The author Acharya S wrote a book called "The Christ Conspiracy: The Greatest Story Ever Sold", claiming, among other things, that the Jesus "myth" is just a repeat of the Horus myth. I was involved in a discussion on a message board about this claim, and thought it would be interesting to get a response from the author. So I wrote Achara S. this E-mail:

I wrote: Hi, there. I'm hoping you can help me out with something. I'm involved in a discussion about the comparisons between Horus and Jesus on a message board, and have been challenged to find any Egyptian mythology book or website that gives the story of Horus that compares in the ways you said to the Jesus story (not other books pointing out the comparisons, but actual neutral books about mythology which simply tell the story). I went to some of the Egyptian mythology web sites, but the Horus stories I'm seeing at those sites don't seem to compare to the Jesus story at all. I've also checked at bookstores and my local library and am not finding any of these comparisons in the Horus stories. I'm not finding anything about Isis being a virgin (in fact, most of the stories I've seen are clear that she wasn't a virgin), his being born in a manger with 3 wise men present, Horus having 12 apostles, the raising of El-Azar-Us, Horus being crucified, or his walking on water. About the only comparison points I am finding are pretty minor, and I feel almost embarassed to bring them up. Can you point me to an Egyptian mythology web site or book which gives the version of the Horus story you're familiar with? Thanks.

Acharya S. responded: Study the works of Gerald Massey, who used the works of Egyptologist Budge. http://www.truthbeknown.com/christcon.htm is a good place to start. Massey's information can be largely verified via Budge, who was a Christian. These people who rely on biased encyclopedia entries and Western censored texts are not scholars. You need to dig deeper. P.S. The reason these stories are the same is that they revolve around the sun. It's the story of the sun - no one can deny that, and Horus is a SUN GOD. (9/1/02)

I responded: I did check Massey, and he only had a few of those, and pretty minor ones (at least compared to the 'master list') at that. The only list I could find attributed directly to him was: *The ever-coming Messu (child) as Egyptian *Isis, the virgin mother of Horus (Iu) *Seb, the foster father to the child Horus *Sut (evil) and Horus, the twin opponents *Horus carried off by Sut to the summit of Mount Hetep *Anup, the precursor of Horus *The mummy Asar bidden to come forth by Horus *Horus the Krst *Horus, the bearer of Ankh (life) and Unscepter (resurrection) *Horus ascending to heaven from Bakhu *The revelation written down by Aan (the scribe of divine words) What about the ones about Horus having 12 apostles, being born in a manger, raising El-Azarus, dying on a cross and being resurrected, etc? Those are the ones that really suggest that Jesus was a complete rip-off of the Horus story, and I'm not finding those in any version of the story. Surely if this version of the Horus story exists, it's got to be in some book or on some web site, right? Where is it? "P.S. The reason these stories are the same is that they revolve around the sun. It's the story of the sun - no one can deny that, and Horus is a SUN GOD." I thought Ra was the sun God? They Egyptian mythology websites I'm hitting say that Horus was a sky God (as much associated with the moon as with the sun), and that Ra was the sun God. (9/1/02)

Acharya responded: Horus is the sun god, the son of Osiris, the sun god. Encyclopedias do not have complete information. Most of my info comes from Massey and Albert Churchward. Massey wrote quite a bit - you probably haven't read it all. In any case, I didn't make of it up; the excerpt you have read does not have footnotes - those are in my book. Again, these are all characteristics of the sun god. There's more on the subject not only in my book but at http://www.truthbeknown.com/origins.htm and http://www.truthbeknown.com/whatsnew.htm (9/4/02)

I responded: I'm sorry if I sound like I'm being overly-skeptical, but I've got to admit that I'm bothered by the inavailability of this version of the Horus story. I checked the footnotes on your "origins" page and didn't see any references for what seem like the strongest points (Horus raising El-Azarus from the dead, the crucifixion, burial and resurrection of Horus, his walking on water). If the texts with this version don't appear in any book that I can get in a bookstore/library or on any website on the internet, then can you tell me where they do appear? Are they at a university somewhere? Have other scholars seen the same texts and confirmed Massey's conclusions on the strongest points? Thanks for taking the time to respond. (9/4/02)

That's all of the conversation we've had so far. I'll post more if Acharya S. ever writes me back. Also, to see Christian responses to the individual claims of parallels between the Horus and Jesus stories, go to this site.

I also had a discussion with the person who runs the site Inquisitive Atheists about these letters with Acharya S.  He appeared to be a supporter of Acharya S. since he put her list on his site.  I mentioned the content of the above discussion, and he wrote this back to me: Should I be offended that I tried E-mailing her several times about five months ago, only to have no response about the same thing? Maybe she didn't take well to someone from her own camp questioning what she had to say about Horus. I didn't question the Buddha part, I'd read everything she had to write about that before. Massey, perhaps? I also gave her my opinion that she makes hasty and extremely biased conclusions about certain things in several of her writings and at least the one book that I've read. Her biggest pitfall isn't as much intellectual dishonesty as it is presumptiveness. She's well known for her investigative skills and research in religion. I've read some of her work, validated little of it I must admit, and found that she assumes quite often. I've had others validate the god men, mostly Buddha. I've had a few comments about Horus, but no one validating what she said.

I wrote the inquisitive atheists site back, saying: Hey, there. I wrote you a while back re: Acharya S. and you mentioned that you'd validated some of her work on Buddha. I've been trying to find support for that, and am not seeing too much in the way of comparisons. I do see that he was miraculously conceived, as Jesus was, but I haven't seen any support for his mother being a virgin. I'm also not finding anything about his being born on Dec 25th, or being baptized, crucified or resurrected. I'm just wondering if you can give me any references for the major points, at least, like his being virgin-born, baptized, crucified and resurrected, or point me to a site which backs up the claims better than Acharya does. Thanks.

(They haven't responded).

While I have yet to see a response from Acharya S, one of her fans named Jeffrey has decided to try to pick up the ball that she dropped.  See my conversation with Jeffrey at: Letters/LetterHorusSunGod.html