The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors: Christianity before Christ

by Kersey Graves

Khrisna of India. Thammuz of Syria. Esus of the Celtic Druids. Mithra of Persia. Quexalcoati of Mexico. All were crucified gods, and all met their fates hundreds of years before Jesus appeared on the scene. In this foundational work of modern atheism, American spiritualist KERSEY GRAVES (1813-1883) breaks the Christ myth down into its component parts and ably demonstrates how the story of Jesus has its roots in the depths of antiquity. Here you'll read about the surprising prevalence throughout global folklore . the miraculous and immaculate conception of the gods . stars that point out the time and place of a savior's birth . angels, shepherds, and magi visiting an infant savior . the 25th of December as the universal birth date of gods . saviors who descend into Hell . and much more. This is essential reading for students of comparative mythology and modern freethinkers. Also available from Graves's The Biography of Satan and The Bible of Bibles.

Genres: Religion, Mythology, History, Nonfiction, Occult, Christianity, Philosophy

372 pages, Paperback

First published October 27, 1992

About the author

Kersey Graves was a skeptic, atheist, spiritualist, Nontheist Friend, reformist and writer. He was born in Brownsville, Pennsylvania. His parents were Quakers, and as a young man he followed them in their observance, and then later moved to the Hicksite wing of Quakerism. According to one source, Graves did not attend school for more than three or four months in his life, but another source says that he received an "academical education", and at the age of 19 was teaching in a school at Richmond, a career he was to follow for more than twenty years.

He was an advocate of Abolitionism and was also interested in language reform. He became involved with a number of radical freethinkers within Quakerism. In August 1844, he joined a group of about fifty utopian settlers in Wayne County, Indiana. In the same month, he was disowned by his Quaker meeting group due to his neglect of attendance, and also setting up a rival group. The groups he was associated with later dabbled in mesmerism and spiritualism.

In July 1845, Graves married the Quaker, Lydia Michiner, at Goschen Meeting House, in Zanesfield, Logan County, Ohio, and they later had five children at their home in Harveysburg, Ohio. They later moved back to Richmond and bought a farm.

The Goschen Meeting House was a centre of the Congregational Friends and were involved with Temperance and Peace, health reform, anti-slavery, women's rights and socialistic utopianism.

Graves' Quaker background conditioned him to the philosophy of the Inner light, whereby all clergy, creeds, and set liturgy in worship were irrelevant, and a hindrance to God's work. This was intensified by Hicks's brand of Quakerism - Quietism - where an individual's spiritual life was most important and all outward manifestations were invalid. The Congregational Friends were to the left of the Hicksites, and withdrew further from even Christianity and eventually a belief in God.

Graves died at his home just north of Richmond, Indiana on 4 September 1883.

Graves held the belief that religion corrupted truth, and he evolved into a writer claiming religious belief false. He wrote The Biography of Satan (1865), The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors (1875), and Bible of Bibles (1881).

Reviews

[Book · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books of its type. The author collected loads of folklore and mythology that predated Christianity to show that the story of Jesus was not original or unique but just one more slight variation.

[Paul Krug · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book contains fascinating history I had not been aware of. Written in 1875, it can be challenging reading at times. Nevertheless, the similarities between the various savior figures are remarkable.
At times it seemed the author overreached--unnecessary given the subject matter. And he had a tendency to occupy the bully pulpit at other times, as if reveling in his self-perceived triumph.
The book is worth reading. It's amazing to know how many historical figures were crucified, even between two thieves. Or born on December 25th of a virgin, with wise men bearing gifts having been foretold by the stars. Or descended into hell, only to later ascend into heaven. This and many other similarities add up to make their own case about the nature of shared myth. Perhaps not so much in the Joseph Campbell sense of archetypes, as much as by oral transmission from one society to another. I recommend reading this once at least, for the content if not for the writing.

[Kane Cassidy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is dated and it shows, I had to google a few of the listed figures to get a better understanding but when I did, I gained an immense undetstanding and the second reading was a breeze.

Brilliant work, eye-opening expose on how Christianity has borrowed from pre-existing religions. Richard Dawkins often asks theists to acknowlege their atheistic states regarding Gods like Zeus and Thor, after reading this I now ask Christians to prove to me that Zoroaster isn't my saviour, to excellent effect.

A must have for any atheist.

[Patrick Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book delves into religions before Christianity that are known to have crucified, virgin birthed, saviors to offer thought on how Christianity was influenced or borrowed from religions that predate it. Mr. Graves looks into the virgin birth concepts and alternative explanations, he looks into many similarities between ancient sun worship and Christianity.

This is not a book that a devout Christian will enjoy, if your mind is made up, don't bother reading. If you like to think on the past, think on religions or look into the origins of things this book is one to be read, with others of course. A particular chapter of interest to me was the similarities in the teachings of Jesus and Horus.

To each their own but I found this book interesting.

[Toni Daugherty · Rating 2 out of 5]

I knew of other religions claiming the same miracles but I had no idea there were so many exact miracles and exact characters since ancient orientalism. An eye-opener! Many of the miracles attributed to Jesus were probably stolen from ancient religions long before the Council of Nicea, when those few powerful men decided what would be in the great book or what would actually be god's word for the masses.

[David Bevins · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a great reference to discover all the myths/stories in history that resemble the Christ figure.

However, the authors snarkiness just overwhelms me, hence two stars.

[Darin Simms · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent book. Not the easiest read, though. At times it seems preachy and smug (maybe a sign of the culture of the day it was written).
Historically, it is mostly accurate but he chooses to ignore some facts while overstating others. Also, in the nearly 150 years since this book was written, we have discovered more information, artifacts, & ancient writings that shed more light on this fascinating subject.
Overall, this is worth a read especially if you’re interested in religion and religious development.

[Super Marge · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the the most easy to understand books on the subject that I have ever read. It is to the point and considering that it was originally published in the late 1800's it takes no prisoners. No matter what you believe it is a must read.

[Okpara]

The books helps i clearing up the myth related to the story of Jesus the christ

[Naomi Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

A real eye opener.

[La Marr · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I am very familiar with the author's thesis, and I have read several other works relating to how all religions past and present, have borrowed from one source which is the continent of Africa. Kersey Graves steadily implies that India was the birthplace of the religion of Christianity, and it was India that taught the world. Unfortunately, he repeats the same racist ideology often quoted by Geofrey Higgins in Anacalypsis Vol 1 that the influence of spiritual systems, science, etc comes from India; however, authors like Gerald Massey, Albert Churchward, etc frankly admits without hesitation that it was the African blacks who created said spiritual system that India is credited with. In fact, in his book The Origin and Evolution of Religion by Albert Churchward, he states unequivocally it was the TWA people who created the very foundations of what we know today as Christianity, Islam, Judaism, etc. Also in his works, Gerald Massey proves beyond a doubt these religions we know today come from Africa. In addition, it was County Volney who stated thus,"that this race of Black men, today our slave and the object of our scorn, is the very race to which we owe our arts, sciences, and even the use of speech! This is why I rate this book a two.

[DeepThinker · Rating 1 out of 5]

Myopic view of comparative mythology.

Try Origins of the World's Mythologies. What the author seems to miss is ALL the stories around the world across all religions that are the same, which does not mean they borrowed from each other but were all really the same.

Useful resource on this line of info, but the author seems quite unaware that perhaps this knowledge was taught throughout time. E.g. Abraham taught about a coming savior. I also happen to be aware of at least one church around today teaches that basically the foretelling of Christ was prophesied to every prophet and age since Adam, but such information was either lost or removed sometimes; but this is hard to prove without a bigger understanding of comparative mythology, which NO ONE can explain. Campbell's ideas are far too weak to explain exact parallels.

I write about comparative mythology and hope to show a much larger panoramic view within a couple of years.

[Gregg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Best parts of book are the sections comparing Jesus Christ with “saviors” who are biographed and lived in centuries before him. Of note are the common details of their lives, actions and sayings. Comparable “Sons of God” are documented in religions over 1,200 years before Jesus was born. They were in or started religions in Egypt, India, Greek city states, Persia, Syria, Palestine/Israel and others.

[Christine Walsvick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some interesting points.

[Dave Sippel · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a deeply frustrating read for me. I have been curious about the supposed amalgamation of mythological and historical figures that "created" Jesus Christ. This seemed like a good place to start reading, but the lack of citations bothered me very much. I was a history major in college, and the professors constantly reminded us that citations and reference were beyond important in our professional. Part of me was intrigued to read a book on the subject from the POV of a 19th century author, but I couldn't help thinking that so much more had been learned about near eastern history and theology since 1875 that a modern book would have greater accuracy and insight.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this book is a bit of a challenge because:
1. It was written in 1875 and a HUGE amount of research has been done on this issue since then. So I had to spend some time on the internet verifying things presented by Graves. Most of it is accurate and just needs updating.
2. The writing style reflects that time period and there were a number of archaic spellings to deal with, as well as typos.
3. There is one entire chapter about the Essenes that has to be discounted because since the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls c. 1946 we now have a much clearer idea of who the Essenes were and what they believed. That information was not available to the author so his conclusions about them are wrong.
4. Once in a while you have to deal with the author’s “snarky” attitude. BUT if you can get past that, there is much to learn.

All that said, Graves presents strong cases for the parallels he exposes between the various crucified saviors of history. I cannot understand how any intelligent, rational thinker can read this and maintain his/her beliefs in one of these religions. SIXTEEN saviors. Almost all born on Dec. 25th. All had mortal mothers, many of whom were virgins, and who were impregnated by gods. And most of them predate Jesus, some by thousands of years. The parallels go on and on…

More recent books treating this topic:
"Suns of God: Krishna, Buddha and Christ Unveiled" by Acharya S
BTW That is not a typo. It is "SUNS".
"The Jesus Mysteries" by Timothy Freke & Peter Gandy

[Jim Bennett · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're looking for another view on religion, this book is an interesting place to start. There are in fact more than sixteen saviors in the world, but Graves' list is enough to widen one's viewpoint.
The book is in fact rather old, and its tone can be a bit, er, unlike modern books. It's as if the intellectual expected the reader to agree with him on the stupidity of others.
For that reason alone, I withheld the fifth star.
Readers should supplement this with some Joseph Campbell, who covers some of the same ground with a much broader social focus.
Still, an interesting read, especially if you find some modern religious dogma a bit, well, stiff. Here you will find other ideas and other, different beliefs. Different from ours, and yet similar.

[Mtoti]

didnt read yet but here is some1 elses review on it from amazon:
Christians have heard this argument a thousand times, but few really know what people mean by saying that little in Christianity is original. This book provides you with the reasoning behind this claim in an exhaustive way. I found this book to be a much better choice than any of Robert Price's books because Price gets his ideas (or most of them) from this author. For a good counter-argument I recommend The Jesus Legend by Eddy and Boyd.

[Christina Vogel · Rating 1 out of 5]

Many of his assertions are twisted and verses are misquoted to fit with his beliefs. While there's no doubt that other myths existed before the birth of Jesus, some of the inaccurate facts and overall bad assertions make me question the validity of anything he wrote. This is Some of the most irresponsible writing I have ever seen.

[Scott · Rating 1 out of 5]

While I agree with Mr. Graves about the similarities between Christ and the other martyred saviors of the world, the presentation was very dry, and most of which I have heard before (although his book was obviously printed first). I much preferred his work with the Biography of Satan.

[Reggie Parker · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really good (and informative) read...

This book was very thought provoking. It's full of information on the origins and history of Christianity. I thought it bordered on atheism close to the end... but still... a good book...

[Jake]

purestrain religion

[Jill Garner · Rating 1 out of 5]

Although there is some good information in the book it's extremely biased. The disdain of the author is palpable.

Although you will gain some insight from the book it is sad that the disdain of the author is so palpable.