The Virgin Birth (3)
The Tradition Continues
By the time Jesus lived, anyone who was anyone had to have a virgin birth!| Read the lists below in detail if you want, or just read this then go to the next page:- There were lots and lots of "heroes" in those days about whom myths of virgin birth grew up. |
Others who were said to have been virgin born include:
The Emperor Julius Caesar, virgin born and a god.
Hercules,
Dionysus,
Krishna,
Horus
Buddha,
Egyptian gods Ra and Apis
Egyptian queen Hetshepsut
Pharoah Amenophis III
Persian "prophet" Zoroaster
Melchizedek, biblical High Priest and King of Salem
Persian king Cyrus
Plato, "the divine" and "son of Apollo"
Apollonius of Tyana, Greek sage
Later, Taliesin, Merlin and Llew Llaw of the British Isles
Chinese philosophers Fohi and Lao-Kium
In Pagan and Christian Creeds, Carpenter recites a long list of virgin mothers:
Semele was visited by Zeus, father of the gods, in the form of a thunderstorm; and she gave birth to the great saviour and deliverer Dionysus.
Zeus, again, impregnated Danae in a shower of gold; and the child was Perseus.
Devaki, the radiant Virgin of the Hindu mythology, became the wife of the god Vishnu and bore Krishna, the beloved hero and prototype of Christ.
With regard to Buddha, St. Jerome says "It is handed down among the Gymnosophists of India that Buddha, the founder of their system, was brought forth by a Virgin from her side."
The Egyptian Isis, with the child Horus on her knee, was honored centuries before the Christian era, and worshipped under the names of "Our Lady," "Queen of Heaven," "Star of the Sea," "Mother of God," and so forth.
Neith, the Virgin of the World, whose figure bends from the sky over the earthly plains and the children of men, was acclaimed as mother of the great god Osiris.
The saviour Mithra, too, was born of a Virgin; and on Mithraist monuments the mother suckling her child is not an uncommon figure.
The old Teutonic goddess Hertha (the Earth) was a Virgin, but was impregnated by the heavenly Spirit (the Sky); and her image with a child in her arms was to be seen in the sacred groves of Germany. The Scandinavian Frigga, in much the same way, being caught in the embraces of Odin, the All-father, conceived and bore a son, the blessed Balder, healer and saviour of mankind.
Quetzalcoatl, the (crucified) saviour of the Aztecs, was the son of Chimalman, the Virgin Queen of Heaven. Even the Chinese had a mother-goddess and virgin with child in her arms; and the ancient Etruscans the same.
Carpenter also mentions the black virgin mothers found all over the Mediterranean and especially in Italian churches, representing not only Isis but also Mary, having been refigured or "baptized anew" as the "Jewish" Mother of God.
Here is a fuller list of virgin mothers:
Alcmene, mother of Hercules who gave birth on December 25th
Alitta, Babylonian Madonna and Child
Anat, Syrian wife of "the earlier Supreme God El," called "Virgin Goddess"
Cavillaca, Peruvian huaca (divine spirit) impregnated by the "son of the sun god" through eating his semen in the shape of a fruit
Chimalman, mother of Kukulcan
Chinese mother of Foe (Buddha)
Coatlicue, mother of the Mexican god Huitzilopochtli
Cybele, "Queen of Heaven and Mother of God"
Danae, mother of Perseus
Demeter/Ceres, "Holy Virgin" mother of Persephone/Kore and Dionysus
Devaki, mother of Krishna
Frigga, mother of the Scandinavian god Balder
Hera, mother of Zeus's children
Hertha, Teutonic goddess
Isis, who gave birth to Horus on December 25th
Juno, mother of Mars/Ares, called "Matrona" and "Virginalis," the Mother and Virgin
Mandana, mother of Cyrus/Koresh
Maya, mother of Buddha
Mother of Lao-kiun, "Chinese philosopher and teacher, born in 604 B.C."
Mother of the Indian solar god Rudra
Nana, mother of Attis
Neith, mother of Osiris, who was "worshipped as the Holy Virgin, the Great Mother, yet an Immaculate Virgin."
Nutria, mother of an Etruscan Son of God
Ostara, the German goddess
Rohini, mother of Indian "son of God"
Semele, mother of Dionysus/Bacchus, who was born on December 25th
Shin-Moo, Chinese Holy Mother
Siamese mother of Somonocodom (Buddha)
Sochiquetzal, mother of Quetzalcoatl
Vari, Polynesian "First Mother," who created her children "by plucking pieces out of her sides."
Venus, the "Virgo Coelestis" depicted as carrying a child.
These lists extracted from http://www.truthbeknown.com/virgin.htm
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Geoff Mather 2007
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