Q: Where did the dying-reborn God myth start?     
A: Asia minor. The ancient Greeks and Romans inherited and adapted Gods from ancient Asia Minor (Assyria, Babylon, Phrygia, Persia, Mesopotamia, Egypt, places like that). These old-ancient religions were pretty basic Mother Earth, cycle-of-nature affairs.  You probably won't be surprised to hear Mother Earth religions had Gods who personified the cycle-of-nature by dying in the autumn and being reborn in the spring.  We don't know exactly when these dying-reborn Gods began -- they date back thousands of years, basically fading into prehistory.

We do know their names, and some of their rituals.  And we can trace the evolution of their ideas to Greece and Rome -- and on to the church in your neighborhood this weekend.  Amazing, huh?

By the time of Jesus of Nazareth, as for centuries before, the Mediterranean world roiled with a happy diversity of creeds and rituals. Details varied according to location and culture, but the general outlines of these faiths were astonishingly similar. Roughly speaking the ancients' gods:

1. Were born on or very near our Christmas Day
2. Were born of a Virgin-Mother
3. Were born in a Cave or Underground Chamber.
4. Led a life of toil for Mankind.
5. Were called by the names of Light-bringer, Healer, Mediator, Savior, Deliverer.
6. Were however vanquished by the Powers of Darkness.
7. And descended into Hell or the Underworld.
8. Rose again from the dead, and became the pioneers of mankind to the Heavenly world.
9. Founded Communions of Saints, and Churches into which disciples were received by Baptism.
10. Were commemorated by Eucharistic meals.

 

Phrygia (aka Anatolia = modern Turkey)
The worship of Cybele and Attis dated back centuries in Phrygia before it was imported to Rome in 204 BC.

Roman writers mentioning the religion include: Lucretius (lived 98 - 54 BC), Catullus (86 -40 BC), Varro (116 - 28 BC), and Dionysus Halicarnasensis (first century BC).

Attis predated Christ.  Before and during the years the Christian Gospels were written (from the reign of Claudius, AD 41 - 54) the Festival of Joy,  celebrated Attis' death and rebirth was celebrated yearly in Rome. 
A Christian writer of the fourth century AD, recounted ongoing disputes between Pagans and Christians over the remarkable similarities of the death and resurrection of their two gods.  The Pagans argued that their God was older and therefore original.  The Christians admitted Christ came later, but claimed Attis was a work of the devil whose similarity to Christ, and the fact he predated Christ, were intended to confuse and mislead men.  This was apparently the stock answer -- the Christian apologist Tertullian makes the same argument.

Frazer's classic Adonis, Attis and Osiris is a good place to go for details.  See the Books page.

 

Attis was born of the Virgin Nana on December 25th.
He was both the Father and the Divine Son.

The Festival of Joy -- the celebration of Attis' death and rebirth
On March 22 a pine tree was brought to the sanctuary of Cybele, on it hung the effigy of Attis. The God was dead.  Two days of mourning followed, but when night fell on the eve of the third day, the worshippers turned to joy. "For suddenly a light shone in the darkness; the tomb was opened; the God had risen from the dead...[and the priest] softly whispered in their ears the glad tidings of salvation.  The resurrection of the God was hailed by his disciples as a promise that they too would issue triumphant from the corruption of the grave." [for more see Frazer, Attis, chapter 1]

Attis' worshipers at a sacramental meal of bread and wine. The wine represented the God's blood; the bread became the body of the savoir.

They were baptized in this way: a bull was placed over a grating, the devotee stood under the grating.  The bull was stabbed with a consecrated spear.  "It's hot reeking blood poured in torrents through the apertures and was received with devout eagerness by the worshiper...who had been born again to eternal life and had washed away his sins in the blood of the bull." [for more see Frazer, Attis, chapter 1]

Called "the Good Sheppard,"  the "Most High God," the "Only Begotten Son" and "Savior."

[In Rome the new birth and the remission of sins by shedding of bull's blood took place on what is now Vatican Hill, in our days the site of the great basilica of St. Peter's]

India 

Born of the Virgin Maya on December 25th, announced by a star and attended by wise men presenting costly gifts. At birth angles sing heavenly songs.

Taught in temple at age 12.
Tempted by Mara, the Evil One, while fasting.
Baptized in water with the Spirit of God present.

Healed the sick
Fed 500 from a small basket of cakes
Walked on water.

Came to fulfill the law.  Preached the establishment of a kingdom of righteousness.

Obliged followers to poverty and to renounce the world.

Transfigured on a mount.

Died  ( on a cross, in some traditions), buried but arose again after tomb opened by supernatural powers.  Ascended into heaven (Nirvana).  Will return in later days to judge the dead.

Called:  "Good Shepherd,"  "Carpenter,"  "Alpha and Omega," "Sin Bearer," "Master," "Light of the World," "Redeemer," etc.

Greece

Dating Dionysus / Bacchus.  The early Christians acknowledged that Dionysus (his Greek name) / Bacchus (his Latin name) came before Jesus. 

How?  The Christian Father Justin Martyr, writing in the 100s AD, wrote that the Devil reading the Old Testament prophesies of the Messiah sent Bacchus early, to trick men about Jesus: "The devils, accordingly, when they heard these prophetic words, said that Bacchus was the son of Jupiter, and ...having been torn in pieces, he ascended into heaven." [Justin Martyr, First Apology, 54]

Born of a Virgin on December 25th, placed in a manger.

He was a traveling teacher who performed many miracles.

Rode in a triumphal procession on an ass.
Turned water into wine.

Followers ate sacred meal that became the body of the God.

Rose from the dead March 25th.

Identified with the ram and lamb's

Called "King of Kings," "Only Begotten Son," "Savior," "Redeemer," "Sin bearer," "Anointed One,"  the "Alpha and Omega."

 

Middle East

Born on December 25th of a virgin, Mary in a stable (the gospel of Protevangelion says in a cave).

He traveled widely, doing good works. He was betrayed, sacrificed and buried, his body placed in a tomb. He arose on the third day and ascended into Heaven.

Baptism: Understood from the time of Paul as a death experience and emergence from the water taken as the beginning of a new life.
Eucharist: Sacred meal of Blood and Body of the God

Holy days: Winter solstice -- Christmas. Spring solstice -- Easter

Greece

Born at the winter equinox of a virgin who refrained from sex with her until her God-begotten child was born.

Sacrificed at the spring equinox.

Called "Savior," "Only begotten," "Prince of Peace,"  "Son of Righteousness."

 

Asia minor

Born of a virgin.

Baptized in a river.

In his youth he astounded wise men with his wisdom.  Began his ministry at age 30.

Tempted in the wilderness by the devil.
Cast out demons.
Restored the sight of a blind man.

Revealed the mysteries of heaven, hell, resurrection, judgment, salvation and the apocalypse.

His followers celebrated a sacred eucharistic meal.

Called:  "The Word made flesh,"