HKB
[482:3] Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, pp. 158, 166, and 168.
[482:4] In ancient mythology, all heroes of light were opposed by the "Old Serpent," the Devil, symbolized by Serpents, Dragons, Sphinxes and other monsters. The Serpent was, among the ancient Eastern nations, the symbol of Evil, of Winter, of Darkness and of Death. It also symbolized the dark cloud, which, by harboring the rays of the Sun, preventing its shining, and therefore, is apparently attempting to destroy it. The Serpent is one of the chief mystic personifications of the Rig-Veda, under the names of Ahi, Suchna, and others. They represent the Cloud, the enemy of the Sun, keeping back the fructifying rays. Indra struggles victoriously against him, and spreads life on the earth, with the shining warmth of the Father of Life, the Creator, the Sun.
Buddha, the Lord and Saviour, was described as a superhuman organ of light, to whom a superhuman organ of darkness, Mara, the Evil Serpent, was opposed. He, like Christ Jesus, resisted the temptations of this evil one, and is represented sitting on a serpent, as if its conqueror. (See Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, p. 39.)
Crishna also overcame the evil one, and is represented "bruising the head of the serpent," and standing upon it. (See vol. i. of Asiatic Researches, and vol. ii. of Higgins' Anacalypsis.)
In Egyptian Mythology, one of the names of the god-Sun was Râ. He had an adversary who was called Apap, represented in the form of a serpent. (See Renouf's Hibbert Lectures, p. 109.)
Horus, the Egyptian incarnate god, the Mediator, Redeemer and Saviour, is represented in Egyptian art as overcoming the Evil Serpent, and standing triumphantly upon him. (See Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 158, and Monumental Christianity, p. 402.)
Osiris, Ormuzd, Mithras, Apollo, Bacchus, Hercules, Indra, OEdipus, Quetzalcoatle, and many other Sun-gods, overcame the Evil One, and are represented in the above described manner. (See Cox's Tales of Ancient Greece, p. xxvii. and Aryan Mythology, vol. ii. p. 129. Baring-Gould's Curious Myths, p. 256. Bulfinch's Age of Fable, p. 34. Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, p. x., and Kingsborough's Mexican Antiquities, vol. vi. p. 176.)
[483:1] The crucifixion of the Sun-gods is simply the power of Darkness triumphing over the "Lord of Light," and Winter overpowering the Summer. It was at the Winter solstice that the ancients wept for Tammuz, the fair Adonis, and other Sun-gods, who were put to death by the boar, slain by the thorn of winter. (See Cox: Aryan Mythology, vol. ii. p. 113.)
Other versions of the same myth tell us of Eurydike stung to death by the hidden serpent, of Sifrit smitten by Hagene (the Thorn), of Isfendiyar slain by the thorn or arrow of Rustem, of Achilleus vulnerable only in the heel, of Brynhild enfolded within the dragon's coils, of Meleagros dying as the torch of doom is burnt out, of Baldur, the brave and pure, smitten by the fatal mistletoe, and of Crishna and others being crucified.
In Egyptian mythology, Set, the destroyer, triumphs in the West. He is the personification of Darkness and Winter, and the Sun-god whom he puts to death, is Horus the Saviour. (See Renouf's Hibbert Lectures, pp. 112-115.)
[483:2] "In the Rig-Veda the god Vishnu is often named as a manifestation of the Solar energy, or rather as a form of the Sun." (Indian Wisdom, p. 322.)
[483:3] Crishna says: "I am Vishnu, Brahma, Indra, and the source as well as the destruction of things, the creator and the annihilator of the whole aggregate of existences." (Cox: Aryan Mythology, vol. ii. p. 131.)
[484:1] See Chap. XX.
[484:2] Indra, who was represented as a crucified god, is also the Sun. No sooner is he born than he speaks to his mother. Like Apollo and all other Sun-gods he has golden locks, and like them he is possessed of an inscrutable wisdom. He is also born of a virgin--the Dawn. Crishna and Indra are one. (See Cox: Aryan Mythology, vol. i. pp. 88 and 341; vol. ii. p. 131.)
[484:3] Wake: Phallism, &c., p. 55.
[484:4] See Cox: Aryan Mythology, vol. ii. p. 113.