Egyptian god Horus and Jesus

Egyptian god Horus (Wikipedia)

Ancient Egyptian religion

The ancient Egyptians had a complex polytheistic religion where numerous gods and goddesses represented various natural forces. Some gods were associated with particular regions. People could appease the gods through various offerings and rituals. The Pharaoh was the intermediary who controlled the temples. Sometimes he was even considered to be the god himself.

Myths developed which explained the gods’ characteristics and behaviour. Beliefs and even names changed over time.

The afterlife was an important part of Egyptian religion. Initially the Egyptians believed only the Pharaoh could go on to a happy afterlife. But later the nobles, and eventually everyone, could aspire to an afterlife in paradise if their life was judged worthy. They had complex beliefs about the relationship between body and life-force, which led to the funerary practices of mummification and the construction of burial places that would preserve the body.

Horus, a god worshipped for 3 millennia

Horus was an Egyptian god first worshipped in Upper Egypt more than 3,000 years BCE. Over three millennia, Horus worship, and the stories and beliefs about him, changed and developed, so that he (or gods very like him) appear under different names. So the role he played in Egyptian mythology varied.

For example, in early Egypt, Horus was the brother of Isis, Osiris, Set and Nephthys. But later he became the son of Isis and Osiris (who were brother and sister). For a significant period, Egyptians saw the Pharaoh as the embodiment of Horus. When the Pharaoh died he was identified with Osiris in the afterlife, and the new king embodied Horus.

The role of Horus

Horus is one of the oldest of the Egyptian gods. In the beginning he was the god of light in the upper kingdom, but when the two kingdoms were united, he became the national god. Horus was the sky god, and so contained the sun and moon, which were his eyes. Hence Horus was sometimes symbolised by an eye, but was mostly depicted as a falcon or a falcon-headed man. He was also the god of war and hunting.

Horus, as god of the fertile kingdom, especially the upper kingdom, was in conflict with Set, the god of the desert and the lower kingdom. This explained or symbolised the victory of the upper kingdom over the lower, or of the fertile kingdom over the desert.

Information about Horus comes from:

• recent archaeological finds which linguists can now translate using the Rosetta Stone, which was discovered two centuries ago, and
• various funery texts sometimes named The Egyptian Book of the Dead.

Horus and Jesus

The supposed similarities between Jesus and Horus were first raised by Gerald Massey (1828-1907), an English poet and writer on Spiritualism and Ancient Egypt. Massey was self taught, but had access to records in the British Museum, and taught himself to read Egyptian hieroglyphics.

Massey saw parallels between Jesus and not only Horus, but hundreds of other Egyptian gods. But it is the supposed Jesus-Horus parallels that have made most impact. His views were taken up by other writers, notably Tom Harpur and Acharya S, who have written on this topic in recent decades. These claims also appeared in the films Zeitgeist (2007) and Religulous (2008).

A table showing the main claims is below. As far as I can ascertain, none of these claims have been made by recognised scholars.

The response by Egyptologists and historians

Recognised scholars have not given much credence to the claims, for the following reasons:

1. The Jewish people were fiercely monotheistic, and resisted the influence of foreign religions. Most scholars today believe that the pagan religions exerted little or no influence on first century Jewish thinking. Jewish history and the Jewish scriptures (our Old Testament) provide the best basis for understanding Jesus.
2. Much of the information about Horus only became known via modern archaeology, and could not have been known by the early christians.
3. Most of the claimed parallels are either contrived (sometimes called parallelomania = exaggerating the importance of trifling resemblances) or completely spurious.
4. Horus was a mythological figure but the main facts about Jesus (including many of the claimed parallels) have a sound historical basis.

For a summary of the scholars’ views on the influence of all pagan religions on early christianity, see Was Jesus a copy of pagan gods?

The alleged similarities

Massey apparently claimed 200 parallels, though many of these are multiple aspects of the same events, so there was a smaller number of events for us to consider.

I have been unable to find a definitive response by a recognised egyptologist or historian. I have therefore checked the mythologies outlined on Egyptian mythology sites plus sites which assess each claim.

The table below shows what seem to be the main claims about Horus, together with the most reliable responses I can find.

Summary

The claimed parallels can be grouped into four categories:

1. A small number that are correct but unremarkable

Both were considered as divine, although scholars have still not agreed on when Jesus was first regarded as divine. But the earliest stories of Jesus only contain cryptic claims to divinity, and emphasise his humanity, quite the opposite of Horus. Both performed some miracles.

The same would have been true of many ancient figures, and so they can hardly be considered something the early christians copied from Horus.

2. A small number where there is some superficial resemblance

For example, both had some sort of confrontation related to the desert, but the similarities are minor. Horus is pictured in one place standing on crocodiles, which has been construed as walking on water.

With a pantheon of hundreds or thousands of gods, and many versions of some myths, it is hardly surprising that some superficial resemblances occur. Probably similar parallels could be seen with other ancient mythical or historical figures.

3. Misrepresentations

Many of the claimed parallels seem to have come from some myth not related to Horus.

4. Inventions

Many of the stories no basis in Egyptian mythology and seem to have been totally invented. It appears that modern writers have simply followed Gerald Massey without checking the stories. Occasionally they seem to have invented new parallels.

Conclusion

The whole Horus-Jesus parallel has virtually no basis in fact. It is surprising it has been accepted by many. Historian “Paula Fredriksen states that no serious scholarly work places Jesus outside the backdrop of 1st century Palestinian Judaism” (Wikipedia).

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