Published in 1879, Kersey Graves' The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors is a provocative and controversial work that has intrigued and infuriated readers for over a century. Its central thesis is as audacious as its title: the story of Jesus Christ—including his divine birth, miraculous life, crucifixion, and resurrection—is not a unique historical event but a recurring mythological archetype found in cultures long predating Christianity. Graves aimed to demonstrate that Christianity was merely the latest incarnation of a universal solar myth and astrological allegory shared by numerous ancient religions.
Graves compiles a list of sixteen figures from various cultures whom he claims share striking parallels with the Christ story. His list includes:
Krishna of India: Said to be born of a virgin (Devaki), his birth heralded by angels, performed miracles, was crucified, and resurrected.
Horus of Egypt: Born of the virgin Isis, baptized by Anup, had twelve disciples, performed miracles, was crucified, and resurrected.
Attis of Phrygia: Born of a virgin (Nana), crucified, and resurrected.
Mithra of Persia: Born of a virgin on December 25th, had twelve disciples, performed miracles, was buried and resurrected, and was known as "The Good Shepherd."
Graves argues that the accumulation of these parallels—virgin births, star-led wise men, healing miracles, crucifixions, and resurrections—across different eras and continents cannot be coincidental. He posits that these stories originated from ancient astrological worship, where the life of a "sun god" was a allegory for the annual solar cycle (e.g., the sun being "crucified" at the winter solstice and "resurrecting" three days later as the days begin to lengthen).
The book was a product of its time, emerging from the 19th-century comparative religion movement and the freethought and atheist activism that challenged the literal truth and divine authority of the Bible. For skeptics and religious liberals, Graves' work became a foundational text, cited as evidence that Christianity was a fabricated religion built on pre-existing pagan myths. It empowered critics to argue that Jesus was not a historical figure but a syncretic myth, and that Christian doctrines were therefore not divine revelations but human inventions.
However, the book has been heavily criticized by scholars—both theological and secular—for over a century. The primary criticisms are:
Factual Inaccuracies and Misinterpretation: Graves is accused of misrepresenting his sources, taking myths out of context, and sometimes outright inventing details to force a parallel. For example, scholars of Egyptian religion state that Horus was not born of a virgin (Isis was a widow who used magic to conceive with Osiris's body), was not crucified, and had no twelve disciples.
Lack of Rigor: The book is not a work of academic scholarship. It lacks rigorous source criticism, fails to account for the historical development of these myths, and often relies on outdated or questionable sources.
The "Pagan Copy" Theory: Modern scholarship largely rejects the simple idea that Christianity directly copied pagan myths. A more nuanced view is that early Christians used familiar Hellenistic and Jewish literary motifs and themes to communicate their message about Jesus, which explains some parallels without requiring a theory of wholesale borrowing.
Despite its scholarly flaws, The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors remains a culturally significant work. It is a landmark in the history of religious criticism and a classic of freethought literature. It forces a crucial question about the nature of religious belief: are religions based on unique, historical events, or do they express universal human hopes and fears through shared, archetypal stories? While its methods are disputed, its enduring impact lies in its powerful challenge to religious exclusivity and its bold argument for a common mythological heritage across human civilization.
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