In Dr. Beyerlin's book, he and Brunner further remark that these birth narratives represent the "most detailed version of the account of the election by God of the bringer of salvation."[894] Beyerlin also says, "It is probable that the myth was recorded of every Egyptian king." He further refers to corresponding biblical citations, mostly from the Old Testament, noting, "Marginal reference may be made to points of contact with the birth narratives in the gospel of Luke,"[895] a correlation also contended by Sharpe. Here Beyerlin, with Brunner, is clearly aware that there is a correspondence to both Old and New Testament scripture.

Indeed, in his own work on the births of the god-kings, Brunner briefly indicates his own awareness of the Christian connection to the ubiquitous Egyptian birth narrative in at least three places,[896] including in the concluding paragraph, with a brief statement that "careful examination" is required in regard to any relationship to the New Testament.[897] Brunner also cites other studies such as "Pharao und Jesus also Sohne Gottes," or "Pharaoh and Jesus as Sons of God," once again demonstrating his knowledge that there exists an important discussion concerning a relationship to the Christian nativity. The fact that Brunner ends his important monograph with this cautious discussion is an indication that he believes there is significant merit to the subject and that it may have been on his mind throughout the entire analysis.

Continuing with the Luxor text, Murnane's direct translation of the Egyptian inscription for the queen's words is thus: "How great, indeed, is your power! How beautiful is [everything] which you have [done]. How hidden are the plans which you have made. How satisfied is your heart at my Person! Your fragrance is throughout all my body." After this, (i.e.), the Person of this God's doing all that he wanted with her.[898]

The term Bas in the first sentence of the Egyptian represents the plural of ba, which is generally translated as "soul" and which in this case apparently refers to the souls of the kings, as defined by Murnane: "The Bas of a locality are assumed to be the divinized ancient kings of those places."[899] Like Beyerlin, Murnane renders this passage as the queen exclaiming, "How great is your power!" This is the only phrase in which the queen is depicted as shouting about the size of something, and, unless the Bas are to be misinterpreted as such, her cry is not about the god's "organ of love."

The phrase describing "the majesty of this god" doing or having done "what he wanted with her" implies sexual activity in both German and English. Yet, of course, the term "Majestat" in German decidedly refers to the god as king and is not a sexual innuendo for his member. Hence, we remain at a loss as to where exactly the queen is exclaiming about the large size of the god's "organ of love."

Other than the word "lusted" in the first paragraph, there is nothing overtly sexual in Murnane's translation from the Egyptian of the relevant parts of the Luxor inscription. The queen is not "begging to be embraced," nor is there any kissing going on.[900] Also, according to Murnane, in the third scene at Luxor-before the conception scene-Amun-Re "bids farewell" to Thoth on his journey to the king's palace, while in the fourth and critical scene the god and the queen are sitting alone "upon the vault of heaven, supported by the goddesses Selkis and Neith."[901] It is difficult to see how "Amun's buddy" Thoth therefore appears as a leering voyeur at the conception scene, as Carrier claims.

The hieroglyphs themselves in the Amenhotep inscription do contain two phallic symbols; however, one of these clearly is part of a term meaning "husband,"[902] and the phallus signs (Gardiner's D52 and D53) are often used to indicate maleness, rather than sexual intercourse. In consideration of the fact that there are Egyptian representations of men and gods with erect phalluses ("ithyphallic"), indicating that the Egyptians felt no compunction to avoid "pornographic" imagery, the question remains, why the delicacy of the birth narrative images, which do not indicate any sort of sexuality at all? The figure of Amun holding an ankh to the nostril, imparting life, appears elsewhere outside of the Luxor nativity cycle. Hence, it may be that, viewing the delicate scene alone, the average Egyptian-and Alexandrian Jew who was involved in the creation of Christianity-not being able to read the hieroglyphs, was not aware of any sexual innuendo in the narrative.

Concerning the scenes at both Luxor and Deir el-Bahari, Morenz does make the following statement: "God, in the guise of the pharaoh, is shown approaching the woman thus blessed. The images and the text depict the scene with a fine delicacy, yet dwell frankly upon the act of sexual union."[903] He does not elaborate, but his assessment is likely based on what we have already examined here, which is not particularly conclusive as "frankly dwelling upon sexual union" as concerns the Luxor text, which, again, is of particular interest to us. Moreover, the fact that Morenz goes on to differentiate between the Egyptian nativity scene and that of the Christian birth narrative indicates that the subject was on his mind and that the parallel is at least superficially evident enough to cause him to comment.

In her description of the birth narrative, in Feasts of Light Normandi Ellis eloquently bridges the pronounced gap between the writers of the Victorian and Playboy eras, with a decidedly feminine but inclusive take on the birth scenes at Luxor: The feast of The Conception of Horus celebrates the Queen Mother as the mortal embodiment of the divine Great Mother. In the birth chapel at the Temple of Luxor we find a delicate rendering of the immaculate conception of pharaoh Amenhotep III as the embodiment of Horus. Well before conception, the divine child's birth is preordained. On his potter's wheel, the god Khnum already shapes the twin images of the pharaoh and his ka, or "divine double." The spiritual contract has been struck between Khnum and the High God, in this case, Amun.

Actual conception occurs in heaven. On earth the god Amun inhabits the body of the pharaoh's father; but in this spiritual portrait, the god Amun and Queen Mutemuia, the mortal mother of Amenhotep III, sit close together atop a hieroglyph depicting the sky. Their knees touch, their hands clasp, their eyes meet. Tenderly, Amun lifts his hand to touch Mutemuia's face, as if he were offering her the heady perfume of a lotus blossom. Held aloft by two goddesses, Serket and Neith, who act as heavenly angels, the feet of the divine couple never touch the ground. The images resonate with stories of the Christ Child's immaculate conception, the angelic messengers to Mary and Joseph, and the white dove that represents the descent of the Holy Spirit which stirs the seed in the womb of the Virgin Mary. Pregnancy and potentiality always being in the realm of the spirit....

This same scene appears throughout Egypt-in the birth chapel of Queen Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahri, in the birth house of Nectanebo at Dendera, and at both birth houses of Trajan at Philae and Edfu. In the Greek versions of the story, the divine spiritual partner is usually depicted as Hathor, rather than the queen; the father is sometimes depicted as Horus. The Hierogamos always takes place between the divine beings of heaven, who use the physical bodies of the royal couple, so to speak, to conceive and create the heroic, divine son on earth.[904]

In Ellis's view the scene depicts the "conception of Horus," with whom the god-king is identified and whose "actual conception occurs in heaven," producing an "immaculate conception." The sacred bride is the "Great Mother," who, in the ancient world as in the Christian era, was undoubtedly viewed as "the Virgin" as well, serving in Egypt as the goddess Isis. Furthermore, following the order of Budge, Ellis declares that the "divine child's birth is preordained," or announced, as it were. In her analysis, Ellis is not loath to make a comparison between the Egyptian nativity and that of Christ. Ellis also notes the ubiquitousness of the birth narrative right up to and into the common era.

Furthermore, where Carrier sees "very real sex" and "risque" romping with a smelly god, Ellis perceives the Hierogamos-the "sacred marriage"-as "tender and sweet": The tenderness and sweetness of the Hierogamos, say the ancient texts, permeated the royal bedroom, even the whole palace, with the fragrance of ambrosia, the scent of the gods.[905]

Likewise depicting the panel somewhat more gracefully, John Anthony West describes this scene at Luxor as a portrayal of "'theogamy', the king born of the Neters-that is to say, the mystical creation through the Word, which is the 'Virgin' birth or Immaculate Conception..."[906]

In A Guide to the Antiquities of Upper Egypt, Sir Arthur E.P. Weigall (1880-1933), a director-general of Upper Egypt, Department of Antiquities, likewise calls the scenes at Deir el-Bahari the "immaculate conception and birth of Queen Hatshepsut."[907]

Also regarding Hatshepsut's birth cycle, in Egyptian Temples Dr. Margaret A. Murray (1863-1963) remarks, "...on the lower half of this [back] wall are scenes and inscriptions recording the immaculate conception and divine birth of the queen."[908] Dr. Murray was a well-regarded Egyptologist at the University College of London who taught the Egyptian language to Dr. Faulkner, whose Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian remains one of the most important works on the subject.

Declaring the pertinent scene 4 as being "handled with great delicacy," Dr. Barry J. Kemp, a Reader in Egyptology at the University of Cambridge and Field Director of the excavations at el-Amarna by the Egypt Exploration Society, provides a translation of the first part of the Luxor inscription that includes the sentence, "He was aroused by her,"[909] in the same place rendered as "lusted after" by Murnane and "passionately in love" by Brunner. Dr. Kemp does not provide us with a translation of the queen's response but states that it was a "brief speech of joy." Kemp does, however, include an image of the scene, under which he writes: ...An immaculate conception; the god Amun (upper right) impregnates Queen Mutemwia (upper left), wife of Tuthmosis IV and mother of the future god-king Amenhetep III. Beneath them sit the goddesses Selket (left) and Neith (right). A scene from the divine birth cycle at Luxor temple... After H. Brunner, Die Geburt des Gottskonigs, Wiesbaden, 1964...[910]

Thus, Kemp's professional observation, based on his reading of Brunner, is that the Luxor scene represents an immaculate conception-his words.

The "Immaculate Conception" and "Virgin Birth?"

It is further claimed that the phrase "immaculate conception"-used, as we have seen, by Sir Weigall, Dr. Murray and Dr. Kemp, among others-is inappropriate, as it refers only to the Christian Mother of God, the Virgin Mary. While it is true that the phrase "immaculate conception" is in English and was invented only within the last four to five centuries, the question remains whether or not the concept behind it existed in ancient times and is applicable to the divine births of pre-Christian deities, royalty and heroes. As it is widely understood, the term merely means that the subject of the conception was created "without original sin," original sin being that which taints humanity from the moment it is conceived. The question then arises as to whether or not the ancient Egyptians perceived conception (or sex) in itself as inherently sinful. If so, we need to establish the conception of the pharaohs as being considered "sinful"; otherwise, their conception too must be deemed "immaculate." Moreover, if there is no original sin, all conceptions could be argued to be "immaculate."

Because of all the purported sexiness, there remains also a question as to whether or not the divine-birth scene at Luxor and elsewhere in Egypt constituted a "virgin birth" long before the common era, as suggested by Drs. Sharpe and Sayce, as well as Massey, et al. It seems to be agreed by all parties that the queen in this image is a virgin before her impregnation, which occurs after her "converse" with the god Amun in the form of her husband. From all of the emphasis on "virginity" within the Egyptian religion-with Neith and Isis, as we have seen, said to remain "perpetual virgins" even after they become mothers-it would be surprising not to find this motif within the divine-birth cycle of kings.

In this regard, however, in his brief comparison between the Christian and Egyptian birth narratives Carrier further asserts Brunner to comment that "there is no sex in the former and Mary remains a virgin, whereas in the Egyptian cycle, as the inscription makes unmistakably clear, the Queen definitely loses her virginity." Unfortunately, in several instances in his article, Carrier does not cite his contentions, and it is therefore difficult to follow his conclusions. Because of this lack of citation, we are left with the impression that Carrier has misinterpreted Brunner's remarks concerning the virginal state of both the Egyptian queen and the Jewish maiden prior to conception.[911] In fact, the intention of Brunner's discussion here appears to be to emphasize not that the inscription makes the lack of virginity in the fecundated queen "unmistakably clear" but that both women were married virgins before conception. This remark of Brunner's is important because what he does plainly state is that the Egyptian queen was a virgin before Amun approached her.[912]

As we have seen, over the decades there has been a debate not only as to what parts of this scene of the narrative are to be taken sexually, if at all, but also as to when exactly the conception takes place, as Brunner relates.[913] How, then, are we sure that there was any kind of intercourse remotely resembling that of a human being, especially when we are discussing a mythical event?

Furthermore, if all this eroticism were so obvious, one would think that it would be noticed by Rev. Sayce-a devout Christian minister-whose oversight in pointing out this difference between the Egyptian and Christian nativity narratives would seem baffling, since he undoubtedly believed the Luxor depiction to be of a virgin birth, which he specifically deemed it. Yet, if the sexual innuendo were so blatant, its omission from the interpretations of all these others' depictions of the scenes, from the earliest times to the present, would constitute a prime example of how scholars hold back data for a variety of reasons-verifying our contention that much pertinent information is hidden from the eyes of the masses.

In any event, even if we accept that there is an unseen romp in the hay in the Luxor scene-although, again, we can tell from the debate that the point of conception is not agreed upon, thereby indicating no clearcut description of intercourse-so too in one version of the myth did the impregnation of Isis involve using Osiris's phallus. Yet, as we have seen, Isis remains a virgin. Moreover, this scenario of the god Amun approaching the sleeping queen[914] and impregnating her reminds one also of the Greek myths in which the god Zeus visits several mortal women, such as Danae and Leto, producing half-mortal heroic offspring. In those myths, despite this visitation that left the woman pregnant, in the case of Danae especially, she remains a "virgin." In reality, even with all of his paramours Zeus himself is called parthenos-"virgin."[915] In the end, if in the myth of Osiris, Isis and Horus, Isis remains a perpetual virgin, and if the pharaonic divine birth constitutes a reenactment of this trio, or a combination of mythical trios, then the queen also would remain a virgin, despite any erotic exploits.

In emulating this divine-birth scenario-which was so widely known as to be applied to the founder of Alexandria yet constituted an acknowledged mystery right into the common era-it would be a simple matter for the stoic Christian creators to omit any erotic aspects of the nativity template and continue with the common, archetypal birth narrative. If the creators of the Luxor scenes felt no difficulty in leaving out a number of phrases that might be considered erotic, it should not surprise us if the creators of Christianity did likewise. This insight of sanitization may in fact be behind the past analyses that omitted the first row of the scenes, because the Christians themselves evidently did likewise when they copied the Egyptian birth narrative. If the creators of Christianity merely lopped off the first row when copying the Egyptian birth narrative, they would start with the "messenger of the gods" (angel) announcing to the virgin queen that she was to give birth to the divine son, etc., precisely as we see in the nativity story of Jesus Christ. Again, the removal of the eroticism from this scene-as would be sensible for a group of ascetics and matter-denigrating Gnostics, for instance-would simply render this scene as the Virgin being fecundated by the Father God, which is what happens in the Christian tradition as well, with an innocent 12-year-old subjected to the will of God in her impregnation.

Further Parallels to the Gospel Story.

Adding to this fact of the removal by the Amenhotep template-creators of various phrases from the Hatshepsut cycle, the imitators of the Hatshepsut narrative altered the order of the scenes at Luxor for their own purposes as well. Indeed, the order differs from birth narrative to birth narrative and authority to authority. In the Luxor panels, according to the order of Brunner and Murnane, the narrative opens with the goddess Isis/Hathor embracing the queen and telling her Amun is about to give her a child, representing an annunciation. As we can see, if we are discussing the Luxor narrative and not erroneously that of Hatshepsut, the order of an annunciation before the conception is accurate and applicable in our comparison between the Egyptian and Christian religions. Yet, again, even if the Luxor panels clearly reveal a pre-conception annunciation, the Christian copyists could have simply left off the themes found in the first row of the Egyptian nativity template and proceeded from there, likewise presenting the scene with Thoth, the Word, announcing the conception to the queen.

As concerns other panels, the god Khnum finds his counterpart in the Bible as both the "Holy Spirit" and the creator of mankind, as the "potter" fashioning the ka and breathing life into the king, while the biblical God is specifically called "our potter" at Isaiah 64:8 and elsewhere, and is depicted at Genesis 2:7 breathing life into the first man, Adam.

Concerning the scenes with multiple deities, again, in creating the Christian narrative from the archetypical template-which need not necessarily have come directly from Luxor, as it was obviously common enough to have been perhaps even closer to home in both time and location, say, in a book or two at the Library of Alexandria-it would be critical to omit these distinctly Egyptian and polytheistic scenes. Their omission from the gospel tale, however, does not mean that the Egyptian divine-birth template was not used in the creation of the Christian myth.

Other highly Egyptian elements, such as the cow-goddess Hathor nursing the baby, as well as the discussion of the ka, would certainly not be included in the Christian myth, which, in the end, would simply represent the birth-narrative template stripped of all of its "erotic" and Egyptian elements. The creation of the Christian birth narrative, therefore, regardless of the differences, would simply be one more of the same priestly manufacture as had been tried and found true for many centuries.

The "Magi" Presenting Gifts?

In the panel labeled scene 9 by Brunner and Murnane appear a number of individuals, including, on the second level below the queen, a group of figures on the right holding up ankhs. In the earlier modern renditions of this image-which were engravings, not photos, based on the badly damaged walls at Luxor-these three figures were all drawn with human heads, thereby striking one as a set of three men who were obviously dignitaries of some sort, appearing at the divine child's birth, and offering him gifts. It is these three figures whom Massey calls "kings" or "magi," using terminology from the New Testament in order to provide a point of comparison possibly indicating where the Christian motif comes from. In Brunner's rendition, however, the third "king" bearing a gift is depicted with a ram's head and appears to be Khnum, who, combined with a crocodile-headed god (Sobek?) in front of the three, makes a grouping of four figures, two gods and two humans.[916]

Remarking upon the scene in which the figures present the newly born divine child with gifts, Earl Doherty first comments upon the terminology used by Massey and others, including the present author, in calling these figures "magis," and then says: The basic common parallel is there in the Adoration of the child, with dignitaries offering gifts. How apologists can get so excited over these minor distinctions is beyond my understanding. (I suppose when straws are all you have to grasp at, they have to do.) In labeling these characters "magi" Massey was using a convention to convey the parallel to the scene as found in the gospel story. Surely he did not mean that the term "magi" was inscribed on the wall. Even so, the knowledge of Persian words in Egypt may not be so strange in consideration of the suggestion that Amenhotep III may have been a relative of the Indo-Persian Mitanni, who possessed a kingdom in northern Turkey and with whose royalty he enjoyed a relatively cordial relationship. Indeed, one of Amenhotep's wives was a Mitanni princess.[917] This fact of interchange between Egypt and a kingdom that was Indian in many of its essentials, including several deities, as early as the 14th century BCE, is important to keep in mind when discussing the exchange of religious ideas within the areas in which Christianity principally developed. Certainly, Indian religion and mythology are the source of a significant amount of Western religion and mythology, including the Greek and Roman, dating back many centuries before the common era.[918]

In any case, since in the gospel story the "king" and "wise men" are not numbered as three, Doherty's point about the comparison between dignitaries offering gifts to the babe in the adoration scene is well taken. Because we do not need three kings but any number will do to make this comparison, and because there are clearly a number of important figures offering gifts to the newborn babe, we remain justified in making the correlation between the Egyptian and Christian adoration scenes.

Also, there is another grouping of three adoring the divine babe (also scene 9), and, as we shall see, the motif of the "Three Kings" at the divine birth is pre-Christian and unhistorical, appearing elsewhere in Egyptian mythology.

Regardless of the order of the scenes, or the terminology used to describe elements thereof, the fact remains that at the Temple of Luxor is depicted the conception upon a virgin by the highly important father god, Amun, to produce a divine son. As we have seen, Amun's divine child in this birth cycle is the "bringer of salvation," and this myth of the miraculous birth of the divine savior likely was "recorded of every Egyptian king," making it highly noticeable long before the Christ figure was ever conceived.

The Luxor nativity scene represents the birth sequence of an obviously very important god-king, as it was depicted in one of the most famous Egyptian sites that endured for some 2,000 years. Egypt, it should be kept in mind, was a mere stone's throw from the Israelite homeland, with a well-trodden "Horus road," called in the ancient texts the "Ways of Horus" or "Way of Horus," linking the two nations and possessing numerous Egyptian artifacts, including a massive, long-lived fort and Horus temple at the site of Tharu, for instance. Moreover, at the time when Christianity was formulated, there were an estimated 1 million Jews, Hebrews, Samaritans and other Israelitish people in Egypt, making up approximately one-half of the important and influential city of Alexandria. The question is, with all the evident influence from the Egyptian religion upon Christianity that we have seen so far-and will continue to see abundantly-were the creators of the Christian myth aware of this highly significant birth scene from this significant temple site in Egypt? If not, these scenes were widespread enough right up to and into the common era-could the creators of Christianity really have been oblivious to these images and the stories of royal divine births they depict?

Indeed, the point is not necessarily that the Alexandrian creators of Christianity used this particular narrative but that there were plenty of miraculous-birth templates ages prior to the common era, rendering Jesus's own nativity all too mundane, rather than representing a unique "historical" and "supernatural" event that proves his divinity above and beyond all others. With such a widespread precedent, could we honestly believe that the Christian nativity scene constituted something new and startling?

In the end, when all the evidence is weighed, from a mother named "Mery" who was a perpetual virgin and who shares many other attributes with the mother of Jesus, to the prominent presence of a divine-birth narrative with several germane similarities to the Christian nativity, it turns out that Horus, like Jesus, is the son of a virgin mother, laid in a manger and brought out for a yearly celebration, eons before the Christian era. In the end, rolling all of these qualities and myths into one, we can therefore honestly say that the Egyptian son of God, Horus, was born on December 25th of the Virgin Mother Isis-Mery.

The Star in the East and Three Kings.

"Osiris's coming was announced by Three Wise Men: the three stars Mintaka, Anilam, and Alnitak in the belt of Orion, which point directly to Osiris's star in the east, Sirius (Sothis), significator of his birth."

Barbara Walker, The Women's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets (749) "The soul or sahou of Osiris was said to have dwelt in Orion. The Belt of three stars, the middle one being of especial interest, could not fail to win attention. But everything in the stellar field pales before the brilliancy of Sirius, the dog-star."

James Bonwick, Egyptian Belief and Modern Thought (325) "Sothis was the harbinger of the annual inundation of the Nile through her appearance with the rising sun at the time when the inundation was due to begin. The bright star would therefore naturally become, together with the conjoined constellation of Orion, the sign and symbol of new vegetation which the Year then beginning would infallibly bring with it."

Dr. John Gwyn Griffiths, The Origins of Osiris and His Cult (157) Much has been made of the gospel account of the "star in the east" followed by "wise men" from afar, claimed to have heralded the birth of the newborn savior of the world. Over the centuries, various supposedly scientific theories have been put forth concerning this purported phenomenon that turn out to be all for naught, because this theme reveals itself to be an old mythical motif. In actuality, many ancient gods, kings and heroes were said to have been born under a "bright star" or some other sort of celestial sign, indicating their greatness and role as "savior" as well. Despite protests to the contrary, this heavenly theme is obviously astrological and astrotheological in nature, dating back centuries to millennia prior to the common era. Indeed, like so many other religious and mythological correspondences, the "bright star" and the "three kings" represent motifs that long predate Christianity and are found within Egyptian religion, symbolizing the star Sirius as well as those of the constellation called Orion, along with their relationship to Osiris, Isis and Horus.

In the gospel story, Jesus's birth is signaled by a bright star and a visit from wise men or magi, as they are termed in the New Testament, representing Persian astrologers following the star. Despite the stellar brilliance and obviousness, this tracking was apparently not a simple act, since these "wise men" are depicted as nevertheless illogically becoming hopelessly lost and must ask Christ's enemy King Herod for assistance.[919] Herod points the wise men in the right direction, but he too evidently becomes so discombobulated that, instead of following his own instructions to find Jesus, he needs to slaughter all of the children in the village, a heinous act that can be found nowhere in the historical record and would be rather deplorable for the all-powerful God/Jesus to allow in order to save his own neck. In any event, although in the gospels these magi are not numbered, their gifts are counted as three, and over the centuries tradition has set them at three as well. Hence, the familiar tale is that Jesus's birth was accompanied by a "star in the east" and "three wise men." These three wise men were also said to be "kings," as in the popular Christmas song, "We Three Kings." At a certain point the three kings were given names, Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar, and the mythmaking continued.

Coincidentally, there happen to be three very conspicuous stars in the "belt" of the constellation of Orion that are also called the "Three Kings." Moreover, as French philosopher Simone Weil (1909-1943), herself a Christian, remarked, "The Christians named the three stars of Orion the Magi,"[920] revealing esoteric knowledge of Christian astrotheology, regardless of when it was first adopted. In addition, one of the brightest stars in the sky is that of Sirius, which, along with Orion, was a favorite of the Egyptian priesthood for thousands of years, keen observers of the skies as they were, and well aware of astronomical phenomena. Not a few people have thus equated this bright star and these wise men in Christian tradition with these revered celestial bodies within Egyptian and other mythologies.

Concerning the "Three Kings" who supposedly appeared in the gospel drama, S.C. Gould states: The "Three Kings" or Orion.... The kings referred to are generally believed to be the "three shepherd-kings" who are said to have followed the Star of Bethlehem at the Nativity of Jesus the Christ. Their names are given as Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar; while the names of the "three star-kings" are Alnitak, Anilam, and Mintaka. These three stars always point to the Pleiades or Seven Stars on one side, and to Sirius or the Dog-Star on the other side.[921]

In reality, rather than representing a "historical" event surrounding the birth of a superhuman Jewish messiah and divine Son of God, the stellar appearance at the coming of the savior can be found in the myths of Egypt, particularly concerning Osiris, Isis and Horus.

A Sirius Star.

The coming of Osiris-the savior of Egypt-was associated with the "Star in the East" because the Egyptians recognized that the rising of Sirius with the sun, or "heliacally," occurred around the summer solstice, the time of the Nile flooding. This discussion of Sirius provides an example of how the astrotheology of the ancient world may be hidden beneath poetic but oblique language: For instance, in CT Sp. 567 appears a reference to the star Sirius or Sothis, who "speaks to me in her good time."[922] Reading this passage, few might guess that this ambiguous language is likely referring to the "regular heliacal rising of the star."[923] In any event, life along the Nile was highly dependent upon the inundation associated with the heliacal rising of Sirius, a flood deified as Osiris, who was said to be "born" at that time. Concerning this event, Frazer relates: And the sign of the rising waters on earth was accompanied by a sign in heaven. For in the early days of Egyptian history, some three or four thousand years before the beginning of our era, the splendid star of Sirius, the brightest of all fixed stars, appeared at dawn in the east just before sunrise about the time of the summer solstice, when the Nile begins to rise. The Egyptians called it Sothis, and regarded it as the star of Isis, just as Babylonians deemed the planet Venus the star of Astarte. To both peoples apparently the brilliant luminary in the morning sky seemed the goddess of life and love come to mourn her departed lover or spouse and to wake him from the dead. Hence the rising of Sirius marked the beginning of the sacred Egyptian year, and was regularly celebrated by a festival which did not shift with the shifting official year.[924]

Thus, this important association of Sirius-"Sothis" in the Greek and "Sepdet" or "Sopdet" in the Egyptian[925]-with the life-giving Nile flood began some 5,000 to 6,000 years ago. Hence, the "Star in the East" heralded the birth of the Egyptian Messiah thousands of years before the Christian era. This annual birth of Osiris was also a resurrection, as the goddess Sopdet "woke him from the dead." In addition, whereas the planet Venus was considered the "morning star" in the Middle East and elsewhere, in Egypt Sirius was also designated as the morning star. Furthermore, that there was a "shifting official year" needs to be kept in mind, as it explains a number of the difficulties and discrepancies encountered in the Egyptian calendar, or calendars, as we have seen.

As part of the changing Egyptian calendar, five epagomenal days were eventually added to the old calendar of 360 days, the first of these five constituting Osiris's birthday, while his brother Horus ("the Elder") was born the next day. This period came to represent the beginning of the "Egyptian sacred year." Therefore, it could be said that, with Sirius preceding the inundation and new year, the star in the east announced the births of both Osiris and Horus.

Regarding the role of Sirius/Sothis in Egyptian mythology, in The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts, James Allen states: Sothis (spdt "Sharp"). The morning star, Sirius, seen by the Egyptians as a goddess. In Egypt the star disappears below the horizon once a year for a period of some seventy days; its reappearance in midsummer marked the beginning of the annual inundation and the Egyptian year. The star's rising was also seen as a harbinger of the sunrise and therefore associated with Horus in his solar aspect, occasionally specified as Horus in Sothis (hrw jmj spdt), Sothic Horus (hrw spdtj), or Sharp Horus (hrw spd).[926]

Thus, sometime around the middle of April, Sirius could no longer be seen on the horizon, until its reemergence at the summer solstice, starting a new cycle. As noted, Sirius is identified with Isis: "Sirius, the herald of flooding of the Nile, was the star of the goddess Isis, consort to the great god Osiris, who was represented by the constellation of Orion."[927] Indeed, in CT Sp. 837 appears the epithet "Osiris as Orion..."[928]

In the Egyptian writings, Osiris is linked with Sirius/Sothis on many occasions: For example, the deceased as "the Osiris" is "the brother of the moon, he is the child of the star Sothis, he revolves in heaven like Osiris and Sothis, and he rises in his place like a star."[929] According to another legend, the Osiris "becomes like the morning star, near his sister Sothis." There he "lived in the form of the star Sothis."[930] Osiris is like Sothis, which is his sister, usually identified as Isis, but sometimes also as Hathor.[931] In one Pyramid Text (PT 263:341c/W 173), the Osiris's sister is Sothis, while one of his female relatives, either his sister or his mother, is the "morning star."[932] At another point (PT 509:1123b) the morning star is the Osiris's "guide,"[933] indicating Sirius rising with the sun in the morning at the summer solstice, signaling the arrival of the god as the life-renewing Nile. At PT 593:1636a/M 206, Sirius's announcement of Osiris is also discussed in terms of the god spreading his "seed" or "semen" upon Isis in order to create Horus, an event representing the Nile overflowing its banks and bringing fecundating waters to the ever-renewing virgin soil. Once more, Horus's birth is announced by a bright star. At PT 569:1437a/P 508, the deceased also was essentially identified with Sothis, such that the star's "birth" itself would be prevented from happening if the Osiris were not allowed into heaven.[934] Moreover, as Jesus in the biblical Book of Revelation (22:16) is the morning star, so too in the Pyramid Texts (PT 676:2014b/N 411) is Osiris the "morning star,"[935] as is Horus, previously noted.

In addition, PT 593:1636b/M 206 states: "Horus the pointed has come forth from thee, in his name of 'Horus who was in Sothis.'"[936] "Horus in Sothis," therefore, refers to when the sun rises with Sirius. Again, in ancient texts we find the birth of Horus the sun associated with the star in the east.

In BD 65, the deceased, as Horus, pleads, "May I rise up, a Babe [from between] the knees of Sothis, when they close together."[937] Regarding this passage, Renouf remarks, "The knees of a goddess are frequently mentioned in connection with the birth of a divinity. Here the Babe is mentioned (cf. opening of Chapter 42), and the closing of the knees."[938] The word Renouf translates as "rise up" also means "live." In BD 42, Renouf identifies "the Babe" as the "rising sun," while the speaker repeatedly calls himself "Horus."[939] Hence, the Babe-Horus-asks to be born from Sothis, representing both Sirius and Isis. Indeed, in BD 101, Horus is said to "reside in Sothis,"[940] once more representing Sirius's rising with the sun. Thus, yet again, Horus is said to be born as the sun rises in conjunction with the star in the east.

The bright star in the east was associated not only with Isis, Osiris, Horus and Hathor but also with the god Anubis, the "Dog-Headed," an epithet of Sirius as well.[941] In her analysis of the myth of the Bright Star and Three Wise Men, mythologist Barbara Walker states: The star of Anubis was Sothis (Sirius), the Eye of the Dog, in Greek, Canopis. Sirius is the star forming the "eye" of Canis Major, the Great Dog. It is the brightest star in the sky. Egyptians believed it held the soul of Osiris, whose rebirth coincided with the rising of the Nile flood, when his star rose in the east. "Three wise men" pointed the way to the newborn Savior: the three stars in Orion's belt, which form a line pointing to Sirius.[942]

Regarding Sirius as Canis Major, Bonwick remarks, "This heavenly dog barked a warning for the people to shift to higher ground, and to have their canals and ditches ready for the overflow of the Nile."[943] Griffiths concurs that "the inundation of the Nile was often connected by the Egyptians with the heliacal rising of the star Sothis (the Dog Star, Sirius), seen in the constellation of Orion."[944] To summarize, the three wise men serve as pointers for the star in the east, which in turn announces the savior of Egypt.

Orion and the Three Kings.

As important as Sirius was to life in Egypt, associated with the renewal of the land around the Nile and thus memorialized in Egyptian religion and mythology, so too did the constellation of Orion figure prominently in Egyptian culture. In fact, it was observed that, as the rising of Sirius signaled the beginning of the summer solstice and its life-giving inundation of the Nile, the rising of Orion, with its three distinct stars acting as a pointer, signified the end of the flooding, towards the winter solstice: "The Nile flood...its coming and going heralded by the stars of Sirius and Orion, was without parallel."[945] Explaining the correlation between Sirius and Orion, Egyptologist Dr. Bojana Mojsov comments: Both Sirius and Orion were related to the Nile flood. The ascent of Sirius during the third week in June heralded the beginning of the Nile's steady rise. By August in Upper Egypt, and September in the north, the river swelled to its full capacity. Then, stars from the constellation of Orion emerged in the night sky after being invisible for seventy days. At this time, the river began to abate. By November, it was back in its bed.[946]

The ascent of Orion could not have failed to impress its observers: "The heliacal rising of Orion occurs before that of Sirius, so, star by star, Osiris was revealed by this most magnificent of constellations straddling the celestial equator."[947]

The name for Orion in the Egyptian is Sahou, Sahu, Saah or Sah, mentioned several times in the Book of the Dead, but more frequently in the Pyramid Texts (e.g., PT 274:408c/W 180b), in which "he" is called the "father of the gods,"[948] among other epithets. PT 442:819c-822b/P 38 demonstrates that Orion is identified with Osiris: "Look, he is come as Orion," (they say). "Look, Osiris is come as Orion..." The sky shall conceive you with Orion, the morning-star shall give you birth with Orion. Live! Live, as the gods have commanded you live. With Orion in the eastern arm of the sky shall you go up, with Orion in the western arm of the sky shall you go down. Sothis, whose places are clean, is the third of you two: she is the one who will lead you...[949]

In this passage Osiris is Orion, which in turn is a marker for the soul's journey, as led by Sothis/Sirius. The command by the Horus-priest for the Osiris to "live, live as the gods have commanded you to live" demonstrates the main purpose of the funerary/mortuary literature in resurrecting the deceased.

Concerning the relationship between Orion, Sirius and the Egyptian deities, Dr. Mojsov further states: The constellation of Orion was linked with Osiris: "He has come as Orion. Osiris has come as Orion," proclaim the Pyramid Texts. Sirius and Orion, Isis and Osiris, inseparable in heaven as on earth, heralded the inundation and the rebirth of life. Their appearance in the sky was a measure of time and a portent of great magnitude. In historic times, both occasions were always marked by celebrations.[950]

As we can see, the annual emergence of both Sirius and Orion were closely noted and commemorated, meaning that these celestial events factored significantly in the minds of possibly millions of Egyptians for thousands of years. Moreover, the "rebirth of life" in Osiris-his resurrection on Earth-constitutes an annual event, in the Nile's flooding.

Regarding Orion's role in Egyptian religion and mythology, Krupp recounts: The pharaoh also makes another celestial journey: to Orion. This constellation is a symbol of the soul's rebirth because Orion stood for Osiris and the great cycle of birth, life, death, and resurrection.[951]

Again, Orion is associated with the resurrection or rebirth of Osiris. Orion was so important in Egypt that the Great Pyramid was aligned to it, as also related by Krupp: Meanwhile, the stars in Orion's belt, the objective of the south shaft, were among the decans, the stars whose rising or transits marked the hours of the night throughout the Egyptian year. Orion, of course, was Osiris, who presided over the resurrection of souls.[952]

As noted, within the constellation of Orion, "the Hunter," are three bright stars said to make up his "belt." Concerning these stars, in The Geography of the Heavens renowned Christian astronomer Elijah Hinsdale Burritt (1794-1838) remarks: They are sometimes denominated the Three Kings, because they point out the Hyades and Pleiades on one side, and Sirius, or the Dog-star, on the other. In Job they are called the Bands of Orion...[953]

The biblical Book of Job (38:32) also contains reference to the Mazzaroth, or "zodiac," and demonstrates significant astronomical knowledge, an important fact in consideration of the contention that, centuries later, the Jewish priesthood rehashed the Egyptian astrotheology in its "midrashic" or fictitious account of Jesus Christ. Additionally, in the biblical text of Amos (5:8) appears a reference to him "that maketh the seven stars and Orion," the latter being the Pleiades, of course. (KJV) Interestingly, one of the stars in Orion is name Meissa, meaning "shining one" in Arabic,[954] "moonlike" in Hindi and the "one who is coming forth" in Hebrew,[955] as in the concept of the Messiah. Regarding the "magi" or Chaldean priests, Dean of Canterbury Dr. Frederic William Farrar (18311903) remarks, "That the Jews and their Rabbis had borrowed many astrological notions from the Chaldaeans, and that they connected these notions with the advent of the Messiah, is certain."[956]

As noted, the three highly visible "king-stars" of the splendid constellation of Orion are named Mintaka, Aniltak and Anilam or Alnilam, the latter of which means "string of pearls," while the former two signify "belt."[957] The statement in the Egyptian texts that Sothis "leads Orion" thus constitutes the motif of the bright star followed by these three "kings," which have also been called the "three kings of the soothsayers,"[958] a title that may indicate the antiquity of this royal appellation.

Furthermore, while Isis was identified with Sirius/Sothis, according to Plutarch (21, 359D) "the soul of Horus is called Orion,"[959] essentially equating Horus with Osiris. Hence, the three "king-stars" following the bright star represent both Osiris and Horus, to the point, in fact, that they are pertinent to the birth of the solar savior at the winter solstice as well as the summer solstice in the inundation of the Nile.

Indeed, the bright star Sirius rose with the sun at the summer solstice, signaling the birth of Osiris as the Nile inundation and the birth of Horus as the daily solar orb. In winter, the Three Kings in the belt of Orion pointed to Sirius at night before the annual birth of the sun, which, as we have seen, is also Horus.

Regarding the Three Kings and the Star in the East at the winter solstice or "December 25th," philosopher Edward Carpenter (1844-1929) states: Go out next Christmas Evening, and at midnight you will see the brightest of the fixed stars, Sirius blazing in the southern sky-not however due south from you, but somewhat to the left of the Meridian line. Some three thousand years ago (owing to the Precession of the Equinoxes) that star at the winter solstice did not stand at midnight where you now see it, but almost exactly on the meridian line. The coming of Sirius therefore to the meridian at midnight became the sign and assurance of the Sun having reached the very lowest point of his course, and therefore having arrived at the moment of his re-birth.[960]

The appearance of the three stars in a line with Sirius occurred in the night sky over Egypt thousands of years ago, pointing to the horizon as the new sun was born at the winter solstice. Thus, it could be asserted that the three kings trailing the bright star announced the birth of the savior at the winter solstice in Egypt, ages prior to the same event purportedly taking place in Judea.

To these themes, Gerald Massey adds: The birthplace of the "coming one" as it passed from sign to sign was indicated by the typical "star in the east," and the Star in the East will afford undeniable data for showing the mythical and celestial origin of the gospel history. When the divine child is born, the wise men or magi declare that they have seen his star in the east. The wise men are identified as the Three Kings of other legends who are not to be derived from the canonical gospels.... When the birthplace was in the sign of the Bull, the Star in the East that arose to announce the birth of the babe was Orion, which is therefore called the star of Horus. That was once the star of the three kings; for the "three kings" is still a name of three stars in Orion's belt; and in the hieroglyphs a three-looped string is a symbol of Sahu, i.e., the constellation Orion. Orion was the star of the Three Kings which rose to show the time and place of birth in heaven some 6,000 years ago, when the vernal equinox was in the sign of the Bull...[961]

In Plato's Second Letter/Epistle II (2.312E)-predating the common era by centuries, if genuine-we find a discussion of the "Three Kings," who are identified by Latin writer Amelius (3rd cent.) with the Neoplatonic "three Intellects and Demiurges," as well as with "the three whom Orpheus celebrates under the names of Phanes, Ouranos, and Cronus."[962] Since Orion is speculated to be derived etymologically from the Akkadian Uru-Anna,[963] is it possible that "Ouranos" is also a cognate? In any event, in this Platonic example we possess "Three Kings" who are astrotheological, as in the Orion mythos and possibly serving as a foreshadowing of the motif within Christianity.

That the Egyptians were well aware not only of the constellation of Orion as a whole but also the three very bright stars in its belt is demonstrated by the fact that the hieroglyph for Orion represents a "three-looped string."[964] In the past decades, there has been an effort to link these three stars to the pyramids at Giza, representing their builders, traditionally held to be three kings of Egypt.[965] Could it be that in ancient times the Egyptians themselves likewise associated the pyramid builders with Orion's belt, to the point of naming the stellar group "the three kings?" Since the deceased king is Osiris, and Osiris is Orion, it is possible the connection was made at some point also in antiquity. In any event, by whatever name, the Egyptians were well aware of the three belt stars and incorporated them into their mythology as "heralds" of the great savior, as, apparently, did the Christians.

Stellar Commonality.