Inspired by religion discussion on Main

[Carol]

Magpie wrote:
> I'm not an expert on this, but I have heard that Horus was killed, descended into hell for 3 days and was resurrected and he is also the savior of humanity. There's a lot of parallels between the two, but I'm sure there's debate about how many are accepted.
> 
> I would say that most fertility gods would fit the bill as doing good for people--the sun dying and being reborn helps people, crop gods being sacrificed and reborn like nature seems like it would go along with it.
<snip>

Carol responds:
I'm not an expert, either, but most of what I can find on Horus states that he was a sun god who (like every other sun god) rose and set every evening, which could be regarded as a kind of figurative resurrection but lacks the actual physical death (murder or sacrifice) involved in the deaths of Osiris (Horus's father or brother, depending on which version of the myth you're looking at). A sun god, of course, is likely to be benevolent since life depends on the sun's warmth and light, but I don't think that setting and rising quite qualify as death and resurrection.

However, I did find this tidbit, which from the Osiris stuff I quoted earlier but is from a different source:

http://www.jimloy.com/egypt/osiris.htm

"Set still ruled Egypt. As a child, Horus, the son of Osiris and Isis and rightful heir to the throne, was killed by Set in the form of a scorpion, but Thoth brought him back to life, as his destiny as ruler of Egypt, and avenger of the crime against his father, had not yet been fulfilled. Horus grew to be a strong and brave warrior. Osiris appeared to Horus in a vision, and urged him to overthrown Set.

"The armies of Horus fought the armies of Set, and defeated them. Set was forced to flee. The final battle was fought at Edfu, where Horus lost an eye. But Horus killed Set and cut his body into pieces. And Horus ruled as the good and just king of Egypt."

Another source didn't give the story in even this much detail but said that Horus was restored to life by Isis rather than Thoth. Interestingly, in this myth it's the evil god who's dismembered, and despite this brutal act of revenge against his admittedly wicked uncle (or brother, in other versions), Horus is regarded as good and just.

However, like Dionysus and unlike Christ (or Osiris), Horus is murdered in childhood. There's no willing self-sacrifice; he's just restored to life by another god (or goddess) like Dionysus and Osiris., much as Christ raised Lazarus from the dead. ("By this time, Lord, he stinketh.")

So far, no gods that meet Alla's criteria. I should note that from what I've read in trying to answer this question, it appears that Egyptian mythology evolved quite a bit over three millennia, so there's no single Horus or Osiris myth. (Even the Greek myth of Dionysus evolved different versions over a much shorter period.) And it appears that the Greeks, in reporting these myths, tried to reconcile the different versions. (The Egyptians never wrote any complete narratives.) So it's possible that what we're seeing in these retold Egyptian myths is the Greek mindset and that the stories of Osiris and Horus are colored by the myth of Dionysus. I'm guessing that the Greek influence would be especially strong under the Ptolemys, who were, of course, descended from one of Alexander the Great's generals and not Egyptian but Macedonian.

I snipped the comment on the Aztecs, whose bloody and violent religion  involved the ritual sacrifice (not self-sacrifice) of human victims who were, of course, not resurrected.

Carol, hoping that someone else will research the other candidates for dying god, Mithra and whoever else is left