dim ages of the nation's history; to have been occupied in their life-time with thrilling adventures and extraordinary services in the cause of human civilization, and to have been after death in some cases translated to a life among the G.o.ds, and ent.i.tled to sacrifice and wors.h.i.+p. In the hospitable Pantheon of the Greeks and Romans, a niche was always in readiness for every new divinity who could produce respectable credentials.

The Christian Father Justin Martyr, says:

"It having reached the Devil's ears that the prophets had foretold the coming of Christ (_the Son of G.o.d_), he set the _Heathen Poets_ to bring forward a great many who should be called _the sons of Jove_. The Devil laying his scheme in this, to get men to imagine that the _true_ history of Christ was of the same character as the _prodigious fables_ related of the sons of Jove."

Among these "sons of Jove" may be mentioned the following: _Hercules_ was the son of Jupiter by a mortal mother, Alcmene, Queen of Thebes.[124:1] Zeus, the G.o.d of G.o.ds, spake of Hercules, his son, and said: "This day shall a child be born of the race of Perseus, who shall be the mightiest of the sons of men."[124:2]

_Bacchus_ was the son of Jupiter and a mortal mother, Semele, daughter of Kadmus, King of Thebes.[124:3] As Montfaucon says, "It is the son of Jupiter and Semele which the poets celebrate, and which the monuments represent."[124:4]

Bacchus is made to say:

"I, son of Deus, am come to this land of the Thebans, Bacchus, whom formerly Semele the daughter of Kadmus brings forth, being delivered by the lightning-bearing flame: _and having taken a mortal form_ instead of a G.o.d's, I have arrived at the fountains of Dirce and the water of Ismenus."[124:5]

_Amphion_ was the son of Jupiter and a mortal mother, Antiope, daughter of Nicetus, King of Botia.[124:6]

_Prometheus_, whose name is derived from a Greek word signifying foresight and providence, was a deity who united the divine and human nature in one person, and was confessedly both man and G.o.d.[124:7]

_Perseus_ was the son of Jupiter by the virgin Danae, daughter of Acrisius, King of Argos.[124:8] Divine honors were paid him, and a temple was erected to him in Athens.[124:9]

Justin Martyr (A. D. 140), in his Apology to the Emperor Adrian, says:

"By declaring the Logos, the first-begotten of G.o.d, our Master, Jesus Christ, to be born of a virgin, without any human mixture, we (Christians) _say no more in this than what you_ (Pagans) _say of those whom you style the Sons of Jove_.

For you need not be told what a parcel of sons the writers most in vogue among you a.s.sign to Jove. . . .

"As to the Son of G.o.d, called Jesus, should we allow him to be nothing more than man, yet the t.i.tle of 'the Son of G.o.d' is very justifiable, upon the account of his wisdom, considering that you (Pagans) have your Mercury in wors.h.i.+p under the t.i.tle of the Word, a messenger of G.o.d. . . .

"As to his (Jesus Christ's) being born of a virgin, _you have your Perseus to balance that_."[125:1]

_Mercury_ was the son of Jupiter and a mortal mother, Maia, daughter of Atlas. Cyllene, in Arcadia, is said to have been the scene of his birth and education, and a magnificent temple was erected to him there.[125:2]

_aeolus_, king of the Lipari Islands, near Sicily, was the son of Jupiter and a mortal mother, Acasta.[125:3]

_Apollo_ was the son of Jupiter and a mortal mother, Latona.[125:4] Like Buddha and Lao-Kiun, Apollo, so the Ephesians said, was born under a tree; Latona, taking shelter under an olive-tree, was delivered there.[125:5] Then there was joy among the undying G.o.ds in Olympus, and the Earth laughed beneath the smile of Heaven.[125:6]

_Aethlius_, who is said to have been one of the inst.i.tutors of the Orphic games, was the son of Jupiter by a mortal mother, Protogenia.[125:7]

_Arcas_ was the son of Jupiter and a mortal mother.[125:8]

_Aroclus_ was the son of Jupiter and a mortal mother.[125:9]

We might continue and give the names of many more sons of Jove, but sufficient has been seen, we believe, to show, in the words of Justin, that Jove had a great "parcel of sons." "The images of self-restraint, of power used for the good of others, are prominent in the lives of all or almost all the Zeus-born heroes."[125:10]

This Jupiter, who begat so many sons, was the supreme G.o.d of the Pagans.

In the words of _Orpheus_:

"Jupiter is omnipotent; the first and the last, the head and the midst; Jupiter, the giver of all things, the foundation of the earth, and the starry heavens."[125:11]

The ancient Romans were in the habit of deifying their living and departed emperors, and gave to them the t.i.tle of DIVUS, or the Divine One. It was required throughout the whole empire that divine honors should be paid to the emperors.[125:12] They had a ceremony called _Apotheosis_, or deification. After this ceremony, temples, altars, and images, with attributes of divinity, were erected to the new deity. It is related by Eusebius, Tertullian, and Chrysostom, that Tiberius proposed to the Roman Senate the Apotheosis or deification of Jesus Christ.[126:1] aelius Lampridius, in his Life of Alexander Severus (who reigned A. D. 222-235), says:

"This emperor had two private chapels, one more honorable than the other; and in the former were placed the deified emperors, and also some _eminent good men_, among them Abraham, Christ, and Orpheus."[126:2]

_Romulus_, who is said to have been the founder of Rome, was believed to have been the son of G.o.d by a pure virgin, Rhea-Sylvia.[126:3] One Julius Proculus took a solemn oath, that Romulus himself appeared to him and ordered him to inform the Senate of his being called up to the a.s.sembly of the G.o.ds, under the name of Quirinus.[126:4]

_Julius Caesar_ was supposed to have had a G.o.d for a father.[126:5]

_Augustus Caesar_ was also believed to have been of celestial origin, and had all the honors paid to him as to a divine person.[126:6] His divinity is expressed by Virgil, in the following lines:

"----Turn, turn thine eyes, see here thy race divine, Behold thy own imperial Roman Sine: Caesar, with all the Julian name survey; See where the glorious ranks ascend to-day!-- This--this is he--_the chief so long foretold_, To bless the land where Saturn ruled of old, And give the Learnean realms a second eye of gold!

The promised prince, _Augustus the divine_, Of Caesar's race, and Jove's immortal line."[126:7]

"The honors due to the G.o.ds," says Tacitus, "were no longer sacred: _Augustus_ claimed equal wors.h.i.+p. Temples were built, and statues were erected, to him; a mortal man was adored, and priests and pontiffs were appointed to pay him impious homage."[126:8]

Divine honors were declared to the memory of Claudius, after his death, and he was added to the number of the G.o.ds. The t.i.tles "Our Lord," "Our Master," and "Our G.o.d," were given to the Emperors of Rome, even while living.[126:9]

In the deification of the Caesars, a testimony upon oath, of an eagle's flying out of the funeral pile, toward heaven, which was supposed to convey the soul of the deceased, was the established proof of their divinity.[127:1]

_Alexander the Great_, King of Macedonia (born 356 B. C.), whom genius and uncommon success had raised above ordinary men, was believed to have been a G.o.d upon earth.[127:2] He was believed to have been the son of Jupiter by a mortal mother, Olympias.

Alexander at one time visited the temple of Jupiter Ammon, which was situated in an oasis in the Libyan desert, and the _Oracle_ there declared him to be a son of the G.o.d. He afterwards issued his orders, letters, decrees, &c., styling himself "_Alexander, son of Jupiter Ammon_."[127:3]

The words of the oracle which declared him to be divine were as follows, says Socrates: