Why do we keep hearing this Horus nonsense?

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"Whatever we make of the original myth, Isis seems to have been originally a virgin (or, perhaps, sexless) goddess, and in the later period of Egyptian religion she was again considered a virgin goddess, demanding very strict abstinence from her devotees. It is at this period, apparently, that the birthday of Horus was annually celebrated, about December 25th, in the temples. As both Macrobius and the Christian writer [of the "Paschal Chronicle"] say, a figure of Horus as a baby was laid in a manger, in a scenic reconstruction of a stable, and a statue of Isis was placed beside it. Horus was, in a sense, the Savior of mankind. He was their avenger against the powers of darkness; he was the light of the world. His birth-festival was a real Christmas before Christ."
-- Joseph McCabe, Catholic priest and author/historian

There is no consensus among historians/Egyptologists about whether Horus was considered to have had a "virgin birth" or not according to Egyptian texts. There is, however, quite a bit of evidence that no matter what the texts say, celebrations surrounding Horus *did* imagine him as having had a virgin birth.

You apparently didn't "check" very well.

Peace....Show more

The version you've fixated on seems to be Harsiesis, the Horus of the union of Osiris and Isis, which is not the primary myth.
Horus was celebrated as the child of Isis the God Mother, and was born by the process of parthenogenesis within her. The stories of the wanderings of Isis and her child/children are said to be highly similar to Virgin Mary's wanderings in the Apocrypha. The images of Isis and Horus are remarkably similar to the Virgin and Child symbolism, Horus's birth was celebrated around the end of December, with clearly agrarian references to a stable and manger.

Other ancient creation and virgin birth myths include Marduk (he of 50 names - just a bit Yahweh-like for me), Perseus (although strictly speaking that was Zeus having his wicked way), El and Asharuk(?) (and their 70 spontaneous offspring) - Asharuk being related to the Queen of Heaven references in the Bible and older texts; a bit further afield Krishna was born as Vasudeva after descending into Devaki's womb, which was similar to several other Hindu avatars; Graeco-Roman pantheon Apollo, Theseus, Dionysus, etc. all with varying degrees of intervention.

Then there's the worrying one: Zoroaster, the religion of whom is believed to form the powerful messianic basis for the Judeo-Christian and Islamic traditions, including the prominence of prophets, saints and millennial judgement days. Add to that, one myth that Zoroaster's mother, Dughdova, was a virgin when she conceived Zoroaster by a shaft of light, or that the gods bore Zoraster's seed down the ages to conceive the prophets and messiah.

I'm an atheist not a skeptic....Show more

Because, Samwise, they are lying to you. They make this stuff up like the Da Vinci Code which the author admits is total fiction. There is another lie out there about Mithras. Now the Mithras cult was a mystery religion. That means its beliefs and practices were a secret. Yet, Christophobes out there continue to claime that they know all about this religion and that that's all Christianity is, is a rehas of Mithraism. There are all these books out there by all these "experts" Don't believe any of it. The Roman Catholic church is your best resource for the real history of Christianity. Protestants have largely lost these sources, but the Catholics know....Show more

If you're referring to the fact that most, if not all, of the elements of the Jesus story have been attributed to other god-men who were variously born of a virgin, had a king seek their deaths as a child, born on Dec. 25, etc, hey, that's the way it is. Most of the elements of the Jesus story have their origins in older stories. Religious beliefs shape the form of the myths of the god-men, not the other way around....Show more

One similarity down.

347 to go....Show more