Continuing the discussion of the Egyptian resurrection, Allen clarifies that by the word "Sun" with the capital "S" he is referring to the god Ra/Re, and he further elucidates that Re merges with Osiris to produce the reborn sun at dawn in Horus. Hence, all three are essentially "sun gods." Allen also explains here that in the spells of the Pyramid Texts there exist a "subset" designed to keep worms and snakes away from the deceased's body. There are also a number of such spells against snakes in the Coffin Texts.[1964]

The Canaanite Connection.

Interestingly, spells that fend off snakes provide an important connection between Egypt and Canaan, land where the later Israelites emerged and the language of which represents proto-Hebrew. In an underground room in a pyramid near Cairo, writing in Egyptian characters was discovered that constituted magic spells in the Canaanite language of some 5,000 years ago. This find represents the oldest Semitic writing ever uncovered and comprises a "magic spell to keep snakes away from the tombs of Egyptian kings." This discovery ranks as a demonstration of the "close relations" of the Egyptians with the Canaanites of the era: While Egyptians considered their own culture and religion superior to that of their neighbors to the northeast, they were willing to do anything to protect the mummies of their kings from the poisonous snakes.

Believing that some snakes spoke the Semitic language of the Canaanites, Egyptians included the magic spells in inscriptions on two sides of the sarcophagus in an effort to ward them off.

"Come, come to my house," reads one section in the Semitic language that is supposed to be the snake's mother speaking, trying to lure him out of the tomb.

In another passage, the snake is addressed as if he is a lover with "Turn aside, O my beloved."

The Egyptian and Semitic sections are each an integral part of the magic spell and neither can stand alone...[1965]

This archaic Canaanite language later evolved into both Phoenician and Hebrew, the language of the biblical tribes.

In consideration of the proximity of Canaan to Egypt, of the fact of Egyptian colonization of Canaan, and of the obvious cultural exchange between the two, including religious concepts passing from Canaan to Egypt, it is more than reasonable to suggest that a significant amount of the highly developed Egyptian spirituality migrated in the other direction as well over the centuries, including certain aspects of religion as found not only in the Old Testament but also in the New. The awareness among scholars of Egyptian influence upon the Old Testament is evidenced by studies such as those done comparing the biblical Psalm 104 with the "Great Hymn of Amarna," as mentioned by Assman, for example.[1966] The Egyptian influence in Canaan/Palestine is also described by Morenz: During the Middle Kingdom the native princes of the port of Byblos (Gebal), which had always had close links with Egypt, even bore Egyptian titles which only the pharaohs were able to confer; finally, extensive areas of Palestine and Phoenicia are identified as belonging to the Egyptian sphere...[1967] During the New Kingdom, Egyptian had a continual presence in Israel/Phoenicia area, while "Syrian places were required to pay tribute to the respective sanctuaries of the great Egyptian deities..."[1968]

Morenz also recounts the Egyptian adoption of a Syrian god named "Hurun," in epithets applied to the pharaoh, such as "beloved of Hurun,"[1969] evidently the same as the Canaanite god Horon or Hauron. As Meltzer says, "In the person of the Sphinx and elsewhere, Horus was identified in the New Kingdom with the Syrian-Canaanite deity Hauron [Horon]..."[1970] In this same regard, Gabriel adds that "the Osiran theology of Egypt was well-known and commonly practiced both in Palestine and throughout the Roman world."[1971]

In any event, along with the obsessive and expensive mummification process, the rituals to protect the body clearly demonstrate that the Egyptians were keen on preserving the physical body, as part of the promised resurrection.

In fact, the physical body was so important in the resurrection process that if it were cremated and the ashes scattered about, the deceased stood no chance of becoming "akhified." Indeed, cremation was considered to be the ultimate penalty for crimes and transgressions-and was greatly feared by the average Egyptian. Also, since the dawn of humanity, placing items of the deceased and others into the grave or tomb, such as food, along with other belongings and sacred objects-as was done in Egypt, where the elaborate burial rites included "all the comforts of home"-has been indicative of the belief in a physical afterlife. It is quite probable that when the Egyptians originated their complex rituals, including mummification, they believed or hoped that the resurrection would include the physical body, which is why they put so much effort into the resurrection rituals.

In the end, the material body ranked as the "jumping off point" for the spiritual body: The Egyptians believed in a life after death, for which the body was as important as the spirit. This was why the pharaohs, nobles and humble citizens went to great trouble to have themselves preserved when they died. It has been calculated that during the reigns of the pharaohs more than half a billion people lived on Egyptian soil, and most them were mummified after death.[1972]

The assertion that some 500 million people were mummified during the time of the Egyptian pharaohs may come as a shock to most-and it is highly significant to consider, especially in regard to whether or not the numerous important concepts from Egyptian religion and mythology discussed here were prominent in the minds of the masses. Needless to say also that the embalmers/morticians made up a very sizeable, powerful and wealthy class, which would explain the importance and popularity of the god Anubis, among others. In light of the astonishing amount of people involved-one half a billion!-it is logical to assert that these prominent spiritual concepts within the Egyptian religion were well known for millennia by enough people to have significantly influenced and been passed along into many other religions, cults and ideologies around the Mediterranean, including Judaism and especially Christianity. This contention becomes especially reasonable when one factors in the popularity of Egyptian mummification and burial during the Greco-Roman period (c. 332 BCE-3rd cent. AD/CE), during which increasing numbers of upper to middle class citizens, including many Romans, took advantage of these methods of interment.[1973]

Jewish or Greek?.

In his book Paul: Apostle of the Heart Set Free renowned Christian scholar F.F. Bruce (1910-1990), a professor of Bible Criticism at the University of Manchester, sought to show that resurrection was originally a Jewish concept, not appearing in the pre-Christian Greek world.[1974] In his essay responding to Bruce entitled, "Resurrection, the Greeks and the New Testament," Porter sets out to demonstrate that the concept of resurrection was indeed a theme in the Greek world. While Bruce apparently interpreted the Pharisaic belief in the resurrection as recounted by Josephus (War 2.163) to indicate a "physical or bodily resurrection akin to Christian resurrection," Porter avers that it could refer to the "Greek belief in reincarnation or metempsychosis."[1975] Porter concludes that the Jewish notion of resurrection, according to Josephus, does not support the idea of a bodily resurrection but, in fact, relates the Greek concept of an afterlife, as found in the Works and Days of Greek poet Hesiod (c. 700 BCE), for example.[1976]

Porter analyzes the Jewish literature that might concern resurrection, such as Isaiah 26:19: "Thy dead shall live, their bodies shall rise."[1977] (RSV) He finally remarks: To this point, there is very little evidence for sustained Jewish development of the concept of resurrection, and certainly very little regarding a physical or bodily resurrection. The same cannot be said for what is found in Greek and Roman religion. In fact, there is a shockingly strong tradition of contemplation of the soul's destiny in the afterlife, along with examples of bodily resurrection.[1978]

Porter then goes on to give several "examples of bodily resurrection" from Greek religion, including in the underworld accounts from The Odyssey, with Odysseus proceeding to Hades to speak to "spirits."[1979] This text was well known to the "Alexandrian scholars," as were other Greco-Roman stories of descent into the underworld, along with the ascension out of it serving as a bodily resurrection-in a manner similar to Christ's resurrection or anastasis out of the underworld.

Porter concludes that Greek thought influenced both Jewish and Christian ideology: The inevitable question to be asked is the source of influence upon Christianity. It appears that both Jewish thought and then, inevitably, Christian thought came under the influence of Greek and then Graeco-Roman assumptions regarding resurrection. The conclusion that there was significant antecedent Greek thought regarding resurrection does not, however, lead to the inevitable conclusion that, for example, Paul simply adopted this conception, since, as has been noted, the concept of resurrection is variously and often inadequately developed in various antecedent thinkers. The history of discussion of the influence of Graeco-Roman religious thought on that of Paul indicates that he was not blindly derivative in developing his conceptual framework. Nevertheless, one must not overlook the fact that he lived in a world in which such ideas were present, discussed and, apparently, even believed.[1980]

We may ask, naturally, if the gospel story of the resurrection is "true" and "historical," why would the Christian concept need to be influenced by anything at all? Also, if there were no concrete notions of physical resurrection within Judaism, by the same argument used by apologists to dismiss Egyptian influence on Christianity, it could be contended that Christianity had nothing to do with Judaism, based on this difference.

The presence of resurrection stories in the Greco-Roman world further resolves the issue of the "dying-and-rising-god" debate, previously discussed. The nature of these gods and their resurrections varies, but the important notion to keep in mind is that the concept of resurrection, whether spiritual or physical, most assuredly existed in the pre-Christian world.

In the end, it would be a simple matter for the creators of Christianity to change the popular story of Osiris and his death and resurrection in order to fit more with Jewish doctrine. As it was obviously the intention of these creators to place a patently mythical tale into "history," naturally they would include elements that would make it appear more historical, such as an emphasis of the god's resurrection into this world, to be seen by others here as "proof" of the reality of both him and his anastasis. However, the deliberate placing of a mythical tale into history does not make it any less fictional.

The Glorified Body.

As noted, even if-against the bulk of the evidence-we consider that the average Egyptians did not conceive of a physical resurrection, we would still remain with little difference between the Egyptian and Christian beliefs held by their many followers. In reality, over the centuries hundreds of millions of sincerely believing Christians have perished, and all their bodies have rotted away, never to be seen again on Earth. In this regard, it is evident that the vast majority of Christians believe that their afterlife inheritance represents a spiritual rather than physical promise. Indeed, orthodox Christian doctrine clearly emphasizes a spiritual or glorified body in many ways the same as the Egyptian akhified or spiritualized body.

For example, at 1 Corinthians 15:35-42 appears a discussion of the nature of the resurrected body in which Paul says: There are celestial bodies and there are terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.... (RSV) Regarding this teaching of Paul's, Dr. Andrew T. Lincoln, a professor of New Testament at the University of Gloucestershire, remarks: He asserts that not only do different kinds of earthly life have their own distinctive physical manifestation but further distinction can be made between earthly bodies as one class and heavenly bodies as another and that each category has its own type of glory. Even the heavenly category admits of further differentiations, for there is a difference in glory not only between the sun, the moon and the stars, but also between the various stars. The whole point in developing the analogy in this way is to indicate the immense variety in God's creation and that there is no type of life for which God has not found appropriate glory or an appropriate body.[1981]

Paul continues, "So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable." Again, do Christians believe that their bodies are imperishable, or is it their imperishable souls that attain the resurrection? Are not sincere Christians promised a glorious transfiguration essentially the same as that which was assured the Egyptians?

Summing up the main reality of the Egyptian religion, Budge states: ...we find that the doctrine of eternal life and of the resurrection of a glorified or transformed body, based upon the ancient story of the resurrection of Osiris after a cruel death and horrible mutilation, inflicted by the powers of evil, was the same in all periods, and that the legends of the most ancient times were accepted without material alteration or addition in the texts of the later dynasties.

The story of Osiris is nowhere found in a connected form in Egyptian literature, but everywhere, and in texts of all periods, the life, sufferings, death and resurrection of Osiris are accepted as facts universally admitted.[1982]

From the funerary literature to mummification to the pyramidal "resurrection machines," the Egyptian resurrection was an all-encompassing pursuit and the most important promise of the gods.

While Christian followers may hear about a physical resurrection, they too are promised a spiritual afterlife for all eternity in heaven, as was conceived also within the Egyptian religion. The distinction between the two ideas is therefore slight and irrelevant, not providing evidence that Christianity had nothing to do with the Egyptian religion but readily accounted for by other influences upon the Jewish factions who were in large part responsible for the creation of Christianity, influences including the Greco-Roman traditions and myths.

Horus as the Resurrection.

In the final analysis, the fact will remain that Osiris in his role as the life force in natural phenomena very much came back to Earth as, among others, the Nile overflowing its banks, the efflux or sap livening the foliage, the corn growing out of the ground, the light in the waxing moon, and the glorious risen sun-physical, life-bestowing events that were as sacred and real to the devout Egyptian believer as Christ's resurrection is to a Christian. In reality, while the dismembered and revivified Osiris serves as the resurrected Lord of the underworld, he also resurrects daily and annually as his son, Horus, who, as demonstrated throughout this work, shares much in common with Jesus. The resurrection of Horus, the "Son of the Father," is not confined to heaven, however, but represents a true emergence into this world as both the sun and the all-important divine king. In this regard, in the works of Egyptologists we read statements concerning "the resurrection of Osiris in his son Horus" and "the resurrection of Osiris in the form of his son Horus..."[1983] Thus, like Jesus, Horus is the Resurrection.

Moreover, the contention that in the myth Horus is clearly part of the material world, as indicated by his "demarcation" from Osiris, is related by Griffiths: ...we constantly confront the demarcation between the world of the living and that of the dead, between the living Pharaoh who is divine as Horus and as the son of Re and the dead Pharaoh who is glorified through his identification with Osiris; in short, between Horus and Osiris.[1984]

Since Horus-the resurrected Osiris-is the living pharaoh, it can be argued again that Osiris is indeed resurrected into this world, as Horus. The same can be said of Horus as the physical morning sun. Regarding Horus, Bonwick remarks: Horus Generator is a type of the glorious resurrection. The disk-headed god reappears as Horus in the horizon, the sphinx deity, to notify the new birth of the soul. The "Divine child" is the risen sun.[1985]

Osiris is thus risen with Horus, and Horus is the risen Osiris. This occurrence happens every day, as well as annually. The risen Osiris is a recurring theme throughout the funerary/mortuary ritual, resurrected as Horus, who is born into this world as a brilliant light-the light of the world, who comes with clouds, and every eye will see him. (Jn 8:12, 9:5; Rev 1:7) It is interesting that the only canonical gospel in which Jesus is called the "light of the world" is the highly Egyptian gospel of John. It is further intriguing to note the "piercing" of the savior in the pertinent scripture in Revelation (1:7): Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, every one who pierced him; and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen. (RSV) The "every one" who pierced him would be Set in the Egyptian mythos, who gouges out or penetrates Horus's eye.[1986]

As stated, Horus himself is a dying and rising god prior to the common era, as made clear by the writings of Diodorus, who "recorded that Isis found Horus dead in the water as a result of an attack by the Titans, restored him to life and at the same time gave him immortality."[1987] In this myth, Horus did not reside in the netherworld like some "zombie" but was stated specifically over a century before Christ's alleged passion to have been raised from the dead using the precise Greek term as found in the New Testament concerning Jesus's resurrection.

As Jesus was the son of the Father on Earth, so too was Horus, who himself is the resurrection, the morning sun rising gloriously upon the horizon for all the world to see. This Egyptian resurrection into the physical world was so patently obvious that it could not have been missed by even the most insensate.

Despite the debate by professional theologians and apologists, what remains important is what the average Egyptian would have perceived in his own religion. In this regard, it seems certain that the average Egyptian would have understood the death and resurrection of Horus in much the same way as that reported of the later Jesus-and this fact would surely explain why early Christians identified the two gods with each other, in spells invoked as "Jesus Horus."[1988]

In their attempts at creating distinctions and denying the dying-and-rising-god motif, "skeptical" scholars and apologists generally ignore the resurrection of Horus, also diligently excluding the fact that Horus is Osiris's resurrection into this world, as the morning sun on a daily basis. Also ignored is Osiris's role as impregnator of Isis in this world after he is resurrected. Osiris thus is certainly resurrected into the material world for at least a short period of time. Hence, to reiterate, the only difference between the Osirian and Christian resurrections into the material world is a question of time. Christ stays just a bit longer, relatively speaking, before he too ends up in the "netherworld" or "heaven" for all eternity.

The Egyptian Heaven and Hell.

The ancient Egyptian religion was almost singularly focused on eternal life and the resurrection of a spiritualized or glorified body that would take the deceased to heaven. As in other cultures, the Egyptian "heaven" differs from the "sky"; however, there nonetheless existed in the Egyptian religion a pronounced concept of heaven to which the deceased aspired to attain in his resurrected state and akhified body: In heaven the beatified eat bread which never grows stale, and drink wine which grows not musty; they wear white apparel, and sit upon thrones among the gods who cluster round the tree of life near the lake in the Field of Peace; they wear the crowns which the gods give unto them, and no evil being or thing has any power to harm them in their new abode, where they will live with Ra for ever.[1989]

Even in this description of heaven we can perceive the later Christian doctrine. The Egyptian heaven, it should be noted, included the reunion of the deceased with their families, as exemplified in the mortuary literature, including a number of Coffin Texts specifically created to "assemble a man's family in the realm of the dead."[1990]

As in Christianity, the Egyptian religion also conceived of a hellish afterlife, complete with fire and torture.[1991] After describing the Egyptian afterlife trial that led to either "heaven" or "hell," Dr. Donald B. Redford, a professor of Egyptology at Pennsylvania State University, remarks: The damned...were consigned to punishment in the Underworld which now undergoes a bifurcation into a realm of the Blessed and a place of torment, a veritable Paradise and Hell. This concept, providing a fertile field for the imagination, experienced strong growth in detail and was inherited by Christianity which transformed the whole into a Heaven set over against a Dante-esque inferno.[1992]

Indeed, virtually all of the spiritual concepts in the Christian religion appear in much the same form centuries to millennia earlier in Egypt, the differences emerging within Christianity attributable to Jewish and Greek influence, among others. These parallels would include the burial for three days, the resurrection and the ascension, all appearing in the Egyptian religion centuries to millennia before the common era and possessing astrotheological significance, as largely revolving around the sun.

"The House of a Thousand Years"

Another controversial aspect of the Horus-Jesus connection is the suggestion that, like his Jewish counterpart, the Egyptian savior would rule on Earth for 1,000 years. Over the centuries, millions of Christians worldwide have relied on promises based on the supposed "Second Coming," as found at Revelation 20:2-7, in which it is said that Satan will be bound, and Christ and his saints will reign, for a millennium. Regarding this theme, Massey says: The Christian opinion most prevalent for many centuries was that the Messiah would come again, like Arthur and other aeonian heroes of the astronomical mythology, and that his kingdom was to last one thousand years. After that the deluge, or the dragon. Christian Chiliasim [sic] was unwittingly founded on the periodic return of the ever-coming one who had been Horus or Iu the prince of peace in the "house of a thousand years"...[1993]

This theme of the great god or holy one's return to reign for a thousand years can be found not only in Christianity but also in Islam, and is called "millenarianism."[1994] As we can see, there is good reason to believe that this motif is rooted in mythology and represents an ongoing natural cycle, not the coming or second coming of a god or prophet. In this regard, to follow blindly mummified mythology without understanding it could be quite perilous, as these eschatological concepts lead to horrific "End Times" and apocalyptic scenarios.

Like millenarianism, Christian chiliasm is the doctrine that Jesus Christ will reign upon the Earth for 1,000 years. As might be expected, we can find a parallel to this notion within the Egyptian religion as well. The "House of a Thousand Years" is mentioned on a stela that the Nubian king Harsiyotef/Harsiotef/Har-si-atef/Heru-Sa-Atef (404-369 BC) dedicated to Amun at Napata (modern Jebel/Gebel Barkal), dating to the 26th Egyptian Dynasty.[1995] On this stela created by Harsiotef/Heru-Sa-Atef-a name meaning "Horus, son of his father"[1996]-the inscription relates: "And on another occasion, when the House of a Thousand Years began to fall into ruin, I rebuilt it for thee."[1997] As Budge says, "Heru-sa-atef then directed his energies and money to the restoration of the House of a Thousand Years."[1998] In this regard, in Budge's Hieroglyphic Dictionary we find under the entry of per-kha-renput, "house of a thousand years," as on the Harsiotef Stela.[1999]

Confirming Budge, archaeologist Dr. Timothy Kendall, excavator of the Napatan capital of Jebel Barkal, remarks that Harsiotef "mentions in his stele that he rebuilt for Amun his Pr-p3-h3-rnpt ('House of the Thousand Years')." Massey renders this phrase, pa-pe kha renpat, as meaning "Celestial House of the Thousand Years."[2000] In addition to being an actual temple and hoped-for reign on Earth, the "house of a thousand years" evidently symbolizes a solar cycle, like the precession of the equinoxes,[2001] which would be appropriately applied to gods such as Re, Osiris or Horus.

The Phoenix/Benu Bird.

In ancient times, the thousand-year cycle appeared within the famous myth concerning the resurrection from ashes of the phoenix, called a "sun bird."[2002] Although many writers discuss a 500-year-life cycle, the phoenix was said by the ancient Latin writer Martial (40-102 AD/CE) to have been renewed every "ten centuries,"[2003] making a millennium. In this regard, Rutgers University professor Dr. Carol Salvo Heffernan says that "the phoenix will achieve a qualified immortality-post-mortem, through its offspring, every thousand years."[2004] In The Myth of the Phoenix, According to Classical and Early Christian Traditions, Dr. R. van den Broek describes the celebrated bird's legend: In all the variations of the phoenix myth several constant elements are to be found: a) the bird has a long life and shortly before or directly after its death makes an appearance in the world of man; b) by dying it obtains new life; and c) it is pre-eminently the bird of the sun.[2005]

As concerns the earliest written mention of the phoenix, Dr. van der Toorn relates that several writers, including various Talmudic rabbis, claim the Hebrew word at Job 29:18-chowl or Hol-normally translated as "sand," is in fact "phoenix,"[2006] which indeed makes more sense with the rest of the scripture: "Then I thought, 'I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the sand [phoenix]..." (RSV) The first mention of the phoenix in the Greek tradition occurs in the writings of Hesiod (c. 700 BCE), and a more developed myth was recounted by Herodotus (2.73) that intimates a rebirth of sorts, relating that the bird "is very rare and visits the country [Egypt] (so they say at Heliopolis) only at intervals of 500 years, on the occasion of the death of the parent-bird."[2007] In this same regard, we discover that the Greek "comic-poet Antiphanes (fourth century B.C.) also...connected the phoenix with Heliopolis,"[2008] i.e., the City of the Sun, called "On" in Egyptian. The correlation of the phoenix with Egypt is so strong, it has been averred that knowledge of the bird by Hesiod "could have come to him only from Egypt."[2009]

The phoenix's rise from death was discussed by several other writers in antiquity, such as "the tragedian Ezekiel," Ovid, Seneca, Pliny, Tacitus, Celsus, Clement of Alexandria and Claudius Aelianus or Aelian. Regarding the first of these writers, van der Toorn remarks, "The hellenistic Jewish writer Ezekiel the Tragedian, who most probably lived in Alexandria in the 2nd cent. BCE, is the first Jew known to have introduced the phoenix into his work."[2010] Celsus also mentions the bird as being "Arabian" and visiting Egypt, where it "brings its dead father...and puts him in the shrine of the sun,"[2011] sounding much like the Horus-Osiris myth. Clement of Alexandria raises the phoenix "only as an Egyptian astronomical symbol."[2012] Aelian or Claudius Aelianus (c. 175c. 235 AD/CE) tells us that the Egyptian priests argued over whether or not the phoenix rose every 500 years,[2013] possibly including the thousand-year cycle as an alternative period.

Continuing into the pertinent era of the first and early second centuries, the Roman writer Tacitus contended that "there is no question that the bird is occasionally seen in Egypt."[2014] Since antiquity as well, the phoenix has been identified as the Egyptian bird called the bennu or benu, which was "a sun bird associated with Ra." Concerning the phoenix/benu in Egypt, Heffernan remarks: Death and resurrection are at the core of the two principal versions of the phoenix myth; although it cannot be established conclusively that the European phoenix myth developed from the Egyptian benu myth, the connection seems sound.

We may infer that the benu and phoenix myths are at the least analogous....[2015]

References to the benu and its role in Egyptian religion appear in the ancient writings, such as the Coffin Texts, in which the bird is presented as the "son of Re" who brings forth the "breath of life."[2016] At BD 17, the speaker discusses both Osiris and the "soul of Re" as the "great Benu-bird, which is in Heliopolis, the supervisor of what exists."[2017] Again, at BD 29B the deceased says, "I am the Benu-bird, the soul of Re..."[2018] The benu is thus the "incarnation of the Soul of the Sun-god..."[2019] Budge relates that the "Bennu not only typified the new birth of the sun each morning, but in the earliest period of dynastic history it became the symbol of the resurrection of mankind..."[2020] The benu as a symbol of resurrection was likely well known, in consideration of the fact that the bird is often portrayed on coffin lids.[2021] As we can see, in the phoenix/benu we possess a popular pre-Christian symbol of divinity who dies and is resurrected, in essence representing a dying and rising god.

While the phoenix and the bennu/benu are alike in the acts of dying and resurrecting, Goelet raises the distinction that the latter does not perish in a fiery display and rise out of ashes. Rather, "the Benu made his appearance on the primordial mound when the land emerged from the water, bringing the light with him..."[2022] However, the phoenix-benu identification, asserted by ancient testimony, remains appropriate, when one factors in the contention that the benu was resurrected from the "Island of Fire in the Underworld."[2023] This association with fire may be indicated by the three zigzag lines in hieroglyphs representing the benu, symbolizing lightning, while other fabulous birds are likewise associated with lightning.[2024]

Regarding the phoenix in Egypt, Dr. Howard Schwartz, a professor at the University of Saint Louis, concludes: ...The legend of the Phoenix has been taken from Egyptian mythology.... The myth of the Phoenix moved beyond its Egyptian origins to enter Greek, Jewish, and Christian literature.[2025]

This development may well represent the root of the Christian millenarianism, once more connecting Osiris, Horus and Jesus, with the latter figure an apparent remake of the former two.

Osiris, Horus and the Benu.

The benu bird, identified with the phoenix, was "a symbol both of the rising sun and of the dead Sun-god Osiris, from whom it sprang and to whom it was sacred."[2026] Concerning the phoenix/benu, Curl says, "It was perceived as the ba of Re and as a manifestation of Osiris,"[2027] while Goelet relates that "the Benu is said to be Osiris in one explanation and Osiris's corpse in another..."[2028] Moreover, as Erman says, "The soul of Osiris...dwells in the bird Benu, the phoenix of the Greeks..."[2029] Indeed, as Osiris-Neb-Heu/Asar-Neb-Heh-the "lord of eternity"-the god was symbolized by a mummy with a benu bird's head.[2030] As "a symbol of the rising and setting sun, the Benu was considered a manifestation of the resurrected Osiris,"[2031] while, as we also know, so too is Horus the manifestation of the sun at the horizons, as well as the resurrected Osiris. Indeed, the benu was the ab or "heart" of Osiris, while, of course, Horus is his father's "beloved" and, in fact, also the heart of the god Ptah, per the "Memphite Theology."

The bennu/benu is thus associated not only with Re and Osiris but also with Horus, as the sun at the two horizons, sunrise and sunset. Indeed, "it is said that Bennu-Ra (also identified with Horus) as the Morning Sun will enlighten the world from the top of Turquoise Sycamore Tree, where it renovates itself."[2032] In this regard, Sayce states that on "an early seal-cylinder of Babylonian type the bennu or khu is termed 'the double of Horus'" and that the "phoenix was allied to the hawk of Horus."[2033] Thus, "Bennu is sometimes identified with the Golden Hawk,"[2034] which is, of course, representative of Horus. In BD 13, we discover that "the deceased identifies himself with the hawk of Horus and the Bennu bird, which later Greek tradition pronounced to be the fabulous bird the Phoenix."[2035] In this spell, the speaker says, "I go in like the Hawk, and I come forth like the Bennu, the Morning Star...of Ra."[2036] BD 83 allows for the deceased to become the bennu bird and to identify himself with Horus, Khephri and Khonsu.[2037] In line 77 of the Metternich Stela (380-342 BCE), Horus is addressed as, "You are the mighty Phoenix,"[2038] while the stela also relates that Horus was "under protection" as the "Divine Bennu."[2039] As Budge says, "Horus is protected as the Divine Bennu..."[2040] Moreover, the "Benu was called 'the august falcon,' and this connection between Benu and the falcon of Horus is really significant."[2041] The proximity of the two is striking enough to prompt Dr. Walter Beltz (1935-2006), a professor of Religious Studies at Berlin's Humboldt University, to remark, "Some...have said that Horus too appeared in the Benu bird."[2042] This conclusion is sensible in that Horus is the resurrected manifestation of Osiris as well as the sun of the two horizons, the same as the benu.

As some might expect from the god's identification with the benu, who in turn is deemed to be the phoenix, a millennium-bringer, Horus is associated with a thousand-year reign on Earth. In "The Dirge of Seti-Menephtah" appears the following, as related by Dr. John A. Paine (fl. 1889-1906), an archaeologist and curator at the New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art: O Horus, friend of things that are just!

Thou shalt dwell a thousand years on the earth...[2043]

The same passage is rendered by Charles Reginald Haines as, "O Horus, lover of just, Thy years on earth a thousand be!"[2044] In his commentary on this eulogy to the pharaoh Seti-Meneptah/Sethos-Merneptah, Dr. Paine also remarks, "They assure him of a thousand years on earth by embalmment, which insured against a second death."[2045] One could say therefore that the "Horus-Bennu" reigned a thousand years before dying and resurrecting to bring a new millennium.

Horus as a sun god, naturally, is part of a solar cycle, in this case evidently reigning in a "house" for a millennium. As Massey says, "Horus or Iusa in the 'house of a thousand years' was the bringer of the millennium, which was renewed in the following cycle."[2046] He also explains that Set is bound by chains, while "Horus took possession of the house once more on a lease of a thousand years to establish his reign of peace, plenty and good luck in the domain of time and law, justice and right by the inauguration of another millennium."[2047]

Jesus and the Phoenix.

In consideration of these facts, it is interesting that not only are Re, Osiris and Horus identified with the benu, but since ancient times as well Jesus has been identified with the phoenix. In reality, Jesus is equated with the phoenix in some of the oldest Christian literature, since the early Church fathers such as Clement of Rome (d. c. 99 AD/CE), the phoenix was very much representative of Christ's resurrection: "The phoenix is a still more marvellous symbol of the resurrection."[2048] Prior to Clement, the bird was also mentioned by the famous Roman historian Seneca (c. 4 BCE-65 AD/CE), whose writings were evidently used in the creation of Christianity.

In his epistle to the Corinthians (25-26), Clement clearly relates that the bird is reborn, renewed or resurrected from the ashes of his former self. In the 26th chapter in this letter, the Church father asks whether or not it is a "great and wonderful thing" that God will "raise up all who have served Him in holiness and in the confidence of a good faith, seeing that even a bird is made to show the mightiness of His promise?"[2049] Clement then cites various Old Testament scriptures as promises of the resurrection, passages using terminology that sounds very Egyptian, as at Psalms 28:7, 3:5 and Job 19:26 in the Septuagint. The story of the phoenix rising from the dead is deemed a "widespread myth" by Clement's time, and it is apparent that this rebirth or resurrection theme existed for centuries before the common era.

In a Christian text from the second century called The Physiologus we read, "The phoenix assumes the role of our Savior, for when he came from heaven, spreading his two wings, he carried them full of sweet scent..."[2050] Interestingly, the Physiologus author adds a "three-day waiting period between the phoenix's death and its resurrection, further likening the bird to Christ."[2051] As we have seen, this three-day period before resurrection was evidently a theme known by Jewish scribes hundreds of years prior to Christ's purported entombment.

In addition to the comparisons by several other Christian writers, such as Lactantius, who wrote an entire treatise on the phoenix, we also discover an ancient Coptic text according to which "the last known appearance of the phoenix marked the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem."[2052]

Again, the identification of the phoenix with Jesus lasted for centuries, as evidenced by a poem in Old English called "the Phoenix," in which "Jesus and the phoenix are made explicitly parallel."[2053] Jesus has been called the "true phoenix," which suggests that the pertinent parts of the phoenix myth, including not only its death but also its resurrection-essentially of a solar hero-clearly preceded Christ's purported advent.