Was Jesus new?  Was Jesus unique?  Let's talk about Pikachu's look at the Pagan godman Attis, who I have more on here.

Birth Sorry folks -- Attis was NOT born of the "Virgin Nana" on December 25th. That date is nowhere attested as Attis' birth date; his mother is also listed as Cybele in one story, but in the one with Nana, no virgin here; just dirty old Zeus up to his tricks. Seems he was running around looking for ways to get his jollies and saw Mt. Agdus, which looked liked the goddess Rhea. (Don't ask how, but I guess if you're a sexual maniac like Zeus, after a while maybe even a mountain looks good.) In the ensuing fracas, Zeus drops some of his seed on the mountain, and from this arises a wild and androgynous creature named Agdistis. The gods don't like the obnoxious Agdistis, so Dionysus sneaks up and puts wine in Aggy's water to put him to sleep. While Aggy is asleep, Dionysus ties a rope around Aggy's gentials, ties the other end of the rope to a tree, yells "Boo!" and -- well, you can take it from there. From the resulting blood, a pomegranate (or almond) tree springs up, and much later, Nana happens by, picks some of the fruit, and puts it in her lap, and then it disappears -- upon which, she finds herself pregnant with Attis. Virgin birth? Sort of -- virgin conception? No -- it's just Grandpa Zeus being the deadbeat dad again. Pikachu also says, He was both the Father and the Divine Son, which seems to be something he just copied out of Acharya S. Well, as with her claim, that doesn't match any Christian view I know of (it's probably a wrenching around of John 10:30 in view), but at any rate, in terms of applying to Attis, it sort of does. Attis is obviously a divine grandson of Zeus, but the title "Divine Son" is nowhere applied to him. As to being a Father, he never was one in the stories, but Frazer told us that his name "appears to mean simply 'father,'" and in this context he was the consort of Cybele, the mother goddess. No later Attis scholar repeats this idea. Gasparro notes some representations of the infant Attis seemingly as the son of Cybele. But at best all we have here is a correspondence of very common familial terms, and Attis had to be someone's son.

It is true that Attis' worshipers ate a sacramental meal, but it was not of "bread and wine" as Pikachu claims; he just lifted this from Freke and Gandy without citation. As I noted, despite the footnote to Godwin's text offered by Freke and Gandy, Godwin makes no such assertion in his text; what Godwin does say is that "what they ate or drank we do not know" -- not a word is said about it being "likely" bread and wine. Vermaseren, the dean of Attis studies, suggests that milk was the drink of choice, because wine and bread were forbidden during the Attis festivals -- if wine and bread was the snack of choice, it would have had to have been an exception to this rule. Nevertheless, this stuff about the snacking habits of Attis' devotees comes from Christian writers -- and at best would reflect the sort of communal meal all ancient societies practiced (being that bread and wine were the key ancient staples).

To say they were baptized by bull's blood is true, but there's a problem: The taurobolium as a soteriological rite is not attested until much later than the start of Christianity -- the slaying of a bull generally is known as early as the second century BC, outside the Cybele cult; it is attested with reference to Cybele only in the second century AD. A detailed description of the rite is found, dated 245 AD, in Rome -- but the first description of the taurobolium as having "saving" power is not found until the writings of Prudentius -- dated 400 AD (interestingly, corresponding to the same time that the March 25th celebration shows up). Prior to this, the rite was only done for the sake of the health of the emperor -- it had no significance with reference to personal sin. So what's up with this? This is the main thing that Fear argues that Attisians stole from Christianity -- although they didn't plan too well, since few people could afford to buy a bull or sheep for sacrifice. This, by the way, is a strong hint that the taurobolium as a soteriological event was a recent innovation!

And sorry, there is no evidnence that Attis was ever called "the Good Sheppard," the "Most High God," the "Only Begotten Son" and "Savior." Attis WAS a real shepherd boy in the original story about him, from the historian Herodotus, but in that story there is no religious stuff at all. As for being a "savior," yeah right -- in a study devoted entirely to the subject of "soteriology" in the Attis cult, Gasparro finds no "explicit statements about the prospects open ot the mystai of Cybele and Attis" and "little basis in the documents in our possession" for the idea of "a ritual containing a symbology of death and resurrection to a new life." Put it bluntly: Attis was no savior, and was never recognized as such. The closest we get to this is from a writer named Damascius (480-550 AD!) who had a dream in which a festival of Attis celebrated "salvation from Hades" (see more below). We also see some evidence of Attis as a protector of tombs (as other gods also were, guarding them from violation); use of Attis with reference to grief and mourning -- but when it comes to the gravestones of devotees of Cybele and Attis, they are "all equally oblivious to special benefits the future life guaranteed by such a religious status."

The Festival of Joy -- as noted, is NOT the celebration of Attis' death and rebirth but of his rebirth only, and it is attested no earlier than the third or fourth century.

It is true that a March 22 a pine tree was brought to the sanctuary of Cybele, on it hung the effigy of Attis. Two days of mourning did follow though it is not clear when these were instituted, and on the second day the priests of Attis flagellated themselves.

And the eve of the third day, March 25th, was again not celebrated until hundreds of years after Christ, and as a result of Attis' priests needing to face up to the competition. Nice quote here by Frazer, but the bottom line: Too late.

"For suddenly a light shone in the darkness; the tomb was opened; the God had risen from the dead...[and the priest] softly whispered in their ears the glad tidings of salvation. The resurrection of the God was hailed by his disciples as a promise that they too would issue triumphant from the corruption of the grave." [for more see Frazer, Attis, chapter 1 -- for more and better that is up to date, see Fear and Gasparro]