| The Emperor Julian (330-363 AD) attempted to revive the sect and its worship and Libanios praised the sect of Aesculapius. In Rome, he was regarded as “Lord,” “Savior,” “King,” and “Friend of Man” while efforts were made to have his manifestations, oracles and marvels prevail against the Christians. (44) It was in the year 15, approximately, that Augustus assumed the rights of coinage which had previously belonged to the sovereign pontiff. (45) The way had to be paved first for Augustus to assume the role of the new born child savior. Lots of preparations had to be made beforehand and the setting had to be created in the minds of the Roman people. According to Del Mar: “We now begin with the literature of the triumph, deification and Apotheosis, which followed Augustus’ return from Asia. In pursuance of the Astrology which Rome had gathered from Etruria, Greece, Pontus, Galilee, Syria, Egypt, Spain and Gaul, indeed from every source whence came the heterogeneous materials which now composed her military forces and her millions of slaves, it was necessary to show that the Incarnation was connected with previous incarnations; that it occurred at the beginning of a new divine cycle; that it was the issue of a divine father and mortal mother; that the mother was a wife-virgin; that the birth happened at the end of ten solar months; that it occurred in an obscure place; that it was foretold by prophecy or sacred oracle; that it was presaged or accompanied by prodigies of Nature; that the divinity of the child was recognized by sages; that the Holy One exhibited extraordinary signs of precocity and wisdom; that his destruction was sought by the ruling powers, whose precautions were of course defeated; that he worked miracles; that he exhibited a profound humility; that his apotheosis would bring peace on earth, and that he would finally ascend to heaven, there to join the Father. Accordingly, the Augustan writers furnished all of these materials.” (46) When the sage and astrologer, P. Nigidius, learned that Atia had given birth to Augustus, he proclaimed that, “the Lord of the Universe was born.” Also: “While Augustus was yet an infant, he arose from his cradle at night and next morning he was found upon the roof of the house, facing Apollo or the rising Sun. On the city side of the house a multitude of frogs maintained a deafening clamour. So soon as Augustus was old enough to speak, he commanded these animals to keep silence, and from that moment they were completely hushed.” (47) As we can see, mythmaking was not something foreign to the Roman imperialists, or any conquering nation, for that matter. |
It can easily be shown, as it has been centuries ago, by a more enlightened people, that the birth of Jesus was really a ploy by Rome to create a Messiah and Son of God, through the deification of the Emperor Augustus. Though the concept of linking him from the earlier Iason or “Divine Son” to the actual Jesus character figure did not occur for a matter of centuries afterwards. Not until Constantine’s era, some 300 years later, did this idea of linking Jesus to that year, aligning him with Augustus, actually occur. It is highly unlikely that the Roman emperor was telling the people in the era of what we refer to as ’00-10 AD, that Augustus was Jesus. At this time, he was merely the Divine Child and Son and a deity worth worshiping, as the “son of god,” or God’s “Sun.” It was obvious to Rome that there were many “son of god” figures throughout the ages, and therefore grafting the Emperor onto this character was the object of deification. Grafting Jesus onto Augustus would not happen until centuries later. Here is what Alex del Mar has to say concerning Augustus and the nativity of Jesus: “It can be shown beyond a doubt that the Ascension of Augustus and the nativity of Jesus related to the same year and that after the date of the former was bestowed on the latter, it (the Ascension of Augustus) was pushed out of place 15 years to destroy its identity. By our calendar the date of the death and pretended Ascension of Augustus was August 29, AD 14. On the winter solstice of Brumalia following this notable event a new era was begun and the first year was called the year 1, Anno Domini, of our Lord, meaning Tiberius, but as that prince refused to be worshipped or addressed as a god, Anno Domini was finally assigned to Augustus, whose era, so far as the year is concerned, was thus shifted from that of his Advent to that of his pretended Ascension into heaven, as mentioned by Suetonius and other writers of the period. Subtract the fifteen years corruption of the calendar last named from AD 14 makes one year before AD 1, this was the year both of the Ascension of Augustus and the Nativity of Jesus.” (48) When Augustus died in 14 AD, Egyptians and Jews were ordered to renounce their impious worship or leave Italy and four thousand were transported out. (49) Junius, who practiced necromancy, was forbidden to practice his art. The Chaldean astrologers, and afterwards all astrologers, magi, and worshippers of strange gods, were banished from Italy. (50) (44) Healing Gods, p. 472; Preller, Romische Mythologie, i, p. 609 (45) Middle Ages Revisited, p. 44 Footnotes; Lenormant, II, 214 (46) ibid. p. 46 (47) Middle Ages Revisited, p. 47 (48) ibid, p. 149 (49) ibid; Tacitus, Ann., II, 86 (50) ibid, p. 53; Tacitus, Ann., II, 28-32 |