Indo-European Origins For The Crucified God

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yakovzutolmai
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Indo-European Origins For The Crucified God

Post by yakovzutolmai »

Naively, Jesus has been linked to Mithras. There are strong parallels of course, and many see Sol Invictus as a Semitic/Syrian bridge between the Taurid/Indo-European Mithras and the Jewish Christ. In parallels, that is.

However, what if there was a direct Indo-European source for the novel elements of Christian mythology. For example, a god hung from a tree.

Curiously, Odin is crucified to a tree. The connection is perplexing and not really explored by anyone. Yet, the parallels are amazing.

I have previously argued that the father of Jewish Izates of Babylon, Bazeus Monobazus, might be connected to Sabazios. The Phrygian/Taurid god. Armenian history emphasizes that the predecessor to the Christian, letter writing Abgar of Edessa was an "Arsham". In the history of Arsham he controls a large empire of what Moses of Chorene calls "Lower Armenia" AKA Mesopotamia. His capital was Nisibis, and essential to that capital was his collection of idols. The story in Josephus of Anileus and Asineus has a Jewish robber state of the Euphrates, centered at Nisibis. A prominent woman is captured and Anileus marries her. She has a collection of important idols she worships.

I'm diving a bit deep, but pre-Islamic Mecca held a collection of important idols, and a black stone. Emesa had an important black stone, and Hatra had important idols. I have speculated that the Neo-Assyrians stole the idols of Arab kingdoms, which in Babylonian logic means that the gods are held hostage. A "Babylonian Captivity" at Avignon of the early Iron Age. I have perceived a persistent loyalty of Arabs to Assyria even by Roman times, and I speculate that these idols and their possession is part of the reason. The latter importance of Mecca could, in theory, pertain to exactly the same physical idols. The successors to the Neo-Assyrians would have held these idols, and that appears to be the royal family of Adiabene. So, there is a synthesis of themes. Adiabene, Nisibis and idols. Also Armenia.

It should be noted that in the Parthian era, Armenia is the keeper of the Achaemenid flame. There, via heavy syncretism, lives the religious system of the Zoroastrians.

I interpret Mithras and Sabazios as products of contemporary Armenian/Anatolian religious evolutions.

Given the prominence of Arsham as a master or keeper of religious idols and secrets, I can interpret Bazeus Monobazus as a god-king in the cult of Sabazios. Bazeus may come from that etymology. Again, Moses of Chorene emphasizes how this New NeoAssyria orients toward Southern Armenia AKA Kurdistan (Corduene where Noah's Ark lies, Carra the land gifted to Izates). This is almost a homeland of this kind of Anatolian cult.

I have interpreted Anileus and Asineus, not only as Izates and Monobazus II, but as the Boanerges. The sons of the tumult. If so, this makes Zebedaois into Sabazios.

This also explains why Romans thought Jews (Chrestian?) worshipped Sabazios. It wasn't a translation error. Perhaps these were Chrestian Jews in the cult of Adiabene??

If Sabazios enters into Jewish theology via the cult centered on Izates and his father, the this is how Indo-European forms enter into Christianity. Sabazios is a form of Odin.

I see Odin as overlapping the Greek "Iapetus". Odin's spear relates to the etymology of Iapetus (and this is Japheth, by the way). Odin is, in a way Mercury and Mitra (not Mithras). mr is your Mercury, Mitra and probably (early) Mars. Prometheus and Atlas, sons of Iapetus, are forms of Mitra. Oaths, covenants, prophecy. A god involved with mankind and it's faith.

So, I see these elements, via a Mithraic cult, through Sabazios, entering into Christianity through Adiabene.
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MrMacSon
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Re: Indo-European Origins For The Crucified God

Post by MrMacSon »

fwiw,

Transformation to Sabazius
Transference of Sabazios to the Roman world appears to have been mediated in large part through Pergamum.[13] The naturally syncretic approach of Greek religion blurred distinctions. Later Greek writers, like Strabo in the first century CE, linked Sabazios with Zagreus, among Phrygian ministers and attendants of the sacred rites of Rhea and Dionysos ... surviving inscriptions...are entirely to Zeus Sabazios ...

13. Lane, Eugene N. 'Sabazius and the Jews in Valerius Maximus: A Re-Examination,' The Journal of Roman Studies 69 (1979): 35–38. https://doi.org/10.2307/299057

Jewish connection
The first Jews who settled in Rome were expelled in 139 BCE, along with Chaldaean astrologers by Cornelius Hispalus under a law which proscribed the propagation of the "corrupting" cult of "Jupiter Sabazius", according to the epitome of a lost book of Valerius Maximus:
  • Gnaeus Cornelius Hispalus, praetor peregrinus in the year of the consulate of Marcus Popilius Laenas and Lucius Calpurnius, ordered the astrologers by an edict to leave Rome and Italy within ten days, since by a fallacious interpretation of the stars they perturbed fickle and silly minds, thereby making profit out of their lies. The same praetor compelled the Jews, who attempted to infect the Roman custom with the cult of Jupiter Sabazius, to return to their homes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabazios


Chrissy Hansen
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Re: Indo-European Origins For The Crucified God

Post by Chrissy Hansen »

Um, just a note...

Odin's crucifixion story is only attested in post-Christianizing texts. The Prose and Poetic Edda, for instance, are both post-Christianization in their current forms, and many parts of Norse mythology show syncretism with Christianity, such as Ragnorok. So the idea that Odin is an attestation of Indo-European crucifixion is lacking nuance. This has all been long known to old Norse historians. We are fairly certain that this is not original to Nordic religion but is a merging of Odin's word-making/run-giving tradition with Christian crucifixion narratives.
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