In any event, the Platonic solar cross in the sky, the EB clarifies, was astronomical, representing the sun's orbit intersecting the earth's ecliptic. This Platonic cross in the vault of heaven becomes astrotheologically Horos, another reason to suspect the Gnostic Limit to be one with the god Horus, since, as we have seen and will continue to see, Horus the sun god was depicted with outstretched arms in the vault of heaven.

Regarding Horos the Stauros and "his" relationship to the sun and to Horus, Massey states: This stave, stake, prop, or stay of the suffering sun was the Stauros, which was primarily a stake for supporting, shaped as a cross. Thus Horus the crosser was called Stauros by the Gnostics.[1691]

Moreover, Horos-Stauros "was often assimilated" to Christ[1692]-yet, Stauros came first. Indeed, within Valentinianism, the Soter or Savior is sometimes the Christos and at other times Horos-Stauros. Horos's savior role is explained by EB: This name pronounced at baptism over the faithful has above all the significance that the name will protect the soul in its ascent through the heavens, conduct it safely through all hostile powers to the lower heavens, and procure it access to Horos, who frightens back the lower souls by his magic word...[1693]

From such salvational doctrines-including the "magic word" to scare off "lower souls," like the use of Jesus's name as a spell to cast out demons[1694]-it may be obvious why Horos was often assimilated to Christ. The same may be said of the sun god Horus as well, for a variety of reasons we have already investigated that demonstrate the solid Horus-Jesus connection.

In Tertullian's Against the Valentinians, in which he discusses "Horus" as the "great foundation of the universe," as well as the Cross, Redeemer and Emancipator, we find reference to Horus/Horos being involved in a crucifixion. Concerning this Gnostic story of Sophia, Tertullian relates (X): ...she indeed remained within the bounds of the Pleroma, but that her Enthymesis, with the accruing Passion, was banished by Horos, and crucified and cast out from the Pleroma.

While the Pleroma represents the "totality of the heavenly divine," the "Enthymesis" of Sophia is defined as "desire" and "inclination," as well as "a spirit-like substance," which, Tertullian claims, was crucified-crucifixam, in the original Latin-here surely not signifying "she" was a human being tossed to the ground and nailed to a piece of wood but likely reflecting a metaphysical agency impressed upon a "cosmic cross," so to speak, and/or forced into the shape of a cross. In using the term crucifixam, Tertullian must have understood this different, more cosmic meaning, since he certainly knew that the Pleroma in which the Gnostic fantasy took place was not on Earth.

We have encountered the evidence that the story of Sophia and Horos constitutes a Gnostic remake of Egyptian myth. These Gnosticizing efforts may reflect Egyptian mysteries, including the equation of the god Horus with Stauros, the personified Cross. Gnosticism is a complex system that did not arise in a vacuum but took into itself the major religious ideas and terminology of the Mediterranean area in which it flourished, including and especially those of the Egyptian religion. In Egypt, Gnosticism eventually emerges as a concerted effort to usurp the Egyptian religion by subordinating its gods to Christ. In this regard, Isis becomes Sophia, Horus is Horos, Set/Typhon becomes "the vicious Passion," Osiris (and Horus) is Christ, and so on. In this convoluted mess of Gnosticism, we seem to be peering into the murky conglomeration of all the mystery schools and religions of the Roman Empire. Indeed, in his refutation, Tertullian specifically compares the Valentinian "heresy" with the Eleusinian mysteries. Moreover, mysteries texts such as the so-called "Hermetic writings" absolutely make this connection between these Gnostic concepts and the Egyptian religion. These Hermetic texts were composed by a number of hands over a period of centuries and attributed to "Hermes Trismegistus" or "Thrice-Blessed," the magical scribe of Egypt also called Thoth or Tehuti.

In studying the development of early Christianity, one thing is clear: The Valentinians with their bizarre Egypto-Greco-Syro-Judeo-Gnosticism, were a force strong enough to be reckoned with that Tertullian felt the need to learn this complex and tedious cosmology in his attempt to refute it.

Outstretched Arms as the Sign of the Cross.

In addition to its presence in the Gnostic-Egyptian mythology, as we sift through Egyptian imagery, we find this concept associating Horus with a cross to possess merit, serving as the possible prototype of the Gnostic Horos-Cross. As we have seen, Horus is depicted as the "sun of righteousness" with wings outstretched to cover the world. Again, as Hornung relates, "Horus shows himself in the image of the hawk whose wings span the sky..."[1695] Indeed, demonstrating this visual of Horus, combined with that of the biblical "Sun of Righteousness" arising with "healing in his wings" as found at Malachi 4:2, just a few verses before the gospel of Matthew-and referring to Jesus, according to Christian doctrine-Hornung relates that Horus the Elder was "the ancient god of the heavens, whose wings spread over the whole earth."[1696]

A number of Egyptian goddesses are likewise depicted in cruciform, with arms and wings outstretched, found in tombs and commonly on coffins. One place for the goddess Nut's loving protection was on coffins, such as that of Henettawy (c. 1040-992 BCE).[1697] This magnificent image of a Nut in cruciform, along with its central position, demonstrates the importance of this crosslike symbol. A protective winged Isis also appears on the end of the third anthropoid coffin of King Tut,[1698] while goddesses in cruciform were also placed on the four corners of his sarcophagus. This motif of the four "guardian goddesses" with the outstretched arms can likewise be found "on the corners of royal sarcophagi of the Eighteenth Dynasty or as freestanding images..."[1699]

The coffin of Neskhonsu-pakhered is "replete with images of protective winged deities: three falcons and a winged ram-headed deity, together with Isis and Nephthys..."[1700] The theme, of course, reminds one of Jesus as the "Sun of Righteousness rising with healing on his wings..." Also, in Christian times coffins have been adorned in essentially the same spot with crosses.

Adding to this picture, in his Egyptian Antiquities in the British Museum, Dr. Samuel Sharpe describes various papyri with images of Horus in the "vault of heaven" with "outstretched arms."[1701] In this iconography described by Sharpe, Isis too is depicted several times with "outstretched arms," as are other deities, including the Egyptian sun in the vault of heaven with four apes underneath worshipping it.[1702] This depiction sounds much like that of Aan in the corners of the Lake in the afterlife, possibly with Re or Osiris in the center.

In another place, Sharpe describes one of these crucial images of Horus thus: ...we find the vault of heaven represented not by the outstretched wings of either that god of Thebes [Amen/Amun], or of Neith the queen of Sais, but by the two arms of Horus, with the head hanging downwards, as the Almighty is painted by some of the early Italian masters.[1703]

Here Sharpe is obviously struck by the similarity of the Egyptian image of Horus to that of Christ on the cross. In other words, Horus appeared to be crucified, which would be logical also in his identity as Shu, previously discussed.

Regarding the cross and the image of a god in cruciform-or the crucifix-William Williamson states: The cross...is a symbol of the highest antiquity, but the representation of a figure with the hands and feet pierced with nails belongs to a later period. The most ancient delineation of the cruciform attitude is the figure of the god in the vault of heaven, with outstretched arms, blessing the universe.[1704]

The very ancient god in the "vault of heaven" would naturally be the sun, whose position on the cross evidently evolved into the figure of a man with nails in his hands and feet.[1705] That the god in the vault of heaven with outstretched arms has been deemed a "cross" is apparent from these themes, fitting in not only with the assertions by Tertullian and Minucius that the Roman gods in cruciform represented crosses but also with those by Justin Martyr and the writer of the apocryphal Christian text the Epistle of Barnabas (12), which relates: "So Moses...spread his two arms out wide, and Israel thereupon began to regain the victory."[1706] It is important to note that the provenance for the Epistle of Barnabas is placed by many scholars as Alexandria, Egypt. Justin Martyr in Dialogue with Trypho (90) based one of his major arguments about the "prefiguring" of Christ's cross upon Moses's gesture: "The Stretched Out Hands of Moses Signified Beforehand the Cross...."[1707] Martyr thus contended that, in "outstretching his hands" at Exodus 17:11, the biblical prophet Moses was making "the sign of the cross."[1708] Continuing this tradition is a Christian compilation perhaps originally Coptic[1709] and possibly begun in the sixth century AD/CE called The Kebra Nagast, which purports to contain the history of the Queen of Sheba, and which remarks: And the rod of Moses by means of which he performed the miracle is to be interpreted as the wood of the Cross, whereby He delivered Adam and his children from the punishment of devils...

...And as Moses smote the mountains by stretching out his hands with his rod, and brought forth punishments by the command of God, even so Christ, by stretching out His hands upon the wood of the Cross, drove out the demons from men by the might of His Cross. When God said to Moses, "Smite with thy rod," He meant, "Make the Sign of the Cross of Christ," and when God said unto Moses, "Stretch out thy hand," He meant that by the spreading out of His hand Christ hath redeemed us from the servitude of the enemy, and hath given us life by the stretching out of His hand upon the wood of the Cross....

...The stretching out of the hand of Moses indicateth the Cross of Christ...[1710]

In addition to establishing Moses with the outstretched arms or hands making the sign of the cross, one of the main purposes of the Kebra Nagast, it would seem, is to provide an account of the conversion of the Ethiopian people away from their ancient astrotheological worship, which much resembled that of Egypt, to the god of Israel.[1711]

Another god depicted in cruciform with outstretched arms in the "vault of heaven" would be Osiris, about whom John M. Robertson remarks: The ritual lamentation of the divine sisters, Isis and Nephthys, for Osiris...is found in the temple remains of the island of Philae expressly connected with the representation of Osiris in the form of a crucifix, the God's head standing on the top of a four-barred Nilometer, faced by the mourning female figures. Here, too, he represents the Trinity, combining the attributes of Phtah-Sokari-Osiris...." [1712]

On the Egyptian island of Philae, where Osiris's heart was said to be buried by Isis, exists a Ptolemaic-era temple enclosure full of imagery, apparently including Osiris's head on top of a cross representing a "Nilometer," an architectural device used to measure the Nile-an appropriate depiction in consideration of the fact that Osiris symbolized the Nile itself. Per Robertson's description, this image of "Osiris on the cross" is "faced" by his two mourning sisters, the Merta, like the sisters of Lazarus as well as the two Marys at the foot of Christ's cross. This scene is also confirmed by other images elsewhere of Osiris as his cross-like djed (Tat or Tau) pillar, or as Osiris-Re, with the cross-like horns of a ram, surrounded by Isis and Nephthys.[1713] Naturally, it is only in the gospel of John (19:25) that the two Marys are close to Christ in the scene; in Matthew and Mark, they are present but "beholding from afar." (Mt 27:55-56; Mk 15:40) In considering such a scenario, we need to keep in mind again that, when it is said that Osiris or Horus was "crucified," it is not meant that either was thrown to the ground and nailed to a wooden cross but that one or the other was depicted in cruciform or as a crucifix, i.e., in "crucial frame," as styled by Tertullian. In this case, however, the comparison to the Christian crucifixion scene seems warranted.

In his remarks regarding Osiris being crucified previously provided, Doane cites Sir Rev. George William Cox (1827-1902), an Oxford University scholar, who first speaks of the Egyptian cross or stauros of Osiris and then states the god was crucified on a tree.[1714] Cox later mentions "the crucifixion and resurrection of Osiris."[1715] As we have seen, the "unhappy tree" of execution is deemed a cross. Since in one version of the myth Osiris is encased in a tree, it may be possible to say he was "placed on a cross," although Rev. Cox may have had something else in mind in his assessment, including Osiris as, in or on the treelike djed pillar. In any event, this notion of "Osiris crucified" may have been one of the reasons behind the ubiquitous symbol of eternal life, the ankh or crux ansata, which resembles a person "crucified in the heavens" or the image of Osiris's head on the "four-barred Nilometer."

Osiris and Djed Pillar.

In discussing the meaning of Osiris's djed pillar from the perspective of a neurosurgeon and anthropologist, Dr. Aaron G. Filler addresses the tradition that the djed represents the human spine, as a symbol of resurrection, remarking: When an Egyptian was buried, symbols of the spine of Osiris were considered crucial to the opportunity for resurrection in the afterlife. The resurrection of Osiris through the assembly of his vertebrae by Isis was described in the funerary texts placed alongside most major Egyptian burials for thousands of years. The raising of the djed column commemorates this, and, as many religious authorities have pointed out, Christ's resurrection and the Roman Cross make much more sense when it is appreciated that for thousands of years in the Middle East, erection of the djed cross was the symbol of resurrection of Osiris, king of the afterlife.[1716]

As a symbol of Osiris's backbone, the djed stands for "stability" and "strength."[1717] A "roughly cruciform" object, the djed is the "principal symbol" of Osiris, no mere token but quite popular around Egypt for thousands of years. In this same regard, Dr. Knapp states: Parallels have been made between the raising of the Djed Column on which Osiris's body rested, the chaining of Prometheus to a pillar in the Caucasus, and Christ's crucifixion on the wooden cross.[1718]

The erection of the djed cross at the 30-year Sed festival is also noteworthy, in that the latter represents the renewal of the Horus-king, indicating the cross's role in "eternal life." The "age" at which the life-giving cross is erected is significant in that Jesus's cross was also erected when he was about 30. In addition, the erection of the djed cross during the celebration also apparently took the place of human sacrifice, which was designed to propitiate the god or God in order to remove sins and bring about continuity of the community as a whole.[1719] Hence, Osiris's djed cross was essentially erected for "our sins," much like the Christian cross, with Christ's sacrifice upon it.

Regarding Osiris and the djed pillar, in The Riddle of Resurrection: "Dying and Rising Gods" in the Ancient Near East, Dr. Mettinger remarks: ...The Osiris celebrations took place during the month of Khoiak, more precisely Khoiak 18-30 (New Kingdom) or Khoiak 12-30 (Late Period). After various preparations, the funeral took place during Khoiak 24-30 and ended with the erection of the Djed pillar on the 30th of the month as an emblem of Osiris' resurrection....

Two important features of the Khoiak festivals should be noted here: (a) The central role of so-called Osiris gardens or Osiris effigies, with sprouting corn that symbolized the resurrection of the god...(b)... About a hundred occurrences of the expression..."raise yourself"...are known already in the Pyramid Texts... The dead Osiris...is summoned to rise again.[1720]

As we can see, the "erection of the Djed pillar" constitutes an "emblem of Osiris's resurrection," while "sprouting corn...symbolized the resurrection of the god." Moreover, the dead Osiris is "summoned to rise again," with 100 or so invocations of resurrection in the Pyramid Texts alone. Again, concerning the Khoiak/Koiak celebration, Mettinger remarks, "The death and resurrection of Osiris are the most central features of this festival."[1721] Osiris is thus a dying and rising god, erected as and on a crosslike pillar.

Set "Crucified"

Even Osiris and Horus's enemy Set/Seth was deemed by mythologist Joseph Campbell to have been "crucified." In referring to an ancient depiction of a crucifixion found at Rome, in which the figure is portrayed with an ass's head and which is supposed to be "Christian," Campbell remarks: From exactly the same period we have, from Egypt, a depiction of Set, crucified. Set slew Osiris. Osiris's son, Horus, then had a great battle with Set. Set is not depicted exactly crucified. He is tied, hands behind his back, to the slave post, down on his knees, and knives are in him.... And Set is represented as having an ass's head...[1722]

In The Mythic Image, Campbell also states, "The figure with the head of an ass, stuck with knives and bound by his arms to a forked slave-stick, is Seth, conquered."[1723] A "forked slave-stick" could be considered a stake or stauros, to which Christ too was said to have been bound. Regarding the ass-headed god, Doresse notes: The god with the head of an ass is the image of the Demiurge Ialdabaoth, the "god of the Jews"... It is upon certain monuments of Egypt that we find the most ancient proofs of the attribution of a donkey's head to a god, who was to become progressively identified with the god of the Jews. This originated from the Asiatic god Sutekh, whom the Egyptians assimilated to one of their own greatest gods: Seth, the adversary of Osiris. They represented Seth also, after the period of the Persian invasions, with a human body and an ass's head. Afterwards, this god Seth was definitely regarded by the Egyptians-in accordance with a late myth mentioned by Plutarch in his De Iside, 31-as the father of the legendary heroes Hierosolymus and Judaeus-that is, as the ancestor of the Jews!...[1724]

From these remarks as well as the early "Christian" image of an ass-headed god being crucified that may in fact represent Set/Seth, we may suggest again that the Egyptians themselves possessed traditions of a "crucified god." Since Horus is also portrayed as Set's brother as well as being identified with or as Set himself, it could be claimed that "Horus" likewise was "crucified." Indeed, regarding a stela from the period of the pharaoh Shabataka/Shebitku (fl. 702-690 BCE) now in Turin and described by Dr. William Pleyte, a director of the Museum of Antiquities at Leyden, Budge remarks: On this stele is a figure of the double god Horus-Set with outstretched arms, which seems to indicate that one arm specially protects the two royal personages who were connected with the South, and the other the two who were connected with the North.[1725]

As we have seen, early Christians considered a god with outstretched arms to be a form of the cross, as they did likewise with Moses purportedly making the sign of the cross by raising his arms or hands. Thus, the figure of Horus with outstretched arms could also by deemed a god in the shape of a cross or crucified in the vault of heaven/space.

The "Divine Man" Crucified in Space.

Regarding Egyptian human figures in cruciform, or in the shape of a cross with outstretched arms, Massey remarks upon one found in Nubia in lower Egypt and then comments: Osiris has been found in this attitude. Also [the Indian god] Vishnu as Witoba is presented as the crucified in what has been termed the crucifixion in space; the crucifixion without a cross, in which the god himself is the cross in a male form, just as the genitrix is the crossed one in a female form, and as Horus was Stauros.

It is true that the sun of the western crossing was considered to be the suffering, dying sun. As Atum he was said to set from the land of life. As Horus the elder we see the god on the cross, at the crossing which is represented by the cross-beam of the scales. This is Horus the Child, and Horus "the Lamb," who was described as the divine victim that died to save....

The crossing of the west was on the dark side where Typhon triumphed over the lord of light, and in a sense here was the cross of death, the opposite to the cross of Easter and the resurrection.[1726]

The "crucifixion in space" usually refers to that of Plato's "second God, who impressed himself on the universe in the form of the cross,"[1727] constituting the Greek philosopher's "world-soul" on an X, which, as we have seen, represents the sun crossing the ecliptic. This "second god" is not only the "Demiurge," or "artificer of this world," but also the Logos/Word itself. Another Platonic concept is the crucified "divine man"[1728] or "just man," found in Plato's Republic (II, 361A-362B), concerning whom Cardinal Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) states: ...according to Plato the truly just man must be misunderstood and persecuted in this world; indeed, Plato goes so far as to write: "They will say that our just man will be scourged, racked, fettered, will have his eyes burned out, and at last, after all manner of suffering will be crucified." This passage, written four hundred years before Christ, is always bound to move a Christian deeply.[1729]

Although this passage may be "bound to move a Christian deeply," what is not discussed is that this Platonic concept constitutes one possible blueprint for the Christian crucifixion motif, particularly in consideration of the popularity of Plato's writings, especially among philosophers and religionists. Another significant blueprint in the creation of Christ's passion narrative, of course, would be the Jewish scriptures in the Old Testament, especially the "Suffering Servant" at Isaiah 53:4-12 (RSV): Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed....

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth.

By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?...

Therefore I will divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he poured out his soul to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

Other scriptures serving as a blueprint for Christ's passion may be found in Psalms (69:22; 22:18; 109:25; 22:1) as well.[1730] It is apparent that this passage in Isaiah 53 was used as a blueprint for the creation of the New Testament passion narrative. There are a couple of other clues here that indicate why the gospel story was created like it was: 1. The Suffering Servant is "stricken for the transgressions of my people," which would explain why "the Jews" are blamed for Christ's death; and 2. "number with the trangressors" may explain the inclusion of the "two thieves" theme in Christ's passion narrative. (Mt 27:38; Mk 15:27) The combination of the theme of the god on a cross or in cruciform with the Jewish "messianic" scriptures-which represent in large part a description of human sacrifice or, specifically, the sacred-king ritual sacrifice[1731]- rates as the reason the Christian crucifixion motif focuses more on the suffering part of the passion, although even this aspect is not unique, as we can see from both the Just Man of Plato and the story of Osiris's passion. The god crucified in space may not be considered to be "suffering," although in the solar myth the sun is said very much to be afflicted as it moves towards the death of winter. Nevertheless, although human sacrifice was not unknown in Egypt, the sacred-king sacrifice element of the "god on a cross" motif is not emphasized in Egyptian religion, as the "crucifixion" in Egypt is perceived as symbolic rather than actual-a fact we opine is likewise applicable to Christianity as well.

Concerning the "divine man" crucified in space, Massey finds another precedent in Egypt: Thus the divine man, as the cruciform support of all in Ptah-Sekeri or Osiris, was the prototype of the Crucified. This god of the four quarters is portrayed as Atum-Ra in the Ritual (ch. 82). It is he who says (by proxy) "My head is that of Ra and I am summed up as Atum, four times the arm's length of Ra, four times the width of the world." Thus Atum, the divine man, was a quadrangular figure of the four quarters in the heaven founded according to "the measure of a man" which is reproduced in Revelation. [Rev. 21:17][1732]

Indeed, this passage is reminiscent of Atum's posture in CT Sp. 136, previously noted, with his arms extended.[1733] The pertinent part of BD 82 is titled "Chapter whereby one assumeth the form of Ptah" per Renouf's translation, which was used by Massey above. Budge renders the title, "The Chapter of changing into Ptah," while Faulkner translates it as "Chapter for becoming Ptah," with the pertinent passage as follows: "My head is that of Re who is united with Atum, the four suns of the length of the land..."[1734] Budge translates part of the relevant text as, "The four regions of Ra are the limits of the earth."[1735] This passage does sound much like a description of the ancient solar symbol of a cross, as well as the equally solar images of a "crooked cross" or swastika found in early Egyptian cylinder-seals, some of which reflect humans in this cross shape. The creator god Ptah is one of the oldest and most important, deemed to be the "father of the gods," while Atum is also a highly ancient and revered deity, likewise the "father of the gods."

Further elucidating upon the divine man, Albert Parsons remarks: Plato spoke of a crucified divine man floating in space. Light is thrown upon his meaning by an ancient figure of the Galaxy in the form of a man, with the axis of the poles represented by a perpendicular spear resting on the feet and issuing forth from the top of the head, while the equator is represented by another spear run horizontally through the body. This is only extending the axial and equatorial lines of the earth from our position at the centre of the Galaxy to its limits in both directions. Thus is the divine man crossified in space. The obliquity of the ecliptic, as the result of the disaster which titled the earth's axis, is indicated in this ancient figure by a spear thrust diagonally upward through the side of the divine man.[1736]

This figure is called by Parsons the "Medieval Macrocosmic Crucifixion," an interesting image worthy of further study, particularly in consideration of its apparent connection to Plato, Christ and Christianity.

This "divine man crucified in space" may be related to the many instances of Horus and other Egyptian deities with outstretched arms in the vault of heaven and may be at the basis of the Horos-Stauros figure in Alexandrian Gnosticism. This popular form of Gnosticism doubtlessly was influenced by Plato, a copy of whose Republic was found in the library at Nag Hammadi in Egypt,[1737] a collection that likewise contained numerous Egypto-Gnostic compositions. Moreover, it is possible that the explanation behind this cruciform imagery of Egyptian gods constituted a mystery not readily shared with non-initiates but known to the priestly faction, including both Pagan and Jewish.[1738]

Astrotheology of the Cross.

We have noted that the sign of the cross is a solar symbol, dating to millennia ago. The astrotheological aspect of the Cross "in space" or "in the heavens" is further indicated in the apocryphal Christian book the Acts of John, a relatively early text dated to around 150-200 AD/CE. As Doresse remarks: Later on in this apocryphon, the Christ reveals to the same Apostle [John] that it was only in appearance that he had undergone the Crucifixion; and directs his gaze to the true Cross, shining in the heavens, which is not the wooden one of Golgotha but the wonderful "cross of light."[1739]

Thus, in an early Christian text we have a crucifixion in the heavens that is patently solar in nature, very much resembling the "divine man" crucified in space.

Concerning the Christ of the Gnostics, Doresse also states: ...a flood of light is thrown upon the strange figure that the Gnostics made of Jesus.... For them, his incarnation was fictitious, and so was his crucifixion.[1740]

This assertion cannot be overemphasized, as it contends essentially that the Gnostic figure of Christ is a mythical being-one that in fact has precedent in pre-Christian religion, mythology and philosophy.

As evidence of the astrotheological nature of the "cross in space," the "cross-beam of the scales" in Massey's analysis above refers to the zodiacal sign of Libra. Hence, Horus the Elder represents the sun at the cross of the autumnal equinox, which is also the "cross of death," as Massey describes it, leading to the darkness of winter. This balance is the reason behind the scales of the constellation of Libra and the cross of Easter.

Further explaining the theme of the Egyptian sun god Horus on a cross, Massey states: ...The dual nature of the Osirian son was as old as the myth itself. The two Horuses were the suffering Messiah, the Mother's Child, and Horus the Son of the Father. Their astronomical stations are at the place of the two equinoxes. These two Horuses as the biune one were blended in Hor-Makhu, the deity of both horizons or equinoxes, the symbol of which was the cross because the equinoxes were the crossings....

...Horus was the one God of the two horizons, and the cross was the sign of him who "decussated in the form of the letter X," in the two characters of the child and the Virile God; the sun that descended crossed the waters and rose again on the horizon of the resurrection.[1741]

We have seen that Plato's "crucifixion in space" represents the sun on the cross of the ecliptic. "Horus on the cross" would thus likewise be the sun as depicted on the cross of the equinoxes and solstices, an astrotheological motif that constitutes yet another link to the Christ myth, with its god upon the cross in crucifixion scenes that differ from gospel to gospel. Moreover, in this crucial mystery we find the constant focus in the Egyptian texts on the "crossing" or "crossing over" previously demonstrated.

The Two Thieves?

In the gospel story and in Christian art occurs a striking emphasis on "two thieves" who appear on either side of Christ as he is hanging on the cross. Knowing what we do-what has become obvious throughout this present work-about the many germane aspects of the gospel tale evidently constituting rehashes of earlier motifs found within Pagan religion and mythology, we may logically ask whether or not the "two thieves" tale is yet another mythical remake, since it apparently does not represent part of a "true story" and would seem not to be "just made up" for no good reason. Indeed, as we have seen, according to Jewish "messianic prophecies" that were evidently used in the creation of the Christ character, the "suffering servant" needed to be "numbered among the transgressors," such that a precedent apparently had to be found for this theme. With these facts in mind, we may search out any possible connections to other mythologies, including but not limited to the Egyptian. As it turns out, there was another instance of a god surrounded by two "companions," in the imagery of the highly popular Perso-Roman religion of Mithraism. There is additionally a "two thieves" motif in the myth of the Mexican god Quetzalcoatl,[1742] and the theme may be found in other mythologies as well, including the Egyptian, particularly as an astrotheological motif.

The comparison between Mithraism and Christianity is appropriate, in consideration of how widespread was the former within the Roman Empire before Christianity took serious root. This relationship between the Mithraic and Christian "two thieves" imagery was not lost on Joseph Campbell and famed psychologist Dr. Carl Jung (1875-1961), as two examples of commentators upon it.[1743] To begin with, of the two thieves on either side of Christ the Lamb, one is destined for heaven, the other hell; while the two "torchbearers" or Dadophores on either side of Mithra the Bull carry torches, one pointing up, the other down: Christ was crucified between two thieves. It was thus a triple crucifixion. Similarly, Mithra was commonly represented between two dadophori or torch bearers, one with torch raised, the other with torch lowered.[1744]

Dr. Jung recounts that Mithraic expert Dr. Franz V.M. Cumont (1868-1947) viewed the torchbearers as "offshoots" from Mithra himself and also found in this "trinity" part of a sun myth,[1745] as explained by Plutarch (46-47, 369D-370B) regarding the Zoroastrian god Oromazes, Ormuzd or Ahura-Mazda.[1746] Cumont also saw in these torchbearers representations of the zodiacal signs of Scorpio and Taurus, as they are depicted carrying a scorpion and a bull's head. Concerning this theme, Jung states, "Taurus and Scorpio are equinoctial signs, which clearly indicate that the sacrificial scene refers primarily to the Sun cycle..."[1747] Foremost Mithraic expert Dr. Roger Beck, a professor emeritus at the University of Toronto, concurs with the thesis associating the two torchbearers with Taurus and Scorpio, evincing that these two represent the signs into which the sun passes immediately following the equinoxes.[1748] The "sun cycle" would refer to the sun not only as it rises and sets daily,[1749] then, but also as it appears on the cross of the equinoxes, surrounded by the "transgressors" or "thieves" of the signs into which the sun passes after the equinoxes, with Taurus at the vernal equinox and Scorpio at the autumnal. The torchbearer on the left with the torch pointing up is named Cauti or Cautes, representing the vernal equinox ("heaven"); while Cautopati or Cautopates is the name of the one on the right with the downward-pointing torch, symbolizing the autumnal equinox ("hell"). In this regard, we have seen how Massey discussed the two Horuses on the horizon, as well as at the equinoxes-he too considered the autumnal equinox to be the "cross of death," for the same reason as it may be deemed "hell," while at the vernal equinox or "Easter" exists the "cross of life" representing "heaven."[1750]

According to Christian tradition, the thief going to heaven is named Dysmas/Dismas/Desmas/ Demas/Dimas/Dymas, while the one destined for hell is Ctegas/ Cystas/ Cesmas/ Gestas/ Gistas, the names being introduced in several texts, including the apocryphal Acts of Pilate or Acta Pilati.[1751] In most manuscripts, Demas appears on the right of Jesus, while Gestas is on the left. In one manuscript of the Acts, however, and in several other texts, these positions are reversed.[1752] It is interesting that the manuscript of the Acta Pilati in which the positions are reversed, with Demas on the left and Gestas on the right-the same as their counterparts in Mithraism-is Armenian,[1753] since Mithraism thrived in that land long before Christianity usurped it. The fact that the names of the thieves are "widely divergent," as are their roles, indicates a mythological construct, not a true story. This suspicion of myth is borne out by the apocryphal tale found in the Arabic Gospel of the Saviour's Infancy (23), in which appears a story of two robbers-held to be the same as the "two thieves"-assaulting the Holy Family in Egypt, by the names of Titus and Dumachus, the former of whom discouraged the latter from carrying out the crimes. For this act, according to the Infancy Gospel, "Titus" was promised by "the Lord"-a 2-year-old child!-to sit at his right hand in heaven.[1754] This tale is patently fictional, as well as illogical, as the omnipotent God/Jesus could surely have prevented himself from being robbed, as he could have thwarted Herod from assailing him and from heartlessly massacring a bunch of infants.[1755] Rather than representing "history," in the end it seems that, to those who were initiated into the Mithraic mysteries, with the important imagery of Mithra surrounded by the two torchbearers, the depiction of Christ in between the two "thieves" would have been instantly recognizable as part of a pre-existing religious and mythological construct.

Another apparent parallel to the "two thieves" motif occurs in other Persian mythology as well, as stated by Dr. Edward J. Wheeler (1859-1922) in an entry on "Babylonian Influence in the New Testament": The mocking of Christ before his death is a third event that has special significance. A parallel to this is to be found in a peculiar rite of the Persian Saccian festival, during which the God of that year, in the semblance of a slave, is mocked at. The two thieves on the cross also have their counterparts in the two high court officials who constantly deride the King of the Year.[1756]

This correspondence is intriguing in consideration of the fact that Mithra was originally an Indo-Persian god who became somewhat popular in Babylon.[1757] To this observation, Dr. Wheeler adds, "The healing miracles of Jesus can be paralleled to a phenomenal extent in Babylonian literature, more particularly in the accounts of Marduk, the Sun-God of the Babylonians."[1758]

We also find a parallel in the Old Testament story of Joseph, who shares many characteristics with Jesus and who is depicted as being imprisoned with two criminals.[1759] (Gen 40:1-3) Moreover, it is asserted that the Jewish law did not condemn thieves to death but the Egyptian law did, so "crucifying" or putting to death thieves in Egypt would make more sense than this tale taking place historically in Judea.[1760] It is odd that the author of Mark's gospel-in which this pericope of the thieves being crucified first appears, according to the Markan priority hypothesis-supposedly lived in Egypt and apparently did not know that thieves were not put to death in Judea.[1761]

It is further intriguing that the apocryphal Christian tales place the two thieves as first encountering the Holy Family in Egypt, the "good thief" convincing Gestas to leave them alone. Placing this "two thieves" mythical motif in Egypt may have been deliberate, based also partly on a popular "two thieves" tale revolving around the king "Rhampsinitus" (Ramses III?), according to Herodotus (2.120).[1762]

With these facts in mind, let us recount the intriguing insights by Massey as concerns the subject of the "two thieves" in Egyptian mythology. Regarding Horus on the cross, the English scholar says: And in the zodiac of Denderah, just where Horus is on the cross, or at the crossing of the vernal equinox, these two thieves, Sut-Anup and Aan, are depicted one on either side of the luni-solar god. These two mythical originals have, I think, been continued and humanised as the two thieves in the Gospel version of the crucifixion.[1763]

Interestingly, Anup or Anubis is identified with the lunar god Thoth or Tehuti, who represents Hermes, the notorious thief of Greek mythology who steals from Apollo, the sun god. The association of Anubis, the jackal, with a thief is appropriate, since jackals are known for their thieving ways. Aan, the "dog-headed ape" or baboon, also appears at the corners of the Lake of Fire through which the deceased must pass while being judged by Anubis/Anup.[1764] Both gods thus possess functions in the "afterlife" like the heaven/hell roles of the Christian "two thieves." Moreover, baboons are likewise infamous thieves, and we learn from the writer of the fifth century AD/CE Horapollo (1.14) that in Egypt the baboon was a sacred animal which symbolized the moon.[1765] Unsurprisingly, then, Aan too was associated with Thoth, who was equivalent to the lunar god Hermes and who was also represented as a baboon.[1766] As we know, the moon receives or "steals" the sun's rays, making it one of the "thieves" at the side of the sun, e.g., Horus.

One of the sun hymns of the New Kingdom analyzed by Assman reveals a similar theme, with baboons that announce the rising sun appearing "on both sides of the god."[1767] Their number is not mentioned; nevertheless, in this hymn we have the rising sun on the cross of the horizon surrounded by "thieves." In another of the sun hymns, the "western ba's are the jackals that belong to sunset, just as the eastern ba's (baboons) belong to sunrise."[1768] Again, we have the sun between the "thieves," with the role of these attendants to tow the solar bark through the underworld: Jackals are thus the "thieves" at sunset who tow the boat through the night hours, while the "thieves" on the other side, the baboons, tow the boat through sunrise. Hence, depending on the hours, both Osiris and Horus would be the "crucified" sun-as the sun crossing the sky-between the two thieves of sunset and sunrise.

Concerning these various figures, Massey further states: ...Two other lunar types were Anup, the jackal, and Aan, the dog-headed ape. These two may be seen figured back to back at the place of the Vernal equinox in the zodiac of Denderah. Each of the two had represented the dark half of the lunation (the one with Horus, the other with That [Thoth]) in two different stages of the mythos; each had been the thief of the light; the Mercury who was the thief personified. In these two thieves at the crossing we may perhaps identify the two thieves at the cross, as Horus, the solar lord of light in the moon-in the form of his hawk-is placed between or just over these two thieves at the crossing, the station of the cross! The birthplace of the god who was reborn or who rose again at the Vernal equinox is shown by the constellation of the Thigh or Uterus. Anup on one side of Horus, and Aan on the other, are the two thieves on either hand of the Kamite [Egyptian] Christ upon the cross at Easter.[1769]

The figures Massey is describing in both paragraphs as being Anup and Aan "back to back" with Horus as the hawk or falcon between or directly above them are indeed positioned on the line of the vernal equinox of around 100 BCE, as determined by Rene A. Schwaller de Lubicz (1887-1961) in his analysis of the circular zodiac of Dendera.[1770] The cluster of the three pertinent figures falling directly on the equinoctial line is numbered 24 in the drawing of the Dendera zodiac by British astronomer and member of the Asiatic Society John Bentley (c. 1750-1824).[1771] The equinoctial line drawn by Schwaller de Lubicz is precisely on the perpendicular of the temple axis in his rendition of the circular zodiac,[1772] and the Horus-Anup-Aan image described by Massey is exactly on that "cross," the vernal equinox, of course, being "Easter," when Christ was purportedly hung on the cross. Once again, Massey is thus proved correct in his description of an Egyptian artifact, as he has also been with citations of texts and translations as well.

It is important to note that in his depiction of "Horus on the cross," Massey did not say that Horus was thrown to the ground and nailed to a piece of wood. Dr. Alvin Boyd Kuhn (1880-1963) further summarizes this motif of Horus on the cross surrounded by two thieves: The jackal of Anup and the cynocephalus of Taht-Aan, which figured as types of the dark lunation, were conceived as having stolen the light from the bright moon. As the dark period before and after the illumination, they stood on either side of the Christ light on the moon. They were dubbed "thieves of the light," in contrast to the twelve solar characters who were guardians of the treasure of light. Hermes, cognate with Anup, was in Greek mythology the thief. In the zodiac of Denderah just where Horus is shown on the cross or at the crossing of the vernal equinox, these two thieves Anup and Aan are drawn on either side of the sun-god. Here would appear to be the authentic pre-Christian prototype of the Gospel crucifixion between two thieves.[1773]

To reiterate, Anubis is identified with Thoth, Taht or Tehuti, equivalent to the Greco-Roman god Hermes/Mercury, who in Greek mythology steals from the sun god-evidently symbolizing the "theft" of the sun's light by the moon. Again, Aan too is a sort of lunar "thief," as he likewise signifies Thoth: "Another of the commonest symbolic forms of Thoth is the dog-headed ape."[1774] Regarding this imagery, George Robert Stowe ("G.R.S.") Mead (1863-1933) relates that Aan is not only Thoth but also representative of the equinoxes, once again adding to the indication of "Horus on the cross" at "Easter": Brugsch has suggested that this ape is a form of Thoth as God of "equilibrium," and that it elsewhere symbolises the equinoxes...[1775]

In consideration of all these facts, Horus on the cross surrounded by two thieves would appear to be the most logical interpretation of this composite figure in the zodiac of Dendera, a clearly astrotheological monument predating the common era by a century or more. In addition, this image of Horus "on the cross" with the two "companions" could likewise represent the same theme as the Mithraic torchbearers, especially since Anubis and Aan are also associated with the afterlife.

Regarding the solar motifs of the "crucifixion" and "two thieves," in Suns of God, I write: In the solar mythology, the sun god is regularly "crucified" as he crosses over the equinoxes and when he wanes towards the end of the year. The "thieves" denote stars, or constellations/signs of the zodiac, in particular Sagittarius and Capricorn, which, as the winter descends, steal the sun's strength.[1776]

Again, the cross has long been a symbol of the sun, representing significantly the crux of the equinoxes, upon which the sun is "crossified." Hence, it can truly be said that the sun of God was "crucified" at the vernal equinox-and this motif, we contend, is at the basis of the gospel "crucifixion" at "Easter."

The Mystery of the Cross.