06-20-2008, 09:44 PM
From the link provided by Husky above:
How Jesus got a life
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->When Hipparchus discovered that the vernal equinox had been displaced from Taurus into Aries, he or some of his disciples felt that they had detected the labor of a hitherto unknown god. (Many Greeks felt that each natural phenomenon or physical force was actually the working of a particular god.) For astrological reasons, this new god was identified with the ancient Persian god Mithra. The mystery religion known as Mithraism thus was born. [12] Mithra was installed as a Time-Lord or chronocrat, the god who would rule over the Age or Aeon of Aries.
By the time Hipparchus and his Stoic colleagues understood that the vernal equinox had moved from Taurus into Aries, the equinox was almost out of Aries as well. Very soon it would move into Pisces, and a new Time-Lord would be needed. Just as movement of the equinox out of Taurus had been symbolized as the sacrifice of a bull [13], so too, the movement out of Aries would come to be symbolized by the sacrifice of a lamb. The first symbol of the new-age religion, the religion reigning in the age of Pisces, significantly, would be the fish. [14] (The cross, apparently, was originally the Greek letter chi ©, which reminds us of the intersection of the celestial equator with the ecliptic at an acute angle.) It is not surprising that in the oldest epitaphs and inscriptions it is actually two fish that were used to symbolize the New-Age cult - making the symbol of Christianity identical to the astrological symbol for Pisces, in obedience to the fact that Pisces is plural: the fishes. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Mitra is one of the Aditya-s in Vedic pantheon. There are 12 Aditya-s. It is easy to make the connection with the 12 zodiacal signs through which the Sun moves during the year. Aditya-s are also called the solar deities.
Mithra's iconography shows him slaying a bull. It also shows a close connection with the Orion constellation of stars. The Taurus constellation is next to the Orion and Orion the hunter is supposed to be slaying Taurus the bull. Many depictions of Mithra have been identified as representing the Orion-Taurus constellation.
Prominence of Mitra as an Aditya could possibly be traced to a period when, the equinox occurred in Taurus. Shifting of the equinoxes is also attested to in Indian texts using the name of the nakshatra denoting the occurrence of the equinox.
This is quite a provocative argument that a search for a new Aditya for the age of the Pisces, culminated in an interesting confluence of Greek astronomy, Mithraic religion, Jewish expectation of a Messiah and Roman imperial drive to use the forces released for the purposes of empire building, which finally led to the creation Christianity.
How Jesus got a life
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->When Hipparchus discovered that the vernal equinox had been displaced from Taurus into Aries, he or some of his disciples felt that they had detected the labor of a hitherto unknown god. (Many Greeks felt that each natural phenomenon or physical force was actually the working of a particular god.) For astrological reasons, this new god was identified with the ancient Persian god Mithra. The mystery religion known as Mithraism thus was born. [12] Mithra was installed as a Time-Lord or chronocrat, the god who would rule over the Age or Aeon of Aries.
By the time Hipparchus and his Stoic colleagues understood that the vernal equinox had moved from Taurus into Aries, the equinox was almost out of Aries as well. Very soon it would move into Pisces, and a new Time-Lord would be needed. Just as movement of the equinox out of Taurus had been symbolized as the sacrifice of a bull [13], so too, the movement out of Aries would come to be symbolized by the sacrifice of a lamb. The first symbol of the new-age religion, the religion reigning in the age of Pisces, significantly, would be the fish. [14] (The cross, apparently, was originally the Greek letter chi ©, which reminds us of the intersection of the celestial equator with the ecliptic at an acute angle.) It is not surprising that in the oldest epitaphs and inscriptions it is actually two fish that were used to symbolize the New-Age cult - making the symbol of Christianity identical to the astrological symbol for Pisces, in obedience to the fact that Pisces is plural: the fishes. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Mitra is one of the Aditya-s in Vedic pantheon. There are 12 Aditya-s. It is easy to make the connection with the 12 zodiacal signs through which the Sun moves during the year. Aditya-s are also called the solar deities.
Mithra's iconography shows him slaying a bull. It also shows a close connection with the Orion constellation of stars. The Taurus constellation is next to the Orion and Orion the hunter is supposed to be slaying Taurus the bull. Many depictions of Mithra have been identified as representing the Orion-Taurus constellation.
Prominence of Mitra as an Aditya could possibly be traced to a period when, the equinox occurred in Taurus. Shifting of the equinoxes is also attested to in Indian texts using the name of the nakshatra denoting the occurrence of the equinox.
This is quite a provocative argument that a search for a new Aditya for the age of the Pisces, culminated in an interesting confluence of Greek astronomy, Mithraic religion, Jewish expectation of a Messiah and Roman imperial drive to use the forces released for the purposes of empire building, which finally led to the creation Christianity.