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sirtravisjacksonoftexas · 4 years ago

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Was Jesus a Mythical Figure Based on the Mesoamerican God Quetzalcoatl? Um, NO, and here is why:

Quetzalcoatl is a Mesoamerican god who at times was depicted as a feathered serpent or dragon. This dragon god was considered benevolent, though he did sacrifice some of his divine brethren. He was at times the mortal enemy of the Sun god Tezcatlipoca, while at other times they worked together. Indeed, each of their fights resulted in the destruction of a world, only for them to work together to make a new one. Their feud also resulted in the extinction or near extinction of the Toltecs, Quetzalcoatl’s people. After Tezcatlipoca massacred them and stripped Quetzalcoatl of most of his powers, the dragon god fled over the sea to the west, though he promised that he would return. The Aztecs (supposedly) thought that Cortez, who arrived in 1519, was himself Quetzalcoatl.

They thought wrong.

What followed was a war of two empires; Aztec and Spanish. Cortez’s conquistadors, along with their Native American allies (all of whom wanted to be free of their yoke) crushed the Aztec army.

Along with this, a new God-Jesus-replaced the gods of the Aztecs.

Jesus Mythicists, however, beg to differ on the latter point.

You see, some of them believe that Quetzalcoatl, the plumed dragon god of Mesoamerica…was the basis for Jesus. Indeed, they believe that, contrary to the historical consensus (and tons of ancient evidence) that Jesus never existed, being purely a mythical figure based on Quetzalcoatl.

Are they right?

Um, do blue whale’s live in the Sahara?

Both questions are answered with a big fat NO.

Let’s see why the idea is flawed, shall we?

1. Incarnate god?

Yes, Quetzalcoatl was born as a human named Ce Acatl Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl. He was also born as the hero Kukulkan (he was identified with the god Kukulkan, another name for Quetzalcoatl). However, it is believed that both heroes are one and the same. He was considered a manifestation of Quetzalcoatl, just as Kukulkan was considered a manifestation of Quetzalcoatl.

Interesting parallel, right?

Um, keep reading…

2. Virgin Birth?

In one myth, he was born by Ometeotl, a god who was actually two gods in one (the god Ometecuhtli and the goddess Omecihuatl). This androgynous entity didn’t seemingly have sex with another god or goddess in order to conceive Quetzalcoatl, but considering that it was reality two gods in one, a male and a female in one…well, let your imagination run with that.

As mentioned earlier Quetzalcoatl was thought to have been born among mortals as well. In one version of the myth, a woman named Chimalman was magically impregnated by her husband Ce Tecpatl Mixcoatl (a leader of the Toltec-Chichimec tribe) by means of an arrow. The resulting child was Ce Acatl Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl.

Sounds like a virgin birth, right?

Wrong.

For one, the myth about Ce Acatl Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl was heavily altered by the Aztecs. His mother and father eventually were thought to be gods instead of mere humans, he was later thought to have been raised by the goddess Quilaztli, and…he was later thought to have been conceived by a magic arrow. Originally, none of this was the case.

Plus, we have to remember that his mother and father were married, and thus might have had sex before the arrow event. Also, who is to say that his mother didn’t have sex before the marriage (what if she was married before? Its not impossible that she was a widow or perhaps a little loose).

Thus, no proof of a virgin birth. Sexless for sure (in a later version of the myth), but not virgin.

3. Star proclaimed his birth?

No.

4. Visited by wise men?

No. BTW: the Wise Men are never stated to be kings in the Bible (Matthew 2:1-16). They were astrologers, not kings. Think about this before you bring up the “Ce Acatl Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl’s father visited him after he was born, and he was a ruler, just like the three kings who visited Christ” faulty comparison up.

5. Someone sought his death after he was born?

Before he was born, Ce Acatl Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl’s mortal father, Ce Tecpatl Mixcoatl was murdered by rivals. Ce Acatl Topiltzin grew up in exile, only to later come back and lay the smackdown on his father’s killers.

There is nothing that states that these murderers sought his life after he was born.

6. Taught in a temple as a boy?

No.

7. Son of a god?

In his divine form he was the son of Ometeotl, the androgynous creator god. In his human form, he was considered the son of mortal parents, despite the magic nature of his conception (how the heck does that work?).

8. Trinity?

Prepare to be confused.

Mesoamerican gods are…complicated. You can already see this with Ometeotl, who is actually two gods in one (which is strikingly similar to the concept of the Trinity). Likewise, some gods and heroes were thought to be manifestations of other gods. Ehecatl, a version of Quetzalcoatl worshipped by the Huastec tribe, was thought by some to not merely be Quetzalcoatl, but a manifestation of Quetzalcoatl. Ce Acatl Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl was another. Kukulkan, another hero, was also thought to be his manifestation (though as previously mentioned, he’s thought to be one and the same as Ce Acatl Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl). Xolotl, a god of Venus, was also thought to be a manifestation of Quetzalcoatl. So was Xolotl’s twin brother (and fellow god of Venus) Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli (in some versions of the myth, Xolotl was a manifestation of Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli, thus a manifestation of a manifestation of Quetzalcoatl. In others, Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli was a manifestation of both Quetzalcoatl and Xolotl. In others, Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli and Xolotl are simply twins).

Just wait; it gets more complicated.

Remember mean old Mr. Tezcatlipoca? Well, funny thing; when Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli got into a fight with the sun god Tonatiuh, and received a dart to his head for his troubles, he morphed into the god Itztlacoliuhqui, who was himself a manifestation of… Tezcatlipoca! Indeed, Quetzalcoatl, the enemy of Tezcatlipoca, is himself a manifestation of Tezcatlipoca! According to some scholars, all the Aztec creator gods and goddesses were manifestations of Tezcatlipoca! The Aztecs believed that he had more manifestations than any other god (and as seen with Quetzalcoatl, some of these manifestations had manifestations of their own).

This gives “mental gymnastics” a whole new meaning.

Some try to remedy this confusion by stating that Quetzalcoatl’s true enemy was the Black Tezcatlipoca, another manifestation of Tezcatlipoca proper, but other sources do not make this distinction, and even then, it still a manifestation of Tezcatlipoca fighting another manifestation of Tezcatlipoca.

Tezcatlipoca is fighting…himself!

Needless to say, Tezcatlipoca had issues.

When you put the pieces together, Mesoamerican religion turns out to have many similarities with Hinduism, were some gods are manifestations of others (and all of them manifestations of Brahman). Suffice to say, Mesoamericans had the idea of some deities being manifestations of others, as well as being two or more gods in one (like Ometeotl). However, when it comes to Quetzalcoatl, it doesn’t really translate into a trinity. He had four manifestations to go with his original form. Along with this, he himself was a manifestation of Tezcatlipoca. One could try to make the argument that these are multiple “persons” in a Mesoamerican version of a godhead (hold that thought), but definitely not three in one. Plus, we also have to remember that neither Jesus Christ nor the Holy Spirit are manifestations of God the Father; they are three distinct persons within the godhead. They are never referred to as being individual gods on their own, or as simple manifestations of other gods. Though Jesus is God the Son incarnate, he is not referred to as a “manifestation” of God the Son, complete with his own unique personality differing from that of God the Son: He’s simply God the Son incarnate. These are the big differences between the Hindu “Trinity” or Trimurti and the Biblical Trinity. The same differences apply when Hinduism is replaced with Mesoamerican myth.

Sorry, no Trinity.

9. Called “Morning Star”

As mentioned above, two of Quetzalcoatl’s manifestations, Xolotl and Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli, were gods of Venus. Specifically, Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli was the god of Venus when it is the Morning star (as opposed to Xolotl, who was god of Venus as evening star).

Mesoamerica was not unique in this regard; other cultures, including those in the old world, referred to Venus as the “Morning Star”, and thought it was a god.

True, Jesus does call himself the “bright morning star” in Revelation 22:16, but, though Venus is referred to here, Jesus is not teaching that he is literally Venus, any more than he taught his followers that they were literally salt (Matthew 5:13). Indeed, Jesus is actually referring to a Messianic prophecy In Numbers 24:17, which reads;

“I see him, but not now;

I behold him, but not near:

a star shall come out of Jacob,

and a scepter shall rise out of Israel;

it shall crush the forehead of Moab

and break down all the sons of Sheth.”

Along with this, some rulers were referred to as the “Morning Star”. A king of Babylon was called “Morning Star” in Isaiah 14:12. This is one of the rare instances in the ancient near east where a king was referred to as a star (though in later ancient times this was more commonplace). Thus, this is showing Jesus to be the King, to be Messiah, not literally Venus.

See what happens when you interpret the Bible based on its Jewish context? See what happens when you interpret it by its historical and cultural context, instead of interpreting it by Mesoamerican civilization, which was across the Atlantic Ocean?

10. Baptized?

No.

11. Tempted by the Devil?

Tezcatlipoca got the god Quetzalcoatl drunk on wine, which resulted in the latter having sex…with his own sister.

Cue disgusted faces.

In another myth, Tezcatlipoca got Quetzalcoatl to look into his magic obsidian mirror. Quetzalcoatl saw himself as a pale, bearded old man.

Considering that Tezcatlipoca was, among other things, the god of darkness and trickery, one could conceive of these tales as bearing some similarity to the temptation of Christ. However, one has to remember that the differences are legion, including the fact that, unlike Quetzalcoatl…Jesus didn’t give into temptation. Let’s also forget that Satan isn’t a creator god, a sorcerer or omnipotent like Tezcatlipoca. Likewise, Quetzalcoatl isn’t all powerful (pretty obvious) like Christ, or part of a true trinity like Christ.

12. King?

As Ce Acatl Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl, Quetzalcoatl was the ruler of the Toltecs and founded the city of Tula (Later called Tollan). As the hero Kukulkan, he founded the city of Chichen Itza. He subsequently ruled both. Since the Aztecs had emperors/kings of their own, they would have no doubt thought of Ce Acatl Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl as a king. Jesus likewise is a king, but his kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36-37). Though not honored as king by most while he was alive on Earth, Jesus was both king of the Jews (Isaiah 9:6-7, Matthew 2:2, Luke 23:3, John 1:49-50, 18:36-37) and the Divine King (Revelation 19:16).

Big parallel, right?

Wrong.

Keep reading...

13. Carpenter?

No.

14. Preacher?

No.

15. Prophet?

No. Quetzalcoatl had to look through Tezcatlipoca’s magic mirror in order to see the future. There were prophecies made about him, but that doesn’t = him being a prophet. He did promise to return one day, but that’s not a prophecy; it’s a promise. If I promise to bring a dog to your front yard tomorrow and have it take a dump in your flowerbed, does that make me a prophet?

No, it just makes me a guy whose acting like a jerk. One may try to argue that Quetzalcoatl’s statement is a “prophecy” of sorts, but Quetzalcoatl wasn’t stating that one day another god would arrive, that the Aztec lands would one day flood or that demons would create the IRS and tax the Maya to death; he’s simply saying that he’s going to come back. If you tell your parents that you’re coming home for Christmas, does that make you a prophet? No, it just means that you’re going to come home for Christmas.

16. Miracle worker?

All gods were, big deal.

17. Multiplied bread and fish?

No. He brought corn and seeds from Mount Tonacatepetl to his fellow gods. They chewed them all up and then fed them to the first humans.

Not in the same ballpark, folks.

Not by a long shot.

18. Walked on water?

No.

19. Raised the dead?

There are two myths to examine in order to answer this question.

According to Mesoamerican myth, there was four previous worlds before the current one. During the age of the fifth sun (and thus the fifth world), Quetzalcoatl (as Ehecatl) was ordered by the gods to get the bones of humans who perished in the deluge that ended the fourth world. In order to do this, he had to go to Mictlan, an Underworld where the souls of those who died of natural causes went to.

He obeyed, eventually meeting up with Mictlantecuhtli and Mictecacihuatl, the god and goddess of the Underworld, respectively. After a short conversation, Mictlantecuhtli plotted to make sure that the bones would never leave his domain.

First he refused to be parted with the bones unless Quetzalcoatl ran four times around Mictlan while constantly blowing on a conch shell. Mictlantecuhtli didn’t tell him that there were no holes in it, and thus impossible to blow as a trumpet, but Quetzalcoatl summoned worms to bore holes through it and bees to buzz inside it. Though handing the bones over, Mictlantecuhtli later had a pit dug, which he hoped that Quetzalcoatl would fall into, and sure enough he did. Despite this, Quetzalcoatl succeeded in bringing the bones to the other gods. The earth goddess Cihuacoatl ground the bones up and put them in a clay pot. Then, all the gods cut themselves, pouring their blood on the meal. They used this unusual concoction to make the first humans.

That’s one version of the myth.

In another...Quetzalcoatl’s penis somehow bled, and it was this blood that poured onto the bone paste.

Either way, this is not a resurrection; its simply using bones and blood to create a new human race.

In another myth, Quetzalcoatl (as Ehecatl again) had a fling with the virgin goddess Mayahuel. They made love while in the form of a tree with two branches that were entwined. This didn’t sit with Tzitzimitl, a vicious, no-holds-barred grandmother goddess (Imagine Tyler Perry’s Medea with magical powers and rabies, and you get a good idea what Tzitzimitl was like).

Enraged and living long before anger management classes existed, Tzitzimitl cut off the branch that represented Mayahuel and fed it to the Tzitzimime, star demons who were prophesied to one day bring about Armageddon. Afterwards, Ehecatl gathered Mayahuel’s bones and planted them. From these sprang the first agave plants (Mayahuel was the goddess of the Agave plant (aka the Maguey plant). The agave plant was her new form to be sure, so it is a resurrection of sorts, but she didn’t resurrect into her regular form. Her bones were still bones, not acquiring new flesh. She just came back to life…as a plant. Indeed, one might argue that this is a re-creation instead of a resurrection. Considering that the bones serve as seeds for the plant, one might consider it both.

However, it’s a far cry from Jesus, who resurrected people in their human form (Matthew 9:18-26, Mark 5:21-43, Luke 8:40-56, John 11:1-44). One could (slightly) better compare this to the rapture, when all Christians who have died will be both resurrected and transformed by Christ, becoming immortal and ageless (1 Corinthians 15:50-56, Philippians 3:20-21, compare with 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18), but even then…there is a big difference between a resurrected immortal body…and the agave plant.

20. Heal the sick?

No.

21. Cast out demons?

No.

22. Had disciples?

No. As both Ce Acatl Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl and Quetzalcoatl proper, he had the Toltec tribe. As the human Kukulkan, he had the Maya or Maya-Toltecs.

23. Debated religious leaders of his day?

No.

24. Betrayed?

A rival faction among his own people removed Ce Acatl Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl from power. He left with loyal Toltecs to the Gulf of Mexico. Jesus of course was betrayed for 30 pieces of silver.

Smoking gun?

Um, not quite.

Keep reading…

25. Betrayers die soon after?

No.

26. Crucified?

No, the Americas didn’t have crucifixion. It was an invention of the old world. There is a depiction of Quetzalcoatl on a X shaped device, with the god Nanahuatzin coming out of his body, but this seems to be a transformation, not execution. One scholar claimed that Quetzalcoatl was shown to die and resurrect on the Codex Zouche-Nuttall (aka Codex Nuttal) a pre-Columbian text. However, he didn’t describe Quetzalcoatl’s death as supposedly depicted in the Codex Nuttal, let alone a crucifixion (once again, remember that crucifixion is an old-world invention). There is an image of a man tied to a ladder with an arrow in his side in the Codex Nuttal, but the figure in question is not identified as Quetzalcoatl. Plus, being tied to a ladder is far different from being crucified.

27. Resurrected?

As stated above, its been claimed that the Codex Nuttal features the resurrection of Quetzalcoatl. However, once again, its not described, so we don’t know if it matches that of Christ…or if its far, far different. We don’t even know if he is depicted as resurrecting himself (like Christ did) or if someone resurrected him. Indeed, we don’t even know if the term “resurrection” is being used loosely.

In order to find a supposed resurrection, we need to look at myths outside of the Codex Nuttal.

After Quetzalcoatl got drunk and then slept with his own sister, he jumped onto a burning pyre. His ashes became a flock of beautiful birds, while his heart rose skywards, becoming the morning star or Venus.

Is this a resurrection?

Let’s look at those birds first.

If someone turned the hairs of a dead man into clones of William Shatner, would you call that a resurrection?

No, it would simply be making a bunch of stunt doubles for William Shatner. Unless its stated that the dead man’s soul went into that flock of Shatners, its not a bonafide resurrection.

Now let’s look at that heart.

The fact that his heart became Venus does at first seem to indicate some kind of resurrection, due to the fact that the two gods (and personifications) of Venus, Xolotl and Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli, were both manifestations of Quetzalcoatl. However, these are just manifestations, not Quetzalcoatl in his usual divine form, and not all versions of Quetzalcoatl’s myth have his heart rising upwards or even has him dying, and yet both Xolotl and Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli are gods of Venus or the morning star in all versions.

Its in a way a resurrection…but in a way not.

Indeed, in another myth, Venus (as Quetzalcoatl) rose from the mouth of a monster (though in this one Quetzalcoatl himself is a personification of Venus). No death is involved. This is not the only myth where Quetzalcoatl doesn’t die. In another, he flees his homeland after Tezcatlipoca decimates the Toltecs. Making a raft of snakes, he sets sail, heading east.

28. Ascended into Heaven?

His heart did rise up into the heavens, becoming the morning star.

A good parallel?

Are Jesus Mythicists right?

Well…only his heart rose into the heavens, not his whole body. Plus, he doesn’t ascend in all of his myths. Its an ascension in a sense…but not on par with Christ’s.

29. Second coming?

Quetzalcoatl claimed that he would return. According to Spanish records, this was thought to have been fulfilled when Cortez arrived in 1519 (Quetzalcoatl was described at times as being white skinned and having a bear. The Spaniards fit that bill). Indeed, he arrived in the same year that it was prophesied that Quetzalcoatl would return, yet another reason why he was mistaken for Quetzalcoatl.

However, most historians now discard the idea that Cortez’ arrival matched that of the “second coming” of Quetzalcoatl. Indeed, it seems to be a later invention.

Um…more on that later.

30. Fights an end time battle?

Quetzalcoatl would return in victory, meaning that he and Tezcatlipoca would again butt heads. Curiously, Cortez, who (according to old Spanish records) was thought at first to have been Quetzalcoatl, led his conquistadors and their native allies to victory against the Aztecs, bringing the worship of Tezcatlipoca to an end (course, he brought an end to the worship of all the other Aztec gods, including Quetzalcoatl).

31. Reigns in a future age?

Quetzalcoatl was to reign in a future age, ruling the world and bringing about global peace (like Christ).

Wow, we have some “parallels”, don’t we? Incarnate god, son of a god, tempted by the devil, a king, “raised” the dead, betrayed, (kinda) resurrected, ascended, second coming, end times battle and a future reign? Wow, surely Quetzalcoatl was the basis for Jesus…right?

Wrong.

You need to set down.

You see…The New Testament was written in the first century AD. Jesus died in about 30 AD.

When did people from the old world first learn of Quetzalcoatl?

Drum roll…

1519 AD.

The year that Cortez reached the land of the Aztecs.

Question; how could first century Jews base a supposedly fictional Jesus on the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl…when the old world wouldn’t know anything about Quetzalcoatl until around 1500 years later?

Definitely blows the Jesus Mythicist argument away, doesn’t it?

Along with this, we have to remember that the vast, vast majority of pre-Columbian texts were destroyed by the Spanish (only 16 survived). All of the texts we have that speak of Quetzalcoatl (save for maybe the Codex Nuttal) date after the conquest, and were written by both Europeans and native allies of the Spanish. There is evidence that shows that the myths were altered, with Christian elements added to them. Thus, if we find any similarities between Quetzalcoatl and Jesus, its because the Christians who preserved the former’s stories added elements of Jesus to him.

Now, some Jesus Mythicists (particularly those who ignore the fact that Spaniards Christianized Aztec and Maya myths) will try to cry foul, saying that Quetzalcoatl is one of the so-called “Dying and Rising gods” of world myth, which Jesus (according to them) belongs to. Thus, Jesus is in a category of Mythical figures, and thus was a mythical figure, and thus never existed.

Well, one, they need to not ignore the fact that Christians did alter the myths.

Two, just because Jesus is (supposedly) in the Dying and Rising God category doesn’t mean that he doesn’t exist. Not only is he accepted as historical by a consensus among historians, there are people and even animals that fit mythical or folkloric categories and yet still exist. Magellan fits the Explorer archetype, Harriet Tubman the Mother archetype, Ivan the Terrible fits the Satan Archetype, and gorillas, Himalayan brown bears, Orantugans and Dengiso tree kangaroos fit the “wild man of the woods” motif in folklore.

Three, they need to realize that the Dying and Rising God mythical category is no longer considered valid. Much of the evidence use to support it turned out to be flawed. Indeed, the consensus among scholars is that there were no so-called Dying and Rising gods before Christianity emerged in the first century. Indeed, the earliest evidence we have for a “dying and rising God” dates a century after Jesus. True, a lot of the gods labeled as “Dying and Rising” gods are older than Christ, but the evidence that shows that they are Dying and Rising gods category postdates the New Testament.

Repeat: Postdates the New Testament.

A lot of these gods are older than Christ, but didn’t become so-called dying and rising gods until after Christ (and remember, the category is no longer considered valid). Though still a topic studied in Biblical scholarship, it has no bearing on how religions, including Christianity, arose.

Folks, Quetzalcoatl is NOT the basis for Jesus.

Jesus is real. He is the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, and I AM THAT I AM.

Jesus…is God.

Sources:

“Mythology of the American Nations” by David M. Jones and Brian L. Molyneaux, 138-39 (see also 94, 100, 102-03, 110-111, 113, 117, 122, 124-26, 129, 130-31, 133, 136, 148, 151-52, 156-57, 159, 163

“Dragons: A Natural History” by Dr. Karl Shuker, 82-85

http://www.tektonics.org/copycat/quetz.php

“Encyclopedia of Gods: Over 2,500 Deities of the World” by Michael Jordan, 214-15

https://www.pbs.org/conquistadors/cortes/cortes_d03.html#:~:text=An%20unnerving%20series%20of%20coincidences,knowledge%2C%20arts%2C%20and%20religion.

https://www.ancient.eu/article/916/cortes--the-fall-of-the-aztec-empire/

https://www.ancient.eu/Montezuma/

https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Tequila_Dictionary/GWl1DwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Mayahuel+agave&pg=PT191&printsec=frontcover

https://www.google.com/books/edition/Tequila_Made_Me_Do_It/Tr-mDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Mayahuel+agave&pg=PT8&printsec=frontcover

“¡Tequila! Distilling the Spirit of Mexico” By Marie Sarita Gaytán, 109

https://www.google.com/books/edition/Tequila/3eOmBAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Mayahuel+agave&pg=PA109&printsec=frontcover

https://www.britannica.com/topic/crucifixion-capital-punishment

https://www.chapala.com/chapala/magnifecentmexico/codexnuttall/codexnuttall.html

https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-americas/early-cultures/mixtec/a/mixtec-codex-zouche-nuttall

https://www.ancient.eu/Jesus_Christ/

“The Portable Seminary: A Master’s Level Overview In One Volume” by David Horton (General Editor), 281

“AMG’s Encyclopedia of World Religions, Cults and the Occult”, by Mark Water, 192

“The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Mythology” By Arthur Cotterell and Rachel Storm, 356

“The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament” by Craig S. Keener, 820-21

“NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible”, 273, 2226, 2271

“The Jesus Legend: A Case for the Historical Reliability of the Synoptic Jesus Tradition” By Paul Rhodes Eddy and Gregory A. Boyd, 143, 145

https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Jesus_Legend/U26_85NmwPUC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Dying%2Brising%2Bgods%2BBiblical%2BScholarship&pg=PA143&printsec=frontcover

https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Jesus_Legend/WgROZMp4zDMC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Dying%2BRising%2BGods%2Bflawed&pg=PA145&printsec=frontcover

https://www.encyclopedia.com/environment/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/dying-and-rising-gods

“Getting at Jesus” By Peter S. Williams, 84

https://www.google.com/books/edition/Getting_at_Jesus/onyGDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Dying%2BRising%2BGods%2BMisnomer&pg=PT96&printsec=frontcover

“Evidence That Demands a Verdict: Life Changing Truth for a Skeptical World” by Josh McDowell and Sean McDowell, PhD, 311-312.

“The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus” by Gary R. Habermas and Michael R. Licona, 86-92, 296-98

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0-EgjUhRqA

https://sites.psu.edu/leadership/2014/09/13/jungian-archetypes-and-historical-leaders/

https://sirtravisjacksonoftexas.tumblr.com/post/628111397046370304/is-jesus-one-of-the-dying-and-rising-gods-and

“Historical Atlas: A Comprehensive History of the World”

Chief Consultant Dr Geoffery Wawro (40 something historians wrote the book), pages 84-85

“The Middle East: The Cradle of Civilization Revealed” by Dr. Stephen Bourke (13 other historians worked on it), 294-95

“The Encyclopedia of the Ancient Roman Empire”

General Editor: Carlos Gomez (3 others worked on it), 200-201

“The West: Encounters and Transformations (Concise Edition)”, by Brian Levack, Edward Muir, Michael Maas and Meredith Veldman, 111-114

“The Illustrated Atlas of Jewish History: 4000 Years of History” by Martin Gilbert and Josephine Bacon, 41-42

“The Biblical World: an Illustrated Atlas” by Jean-Pierre Isbouts (National Geographic), 267-70

“In the Footsteps of Jesus” by Jean-Pierre Isbouts (National Geographic), 226

“Norris McWhirter’s Book of Historical Records”, by Norris McWhirter, 42

Did Jesus Exist?: The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth by Bart D. Ehrman

Jesus: Evidence and Argument or Mythicist Myths? (Criminal Practice Series)by Maurice Casey

“The Foundations of Western Civilization: Course Guidebook” by Professor Thomas F.X. Noble, 89-96

“The Other Side of History: Daily Life in the Ancient World: Course Guidebook” by Professor Robert Garland, 227-29.

https://www.ancient.eu/Jesus_Christ/

https://historyforatheists.com/jesus-mythicism/

https://brill.com/view/title/17737

https://www.history.com/news/was-jesus-real-historical-evidence

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amandajoyce118 · 6 years ago

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Aquaman Easter Eggs And Comic Book References

I’ve seen Aquaman a few times over the last couple of weeks, and I finally got around to sitting down and typing up my list of Easter eggs. It’s unlikely I caught everything, but you know, it’s always fun to try.

There are spoilers in the list for the movie since plenty of the plot points where Easter eggs occur are major moments in the movie. By this point, you know the drill. I kept mainly to comic book references, but there’s the odd pop culture one in here as well.

Obviously, there are other pop culture references as well. Everything from The Karate Kid to Pinocchio seems to get a shout out. The more general pop culture knowledge isn’t going to be here. I also didn’t list every single character who comes from the comics unless I thought there was something specific about their appearance that deserved a nod.

DC Logo

Because Warner Brothers produces all of the DC Comic movies, the DC logo appears following the Warner Brothers one, usually. This time around, the logo doesn’t just flash in its cute CGI glory. Instead, it appears as though it’s underwater.

The Opening Sounds

In addition to the DC Logo being submerged, there’s also the sound of a sonar ping and a humming that you wouldn’t really notice as anything important. Turns out, it matches the sounds made by the trident at the end of the movie. (I only noticed this on a second viewing.)

Jules Verne

Arthur’s narration that opens the movie gives a nod to genre writer Jules Verne as he quotes the author. The hidden sea also provides a nod to Verne’s classic Journey To The Center of the Earth (though it is also a comic book locale from a recent story where Mera and Arthur discovered Atlanna was alive and leading an island full of exiled Atlantean descendants).

Amnesty Bay

This is the comic book location where Arthur Curry makes his home on land. The whole Tom Curry as his dad, owning the lighthouse, etc, is out of one of the newer comic book origin stories. The difference is that in the comics, when Arthur is an adult, his father is dead. It’s nice that the movie kept Tom alive. (In modern comics, as in, last year, Mera even lives in Amnesty Bay while she’s recovering from injuries.)

1985

I don’t know why this year in particular struck me, but I thought Atlanna ending up in Amnesty Bay that year had to be significant. After all, Jason Momoa was born in 1979, so it’s probably not a result of trying to get his age lined up with Aquaman. Here are a few things that happened in 1985: Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman) was born and the Crisis on Infinite Earths event debuted. The latter seems more likely of an Easter egg nod, but we may never know.

The TV Show

The show playing on Tom Curry’s television when he brings Atlanna back to the lighthouse? That would be Stingray, a show that used puppets as underwater heroes. The group had their own submarine and a princess from an underwater kingdom. The show originally aired in the 60s, the same decade the Aquaman comic book series was originally published.

Dunwich Horror

The book under the snowglobe on the coffee table is by H.P. Lovecraft. It’s a collection of short stories, one of which is the title story. In it, a son is born of two different species, much like Arthur.

Atlanna’s Crafty

She’s got a box on the table at the lighthouse, yes? You’ll notice that its design is very similar to the motherbox. Perhaps she spent a great deal of time guarding it. That might be why we get Mera saying (in Justice League) that Arthur needed to retrieve it, since Atlanna would have been responsible for it. As a bonus, we also get Mera mentioning the events of Justice League to Arthur later in the movie.

Manta

Black Manta is (perhaps obviously) a comic book villain. His origin gets a bit of a tweak here, and I like the joke for just why ends up with the giant helmet. (And the nod to Jaws there with “I”m gonna need a bigger…” you get it.) What’s great is that before he actually declares himself Black Manta is all the nods to his ocean inspiration. You’ve got the experimental craft that’s shaped like a manta ray, you’ve got the engraved manta on the knife, and you’ve got his family backstory as well. (Fun fact: Michael Beech, who plays his dad, was originally cast to voice Black Manta for an animated series, but rights issues meant the name of the character had to be changed.)

Lifting The Sub

That shot of Aquaman lifting the submarine is straight out of the comics. A lot of the big money shots in the movie are, like Aquaman holding the trident in front of his face when he activates its power. The team did a good job at nailing the comic book aesthetic.

Languages

Probably not an Easter egg, but I find it interesting that Aquaman appears to pick up on other languages pretty well, just like the Amazons. It feels like a nod to the fact that Atlanteans and Amazons have been around for centuries and have lived hidden from humans, but have still learned a thing or two about them.

GBS

The news station that pops up is the Galaxy Broadcasting System. It’s part of Galaxy Communications, part of a multimedia company from the comics. It’s kind of like Supergirl’s CatCo.

Dr. Stephen Shin

Okay, I know he kind of seems ridiculous and cartoonish in the movie compared to a lot of the other characters, but… he’s pretty on par with the comic book character. The character actually knows Aquaman in the comics. Arthur even comes to him for help once in a while, but Shin ends up disgraced because of his involvement with Aquaman, and Arthur won’t even let him prove that some of his research is accurate. So, yeah, I could see him going the supervillain route.

Annabelle

When Mera and Arthur pay a visit to Vulko, there’s a doll on the ocean floor outside the sunken ship (BTW, is that a sunken galleon, as in the name bar Arthur and his dad frequent?). It looks just like Annabelle. It makes sense that we’d see some horror nods since that’s James Wan’s wheelhouse.

Nereus

Mera’s father is a comic book character, just like every main character in the movie, but his comic book backstory is very different than what you see in the movie. For one thing, he wasn’t her father. Instead, Nereus was a military general for the Xebel people. He was also Mera’s betrothed before she left Xebel behind on a mission to kill the King of Atlantis (yeah, her comic book backstory is a little different too). It’s an interesting twist on his character, though Nereus is very jealous of Atlantis and pushes for war a time or two, so he’s not that far off.

Atlantean “Tribes”

Some of the different groups of Atlanteans are rooted in the comics. Mera and Nereus lead the Xebels, for example. In the comics, Xebel is an extradimensional pocket for Atlantean separatists were sent long ago. It was basically a prison, but the people evolved and adapted. The royals learned magic that allowed them to control water, hence Mera’s abilities. Those in the Trench? They were a species of sea animals that lived in a literal trench in the comics that were dying out. Mera and Arthur ended up trapping them to prevent them from trying to eat humans.

Ocean Master

The name Orm spouts as the leader of all of the Atlantean tribes is Ocean Master. That term is also his supervillain name in the comics. It’s a cute way to change it up for the DCEU.

Man of Steel Reference

Okay, I frequently forget that Man of Steel technically started this cinematic universe, but when Orm takes Arthur to task for the way the surface world poisons the oceans, we get a nod to it to remind us. One of the images used is a collapsing oil platform. It’s the same one that fans theorized Aquaman saved Superman from by sending whales in to help him during Man of Steel.

Octopus On Drums

In the 1960s, back when Aquaman first got his solo series, he had a slew of sidekicks, both animal and Atlantean. One was an Octopus named Topo. I like to think this Octopus was a nod to Topo, but also, a nod to The Little Mermaid, because, come on. We all notice Mera’s fondness for ship wrecks, her red hair, and her not staying underwater like everyone wants her to, right?

Leigh Wannell

This guy appears in a cameo role as the cargo plane pilot. He’s a close friend of director James Wan. Like Wan, he’s a big horror guy. In fact, he’s an actor, director, writer, and producer for the Saw and Insidious franchises.

Africa

The sequence that sees Mera and Arthur rising from the water with the Africa remic playing in the background? That’s intentionally shot as an homage to the Fast and Furious franchise, according to James Wan. I mean, sure. I guess if you got to play in that world, and one of your stars became a DC superhero, and then you got to direct a DC movie, why wouldn’t you want to come full circle there?

The True King

Arthur becomes the True King when he gets the trident and comes back to battle Orm for the throne. Before that though, he has to find the trident with the help of the “true king” in Italy. That turns out to be Romulus. It’s a nice parallel since Romulus becomes the first true king of Rome when he defeats his brother Remus.

Murk

Played by (Power Rangers Black Ranger) Ludi Lin, Murk is one of Orm’s inner circle, and high ranking in the guard in the movie. In the comics, he’s also high ranking in security when Arthur is King. He looks a little different in the comics. He looks more like a big gladiator than Ludi Lin. He also has a harpoon for one of his arms. When he fights Mera in Italy though, she gets one very deep slash to his arm, so maybe we’ll see that come to fruition in the future.

Khal Drogo’s Kelp

The scene where Arthur wakes up on a boat after his fight in Italy? His injuries are wrapped with kelp in a very specific way. Game of Thrones fans will see that as a nice nod to Khal Drogo, the role that really put him on the genre map.

The Trident And King Atlan

There’s a whole thing in the comics with the “Dead King” coming back and trying to get control of his kingdom, wanting to use the world. There’s also his scepter in the comics, which does a lot of what his trident does in the movie. Atlan’s clothing, and the ceremonial armor Arthur ends up in, are also a nod to Aquaman’s gear in the comics.

The Karathen

The comics label this sea monster as the Karaqan, but it sounded like it was pronounced differently by the actors, so choose your spelling. The sea monster looks exactly like it does in the comics. The effects guys did a great job. More than that though, they gave it a better story. In the comics, the animal went a little crazy and Arthur ended up having to kill it because he couldn’t communicate with it. I prefer the movie version where he’s the only one who can communicate with it. Bonus: the giant sea monster is voiced by the classic Julie Andrews. She actually didn’t cameo in Mary Poppins Returns (which opened in theaters the same month!) because she chose to do this voice role instead.

Aquaman Rides A Seahorse

The Superfriends TV series had a lot of silly moments for Aquaman. One of those things was him riding a seahorse into the thick of battle. It’s one of the things that has made a lot of people make fun of the character over the years, but now, it’s also iconic. The movie gets to put its own (much more badass) spin on that idea as Arthur grabs a seahorse to meet his brother in the climactic battle.

Coast City

This DC comics locale gets a nod in the post credits scene. It’s one of the locations where Dr. Shin has a newspaper clipping from. Coast City is home to Hal Jordan and Carol Ferris of the Green Lantern comics.

That’s all I’ve got for this one! Let me know if you guys spotted anymore!

#aquaman #aquaman movie #DC comics #aquaman easter eggs #easter eggs #i wrote a thing

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