Thread by @travisdon1981

Was #Jesus based on #Asclepius, the #Greek #God of #Medicine?
Um, #NO, and here is why:

Asclepius (Roman Aesculapius) was the son of the Greek God Apollo (aka Phoebus, aka Apollon, etc) and Coronis, a mortal woman (in some versions she is a Nymph or lesser female spirit. In some versions his mother was a mortal named Arsinoe). Like Hercules, he was originally a

a demigod (half man half god), who, after his death, became a god (among other things, as we shall see).
Are Jesus Mythicists right about Jesus and Asclepius? Was Jesus based on him?
Let's see why the answer is a big fat NO:
Virgin birth?
No, Apollo had SEX with Coronis

(in some versions Arsinoe). Jesus Mythicists will protest, saying that both still had a miraculous conception, and thus a parallel still remains.
Oh, having sex with a god would be considered miraculous…and so would being able to conceive and give birth to a child despite being

barren and/or too old to conceive (Genesis 16-18:15 and 21:1-7, Judges 13:2-25, 1 Samuel 1:1-20, Luke 1:5-25, 39-45, 57-66).
Are Jesus Mythcists ever going to include Isaac, Samson, the Prophet Samuel’s and John the Baptist’s births into the ‘miraculous birth” category?
The vast,

vast VAST majority won’t even mention them; after all, those latter examples would undercut their argument.
Miraculous births are a dime a dozen in ancient religion and mythology; they’ll have to do better than that.
Born on December 25th?
No, and neither was Christ

(what a parallel there! Both not born on 1 particular day out of 365 in a year! Wow, there must be a connection!!! (🙄)
Visited by Wise men and Shepherd?
Asclepius wasn’t visited by wise men after he was born. After he was born, he was taken to Chiron, a wise Centaur, who taught

medicine. In one version of the tale (where Coronis leaves her newborn in the wilderness and runs off), a shepherd named Aresthanas found the newborn. One of his goats was nursing the Infant, while his dog was guarding it. Lightning flashed from the child (in some accounts he was

bathed in light), and turned away. In this latter version of the tale, we have a wise centaur, a shepherd and animals associated with the infant Asclepius, but the differences far outweigh the similarities. It’s not enough of a parallel to show that the Christmas story was based

on it (just as the similarities between the novella “Futility/Wreck of the Titan” and the Titanic disaster (which occurred 14 years later) mean that the latter was based on the former (and the parallels between those two are FAR FAR FAR greater than those of Christ and

Asclepius' ’ post-birth stories). Indeed, in the main version of the myth, Coronis is killed by Apollo (some sources say Artemis, Apollo’s twin sister) for cheating on him, and while she is on a burning pyre, Apollo (some sources say Hermes) pulls Asclepius out of her body.

No shepherds or animals in this version. Plus, the idea of a shepherd finding a child who has been abandoned to the wilderness to its fate (a common practice in the ancient world) would not have been unheard of: Shepherds tended their flocks in the wilderness, so they would be

among the most likely people to stumble upon a baby that has been abandoned to her or his fate. And remember: Jesus wasn’t abandoned, his mother didn’t die before or shortly after his birth (Luke 2:1-52, John 19:25-26), he wasn’t the product of intercourse, wasn’t nursed by a

goat, no dogs appear in the story, his story is monotheistic, not polytheistic, in nature, he didn’t glow (the halos we see on Jesus in paintings represent the artistic license of Christian artists, possibly borrowed from halos seen on Pagan iconography. Jesus is never described

as having a halo in the Bible), the shepherds didn’t turn away when they saw Christ (and there was more than one), etc.
Once again, the differences outnumber the similarities.
Life threatened when young?
True, Asclepius’ life was threatened when he was young: in the main

version of the myth Apollo (or Artemis) killed his mother while she was pregnant with him, Asclepius having to be pulled out of the womb and the burning pyre which his dead mother lay on. In the other version of the myth, Coronis herself left him to die in the wilderness.

In either account, he survived, just as Jesus survived Herod’s purge.
But…so what?
Moses’ life was threatened when he was a baby, and he survived (Exodus 1:22-10). Same goes for the King Joash (aka Jehoash) of Judah when he was an infant (2 Kings 11:1-21). According to Herodotus

, Cyrus the Great was likewise threatened while an infant, only to subsequently survive. So was Oedipus, Perseus, Hercules, etc. Though the Greek gods were thought immortal (i.e. being both everlasting and unkillable), we see elements of this threat in their myths, such as with

Apollo and Artemis (whose mother, the Titan Leto, grabbed her infant children and ran from a giant snake sent by Hera to attack them) and even with Zeus (Cronus, his father, swallowed all his children right after they were born, so that the prophecy that one of his own offspring

would dethrone him would never happen. After he was born, Zeus was replaced with a stone, which Cronus unknowingly swallowed. Zeus was whisked away to Crete in safety, and grew up).
Indeed, how many people in history where under threat as an infant, only to survive?

So much for this comparison.
Great healer? Resurrected the dead?
Yes…but not in the way you think.

You see, Asclepius was the inventor of the science of Medicine. Though some sources will state that his healing ability was due in part to his supernatural power as a demigod, ancient primary sources state that he healed people due to his medical knowledge, not magic. Indeed,

even his “power” to resurrect is not due to his magic; in some accounts, its due to using Medusa’ blood. While the blood on her left side was poisonous, the blood on her right had medicinal properties, including the ability to raise the dead. Though there is a magic element in

this account, it isn’t Asclepius’ magic; it’s the blood of Medusa’s! In some versions, it was Cretan herbs that he used, and in others it was a combo of Medusa’ blood, herbs and snake venom to do the trick. However, Diodorus Siculus

the ancient Greek historian, stated that the myth of Asclepius resurrecting people was just that…a myth. According to Diodorus in his “Library of History”, Asclepius healed sick people who were beyond hope of recovery, thus leading to the legend that he resurrected the dead.

Later, when he became the god of medicine, Asclepius was seen as having the supernatural ability to heal the sick, but this wasn’t a power that he had while on earth. There are ancient temple inscriptions of people who sought healing from Asclepius the god and supposedly received

it, and Jesus Mythicists will state that a few bear some similarities to healings in the Gospels. However…there are NUMEROUS such inscriptions, so if you look hard enough, you’ll eventually find some that match those of the gospels. Its not parallelism; its math!
Plus,

numerous gods were capable of healing people.
Big deal.
Crucified?
No, Zeus killed him with a thunderbolt.
Did he resurrect from the dead?

No, he didn’t physically resurrect. He did however become three different things:
1. a god.
2. The constellation Ophiucus
3. the plant Serpentaria
None of these are physical resurrections. The first two would be transformations (his essence or soul becoming a god and a

constellation), while the latter would be a reincarnation (though instead of becoming just a new living being, Asclepius becomes an entire species of plants!).
Now, some Jesus Mythicists will try to protest, saying that Ovid, in his epic work “Fasti” mentions that Jupiter aka

Zeus resurrects Asclepius. The passage in question reads as follows:
“Jupiter aimed a thunderbolt at him who used the resources of a too potent art. Phoebus, thou didst complain. But Aesculapius is a god, be reconciled to thy parent: he did himself for thy sake what he forbids

others to do.”
Another translation of the same passage is as follows:
“Jove (Zeus) feared the precedent and aimed his thunderbolt at the man who employed excessive art. Phoebus (Apollon), you whined. He is a god; smile at your father, who, for your sake, undoes his prohibitions

(i.e. when he attained immortality for Asclepius).
At first, it sounds like Jupiter/Zeus did resurrect Asclepius…until you read the context of the chapter. At the beginning of this section of the book ( Book 6, June 21rst. Starting at verse 733), It states the following:

“When that day also has been received by Galatea in her father’s waters, and all the world is sunk in untroubled sleep, there rises above the horizon the young man blasted by the bolts of his grandsire and stretches out his hands, entwined with twin snakes.”
Notice the holding of

the snakes? Notice the mention of the horizon?
Perhaps a different translation will make this more obvious:
“When that day’s sun has been received by Galatea, in her
Father’s waves, and the whole world is sunk in quiet sleep,
The young man blasted by his grandfather’s

lightning, rises,
OPHIUCUS, stretching out his hands circled by twin snakes” (Emphasis mine).
This is referring to the constellation Ophiucus, which Asclepius was turned into after death (and which was thought to depict him holding a snake or two).

His body wasn’t turned into stars; his essence was turned into stars, which immortalized him both literally (the stars eternal to the ancients) and figuratively (the constellation a reminder to ancient Greeks of Asclepius and his tale).

Jesus Mythicists will also point out where Celsus, an ancient Greek philosopher who criticized Christianity, stated that numerous pagans (both Greek and barbarians) had encountered Asclepius. Not his phantom or ghost, but Asclepius himself, was supposedly encountered, and he was

said to prophesy, heal and do other goods things during these encounters. His objections are recorded in Contra Celsum, a book written by Origen, an early Church Father. His book was a response to Celsus’ anti-Christian arguments (See “Contra Celsum” 3.24).
And how does Origen

reply to this objection by Celsus?
In basic terms: Celsus made it up!
Celsus couldn’t prove his claim. However, Origen could prove his claim that numerous Greeks and barbarians acknowledge the existence of Christ.”
Indeed, no source outside that of Celsus makes a similar claim

about the Greek god Asclepius.
(And before Jesus Mythicists drool over Origin’s statement about “acknowledge the existence of Christ”; this whole debate is in reference to Jesus existing at the moment as God, not his historical existence in the past (which was confirmed by

numerous ancient historians, such as Tacitus, Josephus, Thallus, etc.) Indeed, Celsus even acknowledged that Jesus was a historical figure, though he argued that Jesus made up the story of his virgin birth, that Mary was an adulteress and that Joseph kicked her out of his house

, and that Jesus acquired his powers while in Egypt (Contra Celsum 1.28) Celsus didn’t believe that Jesus never existed; he just didn’t believe that Jesus was God). Also, such miracle stories of Asclepius’ appearing, even if they were true, do not show that Asclepius had a

physical resurrection: He did become a god after he died. Indeed, Hercules the God was differentiated from Hercules’ phantom in Homer’s Odyssey (just as these visions of Asclepius are of Asclepius himself, not his phantom, as stated by Celsus).
Thus, no physical resurrection.

Died for the sins of the world? Called “The way, the truth and the life?”, “The Word?”, “Good Shepherd”?
No.
Asclepius is a very interesting Greek God, but he’s also a false one.
Jesus is the most interesting God of all, and he’s the one true God.
Sources:

Pseudo-Apollodorus’ “Bibliotheca”, 3.118-122
Pseudo-Hyginus, “Fabulae”, 14.21, 49, 161, 173, 202, 224, 251, 274.9
Ovid, “Metamorphoses” 2.562-679
Ovid’s “Fasti”, Book 6, June 21rst. 733-62
theoi.com/Text/OvidFasti…

poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/Ov…
Pausanias, Description of Greece 2. 26. 1 – 7 , 4.3.2
theoi.com/Text/Pausanias…
theoi.com/Text/Pausanias…
Pindar, Pythian Ode 3
perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?do…
Isyllus, Hymn to Asclepius
attalus.org/poetry/paeans.…
Propetius, “Elegies” 2.1

yorku.ca/pswarney/3110/…
Philostratus, “Life of Apollonius of Tyana 3.44
livius.org/sources/conten…
Origen, “Contra Celsum” 1.28, 3.24
newadvent.org/fathers/04161.…
newadvent.org/fathers/04163.…
Diodorus Siculus, “Library of History’, 4.71, 5.74.6
penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman…

penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman…
Herodotus “The Histories”, Book 1, 107-114
Homer, “The Odyssey” Book 11
“Titans and Olympians” by Tony Allan, Sarah Maitland and Dr. Michael Trapp (Consultant), 29-30, 85
“The Penguin Dictionary of Classical Mythology” by Pierre Grimal, 62-63

“The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Mythology” by Arthur Cotterell, Rachel Storm, 26-27, 59, 68, 75
earthsky.org/astronomy-esse…
chandra.harvard.edu/photo/constell…

"Evidence that Demands a Verdict" by Josh McDowell and Sean McDowell, PhD, pages 143-59

theoi.com/Ouranios/Askle…

@thethreadreader untoll please