Do you believe that Jesus is a recreated version of the Egyptian God Horus?

Here is a title likely to help you:

The Horus myth in its relation to Christianity by Cooper, W. R. (William Ricketts), 1843-1878 (London: Hardwicke & Bogue, 1877)

You will note that this is rather an old book but that it deals explicitly with what you want to know. I have had a quick look at it. It is a paper published by the Philosophical Society of Great Britain on March 6 1876.

Cooper adduces historical evidence that the Horus myth predates Abraham. In his conclusion, Cooper says

’...the works of art, the ideas, the expressions, and the heresies of the first four centuries of the Christian era cannot be well studied without a right comprehension of the nature and influence of the Horus myth…’

It looks to me as though Cooper, a devout Christian, was horrified by what he had discovered. He says, in effect ‘Now, over to the theologians…’. That perhaps explains why there isn’t much subsequent material dealing with the subject.

I’ve done a bit more research and here’s a bibbliography for you. Not all the titles are English. Apart from Cooper, I’ve not seen them, but they do deal with Horus explicitly, without mentioning Christianity.

Horus Bibliography

Allen, T. G., Horus in the Pyramid texts (Chicago:University of Chicago Libraries, 1916)

Broze, Michčle, Les aventures d’Horus et Seth dans le Papyrus Chester Beatty I: mythe et roman en Egypte (Leuven: Uitgeverij Peeters, 1996).

Cooper, W. R., The Horus myth in its relation to Christianity (London: Hardwicke & Bogue, 1877)

George, Beate, Horus en Egyptisk gud (Stockholm:Medelhavsmuseet,1984)

Mercer, Samuel A. B., Horus, royal god of Egypt (Grafton, MA: Society of Oriental research, 1942)

Virolleaud, Charles, Le dieu cananéen Horon (Paris: P. Geuthner, 1937)

Watterson, Barbara, The house of Horus at Edfu: ritual in an ancient Egyptian temple (Stroud: Tempus, 1998)

I suggest that you direct further research effort towards the Catalogue of the Library of Congress in Washington

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For a more reputable source on the god Horus, have you considered heading to a university library, and finding some books? Most Classical scholarship pre-dates the Internet, and might not be online at all in its full form.

I don’t believe any connection would be as simple and straightforward as a “recreation”: these myths evolved over long periods of time, with influences from different cultures and periods mixing together, gaining and losing in the translations. You mention Horus, but just as interesting to me, regarding the early development of Christian beliefs, is the cult god Sol Invictus, sometimes worshipped as Mithras or Apollo-Helios.

Egypt and Rome were trading partners during that period, so a cross-cultural connection between these cults is quite possible to imagine. Sol Invictus was worshipped, in the Roman Empire, during the period during which fundamental Christian beliefs were codified. Roman legions took their beliefs with them on their conquests, brought new ones back, and mixed them all up with Roman mythology.

In an Architecture class I took last year, we went over the early Christian period, and I learned some things I didn’t know about that time, through the influence on Architecture. The first was that there was a documented early belief in Imminent Parousia, the idea that Jesus would return very quickly: within the lifetimes of those who had heard of him more directly, even before the Bible was eventually written. The following Christian site contains quotes from various scholars about the historical evidence for this belief. This helps to explain why there was no early “Christian Architecture” – they were thinking short-term!

More to the point was Sol Invictus, a “composite” god revered in different forms by some Roman cults of the early centuries, but sometimes officially by the Emperor. Like Ra and Horus, he was a Sun God, sometimes going by the name Apollo-Helios. That article includes an image of the Mosaic of Sol found under St. Peter’s Basilica. This is an image that was replicated and will look very familiar to Christians today, thanks to the flowing gowns and the halo, but those were already used in portraits of some Roman Emperors e.g. Aurelian. I mention this because this was a pre-literate era, when images played an extremely important role in describing and spreading beliefs. (No-one had Bibles, or the ability to read them.)

Even more interesting was the use of the name Sol Invictus for Mithras, possibly to make the Mithraic Mysteries cult, originating in Asia Minor (Turkey) from Zoroastrianism, more acceptable to Roman authorities. I have personally seen more Internet discussion on the Mithraism/Christianity connections than any Horus connections which you can find by searching for those names. Mithraic cult ceremonies included much of what we might recognise in modern Christian ceremonies, such as preaching, a Midwinter Solstice festival, sacraments of bread and wine and the importance of the number twelve (from astrology). There’s a good discussion of the similarities here , and searching will also find many Christian Apologetic web pages devoted to debunking, or at least attempting to minimize, any possible connection between Jesus and Horus, Mithras, or Sol Invictus.

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