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Why are the stories of Jesus and Horus so similar?

Tyr

Proud viking :D:D
Certainly. First, it is noteworthy that these lists one finds everywhere are simply that: lists. Where are the texts from which these facts are taken? For the most part, they aren't mentioned because they don't exist, and when they do, the details are so garbled all the similarity is gone.

To that end, for a thorough survey of the primary texts about Horus and ancient egyptian religion (translated into english) the following volumes are great (they contain some scholarship on the texts, but are primarily just translations of the original texts):

Allen, J. P. (2005) Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature.

Simpson, W. K. (ed). (2003). Literature of Ancient Egypt : An Anthology of Stories, Instructions, Stelae, Autobiographies, and Poetry. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Strudwick, N. (2005). Texts from the Pyramid Age. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature.

Foster, J. L. (2001) Ancient Egyptian Literature : An Anthology. Austin: University of Texas Press.

These will all provide you the primary texts you need to see that the resemblence in the lists is a modern construction which does not reflect history. Additionally, if you want sources which deal with the historical Jesus (and address or at least refer to this precise topic) or with the relationship between Christianity and other religions, some good ones are Die historische Jesu: ein Lehrbuch by Professors Theissen and Merz (I am pretty sure there is an English translation of this textbook), Hellenism in Antiquity by Professor G. W. Bowerstock, Pagans and Christians by Robin Lane Fox (this one is a classic and is in the library of virtually every classical or biblical studies dept.), From Jesus to Christianity by Professor L. Michael White, The Historical Jesus in Context (a book which consists of a series of papers by various experts in the field), and maybe the Oxford Handbook of Biblical Studies.

There are, of course, other sources, but for the most part this topic is ignored in the academic literature because nobody takes it seriously. This is because it is easy enough for scholars to go back and actually look at the primary texts, as opposed to relying on lists of comparisons.

Thanks, I will look into those.
 
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