Prior to its celebration as
the birthday of Jesus Christ, the 25th of December/winter solstice
was the birthday for a number of other gods including Adonis,
Mithra and the Dionysus. So too, this annual celebration in Egypt
concerning the sun god, which represents the "birth" of the "new
sun" after the "old sun" "dies" around December 21st (in the
northern hemisphere), lying in his "tomb" or "cave" for three days
and on December 25th being "born again."...
The assertion that Horus's
mother was a virgin can also be found in the Book of the Dead, in
which the deceased identifies himself as Horus and says: "I know
that I have been conceived by Sechit and that I am born of
Neith."...
...in this ancient text we
possess an identification of the mother of Horus as the goddess
Neith, who is by all accounts a virgin mother from thousands of
years prior to the Christian era. In fact, some scholarship
provides for estimates of the pre-historic Neith's worship dating
back some 7,000 years.
The list of pre-Christian gods, heroes, kings and queens who
were said to have been "born of a virgin" or miraculously
born includes the following:
The Egyptian sun god Horus, who predated the Christ character by
thousands of years, shares the following in common with Jesus:
In addition, in the catacombs at Rome and elsewhere
are images of the baby Horus being held by the virgin mother
Isis--the original "Madonna and Child." Furthermore, inscribed
about 3,500 years ago on the walls of the Temple at Luxor were images of
a sort of "Annunciation," "Miraculous Conception," Birth and
Adoration of the pharaoh Amenhotep III (Horus), with Thoth
announcing to the queen that she will conceive; with the god Amun
impregnating the queen; and with the infant being attended by three
"kings" bearing gifts.